Research Project Descriptions for 1998
Cruise to the Northern Ice Pack to Study
Chemical and Biological Properties of the Ice and Ice
Entrained Sediment--the Arctic West Section 1998
Cruise
Funded by the Cold Regions
Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL)
Field experience: 31 May-29 June 1998
| Principal Investigator: | Participants: |
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Dr. Debra Meese |
Tim Buckley, Barrow High
School, Barrow, Alaska |
Project Description:
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, Polar Sea picked up Tim and Aaron in Nome, Alaska, for a cruise with CRREL researchers to collect ice cores for chemical and biological analysis of ice and ice entrained sediment. Ice entrained sediment will be collected from the surface of the ice and from ice cores taken at various sites as the Polar Sea sliced through the ice pack north of Nome toward Barrow. The sediment will be analyzed for 137-Cs and mineralogy will be completed for provenance. These data will be combined with data sets collected on previous cruises. The ice biology will be compared with benthic data collected by Dr. Lisa Clough, chief scientist, in order to determine if it is possible to tie the ice and benthos together. Clinging to the bottom of the ice are strand-like colonies of algae that may help support the large populations of sea stars and other invertebrates living in the ice and on the sea floor. Because the ice cover is constantly in motion, a direct comparison is not possible. Scientists hope, however, to determine the impact the ice cover has on the benthos. Data analysis, some of which was conducted in laboratories on-board, includes major ions, nutrients, chlorophyll-a, and physical properties.
After CRREL personnel sectioned the samples, Tim and Aaron measured the samples for salinity, major ions and nutrients, filtered the remaining water for chlorophyll analyses performed on board. This allowed for comparison with the benthic samples on site. During a post-field visit to CRREL, major ions and nutrients analyses will be completed with Tim and Aaron observing and participating in the different analyses, including some data analyses. Tim and Aaron will be co-authors on any papers that are published in relation to this work.
Tim Buckley's first experience on an Arctic Ocean cruise inaugurated the Arctic portion of Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic (TEA). He was able to establish and maintain his relationship with CRREL in a way that brought research on the Arctic ice pack to his classroom. His class collects sea ice samples off the coast of Barrow that are used in ongoing CRREL projects, giving students the opportunity to participate in real-time research. Because of this collaboration, scientists at CRREL have access to time-series samples that are normally difficult to obtain due to time and monetary constraints.
Read Aaron Putnam's and Tim Buckley's journals and see pictures. These journals and more information about Tim are available on the TEAWeb Site.
Deering Archeological
Excavation
Funded by the National Park
Service
Field experience: 6-28 July 1998; Follow-up visit:
1-9 April 1999
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Principal Investigator: |
Participants: |
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Dr.
Glenn Sheehan |
Tim Conner, Chenango Forks School
District, Binghamton, New York |
Project Description:
This was the second field season of the excavation of a unique discovery beneath the current village site of Deering, Alaska, on the southern end of Kotzebue Sound. The site was discovered serendipitously while digging trenches for the installation of the village's first sewer system, stalling the system's construction. While helping to unearth artifacts from the Ipiutak culture, dating back to 1000-1500 y.a., Tim Conner and Aaron Stupple interacted with experts in anthropology, geology, and soil-science. When large scale work with heavy equipment uncovered significant areas, the excavation team continued with shovels, trowels and brushes to gently remove artifacts for preservation and identification in the field laboratory in Deering. This is one of the only sites to yield artifacts that can enable anthropologists to reconstruct the culture of these "Mystery People of the Arctic" that was first discovered over 50 years ago.
Prior to arrival in Deering, Tim and Aaron spent one day in Fairbanks, Alaska, learning about Alaskan history and visiting the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum, where they were shown artifacts similar to those they would later excavate. Tim and Aaron traveled to Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in Alaska, to the home laboratory of principal investigator Glenn Sheehan in the former Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) facility. After two days in Barrow, they flew in a small airplane to the village of Deering for the excavation. After their field experience, Tim and Aaron returned to Fairbanks to learn about Native cultures of interior Alaska and visit some of the historical and geological sites of interior Alaska with the teacher and two students from the Seward River Otter project.
This archaeological project is a community-supported effort, led by archeologists Glenn Sheehan, principal investigator, and Richard Reanier, the on-site project manager. Tim and Aaron lived in the Iñupiaq Eskimo village of Deering and worked with community residents. They formed many close friendships with co-workers and other community members while helping the excavation progress so that the construction of the village's first indoor plumbing could resume. Through this experience, Tim and Aaron gained a broad view of Arctic field research, logistics coordination, and the archeology of a distinct culture in a manner that integrated cultural, community, and scientific research interests. Their follow-up visit to Barrow in April 1999 solidified these concepts as they interacted with numerous scientists from a variety of projects.
Read Aaron Stupple's and Tim Conner's journals and see pictures from field work in Deering Summer 1998 and follow-up work in Barrow April 1999. More information about Tim is available on the TEA Web Site.
Oil Spill Effects on River Otters in Prince William
Sound: a Controlled Study of Biological Stress
Markers, Diving Physiology and Foraging Success
Funded by the Alaska Science and Technology
Foundation (ASTF)
Field experience: 10-28 July 1998
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Principal Investigator: |
Participants: |
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Dr.
Merav Ben-David |
Myrtle Brijbasi,
Suitland High School, Forestville,
Maryland |
Project Description:
Previous studies on wild river otters inhabiting oiled shores in Prince William Sound, Alaska, have suggested that these otters suffer from chronic stress related to oil consumption. Oiled otters had lower body mass, larger home ranges, less diverse diet, and elevated blood indicators of oil exposure, compared with otters from non-oiled areas. This indicates that oil contamination may have an effect on otter health through their ability to dive and catch prey. This project explores the effects of oil contamination on the health and behavior of river otters experimentally.
Fifteen wild-caught otters are being exposed to a chronic high or low dose of oil through their food to simulate what researchers suspect is happening in wild otters. Researchers will compare results from these experimental otters to results from untreated otters and to results from field studies to determine if wild otters are still consuming crude oil spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Because river otters are shy, elusive creatures, researchers will learn a tremendous amount of novel physiological and behavioral information from this captive study. All the otters will be re-released to the wild following the study. Myrtle, Noa, and Elisa collected blood, skin and feces samples for chemical and genetic analyses and conducted behavioral observations on river otters foraging on schooling fish in captivity to explore the effects of oil contamination on diving and foraging success.
Myrtle, Noa, and Elisa arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, where they visited the Museum of Natural History as an introduction to Alaska, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and Prince William Sound. They then flew to Valdez, Alaska, where they were taken through the terminating point of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. From Valdez, they traveled by ferry past Bligh Reef, the point where the Exxon Valdez ran aground and began spilling oil, giving them the opportunity to view the diverse wildlife, habitat and spectacular scenery of Prince William Sound from the area hardest hit by the oil spill. After a short train ride and drive with Dr. Ben-David, Myrtle, Noa, and Elisa arrived in Seward, Alaska. Dr. Ben-David's research site is the Alaska Sea Life Center, which is a newly opened-facility for research and education about marine environments. Myrtle, Noa, and Elisa worked daily on the care and maintenance of the captive otters and assisted with the collection and management of data for the study. After two weeks of research, they returned to Fairbanks to visit some features of interior Alaska with members from the Deering Archaeological Excavation.
Read what Noa and Elisa wrote about their experience and see pictures of the region. Myrtle's journals and more information about Myrtle are available on the TEA Web Site. Myrtle returned to Prince William Sound in June 1999, this time working with the Prince William Sound Science Center.
Tundra Active Layer/Landscape Interactions:
a Retrospective and Contemporary Approach in Arctic
Alaska
Funded by National Science Foundation,
OPP-9612647
Pre-field visit to laboratory: 7-9 August 1998;
Field experience: 10-26 August 1998; Follow-up
visit in November 1998
Tundra Active Layer/Landscape Interactions: a
Retrospective and Contemporary Approach in Arctic
Alaska
Funded by National Science Foundation,
OPP-9612647
Pre-field visit to laboratory: 7-9 August 1998;
Field experience: 10-26 August 1998; Follow-up
visit in November 1998
| Principal Investigator: | Participants: |
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Dr.
Frederick Nelson Department of Geography University of Delaware Newark, DE 19716 USA |
Donald Rogers, Rogers High School,
Spokane, Washington Javier Lopez, Junior, River Ridge High School, New Port Richey, Florida |
Project Description:
The active layer is the layer of earth that experiences freezing and thawing on an annual basis located on top of permanently frozen (permafrost) soils. Soil biological activity occurs almost exclusively within the active layer, which includes the cycling of nitrogen and carbon between the soil and the atmosphere. This project is concerned with obtaining spatial-time series estimates of the thickness of the active layer over large geographic areas in north-central Alaska. It is also concerned with determining the variability of active-layer thickness at local and landscape scales. Quantitative estimates of carbon content in the active layer and upper permafrost are integral to documenting the reaction of the active layer to climatic variability and other local factors. Ultimately, researchers may be able to determine if deepening in the active layer caused by warming air temperatures and resulting in the release of more carbon dioxide, perpetuating the atmospheric warming trend, are caused by local or global climate change events.
Scientists will use data obtained in this project as a basis for mathematical models of the effect of climatic change on the active layer and pathways for carbon release. Scientists on this project are mapping the thickness of the active layer in the Kuparuk River basin of north-central Alaska to provide a detailed description of the soils of this region, and to provide an estimate of the organic carbon contained in the near-surface soils. Detailed maps of the active layer have not been previously constructed for a region as large as the Kuparuk basin map area (28,000 square kilometers). Optimizing designs for sampling active-layer thickness and carbon content under different land cover and soil types is one of the project's objectives.
Frederick E. Nelson (Fritz) is a professor at the University of Delaware, specializing in permafrost science and periglacial geomorphology. Anna Klene was a Master's student with Dr. Nelson at SUNY-Albany working on the relation between macroclimate, tundra microclimates, and the ground thermal regime. Klene began work on her Doctoral degree in September 1998 with Dr. Nelson at the University of Delaware.
Don and Javier traveled to Dr. Nelson's laboratory in Albany, New York prior to the fieldwork for training and orientation. Together with the project science team, they traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska to participate in a one-day orientation in, including a visit to the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the nearby permafrost tunnel. The first several days were spent collecting measurements across the tundra near the Toolik Field Station. The team then moved north to the Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields, then on to Barrow, collecting measurements of active layer depth and tundra carbon content. Don and Javier were active members of the research team, covering many miles of Alaska tundra on foot to collect data. They returned to Dr. Nelson's laboratory at the University of Delaware for one week in November 1998 to analyze data they collected and examine it in the context of previous studies on active layer thickness.
Read Javier's and Don's journals and see pictures. These journals, more information about Don, and results from the research project that Javier and Don helped analyze in a return visit in November 1998 are available on the TEA Web Site.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF) education program Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic (TEA) supported the participation of Students in Arctic Research (STAR). |