Extra Cool Scientist: Jay Zarnetske

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 5:43 am

Another member of the Lab 4 crew is Jay Zarnetske, another very cool scientist working on another very cool project.

Jay is a hydrogeologist (scientist who studies water and its impact on the land) who works at Utah State University, and is in the Arctic studying the effect of climate change on the way streams flow as well as the nutrients and sediment they carry.

Recall that the not far beneath the Arctic ground is the permafrost, ground that is frozen year round. The permafrost prevents plants’ roots from penetrating very deeply (thus, no tall trees on the tundra) and water from draining (so lots of rivers and lakes). As the global temperature climbs, more of the permafrost melts. As more of the permafrost melts, some spectacular things start to happen with the water on the surface.

Jay and his team from Boise State and University of Vermont are investigating some of those changes in hopes of modeling what will happen if the global temperature continues to climb. Nutrients once in the water may lost underground; nutrients once locked in the ground may suddenly become available.

Who cares? Everyone who knows. Why do these people care? It’s obvious that plants in the Arctic are affected by the cold weather…. (I hear 9th graders all around the world, saying in chorus “Duh”.) Less obvious to most people is that growth of plants (and the animals that depend on those plants) in the Arctic is strongly controlled by their access to nutrients. Aquatic life in ocean also depends on nutrients transported from land through streams. Finally, if plants grow more, they suck in more carbon. Their source of carbon is carbon dioxide in the air. Carbon dioxide in the air is a greenhouse gas, i.e., a culprit in global warming. If plants in the Arctic grow more, they may help reduce the impact of the carbon dioxide that humans are pumping into the atmosphere.

Not bad information from studying rivers flowing across the tundra, eh?

For more information about Jay’s project, check out the project’s website:
http://cc.usu.edu/~gooseff/arctic_proj.html

In case you are wondering what the hyporheic zones are, check out the University of Washington’s website:
http://www.fish.washington.edu/naturemapping/water/1fldhypo.html

Did I say that hydrogeologists are cool? They are.
Here's a sample of what Jay sees when he commutes to work:

Here's the vehicle he uses:

Jay uses a short-lived, colorful and fluorescent chemical called rhodamine to measure stream flow. When the chemical is first dumped in the water, the water turns bright pink. Further downstream, other team members take measurements to determine how much rhodamine is in the water (and can infer how quickly the stream is moving).

Of course, there is some labor involved. But then, that's what helpers are for. Helpers are politely called 'technicians', but usually called 'strong backs'... I assume you see why Smile

Here is Ken, Jay's undergraduate assistant carrying equipment used in the field.