June 2, 2004

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 118

This morning was spent answering emails from students and having conference calls which included slides with students at DeLong Middle School in Eau Claire,WI. (See the previous entry to see the archives of the presentations http://archive.arcus.org/TREC/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=366 ) The students had many good questions, some for which I'm still trying to find answers.

After lunch we went back to the study site to collect data on the thermisters and the active layer. Hahn and Halim had moved the truck to the tundra site in the morning. We went for a walk across the tundra, stepping carefully from tussock to tussock. We discovered many wild flowers that we hadn't seen closer to the road, and several streams that were flowing over lichen-covered rocks.

Lichens on the rocks create a pattern on the rocks.

Tundra flowers are beginning to bloom.

The truck near the Micro Meteorological Station.

After the walk I went back to our office only to discover a gift from one of the other research groups: an antler shed from a caribou with a note that said it was to bring back to show my students. Caribou shed their antlers each year, and new ones will grow back. On another walk across the tussocks later that evening we spotted caribou and fox scat, and discovered an owl pellet. Even though those tundra animals are difficult to see, sometimes we discovers clues that they are around.