Photos from my fieldwork in the Arctic

[luzula]

So hey, I'm a bit late in my annual photo post from the mountains, but here it is.

The Latnjačohka mountain and Lake Latnjajaure under low cloud cover and fog.


Awww, look at the little reindeer calves.


Soon the last of the ice will finally be gone from the lake! Taken the 26th of June.


From a hike up to the summit of Latnjačohka. The altitude here is about 1500 meters (about 5000 feet) above sea level.


The obligatory sunset photo!


And now for some plants. This is Lapland lousewort (Pedicularis lapponica). Seems to be circumpolar from what Wikipedia says?


Here's another in the same genus, this one hairy lousewort (Pedicularis hirsuta). Kind of an ugly name for a lovely flower?


This is a fairly rare grass, snow grass (Phippsia algida). Grows in snow melt run-off.


Finally, here's Arctic harebell (Campanula uniflora). Circumpolar except for Siberia, apparently.


And now for some documentation of my daily life.

This is the weather station, which I use for the weather report morning and evening. To the left is the thermo-hygrograph, which measures humidity and temperature. Hanging on the right is a special thermometer, where you wind up a fan at the top and then squirt water up one of the tubes at the bottom. Then you let the fan run for five minutes and read the temperature on both scales. One of them will give you the temperature at the current humidity, and the other one, where you squirted up the water, will give you the temperature as it would've been if the humidity had been 100%. This is always lower, since it takes energy to vaporize water. Anyway, the point is that you can cross-check this with the thermo-hygrograph for better accuracy. In the background are two horizontal thermometers, one of which gives you maximum temperature for the 24-hour period, and the other gives you the minimum. These are reset every evening. These instruments are all fully manual, with no digital components. There's also an automatic digital temperature logger (the yellow box). There are also some other components of the weather report: lake surface water temperature, air pressure, rain/snowfall per 24-hour period, and cloud cover and cloud types at low, medium, and high levels.


Here's one of the OTC:s (open-top chambers) which are meant to simulate the greenhouse effect. There are also control plots with no greenhouses on. The experiment is part of the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), which has stations all around the Arctic: Alaska, Canada, Russia, etc. There's been all sorts of studies on these: species composition, biomass, plant respiration, and so on. This summer I was doing the fieldwork for some phenology studies in them; that is, at which time do plants begin to bloom/mature/have ripe seeds. Obviously the hypothesis is that they do so faster in the OTC:s.


This is the lab. It's ridiculously messy.




Here's the outside and the inside of my cabin:












Finally, two photos that the Senior Scientist Guy took. This is me. I caught a hoverfly with the net, but I forgot my hand lens, so I'm using my binoculars "backwards" instead.


And this is probably my favorite bird: the long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus). So beautiful! Even more so when it's flying.


I think this was the sixth year I've worked up there? I really want to continue next summer, but I am not sure they'll give me the time off now that I have a permanent job. I can always ask, I suppose.

Comments

[king_touchy]

Great photos, and wow -- what an awesome thing to do. Once a year, huh? That's damn nifty.

[riverlight]

Gorgeous photos!

[seascribble]

Science science science! This is so cool. What an incredible thing to be able to do every year (I am in awe of your research and science skills). And the photos are gorgeous.

Thank you so much for sharing these!

[ainsley]

oh WOW gorgeous.

[luzula]

I know, I feel so lucky to have that opportunity!

[luzula]

Thanks! : )

[luzula]

Yeah, I feel so lucky to be able to do this! I was going to make a disclaimer that my science skills are not so great (a lot of the time I just follow directions and do someone else's fieldwork) but I guess I should not do that. I do have skills! *makes effort to acknowledge them*

[luzula]

Thanks! : )

[calvinahobbes]

Oh yay, everything looks so beautiful! You're very lucky you get to have these experiences, and I really hope you get to go again next year. Thank you for sharing!! :)

[isis]

Yay, very cool! The snow is lovely to see - it was nearly all melted from our mountains when we went hiking in late June.

I agree, 'lousewort' is a terrible name for a pretty flower. I also think that 'fireweed' should be renamed 'fireflower' because - it's a beautiful pink flower! Don't call it a weed!

[luzula]

I know, I'm so lucky to have had that opportunity for six years. I should probably bring it up early if I want to try asking them for time off next year...

[luzula]

I dunno, I kind of like the contrast in the name "fireweed"? Like, something beautiful and something common. It sounds more like it springs up everywhere, which it does.

In Swedish it's either "milkwort" or "railroad worker's rose" (rallarros) because it springs up along the railroads.

[toft]

Wow, so interesting and lovely! Thank you for these!

[baronjanus]

So much pretty.

[brigantine]

So gorgeous! Wow, still so much snow and ice almost to July! :O

What are those little purple flowers scattered around the OTC?

[isis]

RALLARROS! That's so pretty both in the sound and in the meaning! ♥

[hazelwho]

I always love your fieldwork photos, and it's really cool to see where you stay when you're up there. Thanks so much for sharing this!! =)

[mergatrude]

I always love your summer photos, and it's great to see your living and working space as well. Thank you.

[luzula]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I wondered if the long description of the weather station was too much, but hey, fans are usually geeky people and appreciate such things. : )

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! : )

[luzula]

Spring/summer was actually pretty early this year! Last year there was much more snow and ice left by that time.

Those are alpine milkvetch (Astragalus alpinus). According to Wikipedia: "It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It is widespread in Eurasia. In North America it occurs from Alaska to Newfoundland and as far south as Nevada and New Mexico."

Huh, I'm surprised it grows so far south in North America--in Sweden it doesn't grow in the south or in the lowlands at all. But then, maybe it's only in the mountains in North America, too?

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed it! I actually really like that little cabin.

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! Yeah, I wanted to show something other than just the landscape and plant photos this year. : ) I actually really like that cabin.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks, again!

It's your journal, you can go on at great length! And who knows, someone writing a $Mystery/$Wonder fanfic in 2050 will borrow your "period details" (if we haven't drowned).

[luzula]

I wonder what the internet will be like in 2050? I hope it will still exist, anyway. And I'm glad you enjoyed the post. : )

[ceruleancat]

Very cool. Thank you for sharing the photos.

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! : )

[eve_n_furter]

Nydelige bilder! Og så kult å se gresset vokse i en grønn ring inne i drivhuset. Så ut som en herlig jobb!

[luzula]

Jo, det märks tydligt hur mycket mer det växer där inne. Ha, du är nog den enda på min flist som bor norr om stationen. : )

[garonne.livejournal.com]

These are really cool, and your job (this part of it, anyway!) looks like a lot of fun. Hope you get to do it again next year!