Sweat and the Sea

Ahhhh yessss!! Internet! To my dear blog readers: I missed you too. The internet has been down for several days now, and everyone here is now tap tap tapping away at the old keyboards. Let's see...

We had a blast at Pepe’s, joking about Dave’s red flower in his hair and who would cram the final pieces of cake down their gullets. There is only one traffic light in Barrow, and when encountering this one traffic light in Barrow there is, say a 25% chance that this singular article would be observed red. However, on our journey from Pepe’s to the research station, this anomalous situation was witnessed. The driver in this instance, let’s call him Mr. X, was so traumatized at seeing the one and only traffic light in Barrow an unfamiliar hue, that he accelerated and “ran” the red. Don’t worry my anxious readers, for there were no police or law officials to be found, but we were all amused.

It seems the weir we all constructed had been leaking water from underneath the structure. Adrian and I were given the task of plugging some of these leaks in with a total of 20 sandbags (40 bags ½ full). We lugged sandbags a good distance, carrying about 5 at a time to from the end of the Southern Dike to the wooden boardwalk that hovers a few feet above the tundra. It was labor intensive, but I was more than happy to work since I’ve been in the office for days. This area of land was covered in spongy tundra consisting of moss and dark, squishy mud covered in maybe 7 inches or so of water. The lower layer of the permafrost is still frozen solid and looms beneath the deceiving moss and muck. I slipped a couple of times, and came crashing down into the cold, cold murky water that lay at my feet. It really sucked, needless to say. I had to do a pushup with 4 sandbags on my back after falling face-down in the water. The second time I had to roll over, then try to get up. I felt like a turtle. We piled all of our sandbags on the boardwalk and began to pile them into the wheelbarrow.

Adrian took about half of them to the control shed, about ½ a mile away in the wheelbarrow. He and I walked back down the boardwalk and loaded them all up. Adrian had asked me to go with him so that we could alternate shifts when one person got tired. Adrian did get tired and it was my turn to take charge of the load. I stepped up, grabbed the handles with the strong conviction, walked two steps and… the wheel began to tilt, I tried to compensate but the weight was too much. “Ahhhhhh! Crap!” The wheelbarrow went flying off the boardwalk with all of its precious cargo, as did I. All we could do was laugh hysterically and start again. We loaded up all the sandbags into the thing again and continued our arduous journey. This time Alex and Adrian took shifts. I guess I’m not as strong as I thought, but it’s good to know your limits I guess.

After a hard day in the field, we all went to Arctic Pizza. It was nice to break the monotonous rhythm of our days and go someplace new. The view was incredible! You could see over the ice into open sea. We saw a couple of seals basking on the ice, and Craig spotted a polar bear (which I couldn’t find). We all had a good time, as can be expected with great company and good food. We went for a walk to the edge of a bluff across from the restaurant after dinner and saw a remnant of an old peat house and some structure made of whale bone. We took a group photo and journeyed back home.

On Thursday Craig wanted us all ready to go by 8:00, as it was the day of his departure. The majority of our group was up at a get-together the night before (I was lame and fell asleep at 9:45 pm). Anyway, we had a group meeting and shoved off to the field. I just want to say that I have the utmost respect for the grad students working with us, Dave and Santonu. They have been handed a lot of responsibility, and it seems as though Dave will be the surrogate Craig after he leaves. I saw the list of responsibilities looming on the screen before us in the conference room and imagined all the details behind each heading, its overwhelming and stressful. I realized then why Dave didn’t go climbing and why he is constantly cursing at his computer and other inanimate objects sporadically throughout the day. It’s a lot of weight to bear. Thank goodness I’m a mere undergrad absorbing the experience! I still have time to think about my project and enjoy.

Anyway, we all had a good time in the field, and I got to go back to the lab after taking a tour of all our projects. I was most excited to see swans just off the road. Craig left that evening, and although I was sad to see him go, I was happy about having to step up and take everything on without him, just to know we can and will do it. That evening we watched another movie: “Battle Royal”. It was bloody and disturbing; I would recommend another flick after seeing it, just to recover. After that, a really nice Japanese guy from one of the other labs put a slide show on. He had the most beautiful shots of aurora borealis, birds, flowers, and lots of fauna like caribou, bears, beavers, muskoxen, and so on. He was really talented at the craft of photography, and very nice. I told him “domo” after the show.

I spent the rest of the evening playing the ukulele. I really enjoy the instrument; it is simple yet versatile. I have mastered “Ode to Joy,” and I laugh because everyone around here pokes there head in when I play. “What’s that?” “Cool!” “Play this, play that.” It’s a lot of fun and very relaxing…THANKS MICHI AND RAY!!

The internet has been down for three days now. It struck me odd that the college, in the other wing of the building has working internet. I walked down the hall into the large forum to find a congregation of scientists with their laptops. I have been blogging on Microsoft Word to satisfy my most recent addiction. Wish I had a laptop now :(

Friday night Bob Hollister invited us to take the 4-wheelers out to go to the “point”. This is a strip of land extending from the landmass of Barrow Northeast into the Sea. To the North is the Arctic Ocean, and to the South is the Elson Lagoon. There ended up being about 15 people standing around outside the warehouse with only 4 ATV’s available. 5 decided not to go, some from our group (including Perry and Alex). Some people got on the back of the machines to drive out there. Sandra and I rode on the back while Paulo drove. The ride was bumpy and I could feel the cold metal bars I was sitting on collide with the bones in my bum. I thought it was a lot of fun, though. We pulled out of the warehouse and drove down the road along the coast. When the road ended we pulled up onto the beach and just kept on going; the wheels sunk into the yielding gravel. The sand is dark grey to black and composed of well-rounded gravel and pebbles. All along the way the shore was littered with whale bones and drift wood. Huge fragments of bone were scattered across the shoreline, everywhere I looked were traces of colossal creatures: large mandibles that were half sunk in the darkly hues of the sand, a huge occipital bone, and vertebrae larger than my torso. I looked into the shadows of a cranium, into the void and bleached hollow of the eye cavity and I felt like I was in a graveyard. I then focused my gaze upon the sea and saw the crystal deep blue between the large chunks of glittering white and viewed the whole experience in a much lighter quality. The very soul of Barrow is rooted in the craft of whaling, and the bones I saw were representatives of a way of life.

About 25 minutes up the coast we arrived at Point Barrow. I saw a huge tower that one of our colleagues was working on, and a small lake. To the Southeast I could see an even smaller strip of land reaching into the Ocean. Just ahead I could see signs and flags warning us not to trespass; it was the archeology group’s site. (I saw some of the artifacts they found in their lab at the grand opening; a small ivory carving of a polar bear head, metal scraps, spear heads, seal skins and other relics of a distant culture. They had unearthed several graves and pointed out the distinct form in which the people were buried with their heads to the sea and surrounded by whale bone. ) We continued our path hugging the shoreline until the land ended, and before our eyes was ice and water; Plover Point. It was still and breathtaking, and when it comes down to it, I don’t think there are any words to describe the full experience of standing surrounded by the Arctic Ocean amidst white and blue. I jumped off the ATV and squished my boots in the forgiving gravel to see lots of sea shells. I had to resist taking my shoes off and squishing my toes in the moist beach. I walked to the water’s edge and stepped on in. It was cold and I could see the ripples I made travel across the water and echo off the ice’s edge. We saw a few stately arctic terns hover by to check us out.

We wondered around the beach for a while, taking in the whole experience. I ended up with a pocket full of seashells and a huge whale vertebra, much to the anguish of my fellow 4-wheel passenger Sandra. She had the blunt yet annoying transverse process jabbing into her leg. We left the wonderland to go home and stopped at the official Point Barrow along the way. Sandra pointed out some kind of plant with pretty little white flowers on it growing in the middle of the gravel. Some kind of unrecognizable carcass was left in chunks along the shore. We all got a slight feeling of uneasiness since this might have been a prime site for polar bears. After looking around a few minutes, we headed back to the research station and called it a night.

Saturday: Perry and I went off into the field to do some work on the 3 tramlines, which are 300 meters long each. This is the largest tramline system used for scientific research and one of the largest scale manipulative experiments. (Pretty cool huh!) We took measurements on the last bits of snow clinging to the shadows and North side of the tramway boardwalks. All day (and night for that matter) you can hear birds making fantastically odd sounds and chirps. The pectoral sandpipers' display is one of my favorites; they look like they are hovering, almost gliding and then dive down to the water at quite an acute angle. This process is repeated with a weird cooing-whooping noise. All over you hear birds making weird noises. Perry and i also made some repairs, which is an ongoing process. I mean it's never ending! We put in a good 7 hours and only got to repair a little more than half of only one tramline in addition to the snow depth measurements.

Sunday: HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

I tagged along with the FIU (Florida International University) crew, Steve, Paulo, Rob and Jason, to field today to get some LI-6200 training. On the way we drove along the road that follows the coastline since we heard there were lots of seals out. We saw about 4 or 5 out on the ice. At a few places we saw men in white jackets and rifles on their backs sneaking up to the seals. We will be using the instrument to measure NEE (net ecosystem exchange) and Respiration. Diurnals begin this Tuesday, and I will be taking on an 8-hour shift. We will tag team for a total of 24 hours in which measurements will be taken. We have had to carry the shotgun with us lately; a brown bear has been spotted twice near the study site. It is imperative to be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to the work you're doing. I am sad there's no internet, and I need to find molecular sieves for Dave.

It's Monday, and the internet is finally up and running, so I am very happy to be able to post this blog! Today is a festival, and there will be a nalukataq, a blanket toss. The locals have been practicing their dances and drumming for a few days now, and I heard some woment talking about the food preparations in the store a week ago. I am looking forward to the cultural experience and spending time with my colleages in the exotic land of the midnight sun.