PolarisProject

We had a good meeting in SF. Great to have all the PIs together and great to have some of the students present a sliver of their science. All the PIs have a list of things to work on as we get ready for the 2009 class. We’ll have updates galore in the new year inlcuding updated application procedures (partially done) for new and returning students, we’ll have some of the data from 2008 online and available, we’ll have a FAQ and greatly expanded description of the field class as well. We are all energized and excited to head north again in July with a great group of new and returning students.

Yesterday (Wednesday the 17th) we presented our poster titled “Biogeochemical characteristics of Siberia’s Kolyma watershed in relation to climate change and permafrost degradation” at the AGU conference.  We spoke to the head coordinator of the International Polar Year for education and outreach.  She was very enthusiastic about our project and future possibilities.

It was exciting to have a final product for all of the work we have been doing this past semester in relation to the project.  The AGU conference as a whole has been a great experience.  There is an overwhelming amount of scientific knowledge all in one place, which is very exciting.  It has been inspiring to speak with the scientists present about their cutting-edge research.  The research they are doing encompasses many different fields, which all have great implications to what is happening now in terms of global climate change.  This week has gone by so fast, we cannot believe that it is coming to an end.

Katie Abbott, student, St. Olaf

Kate Willis, non-student, Clark University

Today, Tyler and I presented our poster at the AGU Conference, the most prominent earth science conference in the world, in San Francisco.  Our poster was located in the biogeosciences section and was titled ‘Using Dendrochronology and Remote Sensing to Assess Drainage Rates of Pan-Arctic Lakes.’

It was a great experience and we received a lot of support, interest, questions, and feedback about our poster and research throughout the morning from several faculty and scientists from across the country.  It was great hearing what they had to say in terms of furthering our research and modifying our approach and also to hear about their research experiences.

This has been a great opportunity for networking, learning about other contemporary research topics, and seeing how scientific knowledge is shared among the general public.  We look forward to continuing research and staying connected with the people we met at this conference and are grateful to have had this experience in San Francisco.

-Tyler Llewellyn, Western Washington University ’09

-Boyd Zapatka, Clark University ’10

Most of the PIs and at least four of the students from the 2008 field class are meeting this week at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting. There are some 16,000 scientists attending this year and some of the highlights from the meeting will be webcast. NASA scientist Jim Hansen will be giving an important talk on global climate change and Mary Albert will talk on Polar Science in a Time of Rapid Change – which gets at the heart of the Polaris Project.

The highlights for us will be presentations of student research from the Polaris Project. Kate Willis and Katie Abbott will be presenting some of the results from their work looking at the biogeochemical characteristics of the Kolyma River with regards to permafrost degradation. Tyler and Boyd will be presenting some of their results quantifying the rates of lake drainage around the Kolyma and speculating on the implications for methane fluxes to the atmosphere. They will be part of the small handful of undergraduates that present at a prestigious scientific meeting.

The PI team will be meeting to discuss next year’s field class and our scientific objectives. We will also be plotting major updates for the website including providing access to the data we collected last year and our plans for the future of the Polaris Project. We’ve rolled out the new photo gallery and will be incorporating some of the videos we took last year as well. We will have a new application procedure up soon as well.

Stay tuned!

There is a new interface to the photo gallery. The site also has a more consistent look-and-feel. Thanks to Nikki D’Amico from WWU who worked on it as part of her web design portfolio. Max is going through all the pictures from the summer 2008 field class and we’ll be populating the new gallery with images and video very soon. When the photos went down I got some emails asking what had happened to our nice imagery. Don’t fret, it will all come back and better than before.

Here is a nice article on the Summer 2008 field class in the Worcester paper. Good job Matt, Kate, Boyd, Bill, and Karen – nice article!