The vivacious vestige of the Polaris Project (Blaize, Erin, JoAnn, and Travis), through which the remainder of the group must live vicariously, woke up to a vicious odor of smoke and an eerie unplaceable source of sickly yellow light yesterday morning.

This summer in Cherskii, as the returning students and PIs can attest, has been anomalously hot. The high temperatures here have had a drastic affect–extremely low precipitation and frequent fires. As the temperature increases, peat bogs dry out or desiccate, setting the stage for rampant fires.

In addition to fires, the heat has had cascading affects on the region. Some of these affects are readily apparent. This year, the Polaris Project witnessed significantly more wildlife than the past two years, most likely because animals are forced to congregate near larger bodies of water as their upland sources dried up. We have seen caribou, moose, bears, countless birds, and owls, often drinking at the banks of the larger rivers. The dryness has also meant almost no mosquitos. With fewer wet areas, mosquitos have nowhere to lay their eggs, and their populations tank. Furthermore, much to the stream team’s dismay, many of the small streams that ran throughout July in 2009 are completely dry this year.

These trends are alarming in and of themselves, but they also foreshadow things to come. As a result of global warming, arctic temperatures continue to rise faster than anywhere on the globe. These unprecedented temperatures are likely to bring about more heat waves, more fires, more animal migrations, and generally dryer watersheds. With the red sun bearing down overhead, and the stuffy thick smoke-laden air, Cherskii looks and feels like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. We returning students are looking forward to some wind to blow away this ominous smog.