The shock of stepping off that plane has worn off a little. The snow has melted off the top of the distant peaks and the station is buzzing with the sounds of science (and mosquitoes). The internet (or internyet) has been down for a week or so, so this post is a little dated, but bear with me.

My project, along with everyone’s, has really taken shape. What started as a side project has evolved into a pretty involved story. I’m running an experiment which seeps the organic carbon from different vegetation to determine (in so many words) bacteria’s ability to consume that organic material (the lability of the carbon). The first few days were spent out in the field tagging along with the terrestrial team and harvesting the dominant flora in both the boggy wetlands and drier uplands.

Once all the vegetation dried, we began leaching it into water and taking samples at predetermined times. It’s been running a couple days now and we’ve also added some Kolyma River water into some samples to see how the microbes in the river react. It’s mountains of data, but fortunately the sun never sets.

Considering where we are, it’s pretty impressive how much analysis we can do at the station here in Cherskiy. For my experiment alone we’ll be able to look at concentrations of dissolved organic carbon [DOC] to see how much carbon is biologically available, fluorescence to understand the composition, color, and aromaticity of the organic matter (which tells us something about how much energy would have to be exerted to break it down), and the rates of enzymatic activity.

When all is said and done we should have a greater understanding of the fresh sources of carbon inputted into the streams. The more available this carbon is to the microbes, the more carbon dioxide and methane can be released to the atmosphere, which all feeds back to amplifying these nefarious effects even more. Unsurprising to most – it’s all connected.

The shock and surprise may have worn off, but it seems like there’s a surprise every day. This caught me off guard a couple days ago…

*’Salyx sp.’ should be ‘Salix sp.‘ (Willow)