Boyd Zapatka – The Polaris Project

Zapatka senior thesis
Posted on October 2, 2010
Zapatka, Boyd. Burn scar recognition in the boreal forest near Cherskiy, Russia, using synthetic aperture radar and Landsat TM data. Senior Honors Thesis, Clark University, May 2010.
Continue reading
We’re not going to Siberia, but we’re going to Alaska!
Posted on May 3, 2010
Hello everyone my name is Claire and this is Boyd. Hi. Claire traveled to Siberia with the research team and Boyd went the summer before and both of us had awesome but unique experiences on the Kolyma. While Boyd looked at thermokarst lake drainage using a dendroclimatological model, Claire has coupled satellite imagery and river measurements of CDOM (Colored Dissolved Organic Matter) to map the distribution of CDOM along the Kolyma and its tributaries over the past 10 years.…
Continue reading
State of the Arctic Conference
Posted on March 17, 2010
This past couple of days have been full of short presentations, plenary talks, and conversation. The Polaris Project is reuniting at the State of the Arctic Conference right now in Miami, FL and I’m definitely enjoying my time here. I was able to present at a poster session regarding my research on boreal forest fire detection with radar and optical imagery and was provided some useful feedback.…
Continue reading
Polaris State-side
Posted on July 21, 2009
Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I was unable to return to Siberia this year but have been an avid follower of the blog and am happy to see this year’s group is having an amazing time! It seems many projects have taken off and it’s exciting to read new hypotheses and use my past experience to ponder how the questions will be answered.…
Continue reading
Clarkies at Logan
Posted on July 2, 2009
Hello, friends. Clarkies here just waiting for our delayed flight. See everyone in Chicago!…
Continue reading
Woo hoo we’re going to the Arctic!
Posted on June 23, 2009
All 4 of us here at Clark are getting very excited to get to Cherskiy! We recently made a trip down to visit Max Holmes and Kate Bulygina in Woods Hole, Massachusetts where we got a tour of the research center and got to ask questions about the upcoming trip!…
Continue reading
Outreach Abroad
Posted on June 8, 2009
I recently traveled back home to Bangkok, Thailand to visit family and thought this would be a great opportunity to share my research interests, experiences in Siberia, and thoughts on arctic science with the international community in Bangkok. I gave two presentations, one to the entire high school discussing the importance of arctic science in the realm of climate change and then I held a second more specialized seminar/lecture on my specific research topic in Cherskiy.…
Continue reading
AGU Presentation
Posted on December 18, 2008
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.’…
Continue reading
AGU and Outreach
Posted on September 15, 2008
A few days ago, Tyler and I submitted an abstract to hopefully present at the AGU Conference in San Francisco in December. With the help of Andy, Max, and Karen – we sent it in! Thank you for the feedback and input!!…
Continue reading
Our last days… LAB work!
Posted on July 22, 2008
July 22, 2008 Upon return from a truly spectacular trip up North to the tundra, we’re back in Cherksiy and have spent the last few days in the labs analyzing and sifting through the countless water samples, tree rings, soil layers, organic matter, and gases collected since our expedition here began.…
Continue reading
Finally in Cherskii!
Posted on July 10, 2008
July 10th After an early morning wake up (4:30 am) and breakfast on the way to the airport, we left Yakutsk in a small prop airplane. While there had been quite a bit of disagreement over Cherskii’s time zone and the duration of the flight, we were all very excited to finally get to our destination.…
Continue reading
ресторан москва кафе стоп банк россна
Posted on July 7, 2008
We arrived into Moscow early around 10:00 a.m. planning on spending several hours going through customs and ended up passing right through. Arriving at our ‘hotel’ nicknamed the Green Circle Hilton which was really a dormitory resembling a prison/hospital. There was a dog in the lobby.…
Continue reading
Just about ready..
Posted on July 4, 2008
So I think I’m pretty packed and ready! More than anything I’m excited to finally begin this experience! It finally hit me that I’m GOING TO SIBERIA tomorrow morning! How many people get to say that? Packing was somewhat difficult, it being hard to pack ‘light’ for a 3-week trip into western Siberia but I think I’m just under the limit! …
Continue reading