Last supper

With three red-eye flights 4 hours in front of me, the GRE 4 hours behind me, and a final pile of fruits and vegetables in front of me, I feel ready to take off for the land of moose meat, confusing weather, big bugs and epic science.

It’s exciting to return to Siberia, especially because this time we will be there for late summer (mid-August through mid-September instead of mid-July) which in the Arctic may not quite end up to be summer at all (“damp and below freezing” was mentioned). As crazy as it sounds, I look forward to a bit of weather and wilderness as a brief reprieve from the year-round California heat and crowds. And of course, I look forward to another month studying Yedoma permafrost and ice wedges with Paul and Rob (we’ll miss you, Jorien)!

My project this summer follows from what I studied last year, the contributions of ice wedge organic material in Yedoma permafrost carbon turnover. This time, we’ll be looking at how bioavailable (i.e. super munchable) carbon sources like old, fresh ice wedge melt and young, fresh algal blooms help turnover modern stream carbon. As the Arctic warms, how is greater ice wedge thaw and algal presence affecting river carbon turnover? Hopefully the inter-niet behaves and we’ll be able to share some answers soon!