Spending hours sitting on a case of water bottles in a cold dark room was not quite what I had pictured when I anticipated my month of research in Siberia, however it is where I often find myself. I have become well acquainted with the frozen dirt floors, plethora of perishable foods, and other sundry inhabitants of “the cave” (a space carved into the permafrost below one of the labs that acts as a giant natural refrigerator). It seems an unlikely location for science but it has proved the perfect space to run an incubation experiment with sediment collected from the Y4 stream and extremely old carbon Craig and I collected during our trip to Duvannyi Yar.

Seth helping us collect sediment from Duvannyi Yar to use for carbon additions to our bottle experiments

One of the most beautiful aspects of collaboration is the chance to share the excitement with your collaborator when any sort of information begins to emerge and though it is still very early in the experiment, yesterday was an extremely exciting day for both of us. As I sat collecting CO₂ flux measurements from carefully prepared mason jars, Craig burst into the cave ready to check out the enzyme plates he had worked all morning to prepare from samples taken from the very mason jars I sat measuring. Who knew colored liquid and numbers on a small screen could bring so much joy… After working nonstop for days to set up our rather ambitious experimental manipulation of stream sediments, the joy of seeing numbers is hard to put into words. Adding to the joy, we were able to share our initial discoveries with John and Paul who have been infinitely valuable in helping us get this experiment off the ground. The excitement of all involved seemed to take the chill out of the cave and renewed my determination to keep measuring gas fluxes despite the less than ideal conditions. In my time here I have learned that not only does collaboration allow you to do bigger science than you can alone, it allows you to share the experience. And as a side benefit, when your collaborator is not spending all day in a cold cave, they bring you much appreciated tea, cookies and chocolate.