Here I am, measuring temperatures out in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. I guess the eventual question for myself is “how do changes in this region impact global climate change?” Different people approach answering this question with their own angles and methods. For me, the most important player in warming climate is temperature itself. Therefore, I have been building 2-meter sticks with temperature sensors, which I call “standies” as they stand high and sturdy in the tundra to measure temperature gradient in the air and ground. Hopefully, I will get a better sense of how heat is transferred between landscapes and where there is more heat accumulating that may thaw permafrost.

The Polaris Project has hit the half-way point, and I am still loaded with fresh ideas every single day. Sometimes I sense the weight of these thoughts and stress out, but I am still excited for getting them out in the field. I have gradually come to the realization that mechanisms and processes essential to everyone’s project are interconnected, and no one could possibly investigate all these entangled relations in two weeks. I have learned to find the balance between feasibility and creativity through conceptualizing phenomena I’ve seen in the field. Besides, working with a group of intellectual, mindful people is lots of fun!

The most amazing part of the project for me so far is the space I have here. I have physical space to wander in the field and work with fellow participants, and mental space to contemplate questions that always intrigue me. I have space to learn, to make friends, to make mistakes, and to be myself. It is always reassuring that I am walking in the uncertainty in science with curiosity as my guide, and I will eventually land on a shore where there is probably no guaranteed right answer but the faith in science.

– Polaris Project student Aiyu Zheng, Colorado College