Field Notes
During, before, and after the field course, Polaris students and faculty share their thoughts through journal entries.
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Saying final goodbyes
After months of waiting and planning in a few hours we will set off on a three day journey to Cherskiy, East Siberia. The packing process has been long and thought out.
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Russia, here I come.
The time has finally come for our departure. Peter Ganzlin, Sue Natali, and I have already left Gainesville, FL and are currently sitting in Charlotte, NC's aiport, waiting to fly to JFK in NY.
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packing light
If it weren’t for all this equipment I’m pretty sure I could fit everything into my carry on. But that would make the trip much less interesting. …
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And thus the adventure begins…
Now, the day is here where we journey around most of the globe and across the world's largest country to experience arctic Siberia. I can't wait to meet everyone involved in the POLARIS Project and hear all about the fascinating research that is taking place in this unique locale.
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Siberia-bound!
After many weeks of having The Beatles' "Back in the USSR" put a bigger smile on my face than usual, the day is finally here to depart on my Russian adventure!
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If only we could travel west…
In about 12 hours from now I'll be boarding a plane that will take me to NY, then to Moscow, off to Yakutsk, and finally landing in Cherskiy on Friday. Looking at a globe, it seems like I'll transit over 75% of the planet, which I have to admit is
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Tonight, the Journey Begins
While our counterparts in the eastern US begin the trek tomorrow afternoon, those of us on the west coast start tonight.
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From Sleepy Hollow to Cherskiy
I cannot believe we leave tomorrow! Hopefully I'm as ready as I can be...
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From Zürich to Cherskii!
I'm glad that I'll only have 3 days of gruelsome travelling.. coming from Middle-Europe.
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Time Passing
We’ve come as strangers from all points of the compass to live in very close quarters, on a barge in this case. We’ve grown not merely to accommodate each other’s foibles and eccentricities, but to enjoy them as an aspect of our common purpose and shared experience. We’ve become friends.
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Eight more time zones to go
We wait in Domodedovo, one of Moscow's many airports, after traveling 8 time zones in three days.
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To the North
The tundra is beautiful in its sheer strangeness, an exotic environment, and vaguely haunting for that. Here summer seems not a season, but an exception.
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Twelve Signs
You see tree rings through a microscope (complete with cross hairs for measuring) whenever you go to sleep.
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What Scientists Do
When you get right down to it, scientists, no matter their particular professional concentration, seek to understand how the natural world works.
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Is that a fish rising? No…
In the bowl of this Siberian thermokarst lake, surrounded by rich green of moss shrubs and boreal forest, methane rises far more often than fish.
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