Hello everyone! In the past 48 hours members of the Polaris Project have coalesced into different research teams. Sam and I are the terrestrial team, determined to quantify how different watershed characteristics affect the contribution of nutrients to thermokarst lakes.

Watersheds influence the water quality of aquatic ecosystems. We hope to answer three questions concerning how Siberian watersheds influence lake ecosystems. First, we want to find out how different topography and types of vegetation in the watershed affect the levels of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous soil releases into groundwater. Second, we want to find out if the age of the permafrost affects the levels of nutrients being released into the water. Finally, we want to find out if and how the nutrients the soil releases into groundwater affect carbon processing rates inside Siberia’s thermokarst lakes.

Sam and I spent today gathering and preparing equipment, finalizing our plans, overcoming unforeseen glitches, and setting up our workspace. Luckily, everything’s gone pretty smoothly so far and we’re almost ready to start processing samples!

PS- Mom, you were right, it was hot here (90 degrees!). And the heat made the mosquitoes and horseflies ravenous for Polaris blood. Luckily for us, the temperature has dropped a good 50 degrees since yesterday, sending at least the horseflies into hibernation.

PPS- I also caught my first fish- ever!

The barge is prime fishing territory