Hello everyone. I hadn’t written a blog entry in awhile, so now that I am home and rested I thought I should post an update on where I am and where I’m going with my project.

During our three weeks in Cherskiy, Valentin, Nickolay, and I collected over 130 soil samples from 14 different profile locations. Our profiles were located around four main regions: Shuchi Lake, Duvanni Yar, the Kolyma River floodplain, and the tundra.

Shuchi Lake Profiles

Kolyma River Floodplain Profiles

Duvanni Yar Profiles

Tundra Profiles

At the Northeast Science Station labs, Nickolay and I processed our soil samples for moisture and organic matter content. We also conducted nutrient leaching experiments, in which we added one liter of distilled water to ten grams of soil and let it incubate for twenty-four hours. The water was then filtered and stored for later testing.

Even though all the members of the Polaris Project are back home, work on our projects hasn’t ended. Over the next semester, I’m going to be continuing our project by testing the leachate water for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous content. By determining the nutrient levels leached from the soil into the distilled water, I hope to be able to determine the nutrient leaching potential for soils at our profiles. I’ll also be measuring the carbon to nitrogen ratio in each of our soil samples.

Overall, being a participant in the Polaris Project has been one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had in my life. It’s reaffirmed my love of field work, and confirmed to me that I want to spend the rest of my professional life pursuing a career in research science.

Until later, Joanne