July 17, 2008
Author: Sudeep Chandra

As you may have gathered from the other blogs, we have just returned from a multiday trip up the Kolyma, a river that flows into the Arctic Ocean. We hired a ship to move the barge on which we are living, teaching, and collecting samples.  The barge would periodically park and when we would use tender boats to move us from the barge to sample various lakes and streams.  A nice combination of boating, hiking, and slogging through very wet ground.

The group has been incredible as a whole.  Working with students when you too feel young is an incredible experience. A lot of great energy is created by youthful interaction where both student and teacher are engaging in question and answer sessions.  The students have many good ideas and show a lot of promise as young scientists.  Sometimes I wonder which group (mentor v students) is learning more from this experience.   I am very impressed with the skill set of academic mentors on this trip.   Each person has been trained in different specialties (landscape ecology, biogeochemistry, limnology, dendrochronology, etc.) and looks at issues from their own, unique filters. I did not know many of the folks before this trip but feel very fortunate to spend a significant amount of time discovering this landscape with them. I think one thing is certain, with the expertise thus far, we have more questions than answers.  The good news is that Drs. Davidov and Zimov and their families, the primary founders and residence of the station, have pondered many of the same questions have provided answers or at least set up new hypotheses for us to test!  I imagine many of these answers have come from living and observing changes since their arrival in 1980.

This last trip we sampled many lakes, streams, and rivers placed within a landscape of ancient carbon, known as Yedoma.  This Yedoma from the Pleistocene era is quickly thawing due to a variety of global warming feedbacks.  As this ancient combination of ice and organic soil melt, the bones of ancient residents such as mammoths and lions are left for all to see. It is exciting to see the signs of the past at our feet. I kind of feel like a modern day Indiana Jones!  Upon closer reflection however, I now realize what the experts that have visited this station, such as Dr. Katey Walter from the University of Alaska, have been studying the last few years.  What happens if these old great carbon, deposits are released to the planet for all to experience?  Could the release of this ancient carbon that has been sequestered in the cold conditions of the ground tens of thousands of years feed back and further alter our planet’s climate?

Not sure if I know the answer however I do know that I am ready to develop my scientific skill sets to work in the Arctic and on climate change issues.

This “wild” location seems like one that is more tenable and tractable to investigate thanks to the Zimov and Davidov families that founded the station.  Moreover, it is critical to study these locations if we are going to create applied solutions to the issue of global climate change. I am sure I will be back to answer some scientific questions which I hope are both applied and basic in nature.

Sudeep Chandra
Assistant Professor of Limnology and Conservation Ecology