A lot has happened since last time I blogged. As a group we have started to narrow down our research topics and have formed small ‘teams’ of specific topics. Since my research topic is looking at the variation in water chemistry of the whole Kolyma watershed (from the source water all the way to the ocean) I am a combination of many of the teams. While I am here I am interested in covering as much ground and different waterways as possible. An exciting part of my research means I get to take small boat rides from the Barge to nearby streams and tributaries. Yesterday was my first experience on the small boats. I went with the Principle Investigators (PI’s) Karen, Andy and Bill. It was nice to travel upstream and start to get a feel of the different dynamics within a watershed. Karen and I took water samples from various locations and Bill collected bottles of water to run labiality test on in the lab. The other day Bill gave me an introduction tutorial on how to run labiality test and I think it will be a nice addition to my research. Further, I would like to look at the daily temporal changes in two different streams, a larger and a smaller one. Therefore, Karen and I are collecting water filters to run absorbance tests and data from these streams every day. Although the weather has varied from sunny to snow in the past few days I think it could show interesting information in my daily data.

One of the greatest parts about being on this trip is learning and seeing new things. I have had the pleasure of observing a Steller’s Sea Eagle flying above us while we were on the boat, a Great Grey Owl flying low above the Larch trees and an ant mound embedded under lichen. I also got to take my first ever Quad ride around the grounds. I now understand the Russian rule that women should not sit on the iron of the Barge because they believe it may cause infertility. This is strictly enforced with life jacket cushions.

Today, as mentioned in the earlier blog by Erin and Kayla, Moira and I woke up early with Chris to collect some field data. We walked to some ‘water holes’ Chris and I had stumbled upon earlier in the week. The holes were of interests because they contained ice and water, we hypothesized that by sampling them we could have a better idea of the ground water flow into the nearby stream. Once at the site, in the snowy flurries, we filtered all the water out of the holes and brought them back to the lab to be analyzed. We went back to the holes tonight to see if they filled with water, to our excitement they had! This project is put on hold for a little because we are leaving for Duvannyi Yar tonight. We are looking forward to a little change of pace and in particular I am looking forward to sampling water along the main stream of the Kolyma!