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Time Passing
It’s a beautiful morning in Siberia after a couple of days of rain, the sky cobalt blue, bright sun glinting on the distant flood plain lakes and sharpening the…
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Eight more time zones to go
Our experience in Russia has passed like one day during the three weeks we spent in Cherskiy where the sun didn’t dip below the horizon. We departed almost as…
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To the North
“Okay, the tundra trip is on for tomorrow,” said Max, “with the usual ifs and provisos. But we can’t take everyone in the three boats. The students who were…
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Twelve Signs
Twelve Signs That You’re a Member of the Terrestrial Team You see tree rings through a microscope (complete with cross hairs for measuring) whenever you go to sleep You know the…
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What Scientists Do
We are stardust, Million-year-old carbon. We are golden, but caught in the devil’s bargain, And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden. “Woodstock” Joni Mitchell One of our PIs Jorien Vonk finished…
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Is that a fish rising? No…
Today Eirik and I carried the inflatable boat down the dirt path towards Lake Shuchi (Pike’s Lake). We turned right at the tipped over, rusty green refrigerator — a…
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Arctic inspiration
Today I went out with Ludda to a hill slope running down to a stream we call “Y4.” She was taking additional measurements to add to the data she…
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Unnamed Territory
Today we named three lakes and a stream. In the arctic research version of a naming ceremony (lacking red ribbons, giant scissors, and popping champagne), we had bug shirts,…
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Just a Matter of Time
The balance of evidence suggests a discernable human influence on global climate. Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), Second Assessment Report, 1995. There is new and stronger evidence that…
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Summers can also be cold
It was a normal day, but as soon as breakfast was finished, the first raindrops started to fall. Although not many drops were falling, the whole sky turned gray….
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Counting Carbon
It’s hard to believe that we’ve passed the half way mark for our trip. Constant sunlight plays tricks with the mind. One day seems like two or three, and…
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Duvannyi Yar, Part Two
We landed on the riverbank near the mouth of a shallow stream and stepped gingerly ashore onto soft, ancient mud. Dissolved organic carbon samples collected last year by Polaris…
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Duvannyi Yar, Part One
“Let’s gather, everyone, on the front of the barge for a safety talk,” Max called. The morning was cool, still, and buggy after a cold, windy night, the Kolyma glassy…
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A Norwegian in Siberia
It is now eleven days since we arrived at the barge and I’ve had time to let the first impressions sink in. Travelling from Tromsø in northern Norway, I…
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