Crampons and Cornfields

Streams and candy bars

2010-11-05T14:26:00.002-05:00

I keep forgetting to bring a proper lunch and find myself eating chocolate nonstop, drooling syrup onto my keyboard when I discover some new cool thing. Unfortunately, I'm not on some glacier, where I can justify the sugar-heat conversion. I've been compiling flow data to go with the chem samples collected at the North Appalachian Experimental Watershed in Coshocton, Ohio. Almost two years worth of data.

Something like determining how flow relates to concentration is pretty straight-forward when you just grab a sample and put a flow meter in a stream.... but when the sample is a split from the entire storm (collection is triggered after a certain stream stage is surpassed), it takes little more thinking. And, I still have to relate grab samples to splits. The variety of sampling techniques are rather acrobatic for me to process. But it is good to make my brain hurt- chocolate good.

Also, I'm excited to teach Issues in Water Resources next quarter! Rule number 1: I'm not going to lecture for more than 45 minutes in my hour and a half class. That and I think half of the class will relate to the water resources near and dear. I keep thinking back to my fish-shocking days and working in Ohio's inland reservoirs. These lovely lakes would infill within 50 years if not dredged and the DNR has trouble doing wrong because they cross a sauger with a walleye to create a saugeye that grows fast and furious in the grungy water but tastes like the lovely walleye.

Blurry picture in a well-defined blog

2009-05-18T08:52:00.002-05:00

I realize that my blog suffers from being nerdy. I avoid topics that might paint me as something other than the most serious or inspired of scientists, enthused by the prospect of discovery. I refuse to link to other blogs that don't relate to life in the Antarctic, Peru, or other regions that cry out- discover new things. In my secret life I write a blog that is more like chocolate or dog barf- something a bit more creamy and alluring but at the same time repulsive. The poetic things and the burps that repeat in my head.

But the best I can do here, is to show this blurry picture of the landscape between the Andes and Lima. Barren. The little water that their is suctioned into agricultural plots that are exported out of the country. The lack of water and the associated climate and character relating to that water are subjects sciencey enough for this blog. They make me want to write another proposal requesting money to continue examining these issues. (another topic that fits with the genre I've dedicated this blog to). Anyway, don't expect me to become more poetic here. I'll save that for a book of shorts when I retire from the science life in my 80s.

Denman Undergraduate Research Forum

2009-05-15T09:21:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update- both Carla and Michael presented their research at the OSU Denman Undergraduate Research Forum! Carla presented alkalinity and cation data from Coshocton, showing that storm events are the major downstream contributor of both--- we'll be working more on the climate implications. Michael presented silicate flux and relative cation abundance data to understand how the Cordillera Blanca compares to other glacier covered regions. Similar silica yield normalized to flow-area, but much different weathering mechanisms (much of the silica is dissolved in the highly acidic-sulfide rich waters, rather than silicate weathering.)

Pictured below: Me and Carla (Berry is not pictured)

Me, Michael, and Bryan

Pictures from our 87 degree-day April sampling

2009-05-01T08:34:00.003-05:00

Annette & I took some pictures from our recent cornfield endeavors. (Thanks for bringing your camera Annette!)

Me waiting for the Licor to take a soil respiration measurement from a no-till corn field prior to planting.
Me taking a groundwater percolation sample from the large, in-ground, lysimeter in Coshocton, Ohio.

Surface water runoff from the mixed landuse site. The water is cloudy because the weir was recently dredged to remove sediment from the water-chemistry auto-sampler.

Annette and Carla sample the stream above the dredging activity.

The microbial underworld, undergraduates, and exciting implications

2009-04-22T11:47:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since I've blogged. I've been sciencing away

Also, Carla and Michael, the two undergrads working with me, have been working up their data on agricultural land alkalinity and tropical glacier silicate weathering, respectively for posters coming up this week and in May! Nice Work!

And I have some new very, very, very, very exciting data from the cornfields that has some implications for the affects of landuse on the carbon cycle. I am dying to bust it out here, but I haven't seen anything similar published to date, so for the moment, I'm like a kid waiting for the tooth fairy... jumping up and down in my seat. I hope I'm not leaking.

And it is back to the cornfields on Monday. It will be as pictured below, the weather is supposed to be summeresque.

Cornfields & Polar Days

2009-03-02T08:50:00.004-05:00

Last week was a big week! I went to the fields and sampled storm runoff from till and no-till plots as well as the forested and mixed landuse sites. It was a rare solo trip because we're approaching the busy season near the end of the quarter at OSU and the undergraduates all have exams to study for and reports to turn in. The cornfields were far muddier than the forested sites and I suspect filtering those samples might take a while. I had a fun time getting the truck up one of the valleys and stayed in 4wd most of the day. From Friday's storm it is evident that much carbon is lost from plowed landscapes..., but I really have no idea what to expect in terms of soil respiration. It doesn't seem that much could be living and breathing in the cornfield or even the other plots right now. Temperatures have dropped from 50 F to 10 F today and won't be much warmer tomorrow. Carla and I will head back to the fields tomorrow to hook the Licor up at our plots and see what baseline respiration is...pretty soon those plots will move from near flatline to robust exhaling.

At any rate, on Saturday I went to COSI the Columbus Center of Science and Industry with Rachel Hinz and we led a group of 30 8th grade girls in flubber explorations. They modeled glacier flow. Flubber is a mesmerizing glue substance that flows viscously and shares some properties with glaciers... although as the girls noticed, flubber doe not melt. After this, I flew down the stairs to give a brief slide show of Antarctic travels to a group of 3 to 50 year olds... my slide show followed an explosion set off to draw listeners in... I have to say COSI knows how to draw a crowd. I may have to begin all my talks with a loud clang and some smoke.

A New President

2009-01-20T20:07:00.003-05:00

On this historic day, Barack Hussein O'Bama became the first African American President of the United States of America. My parents were young children when public spaces still had 'white' and 'black' water fountains. Today it seems that race no longer divides us, that we are people first, a new united states. Yet, still we face many threats, some with distant enemies, and others we create in-country- like our love for fossil fuel and wreckless emission of greenhouses gases into the atmosphere. Our new president acknowledged all of these threats.

(I have special hope for a new energy policy featuring reduced carbon dioxide emissions. See aforemost NASA scientist's, Dr. Jim Hansen's recent letter Barack and Michele O'Bama).

Obama spoke "That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real... But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

Hobbies other than science?

2009-01-08T14:53:00.007-05:00

The snow blazes down and fizzles out on our Ohio pavement and fieldwork feels distant. During this season, my poor schnauzer is skittish on the ice and our walks grow shorter. As gray blankets us, I miss the aesthetic aspects of being in the field. And when not working, I find myself reading dark literature until I get into a funk and become one with my couch.

And now, I'm attempting new hobbies; pretty and far away from writing manuscripts or proposalling. Today, I officially enrolled in an evening watercolor class at the Columbus Arts Council. This blog is primarily focused on science capades, but the awescapes I've been fortunate to visit trigger a gut need to do something artistic. For the rest of the winter, I shall stay away from sad literature. That being said, if you want a good couch cry read "The Blinding Absence of Light". It's even sadder than "Blindness" and "The Road".

Flood Year!!!

2009-01-06T14:13:00.003-05:00

Rumor has it that this is a big water year in the Taylor Valley Antarctica! Similar to the 2001-2002 season during my first trip south. Hearing about it makes me think of the teal ponded water on the glacier surface and the gush of water pouring from Canada Glacier near my tent. It will be exciting to see what experiments will be conducted this year now that there has been more thought as to how "floods" change the landscape, geochemistry, and biotic activity in this most unusual polar desert!

Freeze-thaw-freeze

2009-01-02T08:36:00.003-05:00

Carla and I have been sampling several times now. Each time, my fingers are becoming more solid as the air temperatures drop. To prevent the loss of sensation in my fingers, I put on layer after layer of clothing, which makes me fumble with the bottles more. Fortunately, Carla is much more dexterous than me.

We have also analyzed many of the samples we collected as well as some from storm events that the USDA collected for us. Most of all, I'm happy that we were able to get the pvc soil collars into the ground last week before the ground became to solid to pound them into the ground. Now, we are ready to use the Licor to measure the breath of the earth, or the carbon dioxide emitted from the different land use types. I marked our locations with flags... it seems that we are overdue for a big Ohio snowfall. However, I suspect we may have a good snow free day in January to make our first measurements.

Meeting and Mingling

2008-12-16T23:27:00.002-05:00

I'm at an International meeting in San Francisco with other earth scientists... the turnout is amazing. We overfill the escalators and spill out of the lecture halls. There is no shortage of meaningful & inspiring discussions. Also, because the meeting is broad in scope, I've run into friends and mentors from times past. Admittedly, I am exhausted now, but can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Proposaling: dreaming or reality?

2008-11-24T19:31:00.004-05:00

A few people have asked, where does the money to do earth science come from? If you have good hypotheses- that are important beyond your immediate peers, and propose tests that will support those hypotheses... sometimes, the government will give you money... there are also other ways, private sponsorship, lottery winnings (similar to being a student on a really cool funded project) but in the Byrd Polar Research Center and other research centers across the USA proposals are written to the National Science Foundation.

I submitted one with Bryan and Jeff and attempt to answer some questions from our previous work in Peru. Why? Most tropical glacier melt is routed through wetlands where potentially toxic metals are rapidly added to streams... people are reliant on this water, water quantity is rapidly changing as glaciers recede. Will issues with water quality precede water quantity issues? Will these issues be worse in the dry season with more variable stream flow? (stream flow is buffered by glacial inputs). At any rate, the water is blood red now (above).... Will it turn neon upon the death of tropical glaciers? Also, think of all the cool things to do with students.

Michael and Carla are already calculating dry season weathering rates- but the wet season is unknown...

Snow in the fields

2008-11-18T17:29:00.003-05:00

Carla and I went out to Coshocton fora round of sampling and a holiday meal with the USDA folks. Martin shared his travel adventures examining soil erosion/management issues in sourthern India after our feast. Above are some pictures of this first snowy mission. Carla has a knack for sampling! In addition to this cow, we came across a mink and two bucks! It was a beautiful sunny day to sample.

Percolation

2008-11-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

I am not measuring metals in cornfield groundwater...

Pictures

2008-11-06T13:28:00.002-05:00

Martin from the USDA emailed a few more pictures from our last sampling trip. The next trip is in just less than 2 weeks. Carla, an Earth Sciences undergrad, is going to come out with me to sample and set up the Licor (measures CO2 respiration from the soil). She will be completing her undergraduate thesis working with me (Thanks Berry!). She'll examine alkalinity (or the inorganic carbon flux) associated with different landuse types we are examining: forested, corn till, corn no till, mixed, and unimproved pasture. She is also planning to compare this with samples gathered from Peru this summer. It should be an interesting study because both glacial and agricultural watersheds have high erosion rates.

Thank you

2008-11-04T09:19:00.003-05:00

Here's a picture of my dissertation defense committee: Anne Carey, Berry Lyons, me, Bryan Mark, and Lonnie Thompson. It was a good road to my PhD with their input and support. (And the support of Andrew Fountain who served on my dissertation committee). Recently, I had the chance to thank my adviser, Berry, for making my Antarctic dream possible. As I move forward leading my own research endeavors, I hope that I am able to give back as much as I have received. I could not have had better role models.

Adventures in Tilth

2008-10-26T18:10:00.003-05:00

While at a recent conference (GSA-SSSA), I learned a new word: tilth. Tilth is all aspects of soil that relate to its fertility and productivity. Understanding tilth, includes examining the storage and loss of essential elements.

This weekend we dedicated ourselves to tilthly knowledge.

Pictured tilth crew activities: 1) Jen, volunteering from Metro High School (she's also been working on some data from Peru); 2) the mixed landuse field plot and the white groundwater monitoring building); 3) Klaus, Ilan, and Jen; and 4) Jen showing off her foot after retrieving her shoe from mud and Martin smiling at our muddy feet.

Carbon in Cornfields: all altitudes and latitudes considered

2008-10-16T13:41:00.003-05:00

Well, the bottles are all lined up in a row for next weekend. A high school student and an undergraduate (now anonymous, but not for long) will be joining me heading out to Coshocton in the quest to understand the link between agricultural practices and the storage and loss of carbon from soil. But, I can't help but think of the cornfields high in the Andes, hanging from the sides of mountains. I'm looking at this landscape wondering how many hours of manually tilling and toiling would be needed to grow an acre of corn? And what is the rapid increase of temperatures at high altitudes and human industrial spewing of nitrate doing to those fields now.....???

Welch Crag

2008-10-01T10:42:00.004-05:00

Yesterday my good friend, Kathy Welch, learned she had a crag named after her! (After she won a service award at Byrd Polar Research Center).

Welch Crag: 77°17'08"S Latitude, 160°36'37"E Longitude. A steep rugged peak, which is marked by secondary spires rising to 1500 m in the north-east part of McSaveney Spur, Willett Range, Victoria Land. Topographic Map: Webb Lake (1:50,000).

Here's to Kathy! She'll be blogging from the Antarctic soon in her 16th field season!

Blowing up Alaska?

2008-09-28T18:47:00.006-05:00

Ok, thanks to Saturday Night Live I've been thinking about the threats to Alaska ... Glad to see the Juneau Icefield Research Program featured in the NY Times last week, including a nice photo of the founder Maynard M. Miller (M-cubed).

Till, no till, here we come!

2008-09-27T06:49:00.003-05:00

Monday, I went out to the field with Andrea Grottoli so that we could get on the same page with our sampling effort. We're both transferring skills from different research arenas (glacier melt- me, and coral chemistry- Andrea) to understanding carbon storage in the pastures and cornfields of central Ohio. Andrea is very pregnant and wanted to make sure that her research tech/postdoc, Yohei new where to sample come mid-October.

The Peruvian side project is going well, I'm drafting a paper on the craziest metal concentrations ever observed in glacial melt .... and will get the draft and remaining data to Jeff and crew by the end of the year. The success of the Peruvian project is mostly due to the efforts of 2 undergraduates and now, 1 high school student (They are so good!!!!)

Update from the office

2008-09-16T14:44:00.003-05:00

Hey all! OSU is on its own power grid, but large chunks of Columbus are still without power after Hannah and Ike made their way inland. Our trees are rather spindlely and we may have to push back a few fun cookouts to deal with the remnant limbs strewn across the yard. We are lucky to not have had further damage and wish those of you who are dealing with worse the best (especially those closer to the coast).

On the science front, I'll be heading to the December American Geophysical Union meeting to present some of the results from Peru (phew good data!). The water was as wacky as predicted... but plenty of data sorting and interpretation remains! The preliminary results are very exciting, this was not temperate glacial melt....

Also, next week is one more recon mission to the Coshocton Cornfields before the real deal begins. The fields should be glorious this time of year!

Making/Setting Standards

2008-08-13T08:13:00.003-05:00

One month post Peru and I'm heading to the lab today. A history undergraduate with growing lab skills and an interest in the environment, Michael, has prepped the samples for analyses. Today, he, Catherine, and I are headed to the OSU Trace Element Research Lab to make some not-so -trace standards to measure the amount of metal in Peruvian water samples. I've taught Catherine the art of making ppt standards, but in today's refresher course we will move up to multi-element standards at high concentrations. We will make a 40 element 100, 10, and 1 ppM stock standard. (1 ppM is a grain of salt in an Olympic sized swimming pool...even so, many heavy metals are toxic at the 10 ppM level). To achieve this feat requires a lot of concentration (no pun intended), and good recording skills. I also think, hand-thumb coordination is a plus for pipetting small volumes of liquid.... if all goes well we will have some data soon.

High Altitude Footage

2008-07-16T13:52:00.002-05:00

Dr. Jeff Bury (UC Santa Cruz) shot some footage on our high altitude trip...

Back at Byrd Polar

2008-07-16T11:23:00.003-05:00

Made it home last night! (After catching the rojo ojo to Newark and a 6 hour layover I am safely home with my sample cooler untouched by customs!)

I'm back to work already, starting in on those dissertation edits stacked up on my desk and noticing the postdoctoral soil samples drying on the clean bench. (Thanks Jaika, Kathy and Berry for going out with the backhoe while I was away!)

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pics including me and Kyung-in at Yungay, dos Sara(h)s with Jeff M. Bryan and me in Quilcayhuanca, and Jeff B., Adam F., and me after our hike above 5000m!
(most of these are from Bryan's camera).

Familiarity

2008-07-14T10:09:00.008-05:00

We (Jeff M., Jeff B., Sara K., and Michel B.) left Huaraz yesterday on the same 8 hour coach we arrived on... Lima feels more familiar with the constant street noise and neon lights and lack of poultry running around the street. (Pictured are some scenes from Huaraz). Bryan met us at the bus station and we all went to have pollo and papas one last time together. Bryan was on TV yesterday while we numbed ourselves on the bus. He discussed glacial retreat and was questioned about his 'friend' Al Gore. This experience included makeup, but all and all it sounds like it was a big success!

Sara and I are heading out to explore Lima before we catch the red eye. We were given the name of a cafe in Mireflores (the rather ritzy part of Lima) to start with. We will meet Jeffs, Bryan and some of the Peruvian Glaciology Group for lunch later... and best of all, I will be home with my wonderful husband, Trey, toasting us with the clean water straight from our tap in less than 24 hours.

Clean water for Todos

2008-07-12T13:08:00.010-05:00

Today I took my final samples at the Rio Santa in central Huaraz. There are at least a million users of the Rio Santa... with 200,000 of them in the upper basin, which includes Huaraz. This river flows from the Andes down to the Lima coast and is used for bathing, laundry, and agriculture. Our group is sampling the upper reaches of this river and characterizing glacial and groundwater contributions as well as surveying people about their water use and needs. (Specifically, I am researching the metal chemistry of the river including both natural and mine runoff.)
Pictured is something red discharging into the main channel, women doing laundry at a river water station, clothes drying on the bank opposite of my final samples, a kid looking for metal to recycle on the bank, two children and a dog near the river, and my pH and conductivity meters, resting near a bag of toilet paper and a dead pig. I did not see the bloated flush until I started sampling and nearly fell into the water in surprise. Sarah Wright watched me from the bank as I wobbled precariously and clutched my stomach in horror.

The kids made me especially sad. Not knowing what to do, I smiled as earnestly as I could and handed the oldest boy the only candy bar in my bag. He took one small bite and gave the rest to his wide-eyed younger brother. While I sampled, women on the opposite bank stripped down to their underlayers. They vigorously lathered themselves in the same water that flowed through heaps of human and animal waste. I am testing the quality of this water. But this is not enough.

I still haven't eaten a guinea pig

2008-07-11T17:41:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we got special permission to head to Pasto Ruri, a National Park that has been shut down for a variety of political reasons. There, you used to be able to ski down the glaciers, but now, there is little to shoosh down.

Anyway, I am very tired and my nose is nearly touching the keypad. In the last 5 days I have hiked over 8 hours a day on average and I am eating everything in site. (Altitude has not diminished my appetite. We have yet to venture into restaurants serving guinea pigs yet, so I am still limited in my culinary adventures). Pictured is Sarah Wright, who will stay after most of us leave to conduct a tourism study for her Master's Thesis. She helped me sample yesterday and is very upbeat even under strenuous conditions. Also pictured are Adam, Paul, Allyson, and Kyung who are the Lidar/GIS/GPS/Survey team on this mission. (Behind them is the shrinking Pasto Ruri). The last pictures are from today, Jeff, Sara Knox and I woke up at 5 and headed back to Llanganuco to sample tributaries from two headwater lakes.

I'll write more tomorrow about what we're doing... after I hydrate and eat a few plates of food.

Indecent Exposure

2008-07-09T10:52:00.006-05:00

I'm working on rehydrating after a few full days of hiking, climbing, and sampling in Quilcayhuanca. We're inside the California Cafe having second breakfast. The main entrance mostly blocked by a metal garage door to prevent stray rocks from pummeling us. (Most strikers are not violent, but some are, and they throw things). Sarah Wright (see Peace and Skittles Link) had to duck (or rather, was pushed to the floor by the guy she was interviewing at the Statistics
Office yesterday). Many businesses are still open, but in a covert steel covered sense. The fresh "communista" graffiti and eerily quiet streets. (It is usually bustling at all hours).

Here's a picture of me on our hike down from Yanamarey Glacier- my zipper broke and the duck tape solution finally blew out. It is pretty indecent for Peru, so I put on my pair of Granny pile pants by the time we caught our cab out.

Uhhh- the steel door was just pulled all of the way down because a flock of strikers are walking by. My latte sure is good....

Quilcayhuanca!!!

2008-07-09T08:46:00.003-05:00

yikes! In a tired worry, I attempted to save some of my pics to an external hard drive and deleted about 100 of my faves..lost somewhere between the hard drive and the altitude. (unfortunately many of these were of people. Staggering mountain views are great, but the crew here is amazing!). Here a few that I didn't delete from the Quilcayhuanca Valley. The first is me (with a polvo beard) at more than 5000 m. Jeff Bury, Adam French and I woke up at 4 am to get that high and made it back to camp at dusk... I also managed to get a headwater sample!) The last picture of Bryan Mark is one of a handful of people pics that survived my tired erasing.

Bag full of kittens

2008-07-04T16:33:00.002-05:00

Overwhelming Beauty

2008-07-03T11:01:00.011-05:00

We sampled the Llanganuco chain of lakes. Jeff, Sara, Jesus and Adam also mastered the art of weather station maintenance and upgrading. The views in Huascaran National park were overwhelming. As the polvo (dust) fell from our faces, the mountains towered from all sides. Surrounding us included Pisco and Huascaran (the same mountain cull Lonnie Thompson and crew drilled for 64 days).

Pictured are one of our sampling sites, Jesus and Adam successfully replacing the memory on one of the weather stations (after a two hour gazelle run up landslide debris), Huascaran, and two views of and from the met station.

Also a new crew from Nova Scotia arrived that are helping Bryan with Lidar flights above the Cordillera Blanca. It looks like the flights on hold may soon take off, which we all hope for.

Yanamarey Glacier & Pampas

2008-06-30T10:30:00.004-05:00

We reached 4800 meters! Jeff McKenzie, Sara Knox, Jeff Bury, and Adam French and I hiked in two groups up to the hut near the terminus of the Yanamarey Glacier. Jeff M., Sara, and I sampled water in the pampa lowlands on the way up. These mushy grasslands are great sponges. The pampas filter and store much of the highly mineralized water that courses directly in front of the glacier. They likely serve the same role as wetlands do at higher latitudes.

As Jeff M., Sara, and I sampled, Jeff B. and Adam loaded our extra gear onto two hired horses. The local man who lead these horses was one of the worst they had ever hired in their multiple trips up this valley. (Starting with not having rope to tie our gear to the horses).

Just before dusk we reached the tin and stone hut at the base of the Yanamarey. In spite of my past 3 days of less than perfect health, I felt well enough to be on dinner and tea crew and Adam and I made a big pot of potato stew. Soon after eating we all slept in a tight row and I made sure to avoid flailing my arms and legs around to stretch them out.

I am glad that I felt well at night, because the morning was more difficult and required some mental readiness and a few Advil. The altitude was slower paced and breathier than lower elevations. I'm sure that my sample bottles from these heights have wiggly writing born from my new strange body. But the views were worth every bit of this surreal experience.

A day for no pictures

2008-06-27T15:00:00.010-05:00

Today is my second rest day, and I'm now taking Ciprofloxacin a strong antibotic that after two doses seems to be doing the trick. I feel well enough to work, yet, I stayed behind. We are heading to higher altitude tomorrow at the Yanamarey Glacier for an overnight and I think taking care of myself is the best preparation. The others are out installing water monitoring equipment and talking to nearby communities.

I am thinking of the stinging frothy red water we sampled from a llaves pile (mine tailings) before it entered the river. Most devastating, the barren dust-field stretched out in front of it was marked by children's footprints. A flock of uniformed kids dutifully bounced to school across this parched poisonous land. The source of a pervasive local cough is likely the pumping of this flour into the air. This day was a mix of emotions with the kids burned into my head sharply contrasting with images from the Andean headwaters we sampled earlier. Before the alpine glare of the afternoon, golden grasses spanned out across the broad flat valley towered by glistening rise of the ice covered Cordillera Blanca. I am humbled by both grandeur and devastation.

Rio Santa Valley Pictures

2008-06-26T08:34:00.000-05:00

Vive Saltines!

2008-06-25T19:25:00.002-05:00

Today was beautiful. I think the penalty for seeing such beauty may be some digestive revenge. Thank goodness for flat rocks, hand sanitizer, and a healthy obsession with carrying many liters of water. (Samples not included). Here is one photos from the day (uploading is slow now). Jeff Bury, from UC Santa Cruz joined us today. He is a social geographer with memorized knowledge of the mining history of the Rio Santa Valley, and is one of the principle grantees on this study. I'll leave the pictures of mine tailings for another day!

Beautiful streams

2008-06-24T19:46:00.003-05:00

It is the dry season. But there is ample rain in the Rio Santa Valley. Jeff, Sara, and I started out pushing Teo's car down the street to jump start it and we were off on our Dry Season 2008 tour de hydrogeochemistry. I am only showing pictures of the natural glory of our sampling trip and avoiding the human picture. The Rio Santa and its tributaries are a water source for washing clothes and funneling waste of the city. The lumps of human hair mingled with animal bones were among the easier things to look at.

The people we've met in town have been very friendly and helpful. Willing to translate my gesture-rich travel Spanish with genuine smiles.

Huaraz and Yungay

2008-06-23T16:07:00.007-05:00

Today and yesterday have been busy, running around acquiring supplies. Including a 60 dollar cooler. Jacquie Smith, a professor at the College of Saint Rose in New York has been very helpful with her experience navigating in Huaraz, alone I'd be much like one of the headless animals we see hanging from the market racks. Her group (Kerry and Nate), and Kyung from OSU are heading out into the field tomorrow.

Jeff, Michel, and Sara and I will travel to our first stream sampling sites tomorrow.

Photos are of a parade through Huaraz, Bryan describing the tragic 1970 avalanche at Yungay (~18 thousand died), the vegetation that grew over the destroyed city, and a survivor of the Yungay avalanche.

Road to Huaraz

2008-06-22T08:48:00.007-05:00

Our herd of ten boarded the bus after nudging our packs to the weighing scales as lithely as possible. It was a clumsy process, but as efficient considering the size of the aisles and the bulk of our gear. The bus provided much needed cushioning to recover from our late night traveling. It was much nicer than the typical Greyhound, equipped with lounger legs and built in neck cushioning. The road to Huaraz was enjoyable.

The ride was one of stark landscapes the arid dune fields, the parched foothills of the Andes. Like the arid west, there were many dryland farms with extensive irrigation. Most of the ascent was through these gradual sandy expanses, and we spent much less time on windy mountain roads than I anticipated. It was pitch black for most of that part of our ride.

After arriving at Bryan's home away from home (Mi Casa) we had a nice meal of semolina and chicken soup, chicken, potatoes and rice. Unfortunately, a few toasts and the high altitude didn't agree with me well last night, but I feel refreshed today and ready to explore Huaraz. We will spend the day acclimating before starting our field work.

It was a treat to see the welcoming smiles of the Mi Casa family. It reminded me of returning to Lake Hoare where old friend reunite. It is nice to few this from the outside and truly appreciate the field experiences I have had.

Lima

2008-06-21T10:19:00.003-05:00

Made it to Peru! I maximized my carry ons and took just one pound under the embargo weight limit. The plane was a little late taking off, so I didn't meet Jeff and Michel until midnight, after making it through customs and purchasing my ten dollar cell phone...

I'll be heading out the door on a hunt for agua for our bus ride to Huaraz. (from sea level to 3000 m!) We leave the hotel Clifford in an hour... our regal lodging amongst the bustle of Lima.

Also it turns out I know how to ask for a towel in Spanish... I am very grateful that toalla meant what I thought...

Why the laminated Becki?

2008-06-13T06:45:00.004-05:00

Today I am dropping Natalie off at the airport, she leaves with the rest of Lonnie Thompson's crew today. If time allows, I hope to sneak up the mountain they will be surveying. My crampons packed points together. (The opposite equals blood and leaking water bottles.)

My own flight in 7 days! I will arrive in Lima around 10 pm with several bottle-filled coolers and a bobbing head, skimming the crowd for Jeff, Michel and a ten dollar cell phone.

I've handed Berry my last dissertation paper, but I expect there will be edits. Unfortunatelytherein, I throw in Old English whereases and howtohenceforths into my geochemical discourse and may forget a few journals that my 14+ year dry valley veteran adviser will suggest.

Becki took me along in her search for evapoconcentrated Great Basin waters, and I shall whotohenceforthery take her (in laminated form) with me to Peru. Off to Natalie's for some just-under 50 pound duffles.

High Places

2008-06-12T09:15:00.001-05:00

Almost packed everything... except for my shades and....

Map of the future

2008-06-09T19:20:00.002-05:00

Here's where we're heading...

Frozen Weir to beat the heat

2008-06-07T07:05:00.003-05:00

The humidity, a pack of hungry dogs licking my face, arms, and legs... to slow the swelter I visualize this... (oh, glorious frozen stream!)

In less than 2 weeks I will be in colder Andean temperatures!

And this is Antarctica

2008-06-03T18:27:00.004-05:00

What I'm writing about today

2008-06-03T18:16:00.002-05:00

Andersen Creek, Taylor Valley, Antarctica

Big Darby and future high altitude streams

2008-05-26T18:11:00.003-05:00

Catherine and Gregg just completed two amazing poster sessions displaying there work on the Big Darby River, Ohio and Panamanian weathering. (I took the below pic of Berry sampling Catherine's site).

I'm already counting on eating blocks of cheese (or another high fat Peruvian food) in an alternating sequence with chocolate to deal with high altitude headaches and hunger. I suppose aspirin and some time away from the computer will also help. I also just realized that the bus from Lima to Huaraz is an 8 hour segment. I'll keep the end in mind. Jeff sent some amazing pics his brother took on their last visit!

If I lived on Europa

2008-05-15T14:25:00.004-05:00

If I lived on Europa perhaps I'd be a microorganism eating heavy metals in the veins of glacier melt... The ponded liquid would retain dissolved metal solutes, the gatorade for my energy needs. Cryoholes and ponds are the fertile wetlands of glaciers on Earth and on other icy worlds.

Here's one from Europa on earth, my first trip south... Andrew, Martyn, Berry are in the top row, Heather, Virginia and me are kneeling.

Loess Microderm Abrasion

2008-05-11T16:24:00.003-05:00

Dissertating on Sunday is no good. I am already distracted by thoughts of sitting on the margin of the Llewellyn Glacier scooping a big paw of loess into my hands, burrowing in the soft silky grains and smearing it on my face. Look at the latest microderm abrasion products available, many of them feature 'aluminosilicates' which find their equal mate in glacier loess...

Also, to clean this loess off my face, there is the magic of used tea bags...

Planning for the pre-dissertation sabbatical

2008-05-07T16:45:00.003-05:00

I met with Dr. Bryan Mark to discuss plans for traveling into the Andes. I will be flying into Lima on June 20th and meeting others from McGill University. Then after 2 field weeks (or 22 days) I will return with bags of water to analyze and breath-taking views to digest. All of this pre-dissertation sabbatical planning is going well and the bottles are piling up for a massive assessment of Andean water quality. I am also finalizing the last paper in my dissertation (unless I write a fourth...). Anyway, I am geeked out and my brain is already at high altitude... this is mostly because I saw a picture of the rise of the Cordillera Negra and the Cordillera Blanca that bisect Peru... in the middle of these two ranges is the valley we will be researching. The valley floor is at 11,300 ft. or well above the elevation of the famed Machu Picchu one of the last great Incan cities.

El deshielo de los todos glaciars de los montañas

2008-04-28T19:36:00.003-05:00

Sueño los glaciars
(I dream the glaciers)
y
(&)
el deshielo de los todos
(they all melt)
Rios desaparecan
(rivers disappear)
y
el mundo es arido
(and the world is dry)
llorando y llorando
(we cry and we cry)

Climate, water, and carbon...

2008-04-23T09:44:00.010-05:00

We got the tour of the North Appalachian Experimental watershed in Coshocton, Ohio last Monday. Watersheds are monitored for the complete hydrologic cycle. Below are pictures of the H-weir (blue) that measures surface runoff and the lysimeter that weighs and calculates the infiltration of water into the ground. We were lead beneath the ground via an old concrete stairwell to view the lysimeter.

The experimental watershed is broken into various plots of different landuse, % clay, slope, and other attributes. Below are clumps of no-till soil compared with tilled soil. The no-till soil has many long burrows from worms.

This is a plastic cast of one of the burrows made in the no till soil.

Because the water cycle and landuse are monitored, we will be able to determine much about the controls on the carbon cycle in response to landuse and other conditions.

Incan Bones

2008-04-22T11:49:00.002-05:00

In June, I will examine water quality in a glacial melt stream and a non-glacial melt stream that converge to feed the Rio Santos, Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Dr. Bryan Mark has already examined the oxygen isotopic signal of these streams and found that during the summer melt season ~ 40% of the Rio Santos is glacial melt. The long term hydrograph suggests these contributions shift in response to climate, I hope to understand how the water quality shifts....compounding the issue, there is a nearby gold mine that may release metals into the stream(s)....this takes my hypothesizing back to Incan times when people were forced into hard labor in mines to meet the empires growing lust for silver. Did some of the Incans allegedly killed by old world disease actually die of metal poisoning?... not just those working in the mines, but those living downstream of deadly tailings...

I just need some Incan bones...

Corn Recon and preparing for Andean Adventures

2008-04-19T18:47:00.004-05:00

First of all, I'm heading to the cornfields on Monday to scope out my future postdoctoral project site with Climate, Water, and Carbon program Drs. Rattan Lal, Berry Lyons, and Andrea Grotolli; others will be involved but this is Monday's crew. I will take pictures.

In the meantime, I am staring at the small bruises on my arms from Hepatitis shots (I should have had those shots 10 years ago when I was waste-deep in effluent (poop water) working with the USGS; but I have so far escaped the sequence because when I was 20 I thought I would never die, and my recent exposure to poop water has been very minimal. Other good news, I still do not have tuberculosis, my TB skin test is invisible. It has been a year of exotic travel (including my first trip to Clearwater Florida; which is extremely exotic if you count the alien living at Pier 60, Trey can impersonate him too well and I am little suspicious).

I should prepare physically for working in the Andes, but unlike previous field expeditions, this time I am heading out with other folks coming from flat Columbus....to prepare for my first Antarctic trip I made sure that I could do at least 6 pull-ups. I figured this would insure I could pull a 200 pound person+pack out of a crevasse, or at least stop the fall... Now, I am concentrating on being able to build my thumb strength (training undergraduates in master pipetting (using a suped-up eye dropper to measure chemicals), and of course, my other fingers are ever-agile from dissertating and now blogging.

Things to Come!

2008-03-30T08:11:00.003-05:00

Many good things have been brewing over the last few weeks. In a few short months I will be finishing my PhD after working at Byrd Polar Research Center for 5 years (not completed consecutively...) Early in the summer, I will be heading to Peru with Bryan Mark and Jeff McKenzie to examine water quality issues associated with receding glaciers. After Peru, I will come back and defend my dissertation to be knighted with my PhD.

Then... I have accepted a carbon, water, and climate postdoctoral position at Ohio State. (http://www.cwc.osu.edu). I will be collaborating with many good people at OSU examining soil, atmospheric, and groundwater-riverine carbon and nitrogen fluxes associated with agricultural and other land use types. Meeting our growing food needs with more crops will have a big impact on climate and water quality. I plan to also lead undergraduate thesis work on other 'field studies' lest I suffer a student-withdrawal drought.

Persistence

2008-03-19T09:36:00.011-05:00

I post this picture of what I would have worn to faculty prom had I been hired at the place that boasts its own faculty prom. Don't worry, although I'm not going to prom, I'm still wearing that wig.

I am surprised by the power of persistence. At 15, I wrote down a list of about 30 things that I wanted to do with my life including going to Antarctica and Mars. I have done most of these things, some after being rejected multiple times. The key is, knowing there are many ways to get where you set out to go.

Last week, co-led a hands-on glacier-flubber activity with gifted 8th grade girls. You could see their eyes light up as they explored how their glaciers responded to temperature, slope, and surfaces. They created their experiments, guided by their own growing interest in oozing goozing flubber. We challenged them to test their hypotheses and they did it fabulously!!!

Dr. Kathy Sullivan, was the keynote speaker for this event. Kathy was the first woman to walk in space (something I kick myself for not speaking with her about when on the way to Antarctica.) In one of her interviews she said don't let anyone "put you of your game and affect your path" Don't let anyone tell you what to do with your flubber.

Here's to enjoying the path!

Leaching Lead from Barbies?

2008-03-10T09:21:00.005-05:00

Environmental lead pollution is so pervasive that we're (people and ecosystems) still suffering from our leaded gasoline and paint using days. Sadly, new sources of lead pollution still enter the environment via commercial products... including toys and toothbrushes. The US Senate has responded calling for greater consumer protection (NY Times 3/7/08). Will these measures be enough? And what was the delay? We've known lead in paint was bad news since the 1970s, especially for infants that crawl closer to lead-bearing soils and are prone to sticking things into their mouths...

For Environmental Geochemistry students: Take your favorite childhood toy. Stick it in a strong acid solution for a few days. Measure the lead concentration in the solution. Is your favorite toy safe? Construct an experiment to examine the timeline of lead pollution in that Barbie collection...or those Transformers...

Burrowing for Rawhides

2008-03-08T09:15:00.003-05:00

Haven't seen this much snow in Ohio in a long time...

Midnight in the Valley of the Dead

2008-03-05T07:51:00.009-05:00

Long shadows grow into darkness and the extended season in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica has begun...

Photos from the austral autumn take my mind into its joyful recesses... oh, how I am with them in spirit now!!!!

Check out the rotating pictures (at the bottom of the site) from friends staying for the extended season in Taylor Valley (this is the first time that the ecosystem will be observed "shutting down" in response to the steady loss of light.

www.mcmlter.org

Into the Water

2008-03-03T07:48:00.004-05:00

Last summer was the summer our dog, Loki, learned how to swim. It was the hot dripping sky that forced us all to abandon land and swim in the turbid water.

Tooling Around

2008-03-01T09:43:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, I gave a talk to the home crowd on the dustiest polar glaciers on earth, the great analogues for Martian life (I'm working on my marketing skills for future endeavors). My adviser is back from his tour del tropicos so it was a good time to present. Great feedback!--- Including from Bill Showers, he stuck around for my talk... I'm still drooling over the auto-nitrate analyzer Bill uses in his studies. It will revolutionize future stream studies- best capturing pulse events (and be easy for students to use!!!). I am auctioning off my doll collection to buy one... no seriously, I will write a grant proposal for this one.

In the final stretch of PhD-land, I am building greater context for the stream chemistry story in the McMurdo Dry Valleys... although the dry valleys have been dry valleys for millions of years they are projected to respond to future global climate change... and I do have some data from the melt year to project metal fluxes with....and I do have some smart friends to collaborate with...

My coffee breath is getting to me, so I'm done tooling for now.

Fertilize the earth- the wetlands might save us...

2008-02-29T07:03:00.009-05:00

Yesterday, I heard the most fantastic talk on nitrate! And it ties in well with a previous post this week on wetlands (the great filters and transformers of human derived pollutants). First, some background: nitrogen in our atmosphere is fixed by microbes and then utilized by all forms of life. It is an essential fertilizer. However, the burning of fossil fuels and our use of fertilizers for agricultural and other things have overwhelmed the natural nitrogen cycle. This is primarily indicated by the surplus of nitrate (for instance, in the Mount Hood Snow I collected a few summers ago, there was clearly enrichments in nitrate from fossil fuel burning). Humans presently dominate the earth's major geochemical cyles- (Vitousek and others, 1997)

Dr. Bill Showers from North Carolina State University is studying nitrate in the Neuse River Basin, NC. Bill's research group studied runoff from an area where biosolids (or the end-product of wastewater management) are applied on soils. (They know exactly how much nitrate is in these biosolids). The surprising results: groundwater, not not surface runoff, contribute most of the nitrate to the Neuse River.

Bill and his group also found that the locations where nitrate-rich biosolids were applied showed little relation to the nitrate in the stream water. The stronger control on stream chemistry was the type of soil. Water-loving soils retained the most nitrate, keeping it from reaching the streams. So, Bill and his team are going to engineer wetlands to create hydric soils and measure their capacity to retain nitrate and improve stream water quality......

The biggest, scariest conclusion of Bill's talk was that by 2050 fertilizer, sludge, wastewater, and even groundwater are going to pale in comparison to atmospheric nitrate flux. This is very, very bad for us with the nitrate concentrations in many watersheds already reaching toxic levels (think- blue baby syndrome).

The tufa part is over

2008-02-28T08:23:00.003-05:00

Ah, this calls for a geology pun. I'm done with most of my dissertation. It all goes to the committee in April. Now back to work for the margin police! Pretty soon I'm going back to the painting postcards hobby... this writing to break from writing is....(I'm not sure I have an end for the sentence. ..)

Phreatomagmatic Petrologist and Locust-eyed Geochemist

2008-02-27T12:14:00.006-05:00

I really like having locust eyes... as I remember, Trey mentioned that it might be good to take those off for the picture. On the other hand, you can't see his eyes either...fortunately, we've evolved, and 6 years later, we have eyes...

Dalmations and Cougars and Worms- Oh My!

2008-02-26T10:38:00.004-05:00

The Fouse Elementary School Cougar and Dalmatian are back after a strange journey to the Antarctic underworld. The visited with the mighty Wurm (pictured below), the ruler of the soil underworld in the Antarctic polar desert. Wurm and his friends are better known as Scottnema to lovers of all things that sneak in the soil. Anyway, I am glad the Dalmatian and Cougar made it back safely because I can always use more help in the lab. Yesterday, might have been the end of it all, if not for the yawn that overtook my brain.
For more about Wurm and his friends check out this link put together by my worm-herding cohorts (led by the superb Dr. Diana Wall):
http://nemablog.wordpress.com/

Or learn more about the Antarctic dry valleys from the engaging Dr. Becky Ball from the Dartmouth Soil Chemistry Group (led by the wonderful Dr. Ross Virginia):
http://polarsoils.blogspot.com/

On the shoulders of giants

2008-02-25T21:38:00.005-05:00

Admittedly, I am blogging a lot lately. Either it's all the time in the lab, or because I feel a bit like I'm in some jaw-dropping location. The possibilities!!! My adviser, Berry, was very, very kind in the meeting we held to set my dissertation defense date. And it seems whatever road I take, I have his full support as well the others in my committee (and my family).

Now, more than ever, I am filled with thoughts of guiding students. I am setting goals and taking measures to conduct purposeful research with young people. Every route I conjure is filled with this.

Preservation

2008-02-25T11:46:00.004-05:00

It's approaching...at least entering the periphery of my thoughts... Girl's Explore Archeology Day. For activity planning, I left an apple outside to rot in my backyard over the weekend. I am going to wrap another one in modeling clay next week and see how it fairs in comparison. I wonder if it will stop the apple from oxidizing? I suspect apple mummies could be good smelly fun. Although, this will pale in comparison to making batteries from the lunch items of 5th graders. Stench, unless it is gut-wrenching, is very affective at capturing the interest of younger students.... and myself....

Spring

2008-02-24T12:56:00.004-05:00

The recent thaw-induced sidewalk ooze of salt and eroding concrete pulls my thoughts to spring. Here's a picture (of Becki) I took in March (2005) from Death Valley during the 100 year wildflower bloom. What joy!

Glacier wetlands and ecosystem services

2008-02-22T16:42:00.005-05:00

Wetlands capture metals either in sediment and/or to be taken up by plants... furthermore, amazingly bad organic compounds (often generated by human industrial activity) are completely transformed into much safer entities. Nature's filtration is often much more efficient and better at treating poor water quality than human created replacements. In 1997, Costanza and others calculated that the value of all ecosystem services (from improving water quality to preventing erosion) were approximately $33 Trillion/yr (or almost twice the global GNP). This is likely an underestimate for several reasons they mention in their paper including that ecosystems as modeled are deemed to not have sharp thresholds at which they can no longer provide services.

One critical question is: to what extent is human alteration of landscape capable of improving ecosystem services? (e.g. is Green city-planning a potential solution to the biogeochemical damage that humans create? )

Anyway, on the pristine side of the equation, I am looking at elemental data as it comes out- (so I can't be quoted on this just yet) it looks like the big ponds on the glacier surfaces are the wetlands of the dry valley glaciers retaining metals and organisms...

Lab Work

2008-02-22T11:56:00.004-05:00

This is it! The last lab run for my dissertation (it will take about three 20 hour days---a better alternative to 10-12 eight hour days--- it takes a long time to calibrate, so I try to stay on the SF-ICPMS as long as possible). My flat buddies decided they would help me glove up... but as you can see it wasn't as straight forward as I anticipated...it might be a long 20 hours...

Science Budget Shuffle

2008-02-21T13:24:00.007-05:00

On February 4th, Bush sent the FY09 Budget request to Congress. This means a shuffle of money for the sciences with the DOE expecting gains (avert the energy crisis) and losses for the DIH and USGS (among others). What can we do? I am particularly upset that the Nataional Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) will suffer budget reductions of over $10 Million (with a new annual budget of 54.1 Million). During the summer I was 19, I worked for the Minnesota NAWQA as a UNIX-GIS mapper as part of an effort to monitor the health of the Red River and Mississippi Basins. A few years later, I found my way back to NAWQA as a undergraduate hydrology employee for the Wisconsin office. Maybe I was young and impressionable, but my memory hasn't faded. I cannot say enough about NAWQA and the importance of their efforts. The long term data sets established by NAWQA provide a sense of the changing quality of our waterways through time and space. This information is necessary to evaluate our past, current, and future water management practices. NAWQA also provides a baseline of hydrology data that complements new research on hot topics.

In Science Magazine, the Chief Executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Alan Leshner, urged (2/15/08)

"We should take up "glocal" science advocacy to complement the traditional approach. This strategy involves taking a global issue and making it meaningful to society at the local level. Scientists and citizen advocates should recruit their nonscience friends and neighbors to promote science funding to decision-makers. Recruiting efforts can be as simple as discussing science-related issues at dinner parties or as ambitious as meeting with community groups, school boards, or city council members. The appeal should be locally focused for two important reasons: Policy-makers often seem to listen better in their home districts, where they are less distracted by the press of life on Capitol Hill; and they need to see clearly that science funding is not only a national but a local issue for all their constitutents, not just those who are scientists."

As mentors to K-12 and undergraduate students, we must build classes with local relevance... this is especially important to introductory science classes, where students may receive their only exposure to conducting, evaluating, and valuing scientific research.

Relax

2008-02-20T10:43:00.003-05:00

It's time to put a wig on and relax. To my fellow PhD students and early career scientist friends, or anyone who likes to perpetually challenge themselves to do better, we owe it to ourselves.
I'm surprisingly attached to the future right now and conjuring scenarios (one in particular) in which I can lead students in research. This causes me to write at insane speeds (trying to mass publicize to catch up with those 5 years ahead of me) and also has led to an increase in weekly mileage that parallels peak week in marathon training. I suspect I will run the Athens, Ohio Marathon in April to capitalize on my granite hams.
Looking for a picture for a talk, I came across this oldie- but goodie... Sadly, the scientist standing in the left has passed away, hit by a car while out for a jog--- after surviving many deep-field misadventures subsisting on bumper bars (a butter-based granola bar) in the middle of the TransAntarctics.

Anyway, this picture reminds me that my life is good, our lives are short... and a wig never hurt.

The end is near

2008-02-19T09:25:00.003-05:00

Wahoo! I'm working on the final paper from my dissertation...and scheduling my defense with my dissertation advisory committee next week. My final battle with the Element2 ICPMS begins at the end of this week and from what I've heard, its running smoothly. Last week, I trained Berry's hard-working undergraduate. Catherine to make standards. Catherine works at least 30 hours a week between our lab and a few other campus jobs putting herself through school. At any rate, Catherine had a steady hand and did a nice job diluting high concentration elemental solutions into standards that bracketed the concentrations of Antarctic streams. I am impressed!

Metal, Metal, Metal!

2008-02-14T09:39:00.006-05:00

UPDATE- Ed Boyle's talk was very exciting- hydrothermal sources of iron to the ocean!!! And he graciously agreed to send me his metal sampling methods, which employ a quicker and cleaner filtration method that will save future lab hours.

Lonnie Thompson just popped in with Ed Boyle! This broke me from a writing induced trance. It is only appropriate that Dr. Boyle materialized... if ever anyone wondered what happened to metals in the environment, Ed Boyle is the person to ask. (I can't wait for his talk this afternoon!)

Why are metals a problem? Metals, especially in dissolved form, may be ingested by organisms in some cases replacing vital nutrients. Metal poisoning has been shown to compromise the health of smallest organisms to the largest mammals (including humans). Documented poisonings occurred as far back as Roman times- where it has been argued that metal smelting contributed to the death of those living near smelters.

Industrial activities (primarily burning fossil fuel and metal smelting) have increased the emission of many metals into the atmosphere, but perhaps worse, is that many of these metals are released in mine tailings and sewage sludge into soils... and waterways. Their release is usually not a one time event. Many metals bind to sediment and are rereleased into the environment with flood events.

Ed Boyle's research group primarily studies the fate of metals in the ocean. This includes investigating the nutrient capabilities of iron, acting as a fertilizer that increases oceanic productivity. Examining cadmium to understand deep ocean-shallow ocean interactions through time (cadmium distribution in the ocean is not homogeneous and is thought to relate to the connectivity between deep to shallow circulation). Changes in ocean circulation are likely tied to major changes in climate. I could go on and on... but I need to finish this paper today...and think of a few questions for Ed...

As the cake flows

2008-02-12T17:15:00.001-05:00

This week while I alternated between dissertationing and running many miles my husband, Trey, crafted a glacier for my birthday. I, and several geology-loving friends, appreciated Trey's masterful attention to detail as he included lateral and terminal moraines (rocks scraped and piled along the glacier margin and snout) as well as a cryoconite hole and a proglacial lake. Fortunately, there was no life living in that cryoconite hole... and we all had our fill of buttery cream. In a few weeks for Women In Science Day I am hosting a 2 hour clinic for 60ish 7-10th grade girls on glacier dynamics. Normally, I'd use flubber (a glue-borax hybrid), but after seeing this cake, there may be some advantages to butter cream.

Running on Mars

2008-02-02T17:14:00.001-05:00

Patterned ground, ice-covered ponds, untouched landscapes and legs that can't stop moving...

Adelie Penguins

2008-02-01T22:03:00.001-05:00

This is especially for Penny Sanecki's Eclipse Class at Valley Forge Elementary School...

Supraglacial Stream

2008-02-01T17:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a video from the inside of a supraglacial (flowing on the glacier) stream channel on the Canada Glacier, Taylor Valley, Antarctica. As time allows, I will archive this and other video footage at Byrd Polar Research Center, OSU (& will release it to all educators). FYI Antarctic rock samples (including many fossils) are available for classroom use at the Byrd Polar Rock Repository.

O-H-I-O

2008-01-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

I made it home! Numerous flight reschedulings occured before the C-17 finally took about 30 of us from McMurdo Sound. Below you can see the lack of cargo allowed us all to stretch out during the 5 &1/2 hour flight from McMurdo to Christchurch. Now I am home with my husband and dog and we're laughing at some of the video footage I took in the valleys. I did pretty well with the still photos this season, but my video aim was slightly askew... for instance, I shoot an undergraduate lecture on chemical weathering in which my head was decapitated by the frame. To my credit it was 2 a.m., quite cold, and I had run out of chocolate and moved on to blocks of cheese.)One more look at that amazing sediment layer within a supraglacial stream channel on the Canada Glacier below (the dark band is about a meter from the surface of the glacier).
And below LeeAnn and I enjoy a lovely austral summer evening on the beach (sandy outwash from Canada Glacier). I'll add a link to her blog in the sidebar.
Below is an incredible example of the physical erosion that occurs in the Taylor Valley. Behind our camp at Lake Hoare a large piece of mountain broke off (perhaps in response to freeze-thaw) on Christmas morning. We rushed outside to make sure that cause of the rumble wouldn't crush us. (The camps on the other side of the glacier also heard the noise and gave us a call to check on us...).

To those that remain in the Taylor Valley (and/or head out soon) enjoy your season!

Sounds and Smells from the far South

2007-12-28T14:46:00.001-05:00

My flight to Christchurch was canceled, rescheduled, and re-rescheduled, so I may be getting out of here this morning, I may not.... this calls for caffeine! Below are some pictures from the Sound Walkabout of McMurdo lead by Andrea Polli (artist). We recorded sounds heard around the station including the wastewater treatment plant (below). Admittedly, smell was my overwhelming sense at this location, but once I plugged my nose, I heard some lovely gurgles and stream-songs.
And the satellite tracker (Nik led us into the inner world of the golfball)

(Andrea is pictured listening above).
Anyway, I'll be heading up the hill again soon, with big red on, and my fingers crossed. I hope I'm home for New Year's, otherwise, I'll be blogging from Icestock and the great Antarctic Chili Cookoff. (and working on my dissertation from the office here). I went black-light bowling last night. A few folks act as pin-resetters, strategically wearing boldly striped socks to not get mowed over by over-eager bowlers.

Reminiscent

2007-12-27T15:28:00.000-05:00

The warm yellow of my tent-favored laundry gets to dry out, or 'air-cleanse'.
Sleeping is surprisingly easy even in the glow, my skin burns yellow.
High flow from the Suess Glacier creates a braided bed, where sediment drops out in small bar deposits.
I think this might still be Mars.
Rae deserves a postcard every year for managing camp- many thanks to her and Sandra!
Differential melt caused by dark sediment absorbing heat creates strange forms on the glacier's surface.
Descending from the glacier to the lake, there is little difference between the two surfaces.
The jamesway at Lake Hoare, storage facility and where some of the diving equipment is stored. (people scuba here in the beginning of the year to observe the algal mats at the bottom of the lake).
Poles sticking out of Matt's Glacier pack were used for setting up sensors to measure discharge and conductivity on the glacier surface- to ultimately estimate the amount of melt.

The clouds lifted and Paul (pilot) and Grifford (helitech) swooped down taking me back to McMurdo and dropping LeeAnn off at F-6. We flew dauntingly close to the ground, it felt much like being in a sports tank (something fast, but ground-crunching). I loved it (and got some amazing video footage until my battery died). The smell of the paella that I missed lingered in my brain fading with my dinner of soggy raisin bran, social hour with Kathy and Nik, and the happy discovery that my town roommate was a friend from home (Stephanie Konfal).

Now, I am packing samples to ship home, and getting ready to bag-drag this evening (take all my hand-carry items up the hill to transport back to Christchurch and then home). I will post more soon- on my adventures in McMurdo Soundscapes with artist Andrea Polli. Andrea had visited us out at Lake Hoare. Last night, Andrea led a group of townies around recording the sounds of McMurdo. Tonight will likely be my last night in McMurdo and then I shall head almost immediately home. I won't be spending any time in Christchurch, as lovely as it is, I would much prefer the comfort of home and time with my wonderful husband. Besides, I am inspired by the data to come, the answers revealed, and the new questions to pose. These, and the inspiration of students and colleagues, are the great motivators.

Weather Hold

2007-12-25T15:09:00.001-05:00

(Canada Stream)
Produce is such a treat!
A seal weathering.
The Suess Glacier
A pyramid for rock mites.

See the algal mats?
I may get out today, I may not. Such is the weather hold. Clouds tethered tightly grasped by vapor fingers to the ground, their thick congestion means that for a while no helos will fly. The only wildlife is us, and we are caged in our waiting. (All of the scientists at camp have flights planned today to get to their research sites, or back to town). Still I will lug my sleep kit up the hill in anticipation of the brightening sky.

Happy Holidays at Lake Hoare

2007-12-24T16:58:00.001-05:00

LeeAnn and I finished our second 24 hour sampling event-just in time to join holiday festivities. This included decorating cookies and camp.

We all decorated the gingerbread house that Rae and Sandra had baked a few days prior (equipped with candy-pane windows). (We covered the windows with dark cloth to block out the 24 hour sunlight and illuminated our special dinner with lights and candles).

We exchanged gifts and laughter after our wonderful holiday meal!

Tomorrow I fly back to McMurdo and will post more pics from the field. Happy Holidays!

Two times 24

2007-12-23T06:56:00.001-05:00

House Stream (LeeAnn's first Taylor Valley Samples).Salt in the soil, drawn from the lake... patterned ground created by freezing and thawing of the icy soil (much like pot holes in the pavement)
Canada Stream Gauge (Flume with stage height- used to determine the amount of flow per/time, otherwise known as discharge)
Our sampling coolers, we had some help unloading sampling equipment.
Done with our first 24 hours, (waiting to find out if we had helo support or if we had to hike to Lake Fryxell Camp)
(We rolled out of our helo wait position and hiked to Lake Fryxell, our LTER and NASA friends had prepared a nice spaghetti dinner and we had nice conversations until we fell soundly asleep).

LeeAnn and I have been sampling a lot of bottles in a row. Because of a helo delay we got started sampling Canada Stream a few hours late, another helo delay had us staying the night at Lake Fryxell Camp, and so soon after completing our first 24 hour sampling cycle, we are in the midst of another. I have been filtering time-sensitive samples from our first collections in between collecting our next set from Andersen Creek. LeeAnn and I are rotating sleeping, sampling, putting together sampling bottles, and filtering. In the meantime, camp is alive with holiday cheer, I'll post some pics of the cookies that are keeping us going soon! We're exhausted, but wouldn't trade it for this amazing experience!

Walk across the Valley

2007-12-19T14:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I walked to the LaCroix Glacier (below) and back to Lake Hoare (about 14 mi round-trip). A nice solo adventure before my final days of sampling. LeeAnn should arrive any minute in an A-Star helicopter and we will pack up for tomorrow's 24 hour Canada Stream all- things-geochemistry endeavor. (We are establishing geochemical fluxes as they change with water flow.) Below are pics from the hike.

Whittled Away

2007-12-18T02:57:00.001-05:00

We can walk alone in the Taylor Valley, attached to civilization by a radio. Stretching legs, you wonder what you are doing heading out into the striking landscape, so whittled by the elements. The winds or snow set in at you feel changed by the mesmerizing power. You know you will make it back to camp, but shudder. So thankful that your body is fueled by sugar and motion. This is not our permanent camp, especially, in a timescale of millions of years- the age of the oldest exposed terraces. Small resilient creatures thrive here, their bodies joined to rock and sediment, or entombed in ice to revitalize for a few watery blinks every year. Some ancient and some newly birthed, a mystery to solve. Their persistence endures.

What the glacier tells us

2007-12-17T15:08:00.001-05:00

We've had a great deal of melt over the last few days. The lower Canada Glacier has swift streams and ponds collect in pools, that pour from their pinched outflows. Sediment melts into the glacier and creating pocked surfaces and odd meltforms. All this water means that a whole lot of science is underway. Liz Bagshaw (Martyn Tranter's dissertation student) is examining nutrients and other chemical info in cryoconite holes, the ice-lidded tombs that form from sediment melting into the glacier surface. Matt Hoffman (Andrew Fountain's dissertation student) is working to understand and model how glacier melt occurs on polar glaciers and what this means for lake levels. I spent much of yesterday collecting trace metal samples from the streams and lakes on the glacier. (I collected the inflows and outflow from the large pond in several of the above pictures along with several more isolated cryoconite holes).

Day of Reflection

2007-12-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

Its Sunday, our day of rest and showers. The glaciers flow cleansing their dirty faces, and the once abundant snow patches are now disappearing. Pulled down to the streams and vaporized in the sun. This rare year of snow; erased. Only the highest parts of the accumulation zone retain their snowy mass, keeping these glaciers in rare equilibrium. Today I am going to hike up the mountain behind camp with my water colors, yesterday was warm enough for windpants and a dark Smartwool top- I had my head open to the sun, relieved. This break is well needed as well as the time to appreciate this great valley. I am ever reverent.

Antarctic Freeway: fast ATVs, faster streams

2007-12-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

I hopped a ride with the stream team to House Stream (flowing along the eastern margin of the Suess Glacier).
Lee collected some algal mat samples while we assisted.
A crab-eater seal vertebra fell victim to the stream.
Sampling is going well, I have most of my supraglacial (on-glacier) samples complete and will collect the rest of them over the next week. Dr. LeeAnn Munk from the University of Alaska, Anchorage has arrived in town (McMurdo) and we will be conducting a 24 hour sampling scheme on the two streams flowing along Canada Glacier. (We will are working alongside my advisor, Dr. Berry Lyons and Kathy Welch). I am so excited to see LeeAnn, she completed her dissertation with Dr. Gunter Faure when I first started graduate school-and she is wonderful!

Waterfalls for my flat friends

2007-12-13T15:42:00.000-05:00

While I was working in the lab, my flat friends ventured over Canada Glacier to gaze down at Lake Fryxell and the gushing Canada Stream. The Frankenburg fish wanted to swim in the lake, but alas there are no fish in these strange ice-covered waters.A little upset that the lake was not fish-friendly, the fish, gator and penguin waddled across the Canada Glacier, enjoying the view of an icefall.
They raced back to camp to tell me that water was flowing from the glacier. A glorious waterfall! The field season has truly begun!
The camp set in shadows, yet melt everywhere, the lakes, ponds and glaciers alive!

Dusty Life

2007-12-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Canada Glacier
Pond behind Andrew's ridge south of Lake Hoare
Canada Glacier ( left) and Mount Erebus (distant right)

Today Sandra (camp assistant) and I sampled the lower western part of the Canada Glacier, the lower the easier to find melt. Sediment blown onto the glacier is heated by the circling sun, melting into the glacier's surface. Channels meander or race down the glacier wherever the sediment is blown and collects. In this way, the sediments make their way back down off the glacier back to the wind-belted bed it came from. The lighter, more mobile dust particles are blown further up the glacier high into the zone where snow accumulates and beyond. Dust from major glaciations (when Columbus, Ohio was covered by ice) blew into the oceans fertilizing them, providing valuable nutrition.

What role do the dust and sediment play for the life existing in these extreme conditions?

Welcome the Water

2007-12-10T15:12:00.000-05:00

Lake Ice
Camp at Lake Hoare, below Canada Glacier

Howard Glacier

At last! The streams are melting! My fingers are looking forward to shunting all the blood straight to my sample collecting core as I pull on poly gloves and blissfully dip collection bottles.

Unless it snows or stays gray for a few days in a row, the streams have some thermal inertia. If you put an ice cube (O degrees C) on the stove and heat it until it melts and reaches a temperature of around 10 degrees C, you have used approximately the same amount of energy as it would take to heat 10 degree water to boiling (at 100 C).... what this means is that melting should continue unless we drop more than 5 below C, it clouds up for several days in a row, or it snows...

Anyway, I will be going up on the glacier to collect melt tomorrow, and today I am heading out to sample with the lake (limno) team. In the meantime above are some pictures of icier times.

Mars on Earth

2007-12-08T15:42:00.000-05:00

Some of the below pictures are from my hike yesterday, others are from NASA images of Mars. 1) Do you spot the martians? 2) Can you tell which pictures are of Taylor Valley?

a.b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.

Lake Fryxell and Glacier Berries

2007-12-07T15:06:00.000-05:00

We made it to Lake Fryxell yesterday! (see the snow/ice covered patch in valley basin below) I sampled the moat for pH, DOC, metals, and major ions, all indicators of the geochemical-ecological processes occuring in the Lake. The breeze, an icy breath from the Ross Sea, was persistent, so we ate and drank constantly (drinking water frequently is really important to staying warm, more so than eating as your body requires water to regulate its temperature).
To get there, we hiked up the western margin of Canada Glacier, a feat that required stablizers to handle the refrozen snow. Stabilizers are like strap on sandals that have screws sticking out the bottom to minimize slipping. The don't have front points like crampons and can only handle minimal changes in topography. Without them, you would slide not so gracefully into the side of the glacier like a lost seal trying to find its way back to the sea... Once we were parallel with the base of the icefall, we crossed the glacier across a flagged route (we crossed this way, because the GA, Matt, had not used crampons before and this is the approved route for non-glacier crews using stabilizers).

My flat friends waddled slowly behind us, wading up to their bellies in the high amount of snow that has fallen this spring/summer. (Normally, the Taylor Valley averages around 10 cm/yr of snow- but it looks as though at least that has fallen in the past month).
Here is our view on the east side of the glacier, before we headed down to the lake.
At the end of the day, we had a nice cup of tea from the melt of glacier berries (above in the crate, and below along the margin of the glacier). Until Lake Hoare moats opens up, glacier berries are the preferred source of drinking water. Also, Lake Hoare is the only 'freshwater' lake that we can drink from in the valleys. The rest are quite salty including the magnesium-rich lake mistakenly savored by early valley researchers that was aptly named Lake Chad.

2 Hours to Go

2007-12-06T15:04:00.001-05:00

I'll be hiking across Canada Glacier to the east side and plan to sample Lake Fryxell today. I'm waiting until noon to leave because Matt, a GA (General Assistant), has flown in to help out at camp this weekend while Rae returns to McMurdo for a little while. We will be walking higher on the glacier, so it will be much less hummocky and the channels are all below the surface....

Frozen samples

2007-12-06T01:56:00.001-05:00

Right now my samples are frozen. The unthawed ice contains soil and rock that dissolve into a mysterious mix for me to analyze. My advisor, Dr. Berry Lyons, has been looking at rock weathering throughout the world from the tropics to the poles. Weathering is extremely important as is tied with climate change and redistributes chemistry. It is controlled by changes in slope, temperature, biology, and even the amount of water flowing. I am interested in the distribution, weathering and uptake of trace elements in glacier snow and glacier melt.
(Small changes in trace elements may mean large changes for ecosystems, trace elements are like vitamins, good in the right doses, but potentially damaging at higher concentrations). They also act as chemical traces, helping to source wind patterns and snow deposition.
My dissertation work is part of the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program that began in 1993 as a part of an integrated network of 26 sites (mostly in the US) studying ecosystems in all climates. The McMurdo LTER is the coldest and driest end-member. I am working alongside stream-team hydrologists, worm herders (studying nematodes and other soil organisms), glaciologists, and limnologists. Its a great experience and a wonderful team.

The Melt to Come

2007-12-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

The flurries from Monday remained glued to the salty soils of the valleys, it is now impossible to discern gypsum crystals from stalagmites of snow. Below is the USGS stream gauge for Andersen Creek (along the western margin of Canada Glacier), a stream I am sampling; waiting for it to melt.

During the night, the gray sky made sleeping a bit more chilly. Faint sun penetrated my yellow Scott Tent and inside was a more subdued sepia tone than the shocking yellow of warmth. I had to place my wind-up alarm clock inside a sock because it was too cold for it to work yesterday. In January 2002 katabatic winds pummeled our tents and my tent walls twisted spasmodically, smashing my alarm clock into a thousand rattling pieces (fortunately, these pieces were contained---the problem was only uncovered swishing the clock like an infant's rattle.) Anyway, to keep from needing to eat pounds of chocolate throughout the night, I put my little red parka underneath my sleeping mat along with a few folded duffle bags. The more you can get yourself off the ground the warmer you'll sleep. I wove myself into a chrysalis of a pile pants, a sleeping bag liner, and miscellaneous Smartwool tops. My eyes draped with a face warmer and hat secured into position. Today, I emerged from this encasement revitalized but debating the pros and cons of changing into new attire.
The winds are light today, but no flights again do to the sustained gray. There is little chance that today will be the day that Andersen Creek melts... so I will take a hike today after a few hours on my dissertation. I sit comfortably inside Lake Hoare Camp now. Looking out upon this gray day with anticipation.

Preparation and Dissertation

2007-12-03T23:11:00.001-05:00

I'm posting a few more pics from yesterday (Monday) and Sunday... today I spent much of the day organizing future sampling trips and equipment. Working on the glacier requires coordinating schedules. The glaciers of the dry valleys are unique, they are not experiencing the rapid retreat of their temperate and tropical counterparts. The rest of the mountain glaciers of the world have accelerated in their demise, especially it seems within the last decade (from what you can see from the photographs and moraines (rocks left by receding glaciers) left identifying glaciers used to be). What used to be snow is now falling as rain at higher and higher altitudes. This is a big concern to people reliant on glacier melt for drinking water, crops and energy. Especially areas with dry summers and little other water. (Snowpack is similarly important).

Why are the dry valley glaciers an exception? Antarctica is isolated from the rest of the world with circumpolar winds and a huge ozone hole, that may or may not be healing itself. (These are among the many hypotheses being explored).

I do wonder if the channels we crawled in the last few days are indicative of change to come. I don't remember them being so incised 6 years ago. The surface is very dynamic, but it almost looks as though lower on the glacier the channels are able to penetrate deeper into the icy surface. The trapped sediment in the middle of the channel walls is at approximately the depth of the channels the first time I visited... (Could it be that the channels are 2 times deeper???)
Above and below are shots of the Canada Glacier.

While I wrote, the Frankenberg Fish went back to the Suess Glacier for a glamor shot. I realize that I am not writing this for kids (but hope the pictures entertain).

Snow at Lake Hoare Camp

2007-12-03T02:04:00.000-05:00

Just when it looked like the streams would be running, it got colder beginning yesterday afternoon. Gusts turned to flurries and soon no water was left unfrozen. The sun has just come out again (so I'm hoping to sample streams tomorrow-my fingers are crossed).
In the meantime the Flats found a dry patch and a mummified seal that had lost its way back to the Ross Sea and wandered inland instead. They were not sure what to make of this poor creature.
It feels even more remote here with snow because all Helicopter traffic stops (not that there is a lot, but 2 or 3 a day is a beacon connecting us with McMurdo).

I've been working on my dissertation every day (its amazing to be able to walk out the door into the vast landscape, the salty soil scouring at rocks, and to come inside and make a cup of tea and write.... ) My days are very productive here with all of this encouraging light.

Colors of Canada Glacier

2007-12-01T23:49:00.001-05:00

Today we explored the Canada Glacier- little water was flowing, so I was unable to sample, but it looks like the stream adjacent to camp is starting to trickle revitalizing the camp with its gargling voice. (Above is the lower glacier)
(The pocked ice in the background is Lake Hoare, the foreground is Canada Glacier looking toward Suess Glacier.)
(Here is another shot of our descent down the glacier to Lake Hoare.)

Lake Hoare ice sprouts into ice gardens, these will melt away later with the summer thaw, crunching under our boots.
Canada Glacier has a beach, formed not by breaking waves, but by the melt pools draining from the glacier. Sediment blown onto the glacier comes down, most of the fines have been dissolved leaving mostly sand.
(our ascent)

This is the inside of a channel on the Canada Glacier (supraglacial channel).
(I had to snake on my stomach through most of the channel, but was relieved to find this spot to take a breath).
Lee is examining an ice crystal from the channel that was stuck on my cap.
Flat Stan sprung from my pocket, wondering if he had spotted other penguins. (The other flats will help me in the lab tonight).
More from the channels (above and below)

Tonight I will sample Anderson Creek (the stream running against Canada Glacier) and I am camp house mouse, which means that I am responsible for emptying grey water and cleaning the dishes (we all help each other out with these tasks)... It is also shower day (a bucket of glacier melt warmed by a stove funneled through a plastic hose).