Notes from the Arctic – The end is near. August 30th, 2010

Hi All,

For a brief moment this morning the sun graced us with its presence and it was glorious.

Arctic summer splendor.

Today was our last day of sampling at our standard station and we made the best of it. Captain Quuniq and Nelson again took us out to our standard station and we quickly sampled and came back in to process our samples in the lab.

Sampling complete!

Compared to conditions yesterday afternoon, the ocean was a bathtub today. And, with all the kinks worked out of our equipment and protocols, we made record time processing the samples. Victoria was even able to complete our RNA purifications by dinner time.

Molecular biology on the go.

All the samples are now safely stored in liquid nitrogen and in shipping containers ready to be shipped out in the morning.

Shipping containers ready to go.

With all the sampling complete and after a quick and not very satisfying dinner of Ramen noodles, it was time to think about starting the process of cleaning and packing-up. Since our stuff is scattered all over the campus its quite a daunting task gathering everything, cleaning all of our salty equipment and packing it so that it will be organized and ready for next January.

Its nearly 2 am now and I’ve been at it since 7 so I think I have to cut this one short. Tomorrow promises to be a busy day of cleaning and packing, but the end is near and we’re all looking forward to heading home.

Marc

Notes from the Arctic – Questing for Humics August 29th, 2010

Dr. Marc Frischer continues his log of his research trip to Barrow, Alaska. Here is some background information on the research project.

Hi All,

This morning we woke up to reasonable weather, but not the beautiful calm and sunny day that was forecast.  It was still foggy and the wind was blowing, but not too bad.  The temperature was in the mid 30’s (F), but it felt much colder due to the wind.  Captain Quuniq thought that we’d better head straight for the Mead river if we were going to have a chance today of getting those humic samples we’ve been searching for and, if the weather holds, complete our third and last sampling for this trip at our standard station off of Barrow.  So we headed back to the Niksiuraq boat ramp and headed southeast to the Mead River.  Along with Captain Quuniq was his cousin Nelson who had just returned from a trip on the Mead River.  Quuniq brought him along to help out on the boat and help navigate the shallow river waters.  Of course they had another agenda as well, but more of that later.

The trip took about two hours mostly hugging the coast to stay out of the wind and waves as much as possible.  As we entered the Bay where the Mead River empties into the Beaufort Sea, we slowed down to avoid shallow hazards and to examine the water periodically for the brown tea color characteristic of high humic acid concentrations.  Humics are the remains of decaying plant materials that, just like tea leaves steeped in water, turn the water brown.  From a chemical perspective humics are carbon rich organic material that microbes should digest and re-inject them into the realm of biology.  One of the big climate change questions is what is going to happen to all the humic material that will be released as the permafrost melts?  In the western Arctic (where Alaska is) there are literally kilometers of this material in the form of ancient peats buried and currently frozen.  Their release into coastal waters will likely have profound implications for the food webs here from the microbes all the way up to whales and humans.

Alaska tundra in the summertime.

But back to the trip.  Although we could clearly see the presence of peats in the summer tundra, the water really didn’t have the brown color we were looking for in the bay or river.  Probably there was just too much fresh river water diluting the humics.  Our strategy was originally to sample at the river mouth where we hoped to find high concentrations of humics in the water, but since this wasn’t the case we decided to get off the boat and examine one of the many pools that form in the tundra.

The first place we landed we were rewarded two-fold.  First, not 10 meters from where we beached the boat, we found exactly what we were looking for.  Second, up on a small ridge were two beautiful Caribou bulls.

The caribou that got away.

So we all got off the boat, Rachel Sipler and myself carrying our water collection gear and Quuniq and Nelson with rifles and ammunition.

Quuniq and Nelson heading off to hunt caribou.

They are both passionate subsistence hunters and even though they were on the job taking care of us geeky scientists, they just couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass them by.  I suspect that they knew they would find Caribou here and were just waiting for an excuse to go hunting.  Who can blame them?   Soon we were happily collecting our tea colored water and they were stalking the Caribou.  Fortunately for the caribou, the gods weren’t with them today and they missed all their shots.  Rachel and I were pleased though, since if they had been successful we would have had to share the ride back with two huge dead caribou.  Not something we really wanted contaminating our science gear and beautiful clean humic rich water.

Rachel Sipler sampling the humic rich tundra pool water.

Humic rich water, just what we were looking for!

After we were all through we all returned to the boat and headed back towards Barrow with the hope of completing our second sampling mission.  However, once we got out of the river it became apparent that indeed as Quuniq had predicted, the wind and waves had picked-up significantly.  The trip home took over three hours and when we tried to reach our standard sampling site, it was immediately clear that it was too rough to get there safely.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get out tomorrow since that will be our last chance before needing to pack-up for our departure.

So please wish us luck again,

marc

Notes from the Arctic – 2nd Sampling Day August 28th, 2010

Hi All,

We made it back out on the water today!  When we woke up, although it was still foggy, the wind had dropped significantly so that the station manager Lewis Brower and captain Quuniq agreed it was safe for us to go out.  We still had 3’ swells, but the chop was mostly gone.  After checking our gear, most of which was already loaded on the boat from yesterday and suiting up in our very attractive Mustang survival suits, we headed-out to the Niksraq ramp to the east of the station (past the football field and duck camp).

Debbie couldn’t join us today since she was scheduled to present a talk on climate change and ocean acidification to a local audience.  We try to make presentations each time we are here in an effort to give something back to our hosts.  Obviously I couldn’t attend the talk since I was out sampling, but I heard it went very well.  The room was packed and there were lots of questions.  Debbie said that she felt she had just been through another doctoral defense since the questions were so extensive and good.

Back to the sampling trip.  On our way out from the Niksraq launch, as we pass Point Barrow, we cross from the Beaufort Sea into the Chuckchi Sea.  Today, without all the chop, where the two oceans meet was distinctly visible with the Chuckchi looking a bit browner then the Beaufort.  Very cool!

Where two oceans meet. The Chuckchi and Beaufort seas.

We made it to our station and anchored this time.  After our first trip captain Quuniq made sure he had a suitable anchor and enough line to keep us on station.  This made our sampling much more efficient.  While we were anchoring we were visited by a small group of bearded seals, one of which, a 9 footer, gave us quite a show by jumping all the way out of the water.  Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with the camera.

Sampling went smoothly and even more efficiently then our first day.

Collecting samples

It seems that practice does help.  It only took us 1.5 hours from the time we reached our station until the time we left and it felt much easier.  We were really working as a team anticipating each others needs and helping each other out as needed.

Once back to shore we quickly got to work setting up our experiments and processing samples.  For Victoria and me, that means filtering a lot of water.

Victoria filtering water samples

We all finished-up by 7:00 pm and decided to go out to dinner for Chinese food at a local restaurant called Northern Lights and, with the possible exception of a somewhat surly waitress, it was a very good dinner.  Better then last night for sure.  While at dinner we were able to discuss our plans for tomorrow.  Because we are a day off our planned schedule we decided to attempt to do an abbreviated sampling tomorrow and make a trip to the Mead River to collect those humics we’ve been looking for.  The weather forecast predicts favorable conditions with the winds continuing to lessen.  If all goes well we will be able to collect our final samples for this trip and find the humics we need for our next trip in January.

Wish us luck,

marc

Notes from the Arctic – A day on the water August 25th, 2010

This is the second post by Skidaway Institute professor Marc Frischer, chronicling his research trip to Barrow,  Alaska,  for his study of the effect of a warming climate on the coastal ecology there.

Just completing day 3 of the expedition.  After staying-up half the night to get ready for an 8:00 am sampling trip, the weather delayed us.  We were fogged in.  But what can you do?  That is the nature of fieldwork.

After waiting around until nearly noon, the fog had finally dissipated sufficiently so that our native whaling captain, Captain Quinik (pronounced something like “Cone – Nick”), gave the long-awaited ok.

Captain Quinik

We followed captain Quinik and his first mate to the launch ramp located several miles east of the research station and launched on the Chukchi Sea side of Point Barrow. For about an hour we motored our way around Point Barrow, into the Beaufort Sea, and to our sampling station about 3 miles north of the station.  It was a choppy ride but the boat, a sturdy 27’ aluminum hulled boat with two brand new 175 four stroke Suzuki engines, handled it well.

The sampling team

Once on station we began our collections.  Since there are three teams of us collecting different types of water samples and data, we had to carefully choreograph our activities.  First on the agenda was to determine the basic characteristics of the water. Its depth, 12M (about 40 ft); its temperature, 6°C (around 43°F); its salinity, 31.4 ^o/_o; and the oxygen content (fully saturated with the atmosphere).

We also measured light penetration which was the most important parameter for determining our sampling depth since we are conducting experimental incubation studies and need to match the light levels in the lab.

All this data told us that we had a very well mixed water column typical of the region for this time of year.  Just what we were hoping for!

After these measurements were completed, the Yager team ( for Patricia Yager, UGA) began collecting water for their studies to characterize the carbon chemistry of the water and the activity and abundance of the bacteria and phytoplankton.  After they were nearly finished, we deployed a special submersible pump to 4M, our optimal sampling depth, and the Bronk team (for Deborah Bronk, Virginia Institute for Marine Science) began collecting water and filling up what seems like hundreds of sample jars for their experiments.

The Bronk group is interested in understanding the effects of different nutrient additions on Arctic microbial populations. They are especially interested in humic materials, since those are expected to be released in high concentrations as the permafrost melts into the coastal Arctic ocean. Humics are the left over organic matter from plants that make the water in our neck of the woods tea colored.

As the Bronk team completed their sampling it was our turn.  We collected 120 liters (a little more that 30 gallons) of water for our genetic studies that we are conducting to provide insight in how microbial communities may adapt to future changes. Once all the samples were safely on board and our gear stowed safely, we returned to the lab.

Approaching Barrow

Luckily, since the water was relatively calm, we were able to head south and offload our samples onto the beach which we were then able to easily transport to our various laboratories.

After the sampling expedition, the rest of the day was a blur, with each of us rushing around trying to get everything done. But it was a pleasure since this is what we had been planning for so long.  Victoria and I spent about six hours in a walk-in cold room set at ambient water temperature filtering all the water we collected. As I’m typing now (nearly midnight) the Yager group is still at it though the Bronk group has already called it quits for the day.

Tomorrow is a lab day and should present a lighter workload for all of us. I’m hoping I’ll be able to visit the whaling camp (think ice fishing camp) and soak it all in.

Point Barrow whale boneyard

The native Iñupiat Eskimos, who make up over 60% of the 4,000+ residents, authentically practice their culture and seem to be eager to share it with interested visitors.