Permafrost outreach 2009
The University of Alaska EPSCoR program, NASA IPY and NSF IPY, Thermal State of Permafrost programs are conducting an outreach effort in conjunction with it's research focus on permafrost and infrastructure. The outreach effort has been termed the "Permafrost Health" program and consists of installing permafrost temperature monitoring systems!Sunday, March 23, 2008
Elim
It's been a week since we started our trip.
So far, we have seven new stations installed.
Today we had another good day of traveling.
We packed our gear and left Koyuk around 10 AM.
The trail was mostly a flat overland trail with some hills that went along the coast. Large body of open water on Norton Sound could be seen sometimes when we climbed a hill.
In less than three hours, we were riding into Elim. Since it was Easter Sunday, a lot of kids were playing outside. The science teacher Mark let us in the school shortly after we arrived.
Compared to Shaktoolik or Koyuk, this village seems more protected from the the gnawing north wind.
And the snow was fluffier, unlike the wind-packed hard snow of the past few days.
On a sunny calm day like this, drilling almost seems easier. First, the frost tube drilling by the school went well. The permafrost-monitoring station drilling, on the other hand, ran into a problem less than one meter beneath the ground surface. It seemed like Kenji's drill hit bedrock, so he had to back off.
We changed plans and looked for a suitable spot for the monitoring station. The best spot was inland from the school close to the entrance of another trail.
Drilling at the new spot went successfully. The new and improved equipment that Kenji is using this year is working well, and we are actually gettting better at using the makeshift tubes and plastic pipes for the monitoring station installation.
We are halfway into our Outreach Expedition and have somehow managed to keep the schedule on track and successfully install seven stations, but all of this hard work comes with a price. Especially if your are Kenji and are wrestling with a 40 pound drill and frozen soil every day.
Whether it was planned or not, we don't now, but Kenji suggested going to the hot springs.
Hot springs?
Yes! There is a hot spring about 10 miles out of the village!
The trail that winds through the forest and up and over hills was less traveled but easy to find.
The views from the top of these hills were spectacular.
And the hot spring...
Was great!
What a way to relax and enjoy the evening after a good day's work.
posted from Elim by Tohru
So far, we have seven new stations installed.
Today we had another good day of traveling.
We packed our gear and left Koyuk around 10 AM.
The trail was mostly a flat overland trail with some hills that went along the coast. Large body of open water on Norton Sound could be seen sometimes when we climbed a hill.
In less than three hours, we were riding into Elim. Since it was Easter Sunday, a lot of kids were playing outside. The science teacher Mark let us in the school shortly after we arrived.
Compared to Shaktoolik or Koyuk, this village seems more protected from the the gnawing north wind.
And the snow was fluffier, unlike the wind-packed hard snow of the past few days.
On a sunny calm day like this, drilling almost seems easier. First, the frost tube drilling by the school went well. The permafrost-monitoring station drilling, on the other hand, ran into a problem less than one meter beneath the ground surface. It seemed like Kenji's drill hit bedrock, so he had to back off.
We changed plans and looked for a suitable spot for the monitoring station. The best spot was inland from the school close to the entrance of another trail.
Drilling at the new spot went successfully. The new and improved equipment that Kenji is using this year is working well, and we are actually gettting better at using the makeshift tubes and plastic pipes for the monitoring station installation.
We are halfway into our Outreach Expedition and have somehow managed to keep the schedule on track and successfully install seven stations, but all of this hard work comes with a price. Especially if your are Kenji and are wrestling with a 40 pound drill and frozen soil every day.
Whether it was planned or not, we don't now, but Kenji suggested going to the hot springs.
Hot springs?
Yes! There is a hot spring about 10 miles out of the village!
The trail that winds through the forest and up and over hills was less traveled but easy to find.
The views from the top of these hills were spectacular.
And the hot spring...
Was great!
What a way to relax and enjoy the evening after a good day's work.
posted from Elim by Tohru
posted by uaf permafrost # 9:45 PM 
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