Hello all,

I apologize for not keeping up with emails, but things sometimes get chaotic here, or maybe I should say that time takes on a different meaning. With 24-hour sunlight the researchers often work around the clock and it is difficult to keep up.

While I work on completing journal entries for the last week, just a brief snyopsis of what I have been doing:

1. Have spent time with an interesting young lady, Vica Lozinschi, from Moldova. Vica is a political science/economics student (?) who will be spending a year in Barrow studying economic infrastructure and resource development of the North Slope Borough as a model for the development of the Russian Far East, Chukota in particular. Chukatoa is similar to the North Slope in climate, topography, and natural resources but they have never been able to develop a sound economic infrastructure. There are many reasons for this, the main one being the distance from Moscow (or any place else) and lack of cultural cohesiveness among different groups, but the Russians are interested in strengtheneing theremote eastern areas in terms of economic/natural resource development.

2. Have attended visiting scientists lectures on snowy owls, lemmings, and the Greenland ice sheet (or what is left of it).

3. Have finished the first part of the lake study and am waiting for equipment to arrive so that I can complete the final portion. I have a boat scheduled for July 25, so that should wrap up the study except for the report writing. Most of my days have been spent tromping around the edge of the lake marking sample points and taking water samples, then spending time in the lab analyzing the samples. The weather has run the gamut of being fairly warm (58 F one day -- really sweltering!) to downright frigid (20's, snow and ice). Mostly it's in the 30's but the wind coming off the water is really cold.

4. Have been in the field with the Biocomplexity project folks and helped set up the tramway for a remote sensing robot -- it's a really amazing cart loaded with sensors and data collectors that travels at about 1 meter per 6 seconds and collects information over about 1/2 km. of tundra. There are three 1/2 km. transects set up, and there will be another 1 km. transect set up by the end of the summer (4 total). The robots are controlled via wireless internet/satellite. Researchers will be able to collect information constantly and remotely -- no more hours of walking around on spongey ground and stopping every meter to collect data. The robot is solar/wind powered and there is a backup electrical system. Types of data being collected include water level (tundra seems to be drying out as temps rise), rate of photosynthesis, rate of respiration, incoming radiation, reflected heat, temperature, humidity, types of plants (from the wavelength -- the robot carries a spectrometer), carbon dioxide flux, and methane flux. Pictures to follow, although they just show the equpiment and unless you know what to look for it may not be exciting. But it is fascinating to me!

5. Belugas and gray whale have been passing through, and I have spent some time on the beach watching them. The ice is out, but the wind is blowing from that direction and usually brings in an icy-fog. It is really creepy to watch it come rolling across the water.

6. One of the most interesting developments here is the Nuvuk excavation project. I cannot take pictures (or send pictures via email) for two reasons: the excavation of human remains is a culturally sensitive issue and the Inupiaq people agreed to this excavation only if the remains would be used strictly for research and reburied afterwards -- no pictures or publicity of any kind other than for research; secondly, the researchers are going to publish their data and until they finish it would be unethical to photograph or use any of the material. Dr. Jensen has found about 100 graves, but she believes (based on what they have found) that there may be hundreds more. Seems to be another "layer" of sites underneath the ones that they are working on now -- perhaps a village built on top of an older site.

The physical anthropologist believes that the site is of the Thule culture (200 - 1200 years ago). Several nearly complete adult skeletons have been brought back to the lab and cleaned, cataloged, and photographed. The most interesting find was that of a burial bundle that contained the skeletal remains (along with some mummified tissues) of a young child, perhaps 1 to 2 years old. The body was wrapped in a sheepskin (interesting in itself because the closest wild sheep are thousands of miles away -- implying some sort ot trading or travel) which was in turn wrapped in a polarbear hide and finally enclosed in a caribou parka. Some of the elder women in the village who are experienced skin-sewers came to look at how the hides were sewn together. They spoke to each other in Inupiaq and carefully examined the bundle. They said that the stitchwork was very similar to what they use now
-- threads made of caribou sinew and double-sewn. They also talked about how the people of Little Diomede Island, Chukota, Western Canada used different stitches. It will be interesting to see what secrets the carbon dating and DNA analysis will reveal about this ancient child.

7. Have gone out lemming trapping, or un-trapping, with Willow Malick, a student from Univ. Alaska-Anchorage. She is collecting lemming for a population study for a professor at UAA. Basically we check 50 traps about every other day and if a lemming is caught we take measurements, tag it, and let it go. They are hilarious little creatures -- I have never heard something so small make such a ruckous. Funny thing is, after they have been poked, prodded, examined, and tagged they settle down and behave just like pets. You can hold them or put them down next to you and they just sit there or munch on grass for a while and then amble off. So far we have caught only males, and they all have bite marks. It is breeding season, so they must be fighting over territory or females. I assume that the females are nesting and raising their young. I am sending lemming pictures as a Word attachment as some folks are still having trouble getting images. Hope this works.

Photos and more about the lemming survey by clicking this link.

I will try to do a better job of keeping up, but these last 2 weeks are going to be really busy. Tonight we have target practice (required), and then it will probably be back out into the field. And it is really, really cold and windy today -- the first day that I have not looked forward to going out. Enjoy the hot weather at home!

Dora

Additional Journal Entries

Entry 1 - July 5
Entry 2 - July 7
Entry 3 - July 9