The PAGE21 project has now been officially closed. The four years of research came to an end on October 31 2015, leaving only...
PAGE21 project was featured in a plenary session "Permafrost in the 21st century" at the 2015 Arctic Circle conference in Reykjavik,...
Expedition to Chokurdakh (Sakha Republic) 23 April - 5 May 2013
26 April, Yakutsk-Chokurdakh
The flight to Chokurdakh which can only be described as funny and unusual was just as I expected.Half of the aircraft is filled with luggage and various items, the remaining available space filled by passengers.
Ko, sits by the window taking pictures, capturing the most interesting features of the region, first the thermokarst lakes gaining ground within the larch forests, then the Lena river, followed by the steep slopes of Verkhoyansk mountains and finally the intricate network of the tundra water bodies and the aeolian erosion and deposition of sandy sediments close to the river banks.
Landed. Passengers disembark from the plane loitering by its tail and waiting for the back door Buy Cialis to be opened. We all remove our own luggage from the back of the plane and drop it on a rudimentary cart, then we move on to the airport where we complete the paperwork with the border police.
A police man spots my Italian passport and gives me the nickname Al Capone, I try to put on a half smile before leaving the office to a waiting snow mobile.
The air is fresh (-13oC) with moderate winds, we just got the end of a perturbation which brought some additional snow, yet conditions are forecast to improving tomorrow. We move into the village to buy some supplies and then we go to the "hotel", waiting for the next morning.
Luca
Expedition to Chokurdakh (Sakha Republic) 23 April - 5 May 2013
27 April, Chokurdakh- Kytalyk
We have a nine a.m. appointment with Valerij, to prepare the snow-mobiles and load them with the luggage, instruments and supplies. The ride to Kytalyk lasts 2h 35 min covering just 37 km travelling north wards trajectory. We are a long convoy of 6 snow mobiles, sometimes snaking along the same path, at other times heading straight in parallel, rides over the sea-like tundra and its rapidly changing snow waves: sometimes iced and crispy, sometimes small and floury, others higher and curved like rolling waves.
Arriving in Kytalyk the first task is devoted to set up the camp including rearranging the space in our storage container in order to store our food supply for our next summer campaign. Then we attempt to free the large wind generator base, which is to be moved to a new site, from the permafrost which is still firmly frozen in place.
We soon realized it is not an easy task. Perhaps the new steam drill could be of some help. After the locals from Chokurdakh left us we begin the important tasks of arranged our personal luggage and sleeping bags inside the house, which is usually used as a kitchen in summer.
A "Buran" snowmobile is left so we can use it to transport equipment but when it is needed to transport wood to our accommodation it will not start, despite the numerous attempts by Roman to fix it. Therefore a new experience, and the last one of the day, me towing the sleigh loaded with wood and supplies from the container to the house, together with my colleagues, in a horse-like style.
Finally I chopped some wood and piled it against the wall close to the entrance door. My studies in forest sciences turn to be always useful.
Luca
Expedition to Chokurdakh (Sakha Republic) 23 April - 5 May 2013
28 April, Kytalyk
Eight am I woke up feeling rather cold, not really because of the temperature in the kitchen which was heated up the night before, but mainly due to an easterly wind (4-5 m/s) seeping through the fissures in the wall and penetrating my sleeping bag.
The morning is dedicated to prepare all the material and instruments needed to set up a new eddy covariance tower by the lake shore. The largest part of the metal frame is lying on the ground buried under 60 cm of snow. We uncovered half of it, initially convinced that the job was done. But later, while looking at a picture taken last November, we realize that there is more of the frame that needs to be dug from the snow.
Roman takes up the task, while Ron and I move on to continue to free the wind generator base from the ground. We start with shovels, at some point using a pickaxe and finish using screwdrivers as chisels. The work takes longer than expected but in the end we free the last pieces of the wind generator tower from the snow.
Meanwhile Ko was busy with the new troublesome petrol powered steam drill and once it is finally running it did not produce a steam jet strong enough to efficiently thaw the permafrost. In the late afternoon Ko, disappointed with the poor performance of the steam drill, puts away the whole thing and we see him chopping vigorously at a large pile of wood!
We discuss about what to do next: without a working permafrost drill we have no way to anchor the base of the wind generate securely into the permafrost, in its new lake side location, therefore we cannot set up the wind generator. This means we must rely only on solar panels to power the new station. Nevertheless a lack of sunshine is generally not a problem at this time of the year. We decide to set up a complete energy supply system based on the solar panels and to activate the wind generator in summer when we will be able to anchor it solidly into the ground.
We are waiting for the arrival of Kostia, who is expected tomorrow with a good snowmobile which we will use to transport all the equipment to the new site, about 2.5 km westwards from the camp. The engine of the "Buran" will not start and Roman dedicates too much energy to the thankless task, even cleaning the carburettor, but nothing he tries seems to help. Every run of the pull start cord ends in a disappointing thud.
Luca
Expedition to Chokurdakh (Sakha Republic) 23 April - 5 May 2013
29 April, Kytalyk
The blue cabin is readily transformed into an improvised lab. All the eddy covariance systems are assembled in order to check the configuration of the instruments and make last minute changes. A final check and all the instruments are ready to be installed in the field. Just in time!
The battery charge of the laptop is critically low and the power generator, the new and reliable one, won't start! We solve the problem by using some batteries and a DC/AC converter, but still we have to fix the generator. We decide to take care of it before Kostia comes to the camp. He said he would come by "lunch time", that is fine, but what time is "lunch time" in the tundra area of Chokurdakh?
In the mean time the generator is packed with millions of mosquitoes, the air filter is soaked with petrol and mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are even spitted out of the cylinder after we remove the sparkle plugs and make the piston pump up and down. Looking at such a scene, one could think that the generator is powered by a new type of "bio"-fuel.
Once cleaned the generator will still not start, so it is taken inside the kitchen to warm up. Kostia arrives shortly afterwards (we finally realise that lunch time is around 3 pm), and takes all the glory by starting the generator with the first attempt.
Afternoon. The air surrounding the camp is filled with glittering ice crystals which reflect the sunlight. We load the metal tubing on the sleigh and we let the GPS guide our snow-mobiles to the location of the new flux tower. Sitting on the sleigh I try to direct Kostia, the driver, over the noise of the snow mobile. At times he can hear me and he turns back, I stretch my arm indicating the direction we need to go. After turning round a little we are finally at the right spot. Ko sinks the shovel in the snow as a symbolic gesture for the foundation of a new eddy covariance tower in the middle of the tundra.
The celebrative moment lasts just a few seconds and then we unload the sleighs and reassemble the metal framing of the tower to avoid losing the poles under newly formed snow dunes due to over night snow drift.
We make our return to the camp site and as we stand up from the sleighs we see an amazing halo decorating the sky in front of us. It is the first time I have seen such a sight. All around suspended ice crystals create ephemeral rainbows.
After dinner, I break the crust of the snow between the camp and the "old" tundra-tower and download the meteorological data from the logger and I can see that the system worked throughout the whole winter without interruptions. A very good result!
Luca
