Monday, 6 August 2012



Boardwalk, Graphics: Max Heikenfeld, Alfred Wegener InstituteDidn't we come to the island to do science? Of course we did, and occasionally it also means that we need to carry few things, even if the others in our group might be wondering why we carry every day so much wood to the tundra. But our task is anything but meaningless.

The wet tundra on the island is in fact a relatively sensitive landscape. A single footprint with heavy hiking boots or rubber boots presses the moss along a centimeter deep, thereby changing the behavior of the soil surface at that point. And where the vegetation is once permanently destroyed, it takes often very short time for a muddy ditch or a small pond to appear, in a place where had been no human influence before.
If one only collects one sample the vegetation is not a big problem, because it is very rare that people walk past the same spot. But if you, like us, are planning to build a long-term monitoring station, then it is a different story.

Boardwalk, Photo: Max Heikenfeld, Alfred Wegener InstituteOur main task this summer is to bring all necessary materials and sensors to their place and to build the needed infrastructure. In the coming years we will come back regularly to read data and/or replace sensors. Without the proper countermeasures, however, we would inevitably destroy the ground just at the spot where we want to examine it. And who wants to work for days to bring soil moisture sensors, and then examine the pond or unvegetated mud pile created by their very own feet?

The proper remedy is wood planks, which we distribute along the track. The long boards distribute weight much more evenly than the largest foot and prevent the destruction of the uppermost layer of the soil. Because the wood in its thermal properties is not much different than the surrounding vegetation, it adapts over a long period of time relatively harmoniously with the soil surface.

At first we thought we only need two or three planks and it would be done. But realised slide by slide the stage filling up that the whole thing would take a bit more. A relatively strenuous work. But now that we're done, we save not only the tundra a few scars in their vegetation, but also few tough footsteps for us through the deep moss. 

Greetings,
Bob the Builder aka Max

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Main page of the English translation of the blog "Tundra Stories"can be found here
Original blog in German: http://www.awi.de/de/go/Tundra-Stories