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Seida 2013: High - North tropics
(Photo: Carolina and Richard) Richard during a night shift at the labTuesday, 23rd of July 2013
After a long 7-day week in the field we enjoyed one day off in Seida yesterday and are now back in the field again.
Last week we took soil samples from all our flux sites and started with lab work. These weeks are most likely the busiest time of the summer and we already had to pull some night shifts in the lab last week, after which we went straight to the breakfast table.
But this also gave us the chance to witness a nightly thunderstorm, which is very impressive in Tundra, where the weather changes very quickly and is hard to predict. Unfortunately this wasn't followed by a drop in temperatures or even rain, but the lightning strikes were a fascinating thing to witness.
Our field lab is going by the name of white cabin, and in there we are mainly doing soil extractions for various analyses, such as nitrate and ammonium concentrations in the soil as well as gross mineralization and nitrification and microbial biomass in several soil layers.
We are doing these extractions directly in the field, this way we do not have to transport the soil to Finland and they can be done from fresh soil.
A big task for last week was to build a fridge where we can store all those samples while in the field, and the two Ivans, our Russian students, have done a superb job with this.
(Photo: Carolina and Richard) Richard during a night shift at the labSince we do not have electricity in the field (except from a generator every now and then), we are using the permafrost to cool down our samples.
This is working quite well, although the 30 degrees which we still have here make things a bit tricky.
This might be the perfect weather for the holiday season, but for field work this is much too hot and around here everyone is moaning under the heat, which doesn't even subside during night time these days.
It is safe to say that today's 2h walk back to the Tundra was the toughest thing during our stay here so far.
Unbelievable heat, neither shade nor wind, and loads to carry in our backpacks forced us to take several breaks this time before we finally arrived at the most welcome sight of our green field cabin.
Although there is a food vehicle coming every couple of weeks, there is still a lot of stuff to carry to and from Seida every week.
So for the first time this season we took the opportunity to cool down in one of the many thermokarst lakes surrounding our site, but even those felt too warm today.
But at least the warmth is speeding up the ripening of our beloved cloudberries, which will hopefully be ready to eat within the week.
(Photo: Richard and Carolina) Moon over flux sites of warming experimentAnd tonight there is a beautiful full moon illuminating our field site, giving some light for the upcoming lab work, which we will continue this night.
Even though it doesn't get completely dark yet, the sun is not shining during the night as it was earlier this month and the days are getting shorter.
Written by Carolina and Richard