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Seida 2013: Night measurements
(photo: Richard and Carolina) Early morning sunrise over study siteMonday, 4th of August 2013
It is August already, which means more than half of our field time is over and we are gathering momentum for the remaining weeks in the field.
July has come and gone really quickly and we are very happy with our work and the data we have collected so far.
It feels like everything has gone quite smoothly the past weeks, probably because this is not our first time in Seida and we have developed a certain routine within our field team, among which are many that have been here before and are familiar with the work and surroundings.
The good weather and lack of rain were supportive as well, although now some rain would be well appreciated, since it hasn't rained for weeks and the plant senescence has already set in, which is much earlier than usual.
(Photo: Richard & Carolina) Cold tundra nightAs mentioned in our last posting, we will have a "new" field team in August.
Our cook Elena, as well as the two Ivans, our Russian students, have left by the end of last week. As a farewell present, they were given the task to join in to our 24-hour CO2 measurement, which was scheduled for their last day in the field.
The CO2 flux consists of two components: uptake by plants (photosynthesis) and respiration (by plants, roots and soil microorganisms).
Usually we measure this once a week from our different landform types, during daytime hours of course, since we are mainly interested in the effect of warming in respect to CO2 fluxes, and not their diurnal variation.
(Photo: Carolina and Richard) Farewell picture July team To gain an insight as to how our sites are behaving with changing soil temperatures and solar radiation, we decided to measure through the night once this season.
Quite a tiring experience, but at least we were presented with the chance to enjoy the nightly Tundra atmosphere and to observe a beautiful sunrise.
But we discovered that Tundra nights are getting cold already: at 2 o'clock in the morning we were shivering in 3°C! And although we measured in several shifts, everyone was very exhausted afterwards and surely our students were happy to leave Tundra on Friday.
We will stay another month and are reinforced by Sasha, a senior scientist from Komi Science Center in Syktyvkar, as well as Petr, a geography student from Moscow State University.
Natasha, our cook from the previous year, has luckily agreed to join us again and we are looking forward to her famous "borsh" (борщ). Igor is also currently in Seida and will join us whenever needed.
A new group picture will follow next week.
Written by Carolina and Richard