Mono Lake

Going back to Mono Lake and the teetering tufa towers...the water slowly returns... during non-drought years (as decided in 1994 by the Water Board to stop diverting most of the inflow into the lake)

Water everywhere

A vanishing lake in the horizon, a dust bowl emerges, alfalfa sprouts.

Lakes that were studied for their unusual salinity, like Poison, have now become landscapes of barren sediment. Lungs once filled with high sierra breeze now filled with ancient lakebed. We tried to recirculate the air in our car, but tasted constant dust on our lips. Subtropical drylands are predicted to become warmer and hence more arid in the span of our lifetime...amplified by our growing global populations need for food and water and fossil fuel.
At Walker Lake, an old man warns "the lake has gone down, way down" since I was a young man, since yesterday.
Goose Lake vanishing, the other side- a blowing whirl of clay and sand.

Return to Great Basin Lakes 2007

Next week, Becki and I will be returning to Reno after a two year lapse from the gritty spring break trip we spent surveying the arid landscape with Dr. Anne Carey. (Highlights of that trip included examining the dusty desolation left in the bed Owens Lake, and the remains of a dried-up wildbird preserve). Mono Lake was spared, but still hosts some of the most unusual landforms emerging from the saline lake.

Above Walker Lake is pictured (as we will be depth-sampling Walker for part of Becki's dissertaton characterizing closed-basin lake chemical evolution). I like Walker for other reasons, it used to be the vast Lake Lahontan (covering more than 8,000 square miles during the ice age!)

I will post pictures from our adventure as internet connection abilities allow.

Vatnajokul? Are you there, its me, Sarah...

Happily, I'm in the lab on Independence day- I'll spend it interdepent on the Thermo Finnegan Element 2 ICPMS, I shall call it Finny from now on... Me and Finny are processing a bunch of Antarctic supraglacial and proglacial streams now for 18 elements. I have approximately, 5 minutes of dead time while Finny drinks the samples up in some ultraclean tubing and mixes with 17% of a 5 ppb internal standard of Cesium, Thalium, and Indium--- Finny is finicky, so the internal standards automatically adjust to the natural changes in sensitivity (ability to detect)that occur throughout a day of running samples. I also run check standards on the elements I'm actually investigating, but this is more straightforward than feeding Finny an IV of Ce, Tl and In....Its my 3rd day straight of running samples. I'm going until my eyes fall out an role onto the adjacent laser ablation table... the reason, if another scientist runs their samples, they will inject all kinds of nonsense 'high' elemental concentration seawater and digested otoliths (fancy word for fish ear rocks) that will ravage my ability to detect at the lovely low concentrations of 10 ppt.



Read about more artistic glacier interactions.... here

lovely labcoats

Again in the lab, no time exists here- its white 24 hours a day, just like an Antarctic summer... I've been here for 13 hours... and am trying not to wiggle too much- don't want me-dust flying into the clean samples. Sadly, I can't be sure how much neodynium I really contain. I suspect I am weathering... flaking like a rock does. My erosion is much quicker really....at least mentally, in the fluorescent lights. I had the great idea of bringing books on tape... More boring than paying bills online. Tragically, the elderly man narrator gives women falsetto voices. Its not a good idea... very bad for the budding romance...I've given up and now its the 80s music that they start playing after 11....Good thing is that I'm measuring 15 elements at concentrations below 10 ppt with linear calibration curves... I'm also using internal standards this time, they are introduced into the ICPMS at the same time my samples go in... Like having an IV of gatorade in your arm while you eat a hamburger....mmmmm.... I'd even eat a hamburger now.... Gotta love the lab!!!

Letters to our leaders

The assignment:

Write a letter about environmental issues you are concerned about to someone you think has the power to make changes.

Excerpts from the letters of 4th and 5th graders below (with permission to reprint):
(most asked for return responses)

Dear President Bush,

"I think that cutting trees down from the forests, jungles, rainforests and woods is taking homes from animals. Why do people spill chemicals in our water if animals and people drink water? I think that since you're the President, you should start thinking more about the environment and animals."

"Polluting the water and air would be just the same as killing animals and us. So please ask people to stop cutting down trees and polluting."

"Why are gas prices high? Can't we find something more efficient that won't pollute the environment as much... my dad has to drive a lot. Put some money into finding a good resource that can help the environment."

"Global warming will make the ice caps melt making Florida sink into the sea....P.S. I didn't make up this science"

"Please lower the gas price. Some families cannot afford the gas price. Some people take the bus because the gas price is high. Why can't you spend money to solve this problem. In class we made solar ovens that did not use any fossil fuel."

"We need to stop polluting because the air is making it where we have a shorter life span. Instead of using non-renewable resources why can't we use renewable ones? We need you to do something."

"The pollution needs to stop. The pollution is killing animals, the earth, and people. Stop the people from littering and polluting the earth. Stop people from raising gas prices. Please make more renewable resources available and efficient to use."

"Global warming is real and serious and we have no time not to care about our future."

"Our State is polluted in different cities. It is horrible. So I am asking you to help."

"We should use less electricity because we burn fossil fuel to get electricity. Burning fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the air which causes global warming. I don't want my environment to be in danger, so please consider some of my solutions."

"I am writing because I am asking you to not make toxic foods, drinks and other things... Can you not cut down trees (where animals live)?"

"There is a problem and it is called Global warming. If the ice caps of Greenland melt Florida and Washington D.C. will be flooded. If the ice caps of Antarctica melt sea level will rise seventy meters and flood some of the tropics. Most of the population lives in the tropis"

"I am worried that we will run out of gas, we do not have that much oil saved."

"I think you should convince more people to use the renewable energy of wind so coal supply will not be limited when I am at least 40 years old (at the moment I am 11). If you get more businesses convinced to use the renewable energy wind, the environment will be cleaned up... YOU can get more people to change sources of energy if you tried."

"Please help because we like the Earth and we don't like flooding."

"Why isn't recycling mandatory?"

"Why are the gas prices going up? Do we not have enough for the future, well do we sir? Because this is keeping families from going on vacations and keeping up with their rent and bills sir"

Dear Oprah,

"I am very concerned about the air pollution in the city where I live, Columbus, Ohio. I heard on the news that Ohio was one of the most polluted states in the United States, I was very surprised"

"I think you should do a show about helping the environment. Like how people should start using renewable resources and nontoxic cleaning supplies and stuff like that. If people knew about renewable resources, maybe there wouldn't be Global Warming."

"Can you get some people that can help save the environment? The Earth is totally polluted. Oprah, please help our community before the pollution becomes unbearable. PLEASE HELP US!"

planning ahead...kilimanjaro

(photo from http://kilimanjaro.malinikaushik.com/)

Last week I wrote up research plans for Tanzania & Mount Kilimanjaro... (tackling an issue related to human health). I won't give away the details, but I will say this, have a vision. Keep in communication with those you admire/aspire. (in academia- your advisor, your committee).

Also, I planned some details of this study more than a year ago when I was first invited on the trip...but now the ideas have fermented for awhile. Putting it on paper makes me feel like I have one foot on Tanzanian soil, the other soon to join...

I will see the snows of Kilimanjaro, before they melt into legend.

brought to you by... anonymous 5th graders and celebrities

Elm-3 its biodegradable and cleans your countertops!

Earth Day... small steps and giant leaps

For Earth Day the fifth graders concocted biodegradable cleaning products (from ingredients such as vinegar, water, baking soda, salt). They tested different mixtures to find the most effective combinations. Now, the kids diligently make labels for their greener cleaners from their recycled homework. Soon they will 'sell' their products to their classmates by creating television ads. Media may be a big part of the solution to the woes of our planet, at least in generating recognition. (Look at the success of An Inconvenient Truth)

Small steps to reduce our energy use are no longer enough to stop the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Writers at Grist (www.grist.org) point out some of the failures toddling along toward sustainability, sure people may be willing to switch light bulbs or water their lawns at night, but will most volunteer to do anything more drastic? Most electricity consumers wouldn't want a surcharge on their energy bill if they exceeded a mandated energy use standard. (USA-TODAY)

Economist, Andy Keeler of OSU's John Glenn School of Public Affairs spoke on campus this month about the Science and Policy of Greenhouse Gases. Keeler predicts the US will have a Cap and Trade System (in whatever administration is next). Cap and Trade limits GHG emission with permits or allowances consistent with the cap. This createw a price for carbon dioxide emissions and "makes the market tell the truth."

Other potential policy solutions include taxing all things associated with carbon dioxide production (including the production and transportation of goods along with the fuel itself) & or mandating the use of certain products such as fluorescent bulbs, or vehicles that meet high fuel efficiency guidelines ... the problem with this is that new technology may be even more efficient, but unexplored with stricter product regulation.

Whatever the mechanism it's time for some big leaps to go with our small steps. Small steps should not be halted. (The look on any fifth graders face holding their own earth friendly cleaner revels this!!!) Small steps, particularly from children, build awareness. We are the solution.

why do we have water on earth? easy...

Every good experiment starts with a question...

4th and 5th graders brainstormed thinking of science questions they are interested in: "Why is the sky blue? What makes food rot? How fast do plants grow without water?"

An intense, quiet girl raised her hand and asked,

"Why do we have water on earth?"

WOW!!! This is advanced thinking- I was momentarily stunned...

A simple explanation for the bright girl...volcanoes, (she nodded as I drew gas from volcanoes creating a hazy atmosphere that would rain down things including water---we've already done experiments on the water cycle)Her next question? Why is there not water on other planets? (We talked about how Mars looked like it had volcanoes, but the atmosphere was closer to the sun, and may have burned off....and more about planets without volcanoes...)

We'll be making a pond muck battery (hopefully some will work- but if not, that's a good lesson too) I think we'll feed one with iron filings, one with molasses, one with both, I'm guessing the students hypothesize these will produce more electricity than just pond muck. (From me they know that some pollution is cleaned up by decomposers that eat sugar and that when iron spills in the ocean it sometimes feeds small organisms) Need to find a place to keep the stinky goop...as it popping the lid will only produce twice as much foul gas in the hot summer stickiness that is coming into our classroom.

UPDATE
The battery was a smashing success! Worked best with a voltmeter that could detect the faint current- amazing hope for the future of bio-energy sources. !!!!

Not 'blinded and numb'

Al Gore's testimony to Congress (3/21/-07):

Future generations will either ask

"Didn't they see the evidence?"
"Were they too blinded and numb by ...daily life"
Did they it was perfectly alright to keep dumping 70 million tons every single day of global warming pollution into this earth's atmosphere?"

OR

"How did they find the uncommon moral courage to rise above the politics?"

NSF GK-12, supporting science starts early

As a National Science Foundation Graduate K-12 Fellow, I admire the teachers and principals who share their classrooms with me, letting me burrow deeply into Columbus Public Schools, working jointly to develop hands-on science activities. In the classroom, one resource is not scarce: a child's passion for exploration. Confident nine-year olds use the word ‘hypothesize’ with a glimmer, eager to test their predictions. They are thrilled with the unexpected and the incredible ah-has of discovery.

The National Science Foundation GK-12 conference was last weekend (March 9-11) in Washington DC, bringing together teachers, graduate students and university professors invested in shaping the future of science and technology. My ears transfixed on Dr. Bill Hammock's smooth radio voice as he called for a future full of people comfortable with science. He reissued past NSF director Dr. Neal call for 'civic scientists' to foster the connection between scientists and the public. In the classroom, we must teach kids to use science as part of their decision-making, not to be weary or afraid of it.

The joy I feel exploring glaciers, investigating clues in their chemistry and hydrology, this is the joy of a fifth grader who has built their own thermometer or a fourth grader that pours water on a dirt mound recording its erosion. Confidence and excitement in K-12 science classrooms will lead to a future filled with support for science and technology leaders.