Hobbies other than science?

The snow blazes down and fizzles out on our Ohio pavement and fieldwork feels distant. During this season, my poor schnauzer is skittish on the ice and our walks grow shorter. As gray blankets us, I miss the aesthetic aspects of being in the field. And when not working, I find myself reading dark literature until I get into a funk and become one with my couch.

And now, I'm attempting new hobbies; pretty and far away from writing manuscripts or proposalling. Today, I officially enrolled in an evening watercolor class at the Columbus Arts Council. This blog is primarily focused on science capades, but the awescapes I've been fortunate to visit trigger a gut need to do something artistic. For the rest of the winter, I shall stay away from sad literature. That being said, if you want a good couch cry read "The Blinding Absence of Light". It's even sadder than "Blindness" and "The Road".

Flood Year!!!

Rumor has it that this is a big water year in the Taylor Valley Antarctica! Similar to the 2001-2002 season during my first trip south. Hearing about it makes me think of the teal ponded water on the glacier surface and the gush of water pouring from Canada Glacier near my tent. It will be exciting to see what experiments will be conducted this year now that there has been more thought as to how "floods" change the landscape, geochemistry, and biotic activity in this most unusual polar desert!

Freeze-thaw-freeze

Carla and I have been sampling several times now. Each time, my fingers are becoming more solid as the air temperatures drop. To prevent the loss of sensation in my fingers, I put on layer after layer of clothing, which makes me fumble with the bottles more. Fortunately, Carla is much more dexterous than me.

We have also analyzed many of the samples we collected as well as some from storm events that the USDA collected for us. Most of all, I'm happy that we were able to get the pvc soil collars into the ground last week before the ground became to solid to pound them into the ground. Now, we are ready to use the Licor to measure the breath of the earth, or the carbon dioxide emitted from the different land use types. I marked our locations with flags... it seems that we are overdue for a big Ohio snowfall. However, I suspect we may have a good snow free day in January to make our first measurements.

Meeting and Mingling

I'm at an International meeting in San Francisco with other earth scientists... the turnout is amazing. We overfill the escalators and spill out of the lecture halls. There is no shortage of meaningful & inspiring discussions. Also, because the meeting is broad in scope, I've run into friends and mentors from times past. Admittedly, I am exhausted now, but can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Proposaling: dreaming or reality?

A few people have asked, where does the money to do earth science come from? If you have good hypotheses- that are important beyond your immediate peers, and propose tests that will support those hypotheses... sometimes, the government will give you money... there are also other ways, private sponsorship, lottery winnings (similar to being a student on a really cool funded project) but in the Byrd Polar Research Center and other research centers across the USA proposals are written to the National Science Foundation.

I submitted one with Bryan and Jeff and attempt to answer some questions from our previous work in Peru. Why? Most tropical glacier melt is routed through wetlands where potentially toxic metals are rapidly added to streams... people are reliant on this water, water quantity is rapidly changing as glaciers recede. Will issues with water quality precede water quantity issues? Will these issues be worse in the dry season with more variable stream flow? (stream flow is buffered by glacial inputs). At any rate, the water is blood red now (above).... Will it turn neon upon the death of tropical glaciers? Also, think of all the cool things to do with students.

Michael and Carla are already calculating dry season weathering rates- but the wet season is unknown...

Snow in the fields

Carla and I went out to Coshocton fora round of sampling and a holiday meal with the USDA folks. Martin shared his travel adventures examining soil erosion/management issues in sourthern India after our feast. Above are some pictures of this first snowy mission. Carla has a knack for sampling! In addition to this cow, we came across a mink and two bucks! It was a beautiful sunny day to sample.

Percolation

I am not measuring metals in cornfield groundwater...

Pictures

Martin from the USDA emailed a few more pictures from our last sampling trip. The next trip is in just less than 2 weeks. Carla, an Earth Sciences undergrad, is going to come out with me to sample and set up the Licor (measures CO2 respiration from the soil). She will be completing her undergraduate thesis working with me (Thanks Berry!). She'll examine alkalinity (or the inorganic carbon flux) associated with different landuse types we are examining: forested, corn till, corn no till, mixed, and unimproved pasture. She is also planning to compare this with samples gathered from Peru this summer. It should be an interesting study because both glacial and agricultural watersheds have high erosion rates.

Thank you

Here's a picture of my dissertation defense committee: Anne Carey, Berry Lyons, me, Bryan Mark, and Lonnie Thompson. It was a good road to my PhD with their input and support. (And the support of Andrew Fountain who served on my dissertation committee). Recently, I had the chance to thank my adviser, Berry, for making my Antarctic dream possible. As I move forward leading my own research endeavors, I hope that I am able to give back as much as I have received. I could not have had better role models.

Adventures in Tilth

While at a recent conference (GSA-SSSA), I learned a new word: tilth. Tilth is all aspects of soil that relate to its fertility and productivity. Understanding tilth, includes examining the storage and loss of essential elements.

This weekend we dedicated ourselves to tilthly knowledge.

Pictured tilth crew activities: 1) Jen, volunteering from Metro High School (she's also been working on some data from Peru); 2) the mixed landuse field plot and the white groundwater monitoring building); 3) Klaus, Ilan, and Jen; and 4) Jen showing off her foot after retrieving her shoe from mud and Martin smiling at our muddy feet.

Carbon in Cornfields: all altitudes and latitudes considered

Well, the bottles are all lined up in a row for next weekend. A high school student and an undergraduate (now anonymous, but not for long) will be joining me heading out to Coshocton in the quest to understand the link between agricultural practices and the storage and loss of carbon from soil. But, I can't help but think of the cornfields high in the Andes, hanging from the sides of mountains. I'm looking at this landscape wondering how many hours of manually tilling and toiling would be needed to grow an acre of corn? And what is the rapid increase of temperatures at high altitudes and human industrial spewing of nitrate doing to those fields now.....???

Welch Crag

Yesterday my good friend, Kathy Welch, learned she had a crag named after her! (After she won a service award at Byrd Polar Research Center).

Welch Crag: 77°17'08"S Latitude, 160°36'37"E Longitude. A steep rugged peak, which is marked by secondary spires rising to 1500 m in the north-east part of McSaveney Spur, Willett Range, Victoria Land. Topographic Map: Webb Lake (1:50,000).

Here's to Kathy! She'll be blogging from the Antarctic soon in her 16th field season!