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| Janet and the Data |
This past week was the literal and figurative the high point of my summer. I spent five days in the field with Janet Jorgenson and two other botanist/horticulturists up in the mountains north of Atigun Gorge on the extreme north side of the Brooks Range in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We worked on the GLORIA project which is an international alpine study based in Vienna: Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments. Scientists from six countries are studying the vegetation on high mountains to see if it changes over time. Every five years Janet and company climb four mountains, lay out colored cord to transect their summits, record what plants are present and do one meter square sample counts from sixteen areas on each peak. My role was mostly winding and unwinding the cord, taking photographs, recording data as she called it out. I also got to dig up and place data loggers which record the soil temperature every two hours for the entire five years.
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| Al and Janet |
Even on the mountain tops the skeeters were brutal. They were worse, though, at our lakeside camp site between the peaks. As we tried to sleep at night in our tents, the bodies of the bugs battering our tents sounded like constant rain. Janet lent me a bug jacket for the rest of the summer. Alhumdullilah!!! I understand now that the Toolik Research station record of 278 mosquitoes killed with one hand slap was NOT an exaggeration. I’ve decided to write a mystery novel in which the victim is stripped naked and left to die on the tundra. Estimates put this as a mere 22 hours of exposure until enough blood is sucked out to bring on death by dehydration. Yuck! My thoughts are grisly. In contrast the botanists I worked with are very gentle and kind people. This is noteworthy in an environment in which one could easy have gone ‘buggy’ and collapsed into a constant ‘whine’. One of the botanists was smiling constantly because of his delight in the foliage. Another benefit of hanging out with botanists is that, unlike birders, they sleep in to a reasonable time and stop every five minutes while ascending mountains to exclaim over the plants and share their expertise, giving me time to catch my breath, take photos and exclaim also. These are my type of people!
Today I am recovering in my cabin. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been drawing or playing my guitar. I’ll have to wait until October to relax. Happy summer to all! In a couple of weeks Arctic autumn will arrive with wandering caribou, bright colors and no bugs.
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| I love lousewort! |
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| Rocky high road |
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| Chinese lantern |
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Notice skeeters which are in all our photos. |
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