Today it was my turn to stay in and weigh tree samples. Maybe I was supposed to stay in because it was my turn in the rotation? Maybe I was supposed to stay in because I was scheduled to Skype with my students (which was so much fun, by the way)? Maybe I was supposed to stay in because I viciously taunt people when they're in the snow-pit??? What am I doing in this picture? I have no idea!
Either way, I stayed in today to measure the desiccation of tree branchlets. You do this by weighing them once every 24 hours. And there were only 128 of them! I missed out on the site with the deepest snow cover, but I also lucked out and missed the worst wind so far. The wind kept blowing snow into people's snow pits, so every 10 minutes they would have to shovel out a couple of inches of snow that was covering all of their equipment.
After lunch, we got to hear a lecture on polar bears. There are some polar bear trackers working at the research center right now. They tag and monitor the movement of polar bears on the sea ice. During this time of year, mother bears are coming out of their snow dens and taking their cubs onto the ice. I probably won't get to see a polar bear while I'm here, but the trackers said they would share pictures that they've taken of moms and cubs this season.
Polar bears get tattooed on the inside of their lips, tags attached to their ears, and radio transmitter collars. The collars and designed to fall off after a certain period of time (normally a year). The trackers brought one in that they'd just recovered from an old den.
This is how much bigger a female polar bear's neck is than mine. Yikes! Maybe I don't want to cross paths with one of these after all. They are very curious bears, and I wouldn't want them to start pondering what blonde tastes like.
Tomorrow we get a lesson on snow shelters, and then we'll build an igloo! I'm very excited. Afterwards it's back into the field for more snow pits and snow coring. Steve, our instructor/wrangler, told me I was doing a good enough job that I earned extra dessert rations. I think he's just trying to fatten me up so I'll be a more efficient snow corer. I'm not falling for it!
It's in the 70s today but looking at your pictures makes me ready for our 3rd round of the chilli cookoff. I started it off two weeks ago and figured I was a shoe-in due to being the boss, but Kyler had a real good batch last week and Aaron's looks and smells good. I bet Steve is looking at polar bear protection, not snow digging.
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