11 June, 2001

We spent most of the day fitting collars on the the 18 round chambers. The seals for these have to be air tight so after attaching the collars the rest of the time we spent caulking the joints. This week we will be attaching the clear chambers to the top and taking our first carbon flux readings.

A frost boil, caused by thawing and freezing of arctic soils. These dot the landscape.

A close up view of the top of the frost boil. Notice how silty the soil is and that there is no vegetation on the top. This is soil from below which has been uplifted in a process called cryo-turbation (love that word!). What that means is the soil from below is now pushed up on top. Arctic soil is mixed and disturbed in such ways.

We are approximately 50 meters( 150 yards) out on the ocean ice. You can walk on water here, at least in the winter and spring!! The ice is starting to melt and the puddles are forming, most are about 3 inches deep.

Sleds that other researchers are using to carry their equiptment on to the ice. No these are not sitting on land, they are on the ice (ocean)!