11 August, 1997

Nevins Journal 08/11/97

Flew in to sites 3 and 4 today to try to take temperature measurements from the permafrost boundary up toward the surface. We used a long probe that had a thermistor in the end of the probe. The process was very slow because of the large mass of our probe. We needed more than 20 minutes per hole to finish one data point. Interesting thing though, we did not measure temperature but rather resistance of the probe. When the team gets back to SUNY they will convert the data to temperature.

While standing around waiting for the probe resistance to stabilize before we could move it up another 5 cm, I had an idea for another way to try so that all the readings could be taken in one probe. I have talked about the Hobo temperature recorders that are used to record the temperature at the field sites, they read and store temperatures at an adjustable rate. When we came back to camp for the day, I couldnUt wait to try out the idea. I took a logger and put its sensor on the end of one of our probes with duct tape. Equipped with the modified probe and the probe we had been using in the field, I went out side the lab to the nearest tundra and pushed both probes into the ground. After waiting for the temperatures to stablize stabilize I probed two more sites and brought the equipment back into the lab so that I could readout the Hobo unit and see what had happened. The setup worked well enough that tomorrow I plan to build a probe from a hardwood dowel and about 5 sensors. Then we will try it out in the field Wed. or Thur. ThatUs it for now.