9 August, 1997

Nevins Journal 08/09/97

This morning I got up a 6:00 am to call home since there is a 3 hour diference difference it was about 9:30 when I got through on one of the 2 phone lines here. The day started as a beauty and has continued to be a beauty. Sunny and warm, T shirt weather and Jerry, Jeremy , and I went out to investigate creek sites . We did not need to fly in as there is a work site and materials (gravel) site there. The big plot is a 1x1 km plot that is sampled at the corners of a grid of 100 x 100 m laid out on the larger grid the flux plots are both in the larger site. I spent the time downloading the data loggers, changing the batteries and relaunching the loggers. In order to see my laptop screen in the bright light I spent my time with my shirt over the computer screen and my head. Jerry and Jeremy walked the plot and probed the site. I also talked with the contractor who is going to be rebuilding the Toolik Telex Field Station out at the materials site. He was out looking for materials to build the new pads to keep the buildings and roads high enough above the permafrost so that the frost does not melt and cause the buildings to sag. When a heated building is set on permafrost or to close to the permafrost, it causes the frost to melt down to a greater depth and the ground then sags as the ice in the permafrost layer melts. The same thing can happen if the surface is disturbed and the insulating vegetation is damaged. The best example is the Hickel highway which is now abandoned because the melting permafrost has made it unusable. Our weather was really different today, clear and sunny, warm (58 degrees in the shade at 8:00 pm) and very comfortable. Tomorrow promises to be similar and we are taking the day off. ThatsU it for tonight.