Just as we had for yesterday and our trip out Kougarok Road,
we left town and proceeded to travel in a caravan out the Council Road. This
road travels first along the coast and then inland up over Skookum Pass and
into an amazing tundra-boreal forest transition zone near Council, Alaska. The
drive took us 2 to 2.5 hours and given the delays of this morning we arrived at
the end of the road about noon. We grabbed a quick lunch on the banks of the
Niukluk River and then back-tracked a mile or two to look for a potential field
site. Our team has visited this area on two or three occasions and we
immediately saw the potential for some aspects of our research in the flat
areas of tundra that are undergoing consider degradation. This location is
characterized by warm, discontinuous permafrost and thermokarst depressions
have created a network of features and drainages that would be ideal for our
system-level studies. What we did not expect, however, was to find that this
area lends itself to a transect that encompassed non-degraded tundra, areas of
tussock tundra, shrubs, and then shrub-boreal forest transitions in the
distance. Our discussions in the field focused on a catena concept that would
encompass measurements across all these features. What a great opportunity for
comparative studies and for understanding the surface and subsurface dynamics
that are taking place in this area. Needless to say it was an exciting time in
the field for our team. Evidence for this was seen throughout the day as people
talked and discussed the science questions that could drive our research and
our goals of integrating that knowledge into climate models.
We also stopped during our drive back to Nome to look at
several small watersheds where we could look at aspects of integrated aspects
of hydrology and shrub dynamics. Joel (LANL) took the time, and energy, to dig
a few pits to look at rock content, depth of permafrost, and soil moisture
contents in these areas. We know from satellite imagery that areas of Arctic
tundra are showing signs of shrub expansion, although the controls on this
dynamic are unresolved. What we saw in these small watersheds was the potential
controls and consequences of shrub expansion. It was interesting to see how
dominant shrubs like willow and alder are performing differently in these
environments. Our team has not yet worked out all the details, but we feel that
these areas will allow us to incorporate this aspect of vegetation dynamics
into our studies and thereby improve our understanding for the rate, controls,
and consequences of shrub advancement into tundra ecosystems. There is a
considerable need for this kind of information in climate models and we believe
that we can tackle this challenge, along with others, once we identify a series
of suitable sites on the Seward Peninsula.
One other task that we tackled today was the topic of
logistics. We have enjoyed great support from UMIAQ in Barrow and, although we
can be more self-sufficient working on the Seward Peninsula, our team will
still need some assistance with logistical support. For example, we have made
good use of lodging in Nome thanks to the Dredge No. 7 Inn and the Aurora Inn
and Suites. However, if we are to work for any extended period at a Phase 2
research site we will need housing closer to our field location. Larry and I
discussed this in our earlier meeting with the Bering Straits Corporation and
they gave us a couple of leads for renting cabins near Salmon Lake out the
Kougarok Road, and at Solomon and Council. Solomon is 30 to 35 miles from Nome
and the cabins in Council are near the end of the road just on Niukluk River.
The latter two locations could house perhaps 10 to 12 people and keep everyone
near to our potential field sites. We will continue these discussions with both
the Solomon and Council Native Corporations as we consider these options.
Tomorrow we head out the Teller Road….it will be interesting
to see what lies out in that direction.
