Taking Time to Talk…

The last few days have been busy with trips out the Kougarok, Council, and Teller Road. We have, however, seen a lot of potential field sites and discussed a number of scientific questions that will require careful consideration before making final decisions. Today everyone met in the commons area of the Dredge No. 7 and we began to focus on important outcomes from this week. We first discussed a strategy for characterizing the landscape on the Seward Peninsula, both for use in our measurements and models, and then using that scheme to help identify a few critical field sites. That proved to be a great discussion and it went a long ways towards helping outline how we will organize at least the field site selection section of our upcoming Phase 2 renewal proposal. Our team then discussed a number of high-level science questions with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the causes and consequences of greenhouse gas flux and shrub expansion in the Arctic. We all feel that being able to tackle important questions from a systems perspective is one of the major strengths of our team and we want to make sure that we ask questions that take advantage of our unique scientific and technical capabilities. We ended the morning meeting with a list of action items to pursue when we return to our home institutions.