The NGEE Arctic team is committed to collecting quality
datasets that can, in turn, provide knowledge to inform climate models. We are
doing this for several disciplines including hydrology, biogeochemistry, and
vegetation dynamics. One area where we are especially focused is on the
measurement CO2
and CH4 flux from polygonal landscapes on the North Slope of
Alaska. These two greenhouse gases, both products of thawing and degrading
permafrost, are important inputs to the atmosphere that determine the rate and
magnitude of future warming of the planet.
Today our team left the Building 142 staging area a few
miles east of Barrow and traveled to our field site using snow machines. John used a Topcon dGPS to identify locations
for our measurements. He will eventually
locate 65 to 70 sites buried beneath 10 to 50 cm of snow, but today John
focused on plots along the 65-meter long tram. PVC collars had been installed
along the tram earlier in the year and project scientists have been measuring
CO2
and CH4 flux routinely throughout the year. Once identified, the collars
were gently cleaned and an LGR system was used to measure fluxes per unit
ground area over a few minute period. Ori and Naama were able to take all the
measurements within a few hours of admittedly limited daylight. It was
surprising that despite snow, frozen ground, and ice we were still able to
measure positive, albeit low, fluxes for both CO2
and CH4. It will take a few
weeks to analyze the data but these final measurements should complete what has
been a rewarding and successful 2014 field campaign.
John continues to locate other sites where we will conduct
similar measurements tomorrow. We will also be collecting samples of air from
stainless steel “gas wells” that had been previously inserted into the active
layer.
