http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu Tapping experts in climate, geology, oceanography, ecology, sustainable development, global health, energy, food and water, State of the Planet captures stories of how the Earth works and how we can sustainably make our lives better. Fri, 24 May 2013 19:28:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/05/water-samples-and-wildlife/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/05/water-samples-and-wildlife/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:56:39 +0000 Jonathan Nichols http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=28630 After a day of coring on Tuesday, we decided to give our arms and backs a rest and collect water and plant samples. We take these samples so that we can characterize the chemical signatures of each plant type, and water from different parts of the system. Then, we can recognize those same signatures in [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/05/water-samples-and-wildlife/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/04/deepest-core-yet-from-imnavait-creek/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/04/deepest-core-yet-from-imnavait-creek/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 07:44:21 +0000 Jonathan Nichols http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=28555 Our first day in the field was a wild success! We visited Imnavait Creek Peatland, named for the small stream that drains out of it into the Kuparuk River. We chose this location because it has the potential to be much older than many other peatland sites. During the last ice age, the area of the [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/04/deepest-core-yet-from-imnavait-creek/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/03/getting-there-0-5fun/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/03/getting-there-0-5fun/#comments Tue, 03 Jul 2012 08:31:12 +0000 Jonathan Nichols http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=28501 Hello from the land of the midnight sun! We have just arrived by way of the famous Dalton Highway at Toolik Field Station, a Long Term Ecological Research site of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We pulled up to the station just in time for dinner, a quick trip to the field station’s wood-fired sauna, and a dunk in Toolik Lake to wash off the dust of the road. Now it’s time to try and block out enough sun to get some shut-eye before a long day of coring tomorrow. Check out some pictures from our 360-mile drive after the jump.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/07/03/getting-there-0-5fun/feed/ 0