7/13/2008

When we woke up this morning we were slowly moving south along the Kolyma River.  Our destination is a two-day trip to Duvanniy Yar, a place were there are large permafrost exposures.  This morning we were confined to the barge as we moved upstream.  After going in circles for a while, we found a good place to dock for the day.  A group of us including Katey W, John S, Kate B, Sudeep C, Laura M, and Boyd Z went out in a smaller boat to collect samples at a stream and a lake.  We pulled up to dock the boat and I saw something I was not expecting.  There was a house built on a small strip of land in between the river and the lake.  It was surprising to see someone living out there so far away from any town.  The yard was littered with various pieces of scrap metal and old, broken down machinery.  The man who lives there, Lenid, is a fisherman and he had lots of fish hanging outside in chicken wire boxes to dry.  It was an amazing site to see.  He invited us into his house and gave us fish to eat.  He had prepared the fish in so many different ways and each was more delicious than the one before.  It was an amazing cultural experience.

The walk to the stream was not difficult; it was walking along the stream bank that proved to be difficult.  There were trees all along the bank that proved very challenging to walk through.  It seemed like no one had ever been there before.  We found some good points along the stream and lake to take samples.  Laura and Boyd worked on collecting methane bubbles.  They had two traps that they placed in the water and then poked at the streambed to make the bubbles come out.  They then put the collected gas into vacuum-sealed glass bottles for storage.  John, Kate, and I took water samples from the stream.  We filtered the water into three bottles and used a probe to measure the water pH, temperature, and conductivity.  The water samples will be analyzed back at the field station in Cherskiy and if possible, will be transported back to the United States for further analysis.  We are mainly looking at the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) but we will also measure the amounts of various nutrients and ions.

Lenid came back to the barge with us for dinner.  I was really glad that he came because even though he did not speak any English, it was still possible to learn from him what his life is like.  He sang us Old Russian songs while playing the guitar and you could sense the emotion in the song as he played.  I could feel the power of the song even without understanding the words.

Katie Abbott, student, St. Olaf College

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