Travis Drake

Travis is a 2010 and 2009 participant of the Polaris Project as an undergraduate, and the first returning graduate student (2012). He attended Carleton College where he majored in Geology and is now pursuing his PhD at the University of Colorado. Travis is from Portland Oregon. He is working on a project studying how streams change the form of carbon and other nutrients. Travis has set up experiments where he manipulates the chemistry of small streams and tracks changes along the waterway.

Journals

Did global warming cause the heat wave? Probably.

In the wake of the heat wave here in Russia, as well as the several other bouts of extreme weather around the globe this year (floods in the US and Pakistan, heat waves in Africa, eastern Asia, and eastern US), it is looking more and more like we are seeing the effects of anthropogenic (man-made) [...]
- By Travis Drake
- August 14, 2010
CO2 degassing from small streams

After collecting some pretty interesting data from the tundra, I decided it was time to share a bit about my project. As part of the stream team, my project is aimed at answering a simple question: are small arctic streams sources of CO2 to the atmosphere? To address this question, I needed to measure the [...]
- By Travis Drake
- August 09, 2010
Heading north, for one day this time.

The fantastic four are just about to board Petnubbin’ (aka Speedy) for a day trip to the tundra. We intend to sample streams and rivers for all of our projects. The weather is ideal for a trip north: cold, windy, and rainy. But don’t worry, we have so many layers on that we can’t walk [...]
- By Travis Drake
- August 08, 2010
Fire Haze

The vivacious vestige of the Polaris Project (Blaize, Erin, JoAnn, and Travis), through which the remainder of the group must live vicariously, woke up to a vicious odor of smoke and an eerie unplaceable source of sickly yellow light yesterday morning. This summer in Cherskii, as the returning students and PIs can attest, has been [...]
- By Travis Drake
- July 31, 2010
Preparations

Despite the excitement of commencement and reunion, the Carleton College website found room to publish a story I wrote about the Polaris Project. You can check it out here: http://apps.carleton.edu/news/features/?story_id=644697 Thanks to Chris Linder for the photo selection! In other news, after the whirlwind of ending my time at Carleton and working as a class host for [...]
- By Travis Drake
- June 24, 2010
Arctic Science in Miami

After a busy 4 days at the State of the Arctic (SoA) in Miami, I have found some time to distill the whirlwind of information and advice. SoA was my first science conference and I didn’t exactly know what to expect. Initially, I was somewhat nervous to present my poster, seeing as my audience was [...]
- By Travis Drake
- March 21, 2010
Some reflections…

It has been a few weeks since the Polaris Project disbanded and I’ve had some time to reflect on my experience. I remember distinctly when Max Holmes invited me into his office to show me pictures of Cherskii and describe the Polaris Project. While the pictures and descriptions provided me with some idea of where [...]
- By Travis Drake
- August 14, 2009
Russian security

“Guff Guff”
- By Travis Drake
- July 31, 2009
The Buzz on the Barge

Today there is excitement among our group for many reasons. We are still riding the high from our unbelievable day trip to the tundra. Yesterday morning, after a brief breakfast, we strapped on the life vests and headed north along the Kolyma River. Along the way, we stopped at a few points to refuel and [...]
- By Travis Drake
- July 24, 2009