Field Notes
During, before, and after the field course, Polaris students and faculty share their thoughts through journal entries.
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Bag Party
After a week in Siberia, I have learned the number one rule to follow when traveling abroad, and it is to “go with the flow.”
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Independence Day
As Julian put it during last night’s reflection, ‘there is an energy crackling in the air around us’ as new ideas spring up and conceptual understanding deepens.
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Beginnings
But this was different. Partly from waking up just in time, partly from the luck of suddenly clear skies. Mostly because I'm not just sightseeing now. I'm on my way to a place where I get to look for answers, to try to understand a piece of the Arctic.
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All Well in Cherskiy
The Polaris Project 2014 Expedition in now underway! Everyone made it to Cherskiy without incident and all are now settling in to their new routine.
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Many firsts
After I finished reading the blogs I leaned back and looked at the map of Russia on the wall behind my desk. That map has been my lifeline while coordinating this trip. It is marked with post-its of flight dates and departure and arrival times of each leg of travel,
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Virtual Siberia vs. Reality
I’ve been to Siberia hundreds of times, maybe even thousands. Sometimes making several trips in the very same day. I’ve seen its seasons, good weather, bad weather, the mountains and valleys, rivers, ponds, lakes, and wetlands. I’ve visited each of the great Arctic rivers of Siberia, wondered at permafrost features,
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East Bound and Down
Greetings from Внуkово! The first wave of Polaris 2014 (Aaron, Craig, Erika, Heather, Homero, Mike, Sam, and Seth) is indeed East Bound and Down (yes, this is a Smokey and the Bandit reference).
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Wonder and Fear
Mammoths started it all. Growing up I became infatuated with monsters of the ice age reading with awe and terror of past geological epochs. Giant sloths, sabre tooth cats and mastodons satisfied my fantastical imagination, while providing tangibility I couldn’t find in pure fantasy.
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Extending the Senses
The path that led me to apply to the Polaris Project was less focused on science and more focused on the process behind science, the data collection, measurements, and methods of analysis used to investigate natural phenomena. I’ve spent the past few months designing a reliable, low-cost circuit to record
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From Salt Marsh to Siberia
I was the kid on the field trip who was off playing with a sea creature, wondering where it came from, how it was going to get back and why it behaved the way it did, while the rest of the group was eating their lunch on shore.
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From the Caribbean to the Arctic…Wait, whaaat?
I am from the tropics, and in my case since I was a kid, all my education in science has been mainly about the Tropical Environment. It is a biome that I am very used to, scientifically speaking. So…why do I want to go to the arctic tundra?
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Hello from the Land of Long Winters
My background is in wildlife diseases. So why do I have interest in climate change?
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Change for the Best
For me, being part of The Polaris Project is a huge deal. I am Mexican-American therefore I grew up in a culture where families are very close.
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Beneath My Feet
I think there is something special about hiking through a canyon and not only being able to appreciate the beauty of the rushing river and intensely sloped rock walls, but also being able to understand how such a striking landscape can arise. Siberia and the tundra are drastically different from
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Impacts of Reaching Out in Texas
Recently I participated in an outreach event with Dr. Heather Alexander, Aaron White and Erika Ramos. Our goal was to expose South Texas high school students to the world of ecology with a focus on the Arctic and the impacts climate warming can have on this environment. We talked about
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