Arctic Field Projects
Project Title: BE/CBC: Coupling of Carbon and Water Cycles in a Cold, Dry Ecosystem: Integrative Physical, Chemical and Biological Processes and their Controls on CO2 Exchange (Award# 0221606)
PI: Welker, Jeffrey M (afjmw1@uaa.alaska.edu)
Phone: (907) 257.2701
Institute/Department: U of Alaska, Anchorage, Environment and Natural Resources Institute
IPY Project? NO
Funding Agency: US\Federal\NSF\OD\OPP\ARC\ARCSS
Program Manager: Dr. Neil Swanberg (nswanber@nsf.gov)
Discipline(s): | Biology |
| Project Web Site(s): |
| Institute: http://depts.washington.edu/icylands/ |
| Media: http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=13908 |
| NSF_Award_Info: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0221... |
| Logistics: http://www.polar.ch2m.com/Files/Documents/WelkerBECBC2007Pla... |
| Logistics: http://www.polar.ch2m.com/Files/PDFs/Welker2006Plan.pdf |
| Logistics: http://www.polar.ch2m.com/Files/PDFs/WelkerSlettenPPMay27.pd... |
Science Summary:
In the High Arctic, the carbon cycle—the process by which plants take carbon from the air, convert it (with the help of the sun) into energy for growth, and then return it to the air as carbon dioxide through respiration—is limited by lack of moisture, low temperatures, and the scarcity of nutrients. But with climate change, several of these limitations may be modified. Jeff Welker (Colorado State University, Fort Collins) will lead a team working near Thule to study the consequences of climate change on the exchange of carbon between High Arctic tundra ecosystems and the atmosphere. They also will look at the degree to which soil physical processes and soil mineral nutrition affect plant processes like photosynthesis and respiration. How will they do this? A field team will set up snow fences on selected sites to increase snow depth. They also will warm three types of tundra using open-topped chambers. The research teams will then use closed-chamber techniques to quantify carbon dioxide exchange over the entire year, and they will collect plants and soils to describe soil microbial dynamics, soil water content, plant water status and plant mineral nutrition. They anticipate that more snow in winter, leading to more snow-melt water in summer, when combined with warmer summer temperatures, will have the greatest effect on carbon cycling and may alter the carbon budget of high arctic ecosystems. These studies will help scientists better understand how a cold, dry ecosystem may respond to climate change--and how these changes may affect arctic and global carbon budgets.
Logistics Summary:
For this project field team members will conduct weekly experiments on carbon and water cycles in the Arctic environment from Thule Air Base in Greenland and Toolik Field Station in Alaska. Field teams ranging in size from three to 25 will travel to Thule each summer throughout the life of the grant (2002-2008), though the project expects a continuous presence between May and late August each year. In 2004 and 2005, two team members will conduct comparative studies between their ITEX snow fence experiment at Toolik Lake and at Thule. In 2005, and 2007, three team members will conduct comparative studies at lakes around the Kangerlussuaq area. In July of 2005 the project will host a three-week High Arctic field course at Thule. Project researchers will instruct the group of 12 (mostly) undergraduate students in basic skills in arctic research. Participants will then complete small group projects. Fieldwork will base at the project’s experimental sites at Thule Air Base, but will also include 8-10 days of camping at several locations approximately 20 minutes away from Thule via helicopter. Also participating in the field course will be a participant from the TREC program. For 2006, the team plans a field season similar to that of 2004 at Toolik Lake. At Thule, they anticipate a spring trip for one week (2 people) a summer trip for 6-8 people, and a fall visit in October. The team plans to complete trench work and continue the ecological and soil studies along with the hydrological and microclimate monitoring. They wish to visit Green Valley for several days once or twice during the field season to collect data and various samples, and monitor their experiments. They also wish to receive UNAVCO assistance to re-measure the 20 GPS monuments installed in 2005 (at Green Valley, Polar Desert, North Mountain and South Mountain) and to install an additional five to determine the annual downslope movement. They plan to further their analysis of microbial-plant interactions (especially N cycling) and work to articulate the temporal linkages of major physical-chemical and biological processes. In addition, they will be further examining plant-animal interactions in the Green Valley for comparative studies. In 2007, work at Thule will be similar to the 2006 effort, with a spring trip for one week in the spring. UNAVCO will again provide support to maintain the GPS array. In 2008, Co-PI Ron Sletten will visit Thule for a week in late summer to download data and perform routine maintenance. In addition, researchers working on the PI's ITEX project (0612534) also will restart this project's heat lamp experiment. In Alaska and Greenland, CPS will provide user days and truck use. In addition, for Thule visits prior to 2008, CPS will provide AMC clearances/ticketing for personnel and cargo, helicopter support, field gear, construction support, power, and lab/work space at the Peregrine Fund research center. For the Thule work in 2008, CPS will provide AMC clearances/ticketing, and truck rental days (1 week). All other costs will be paid for by the grant, including the 2008 costs of reestablishing/maintaining line power to the refurbished warming experiment.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
| 2002 | Greenland - Thule | 09 / 19 / 2002 | 09 / 27 / 2002 | 4 |
| 2003 | Greenland - Thule | 06 / 01 / 2003 | 09 / 01 / 2003 | 12 |
| 2004 | Alaska - Toolik | 05 / 17 / 2004 | 09 / 19 / 2004 | 2 |
| 2004 | Greenland - Thule | 04 / 01 / 2004 | 09 / 03 / 2004 | 14 |
| 2005 | Alaska - Toolik | 06 / 05 / 2005 | 08 / 25 / 2005 | 2 |
| 2005 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 06 / 30 / 2005 | 09 / 02 / 2005 | 18 |
| 2005 | Greenland - Thule | 03 / 17 / 2005 | 09 / 23 / 2005 | 30 |
| 2006 | Alaska - Toolik | 05 / 22 / 2006 | 11 / 10 / 2006 | 6 |
| 2006 | Greenland - Thule | 04 / 06 / 2006 | 09 / 15 / 2006 | 16 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 07 / 23 / 2007 | 07 / 27 / 2007 | 1 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Thule | 04 / 05 / 2007 | 09 / 15 / 2007 | 14 |
| 2008 | Greenland - Thule | 09 / 10 / 2008 | 09 / 19 / 2008 | 2 |
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