14 June 2016 *Second* Chance of a Lifetime

Bound for the Last Frontier

I can’t believe it. I am headed back to the Alaskan Arctic this summer. Back in 2013, I was lucky enough to be a part of Amanda Koltz’s “Team Spider,” which sought to understand the complex interactions within a high arctic soil food web, particularly as regulated by a generalist predator like the wolf spider. CAVEAT: It had a lot to do with permafrost and decomposition. Take note of that, as it might come in handy later. But that was 2013…3 years ago, so why am I headed back to Toolik now?

It all started with the simplest of emails “Opportunity for PolarTREC Alumni” – seems innocuous, no? In the past, I have been incredibly fortunate to have had “Opportunity for PolarTREC Alumni” projects before – presenting at the National Science Teacher’s Annual Conference with Bruce Taterka and Alicia Gillean, hosting the ICE-MITT team’s ice cores at our inner city Chicago school, and even creating a Polar Science/Climate ChangeA statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or the mean variability of the climate that persists for an extended period (typically 10 years or more). Climate change may result from such factors as changes in solar activity, long-period changes in the Earth's orbital elements, natural internal processes of the climate system, or anthropogenic forcing (for example, increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases). class at Lindblom Math & Science Academy. Not to disparage any of my previous PolarTREC experiences, but this was something totally different – I have been asked to join the Deep Roots expedition up at Toolik Field Station. I AM GOING BACK.

Stay tuned (and sign up) for future journals about my experiences with the Deep Roots research team. I am so excited to be working with the Deep Roots team to head back to my old stomping ground – permafrost…AND YES, THE PUN WAS INTENDED.