27 June 2014 A Tour of Toolik

Journal

A Tour of Toolik

Toolik Field Station is quite the spot! You are in an area of the world that is decently far from normal towns and cities, and yet you have many of the modern conveniences available to you.

Toolik is operational year round and located north of the Brooks Range along the Dalton Highway, and is about 117 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. It can house over 100 people and at many times during the summer season this is the case. As a researcher if you were studying something in the arctic, this station offering proximity to a variety of ecosystems in the tundra, clean and warm places to sleep, delicious prepared meals, showers, toilets, and lab facilities this station would perfectly fit the bill!

The station has been around since 1975, and currently is run by the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Here is a short video I made walking around Toolik to give you an idea of some of the main places on camp.

Sleeping Quarters

Toolik Dorms — Here is a picture showing one of the dormatory buildings that the Pis stay in. The Brooks Range is basking in the midnight sun (picture was taken at 3am)

There are three options for sleeping arrangements when in Toolik. A few individuals are housed in dorm style trailers- these seem to be mostly the principal investigators (PIs).

weatherports — You can see the weatherport tent structures. They get quite dark inside and are more comfortable than a tent. You have a mattress, dresser, space heater and electricity.

The majority of the rest of camp sleeps in weatherport tents. They are quite dark due to blackout shades and thick plastic. You have screened windows that you can open for ventilation if needed. There are 3-6 beds in each along with chairs and dressers. We have outlets for power, overhead lights, a small space heater for cold evenings, and even wi-fi!

Any brave souls that choose to opt for pitching their own tent can do so in tent city, they get a slightly more rugged experience.

Where do you go when you need to... you know... go?

There are bathrooms scattered around camp nicknamed Towers. They are called this because they are the tallest buildings around. Any ideas as to why they might have to be so tall?

They are simply an outhouse. All of the waste has to be kept above ground (due to the permafrost) and pumped out and taken to Deadhorse to be disposed of. They pay by the gallon to get rid of waste, so they don't use water to flush the toilets, and they don't want to add any volume, so all toilet paper goes in the trash can next to the toilet. It costs about $1/gallon of waste to be removed, that adds up quickly if you imagine the an average toilet can use 1.6 gallons per flush- that's $1.60 per flush, multiply that by 100 people and several uses a day, and it gets expensive fast, and that's just for going to the bathroom!

You still wash your hands with hand sanitizer and can use a sink in the dining hall to wash your hands with soap and water before meals.

Bathing

Again, because the water is expensive to get rid of showers are very limited. We can take a shower twice a week, and can have 2 minutes worth of water. So you turn it on, get wet, turn water off, lather and scrub, and then rinse off with the remaining water. No soaking allowed!

We also have a wood burning sauna. The fire also heats a tank of lake water and we can use this to scrub off 5 days a week. You can sweat in the sauna and then run and jump in the lake too if that's your style! It is very refreshing, but you can't hesitate. Once you leave the sauna you just keep moving until you have jumped off of the dock!

What about food?

Dining hall — Here is our dining hall with hot meals served 3x/day 6 days a week, and dinner on Sunday.

This is one of the best parts of camp life. The chefs make three hot meals a day (except for Sunday- then there's only dinner), and they are very tasty! There is always a salad and sandwich bar available, and a wall of snacks and drinks... there's homemade desserts and ice cream a plenty. No one should go hungry!

Menu — Here is our menu for one week of food. Breakfasts aren't shown, but are always some type of egg, bacon/sausage, oatmeal, pancakes/french toast/waffles/quiche, and fruit.

Everyone is given a Toolik mug to use for their various beverages throughout our time here. We have to choose a nick name to keep our mugs straight. Laur Laur is what my aunt Sandy calls me.

What do you do for fun?

There is some time for recreation, though mostly on Sunday when everyone has the day off. We can go on hikes, or borrow a mountain bike to ride some little trails around. There are also science talks given one evening per week. We can take a canoe out on the lake, or play a board game or foosball in the community center. They try to keep things varied and plan a all-camp activities such as a bonfire and costume party or trivia nights.

Lab Time

We spend most of our time in the lab, we could be processing samples, or preparing for the field. The to-do list is quite lengthy. We generally show up around 8:30 after breakfast and work pretty consistently until 9 or 10pm with a break for lunch and dinner, and any snack or coffee break we need along the way. The summer field season is short in the arctic so there's lots to be done!

Species Journal

Today was once again cold, rainy drizzle for most of the day. The temperatures really have dropped to be in the 30's and everyone is bundled up. I had my PolarConnect live web event today! It was fun for Byron, Sarah and I to share our experience and his research with many of you. If you missed it the event will be available on youtube shortly. I will post the link when it is ready.

No new species sightings for me today.