Training for the Field

Today was devoted to the calibration of the Team members and the instruments we will be using in our fieldwork. It became immediately obvious to me that the failure of the American society to embrace the metric system created an instant language barrier for me. It seems that my new international friends are much more versed in the everyday use of metrics like degrees Celsius, kilometers per hour, and kilopascals of pressure. Our morning task was to learn to set the coordinates and proper use of a Garmin GPSmap. We will be using our GPS units to determine the exact location of existing data plots so that we can continue with the work of previous groups.

Throughout the afternoon, we had extensive briefings to demonstrate the tools and techniques of the seedling samples surveying and permafrost soil coring that our Team would be focusing on for this Expedition. Throughout our time here, we will be alternating between these two studies, the exact schedule being largely determined by the weather conditions. The seedlings survey will be part of a longitudinal survey of several different testing sites to determine what variables limit the growth of seedlings as they are carried from the neighboring treeline into the open tundra spaces. Our efforts to obtain soil core samples will be to determine the moisture level and organic material composition of the peat rich soils of this region. We ended the workday by heading to the field to test our calibrations and demonstrate our newly acquired skills in seedling observations in preparation for later this week.

I think a fair question for you to consider for your Journal reflections and group discussion today is this: How are accuracy and precision related when using units of measure in scientific research? Discuss one to two examples of each.