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September 22, 2008
This morning I was in class from 7:45-9:30 a.m. We learned all about the research we will helping with in the field. We will be coring trees to test their age and stress levels by looking at the rings. We learned how to use a clinometer to measure the height of a tree. We’ll also be taking soil samples to test the contents and of it and drilling into the permafrost to see the depth, and temperature. All of this is to help test to see how the climate change up here is affecting the environment. There is a lot of details to be recorded and notes to be taken. We got to take a short trip into town today. Only 1,000 people live here so you can imagine how small it is here. We went to the grocery store to get some supplies. Since Churchill is a remote location in Canada everything has to be shipped in. I noticed that all the prices are about 3x the amount of the cost in AZ. A box of raisan bran was $12.00. A container of OJ was $9.00. Unreal, but it makes sense. On our way back to “The Boneyard” (as the scientists refer to the research station), we saw a crash site of an old plane that went down right by the Hudson Bay. We drove past a group of sled dogs. They were all just chained up in an open field. It was explained to us that they are not seen as pets. In fact they are pretty wild dogs. Someone feeds them and that’s about it. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. However, they are working dogs and people up here have a different view of how to handle them. It’s a different way of life. One I’m not sure I could handle. Its going to be another long night. We have school at 730-900pm and then more computer stuff after that. Its supposed to rain tomorrow and we have a big day in the field tomorrow. I guess I get to try out my rain gear I bought. It should be an exciting day!
So here is something for you to look up.
1.Global warming - what is it and how is it affecting the planet?
2.Permafrost - what is it and what will happen if it thaws out?
3. Time zone- what time zone is Churchill, Manitoba in. What is the time difference to AZ?
posted by Cari @ 7:04 PM
8 Comments:
Hi Mrs. Carlson,
We read about you and what you are doing in Canada. We think that it is cool that you saw dogs that are on dog sled teams, because we are reading about Balto this week. We did get a chance to answer one of your questions about the time zone. We found out you are 2 hours ahead of Arizona and you are in the Central Time Zone. We also saw that the Central Time Zone goes all the way to Mexico.
We also have a couple of questions.
Have you seen a polar bear yet?
Have you seen the dog sledding team practice?
Talk to you soon,
Mrs. Ouzounis 3rd Grade Class
Hello Mrs. O's class! Good researching! You are right. I was really suprised that I'm only 2 hours ahead of you because I am so far North. I'm clueless when it comes to time zones, so even I had to look up Canada to figure out how far ahead I'd be. You got questions....I got answers!
No unfortunately I have not seen a polar bear. The closest I've come is to hang out with the polar bear skin that is here at the research center I'm living at. That is where I got some of those silly photos with the bear claw. However they are around. There are helicopters constantly surveying the area we are working in to watch their migration patterns and #'s of bears around. Before we exit the building we have to look closely all around for signs of a polar bear and we cant go outside by ourselves for safety reasons. When we do go out in the field to do our research, Carly always brings a shotgun and her job is to be on bear watch while we are doing our research. Its pretty crazy. Don't worry they are just blanks, used to scare off a bear.
Since there is no snowfall yet there is no dog sledding. The first snowfall will occur in October. I assume they'll start running the dogs then. So in the meantime they are enjoying the beautiful weather and resting up for another season headed their way. Some day I want to be a musher for a day. I think that would be one wild ride! Think of some more questions and I'll talk to you later. You can always email from home if you know how.
Mrs. Carlson,
We want to answer some of your questions.
We think global warming is dangerously effecting the Earth. Global warming is when the Earth's average surface temperature increases which causes ice caps to melt and permafrost to melt. It's changing the climate.
We think it's important to study permafrost because to see if our Earth is getting colder or hotter (climate change). If the permafrost layer melts then it means the climate is getting hotter which means more CO2 in the atmosphere. If there's more CO2 in the atmosphere it will make the Earth get hotter.
Good luck with your study! We hope you see a polar bear soon and stay safe! We miss you!
Mrs. C. Wilson's class
Wow I couldn't explain global warming any better. Unfortunately we are mostly concentrating on plant, tree, and vegetation growth at the moment. The head scientist is supposed to return to the research center this week some time. When he arrives we are going to ask if we can go to a permafrost probing site and dig down and study the layer. It would be interesting to see the depth and consistency of it. So what do you think we, as a society, need to do to help fight global warming? What are some things you are doing now?
Hi Mrs. Carlson,
Your class here, again!
We've done some more research, and Pamela, Kyla and Katrina found that permafrost is any soil or rock that stays frozen throughout the year, and that it has to be frozen for at least 2 years in a row to earn the name 'permafrost'.
The class also learned that when the permafrost melts, it releases a LOT of greenhouse gases into the air. This contributes to global warming! Not good.
We decided we need to learn more about what WE can do to prevent global warming.
Have you seen the Northern Lights again? What patterns did you see in the sky?
We'll have more for you later!
Mrs. Carlson,
Since we heard that global warming is making the world hotter and causing storms to be more destructive, we thought we should try to prevent global warming as much as possible. Here are some of our ideas:
*Recycle EVERYTHING that is recyclable
*Turn off the lights when your are done with them
*Turn your air conditioner down (raise the thermostat)
*Stop driving everywhere - walk or bike
*In class, use your notebook paper all the way down, and on both sides
*plant a lot of trees
What can you add to our list?
Issy, Jakob, Cassidy, Dariana
Holy cow, I cant believe all the info. you found out about permafrost. Were you listening in on my class lecture last night? Mr. Steve who is the head scientist, was teaching us all about permafrost. He said exactly what you said - very impressive. You're like mini mad scientists!
Yes I didnt see the Northern Lights again. We saw them on Tuesday at about midnight. There were about 5 of us that stayed up til 1am watching them move about in the sky. They have always been a flourescent green color. It is constantly fading in and out. It looks like someone took dark and light green paint and brushed stokes across the sky. Depending on the molecules in the air and how they are interacting with each other determines the streak patterns and brightness of the lights.
You kids came up with some great ways to fight global warming. The one thing I was thinking about was not only is it important to recycle, but to reuse. I thought it would be fun to have a bit of a competition or challenge to take a recycable item and figure out a creative way to resue it. For example -take a kleenex box and come up with a way to reuse it. Just an idea of something Mrs. Kinne and Ms. Marshall might want to set up???? Or we can do it when I get back.
Thanks so much for replying! Hmm.... some things we can do to fight global warming are: save electricity such as use fluorescent bulbs. More things we can do to fight global warming are: recycle, use solar panels, save water, buy electric cars instead of gas cars, and carpool. Right now we turn off all the lights when we leave the room, recycle, use the back of the paper (which means we use less paper), don't litter, and switch incandescent light bulb to fluorescent.
Mrs. C. Wilson's class
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