Archives pour la catégorie TOMCAR-Permafrost – Spring 2014

1ermai-1

May 2: The melt

Today gave us visible changes signaling the arrival of spring; it was
warm enough for rain and large amounts of snowmelt. In the morning, we went sampling on the ice, then processed our samples and went on a walk in the city and on the Ieniseï in the afternoon. We saw visible cracking in the ice during our sampling and walk.

1ermai-9

The first of may

Even if the Ieniseï seems quite calm on the surface (ice thickness:
1.5 m), things are stirring under the ice. We are starting to see
changes in the color of the water, as well as the DOM measurements.
Water is coming up further each time we drill into the ice,
demonstrating that the discharge from the river is starting to increase.
In the city, it was a bank holiday; flags were out, and there was
music, bbq and games for the children to celebrate the end of winter
and the arrival of spring. One of the festivities was the symbolic
burning of winter, and the representation of the arrival of spring
entered the festival on a snowmobile.

igarka-17

April 30: Finally osmosis in the arctic circle

Today was a busy day in Igarka.
In the morning, our TFF became completely operational thanks to Anatolii’s hard work!
We also had a meeting with everyone in the Igarka lab to explain what the TOMCAR project is about, and shared some clips of the documentary Arnaud has been working on.
In the afternoon, we proceeded with our sample processing and collected a new sample from the Ieniseï.
On the way back to the lab, we viewed a recent burn site not far from the river.

IMG_3307

April 28: At last

We have finally received all the sampling equipment!
Nikolaï and Nikita helped us set up the lab today.
We are almost ready to process our samples, however, we cannot start quite yet because the Tangential Flow Filtration unit was damaged during transit.
Anatolii is working on it and it should be fixed soon.

igarka-12

April 25: Stuff

Only a part of the stuff arrived today and some of it is broken.
So we are waiting for the rest of the cargo (Monday maybe) and we started insurance declaration. Tomorrow will be a day off.
We are still organizing the lab and buying stuff to be fully prepared…
Air T°: -12°C, Almost sunny.

igarka-9

April 24: Transect

 

After a night of snow (20cm), we went sampling and made transect across the Ieniseï.
8 water column profiles with multiparameter probe.
Weather was warm (+2°C) and almost sunny and light snow.
It seems there is good news from the south; we’ll wait until tomorrow to be sure.
Special thanks to Annick !
Air: +2°C
Snow depth 4m
Water: 0,08°C / Ice thickness: 1.5m

Igarka Ienissei

April 22: Arrival

After 24h of travel, we have safely arrived in Igarka and we were
warmly welcomed by Igarka Geocryology Lab staff.
Unfortunately, we haven’t received our freight and custom clearance is
not finished in Krasnoyarsk.
Today, we conducted limited sampling and monitoring of Ienissei river.
Air T°: -15°C, win-child index -30°C
Water T°: 0,05°C  / Ice thickness: 1.5 m