Seasons and Biomes: IARC Day 2

We noticed a very large pipe as we were driving along the road.	It ran for several miles along side the road.
Finally the vans stopped and we learned it was the Alaskan Pipeline.	The Alaskan Pipeline carries oil from the north coast of Alaska for 800 miles to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in America.
The Pipeline started operating in 1977. Since then it has carried over 15 billion barrels of oil.
	The Pipeline passes over sensitive tundra and other very rugged areas in it's 800 mile stretch. Special construction allows the Pipeline to contract and expand as the temperatures change.
The Pipeline is actually warmer than the surface of the ground, and could thaw the Permafrost. It is designed up in the air to keep it off the ground and prevent the warming of the permafrost.	Every year the Pipeline is supposed to be cleaned. The oil engineers send a big metal 'robot' all the way down the pipeline to clean the walls. The 'robot' is called a Pig.
In the vans again, we drove further, and soon arrived a parking lot beside three little houses. What is this place!	Cheryl and Mimi are ready for the cold!
We learned this is a special tunnel that has been dug into the Permafrost. Researchers study the Permafrost to learn how old it is, the history of the environment, and how the permafrost changes.	I'm READY! Going into the Permafrost tunnel is a very unique experience! We all are required to wear hard hats because sometimes pebbles and rocks fall from the ceiling inside the Permafrost Tunnel.
The first thing we see is FROST! The ice crystals are huge!! It is very beautiful... more pictures later.	We follow the guide (red coat) down into the tunnel. It is more or less horizontal, but it does go down.
This sign is about how hard the ground is. The frozen ground does not need much support because it is so hard.	The large 'rock' in the middle is the jaw bone of a mammoth that died here 14, 000 years ago. This environment has changed a lot since then.
This is called an ice wedge. Liquid water flows down into cracks and freezes, causing the Earth to crack more.
There were many ice wedges in the walls.
On our way out.....	...... we stop again to admire the beautiful ice crystals.
Some of the crystals are 2 cm across. It is always cold here, and they have plenty of time to grow.
These are the GLOBE Alumni students. They learned about GLOBE in high school and now they are in college, and they are still interested in working with GLOBE. These 6 students are from 6 different countries.	Back in the vans, we head back to Fairbanks for the evening.
Dinner at a nearby restaurant... looking out at the frozen Chena River.	A car? That's right....it's a CAR driving by. Snow mobiles are not the only ones to use the frozen Chena as a shortcut around town!

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Friday morning - we are in the classroom, learning about	budburst and plant phenology.
We all examined tree branches and learned how their buds	are different.
Scientists showed us many kinds of data that showed how the seasons have changed in Alaska and other parts of the world.	In the past tree started to grow leaves about the same time every year. Over the past several decades the month for budburst has changed. In some places the bud burst 1 to 3 weeks earlier than they did in the past.