Seasons and Biomes Day 3

8:00 am - We're ready for Day 3!	Today we learned about the Earth's biomes. Our assignment is to learn as much about this Alaskan biome as we can. Later we will all compare with our home biome.
Mr. Moore is leading the way to a good place to study the Birch forest.	Tiny red cups in the moss are the fruiting bodies of a fungus that grows here.
Mr. Moore and Mr. Alena determine the air temperature and use a GPS.	We measure a square in the woods that is 30 meters on a side, then we found the exact middle of the square.
Mr. Alena waits for the GPS to find 5 satellites.	Yes we ARE in Alaska! The latitude is 65.86 deg North! Compare that to 39.28 deg in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Bennett identifies the trees and plants growing here.	Mr. Moore noticed how deep and soft the forest soil is.
After making observations in the forest, we looked up additional information on the Internet and in reference books about this biome.	After working all morning we concluded that the Alaskan biome is the Boreal Forest, and that the Birch forest we studied fits the description. Biomes are very large areas on the Earth that share similar climate, vegetation, and animals. The plants and animals have adaptations that make them suitable for that biome.

A Very Special Visit with botanist Dr. Les Viereck

	Dr. Les Viereck lives near Fairbanks and is a former professor at the Univ of Alaska. Dr. Viereck is a botanist. He is concerned about changes in the permafrost. Dr. Viereck has been using frost tubes to observe the permafrost for over 40 years. We had the unique opportunity to meet Dr. Viereck and to see his frost tubes. Dr. Viereck was also a famous mountain climber, and also protested the detonation of nuclear bombs to create harbors on the north coast of Alaska in the early 1960's. For his involvement Dr. Viereck suffered in many ways, but he stood up for what he believed in, The protest was the beginning of the environmental movement in the USA.
Dr. Viereck took a frost tube from his freezer and put one end in a warm bucket of water. He showed us how the frost tube changes color when the sand/water melts inside. He uses a special dye so he can see the melted area clearly.	Dr. Viereck showed us some of the data he has collected from his frost tubes. He noticed that the permafrost was deeper this past year. He concluded that slightly warmer temperatures caused the ground not to freeze as well.
We walked past Dr. Viereck's beautiful home to go see his frost tubes.	These are Birch trees - the forest was thick and beautiful - so many trees!
Dr. Viereck explained many things about how he takes care of the frost tubes. In winter time we would be standing in snow up to our waists!	The tall white poles are the frost tubes. You can see four in this picture.
Dr. Viereck showed us how he pulls up the small inner tube and measures the depth of the liquid and frozen layers.	On the way back we walked past Dr. Viereck's garden. The fence is 7 ft tall. Why? To keep the MOOSE from eating his garden plants!
These beautiful sunny trees are Tamaracks. Tamaracks are members of the Pine tree family. They are unusual because their needles turn yellow in the autumn and fall to the ground.	Unlike most pine needles, the Tamarack needles are soft to touch.

Dr. Kenji Yoshikawa, Institute of Northern Engineering, and his assistant are showing us a method for observing the depth of the permafrost. He's showing us how to make a Frost Tube.	A small tube inside a larger tube will be set into a hole in the ground. The small tube is filled with a water/sand mixture. You can pull the small tube out with the string, and see how deep the ground is frozen.
On our way to learn how to set up a frost tube.	We arrive at a beautiful forest of Black Spruce and walk in amongst the trees. Black Spruce grow well in permafrost areas.
Dr. Yoshikawa shows us how to drill a narrow hole down into the ground. About 1 meter down he could feel the permafrost - frozen ground.	Then he pushes the larger tube down into the hole, and drops the small tube down inside. The frost tube will freeze at the same depth as the ground around it.
Black Spruce are very old trees. They are not very tall, but most of these trees are over 100 years old!	The ground under the Spruce was soft and deep. Tiny plants grew thickly, creating a beautiful pattern of color.
Different kinds of mosses cover the ground and over the years they create a deep layer. This is Sphagnum moss,	The moss was so deep sometimes our feet would sink down out of sight!