It has officially been a full week since Group 1 arrived at Toolik and much has been learned. We are so much more efficient in our research than we were a week ago and are really starting to get into a groove. Today we visited Toolik river and studied two different reaches along the river; one of the areas that we studied had a waterfall connecting two pools and we centered our study area around that interesting point. Today we were also able to test out a new piece of gear that we are borrowing from Toolik. The YSI Professional Plus Instrument measures several different water quality parameters and is better calibrated than the water quality probe that we had been using. It was exciting to use a new piece of gear and see the data that it tells us!

It is hard to imagine that Group 1’s last day in the field is tomorrow. Tomorrow Group 2 (Alanna, Brian, and Faye) come up to Toolik and the two groups will have a chance to catch up and pass on knowledge to each other. Then on Wednesday morning, Group 2 (Brady, Noah, and Liam) will take a shuttle to Fairbanks and head off on their separate ways. It has been a very valuable experience for the three of us undergraduates who have been at Toolik, we have learned a lot about ourselves, each other, the Arctic, and how to conduct research. We are all pretty tired after a week of non-stop fieldwork, but are still sad that tomorrow is our last full day.