Hi everyone, the last two weeks have been pretty busy for me
and I haven’t had much of a chance to post anything. Last week I went on a sampling trip to collect samples from
field sites located in Kilpisjarvi in the most northwestern part of Finland as
well as from a site located in Reisa, Norway. This trip was to collect soil samples and help with projects
that were being done by other people in Metla that I was traveling with. The trip was about a 6 hour car ride
from Rovaniemi to Kilpisjarvi, it was interesting to see how the landscape
changed as we went further up north.
On the way there I saw my first reindeer! After that I saw about 20 more on my
trip. I also got a chance to
stop in Sweden for about 5 minutes.
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| Reindeer! |
At Kilpisjarvi, we stayed in the biological station that is
part of the University of Helsinki where they had rooms available for people
who were doing field work. After
arriving, we had dinner and went to bed so we could get up at 2 am to hike to
the site to start our fieldwork.
For this work we needed to measure the amount of carbon dioxide that was
being utilized by plants in the sample plots, which meant we had to carry these
large plastic tubs that we placed on the plots. The hike was about an hour, but I am not used to hiking so
it was pretty tiring. Even though
I was tired it was still a beautiful landscape and I took lots of pictures of
it.
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| These were the things we were carrying to measure CO2 |
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| Some of the scenery from Kilpisjarvi |
After we got back we spent the rest of the day in
Kilpisjarvi and more trip up the field site were made (but not by me). The next morning we left to continue
the trip 3 hours north into Norway to get the the site in Reisa. The change in scenery once arriving in
Norway was pretty drastic and the fjords were beautiful.
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| Fjords in Norway |
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| It's more beautiful in person! |
We stayed in a cottage that was close to the sampling sites. It was small and cozy and there was a
Sauna in the bathroom! We made a
trip to the field site to fertilize sampling plots and then we went back to the
cottage and I had my first sauna experience.
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| Me at the site in Reisa fertilizing the sample plots |
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| There were beautiful small flowers growing everywhere in Reisa |
The next day we returned to the site to take soil samples
and then we headed back to Rovaniemi not long afterwards. The car ride was about 8 hours long and
I was glad to get back and relax.
That weekend was Midsummer so I had an extended weekend to rest. Now it
is back to lab work and continuing my project, which I am looking forward to
doing. -
Beryl
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