By Hani River.

Overview of Hani Peatland, a meso- to oligotrophic, "percolation mire". Despite the large area of peatland complex, this peatland itself functions as a dynamic, intermediary unit for catchment water flowing horizontally through the surface peat layer and ultimately draining into the river.

Arctic tundra by Imnavait Creek. Helicopter (and truck) is the major transportation mode in this area supported by the Toolik Field Station.

Toolik Research Station by Toolik Lake, is the major Arctic research station in the world, supporting many field ecologists and biologists. There are a lot of experimental plots outside of Toolik, doing all kinds of research on Arctic tundra.

Arctic tundra has a lot of Sphagnum peat patches. They are not “peatlands”, but they are considered as the early stage of peatland development. Such patches, if expanding in the future warming world, will turn tundra into carbon-rich peatlands. Pilot studies using radiocarbon dating found these Sphagnum peat patches are new to this landscape, not occurring until last century.

More peat patches are found on the west of Toolik. Such peat patches are widespread on north slope foothill, and actually more developed than what we have seen near Toolik.

On helicopter, we saw many amazing landscapes. This is the “braided river”, an important type of river related to high-energy environment. I had only seen this on physical geology textbook before I went to Alaska.

This picture was taken along the Dalton Highway (not in tundra biome). This is known as the thermokarst lake. On two sides of the highway, the land is collapsing and sinking because of permafrost thawing, by which small lakes were formed. Some studies indicate thermokrast lakes are very important in carbon fluxes.

We took Laurence M. Gould (LMG) cruise to the Palmer Station on Antarctic Penisula from Punta Arenas, Chile. LMG is a small and a bit aged research vessel but has been moving people across the Drake Passage for a very long time!

After being rough for 4 days, we finally saw ice and lands and arrived at the Palmer!

Palmer station (you can see it on the foot of ice) is one of the three major US research stations in the Antarctic. It is like a very small town with a population of only around 40, but it got everything: Internet, dorms, kitchen, dining hall, lab, office, bar, store, and even mini-theater. I spent only a month at Palmer, which is a very interesting experience, but many Palmer staff have to stay for a whole season or even several years.

Palmer is our base, but we took Zodiac boat to different field sites, mostly islands or capes. Being on Zodiac is exiciting. Actually we were trained to drive Zodiac boat on our first day on station. It is wonderful to have boating in the Antarctic!

This is on the Litchfield Island, which is a specially protected area in the Antarctic for its biodiversity and research value. You can see the moss peatbank covering the rock surface. One of the motivations for this project is to study the peat underneath the green moss vegetation.

We were using Stihl powerhead equiped with self-designed borer to collect permafrost peat core under the green vegetation. None of our research team had ever used this equipment independently but we just learned to use it right in the field! With a bit rough start, we got some tricks of this equipment and drilled permafrost smooth and fast!

We are collecting surface moss samples on peatbanks. You can see the peatbank surface is bumpy. We call it microtopography, and this feature is also present for waterlogged peatlands.

We set up micro stations to monitor peatbank status. Setting up this equipment took several hours and is impossible without teamwork. Securing the feet of tripods with heavy rocks is the most difficult task. We have to pick up diorite rock fragments on this steep and slippery slope.

In Antarctic Pennisula, we also found small peatland-like ecosystem. While peatbank is an aerobic and permafrost-caused aggradation of moss peat, peatland is anaerboic and waterlogged system of partially decomposed plant detritus.

We also study the "dead mosses" exposed on the rock surface. We call it "ice-emtombed" mosses: they were killed by ice advance that "overspreaded" the mosses from receiveing sunlight during past cold periods. However, recent ice retreat due to climate warming again exposed these black "dead mosses". Radiocarbon dating on these dead mosses could inform us the timing of their "deaths", which could be used to reconstruct ice advance chronology. We took a very long time to dicover and identify "dead mosses" during the field work.

During the sample collection, we found inside a large dead moss block the color of fossil mosses are still in brown color. They were "dead" but not oxidized.

Another interesting field observation is glacial striations on rocks. I learned this concept in physical geology class in my first year in college, but never have chance to really see the real one in the field. I recorded the orientations of striations on GPS, and indeed I found striations are orientated towards the center of ice.

They are many cool animals in Antarctica. My favorite defintely is penguin!

This is a (leopard?) seal visiting Palmer Station. I am not that fond of seals.

This is on the farewell day when we left Palmer. I will miss this place forever.

On our way back to the US, we had a small trip around Punta Arenas. This is in the Strait of Magellan museum - a cool and windy place.

Peat core sampling at Ariel Peatland. The center is almost pure Sphagnum carpets.

Surface moss sampling at Valle de Consejo. You can see the hummock-hollow patterning and two Sphagnum species.

Huge hummock right next to grassland: a very confusing feature.

Sphagnum, sedge, and shrubs.

This site is close to the Torres del Paine National Park. Based on a previous study, the sediment core here has multiple layering of lake mud and peat.

Monte Tarn - a wooded blanket bog. There is a hiking trail with Sphagnum along the trail.