Photographs and Ticket Stubs

I am waaay overdue on this but I thought I’d just wrap the trip up for you:

First things first. Itasca was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Not only did I learn a ton without realizing it (my professor has a way of simply exuding information when you’re in his presence and it’s impossible not to pick up on it), but I got to spend a month learning through experience and being outside again. I really miss being so connected with the land and with nature. It was a connection I had growing up and, in high school, through sports. In college, though, homework and work and life in general can get in the way of that connection. In Itasca I was able to reconnect and I hope I can hold on to that this semester. It’s such a great mood booster! Nothing like fresh air… really.

We finished our paper after about 36 hours of data crunching, writing, and re-writing. I’d be happy to share it with anyone who’s interested but I can’t post a link for copyright reasons. I can, however, post the abstract:

Recent trends in ice cover and thickness serve as important indicators of climate change. In order to understand these trends, we compiled records of ice cover and temperature in Itasca State Park and measured ice thickness, snow depth, lake morphometry, and temperature twice on 19 lakes within the park. Upon testing ice thickness, we found a significant correlation with snow depth and, at various depths on Lake Itasca, little to no relationship between ice thickness and water depth. Ice thickness and snow depth were negatively correlated as were ice growth and air temperature. There was also a correlation between ice cover duration and air temperature. These findings have environmental and biological implications, thus we suggest continued collection of ice thickness and ice cover data in order to observe continuing climatic trends.

We’re all very proud of this paper. It really turned out to be something. Hopefully future groups will be interested enough to continue our work and make Itasca, MN a site for climate change monitoring.

In case you’re interested, the other projects we did were

• testing the effects of soot and dust on snow density and albedo (reflectivity)
• a beaver census (that has been going on since 1979)
• a wildlife and vegetation survey of Bear Paw Point, a peninsula in Lake Itasca
• testing nitrate concentration in winter streams

Ask me for more information on any of them.

Finally (and I don’t mean to sound sappy) the best thing about this trip was that it gave me the opportunity to get to know a group of phenomenal people who are turning into [hopefully] lifelong friends. Being in close quarters for such an extended period of time and having almost no time alone meant that we all got to see each other for who we truly are. We were able to recognize each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and quirks and often ended up having deep conversations that changed many of our perceptions about the world, ourselves, and each other. For my part, I know this trip changed me. Those ten friends gave me the gift of confidence which has turned out to be the greatest gift they could ever have given and the greatest lesson I could ever have learned. I’ve been able to bring that lesson back to the ‘real world’ and it has beautifully transformed my life at home and here at school. Basically, I’m still on an Itasca high and I hope I stay that way. Life feels great!

pictures (as promised)
-I must mention that these first four were not taken by me but by three friends.-

-And these were taken by me.

Also, I’ve finally loaded the last northern lights picture (in my post northern lights) and the group picture (in my post catch-up). And if you’re interested in seeing more pictures, feel free to check out my facebook (on which I’ve uploaded 3 albums with many more people-pictures cause it’s more secure than a blog) or ask me to show you more pictures. If you want clarification on any of the pictures, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll give you some background. I’m always happy to tell Itasca stories!

peace