Field Photos

Lakes forming in polygonal terrain. In some parts of the landscape, water can seep into the ground in the summer, then freeze and expand in the winter, causing cracks to appear on the surface (just like cracks in the sidewalk). These form wedges of ice in the ground that continue to grow for many seasons. When this ice starts to melt (due to climate change), it can result in a depression on the surface and an abundance of water, forming a pond or lake.

Helicopters on floats were used to samples the center of lakes. The helicopter would "land" on the lake and samplers would climb out on to floats to collect water. Helicopters cannot power down while on the lakes surface, adding an extra level of intensity to these water sampling campaigns.