WHAT'S NEW & EXCITING - Updated August 2008
Rutgers students contribute to NSF funded research on permafrost melting
and methane emissions in Alaska
Graduate students Jay Nolan and Andy Parsekian are spending August in a
remote part of Alaska to participate in a National
Science Foundation (NSF) funded project on the quantification of methane
emissions from thermokarst lakes. This project, led by Katey Walter
(http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/cem/ine/walter/) at the University of Alaska
Fairbanks seeks to improve estimates of methane emissions to the
atmosphere associated with permafrost melting. Katey's research has
suggested that methane emissions from thermokarst lakes are a major,
poorly quantified, contribution to the atmospheric methane burden that
may increase rapidly as the climate warms. Lee Slater is serving as a
co-principal investigator on this project. Andy and Jay will be using
ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity imaging to determine
the thickness of the thaw bulb beneath these lakes and to image the
distribution of methane hotspots within the lake sediments. Their
research takes them to a remote part of Alaska where they will be
transported in via boatplane and left to camp in bear country for a
three week period. We expect some interesting slideshows on their return
to Newark in early September.
