Banks Island Expedition
July 2003 Field Report
Martha K. Raynolds and Donald A. Walker

Alaska Geobotany Center
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775
September 2003

Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation, grant #OPP-0120736
Online Link: http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu/library/reports/greencabin2003_fr0309.pdf


Table of Contents:
Summary ........................................................................ 4
Schedule and Logistics ......................................................... 4
Description of Site ............................................................ 6
Terrain and Bioclimate of the Green Cabin Area ................................. 6
Study Sites: ................................................................... 7
Projects........................................................................ 8
Climate- Permafrost Component - Vladimir Romanovsky and Bill Krantz............. 8
Soils Component - Chien-Lu Ping , Gary Michaelson and Charles Tarnocai.......... 8
Soil description ............................................................... 8
Turf hummocks................................................................... 9
Vegetation Component - Skip Walker, Howie Epstein, Anja Kade, Alexia Kelley,
   Martha Raynolds............................................................. 10
Mapping ....................................................................... 10
Relevés........................................................................ 10
N-factor ...................................................................... 11
Frost boils vs. inter-boil areas............................................... 12
NDVI, LAI, biomass transects................................................... 12
Education Component - Bill Gould and Grizelle Gonzalez......................... 13
Course goals and overview ..................................................... 13
Research activities ........................................................... 13
Seminars Presented at Green Cabin.............................................. 14
Future Work and Products ...................................................... 15
Participant List............................................................... 15
Acknowledgements............................................................... 17
Literature Cited .............................................................. 17
Photographs.................................................................... 18


Summary:
A group of 19 researchers and students from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and
other U.S. and Canadian organizations gathered at Green Cabin, northern Banks Island in
July 2003. We were interested in the interactions between the frost-boil heave processes,
the soil, and the vegetation; and how complex interactions between these elements vary
along the Arctic bioclimate gradient. A major goal of the project is to develop models
that can help explain how frost heave patterns, soils and vegetation will respond to
climate change.

This was the second year of a five-year research project. In 2002, we did similar work on
the Alaskan North Slope, investigating frost boils in the Low Arctic (Bioclimate
Subzones D and E). This year we began a 3-year investigation of the High Arctic frost
boils, at Green Cabin, Thomsen River, northern Banks Island (Bioclimate Subzone C).
We also spent half a day at Mould Bay, Prince Patrick Island (Bioclimate Subzone B). In
2004 and 2005 we will investigate sites in subzones B and A.
On Banks Island, we examined the frost patterning and hummocks near Green Cabin.
We chose three areas that represent the common frost boil communities. At each area,
we marked a 10 x 10 m grid and described and mapped the vegetation. We dug a soil pit
near each grid to examine the soils. We erected a climate station at one of the grids
which will measure snow depth; air, ground and soil temperatures; and soil moisture for
several years.

Six students participated in the research as part of a Field Ecology course organized
through the University of Minnesota. They spent 10 days in the Green Cabin area,
working with the researchers, then continued their course as they floated down the
Thomsen River to the Muskox River.
This work was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, grant #OPP-0120736.
We also thank the Aurora Research Institute and Parks Canada in Inuvik, for help with
logistics and information about Banks Island and Aulavik National Park.