NEWS

HTH Students Go Above and Beyond In Field Research Project

Jerry Coulter, Ayme Johnson, and Rachel McKenna at Polychrome Pass, Denali National Park

Scientists of the future gather information at Denali National Park

Published September 12, 2007, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

By Kris Capps

Staff Writer

Without a doubt, students everywhere will some day read a science textbook written by Rachel McKenna. She's only 16 years old, but this Anchorage student displays an infectious passion for science. Rachel is one of a handful of students visiting Denali National Park this week, part of a student group called Alaska Scientists of the Future. They are from Anderson, Anchorage, Tatitlek and Whittier, and they are here to take a critical look at the wilderness and climate change - compliments of a grant from the Office of Naval Research and the Chenega Corporation.

Their educational arsenal includes handheld global positioning systems and other scientific equipment, such as sensors and probes that measure carbon dioxide, temperature, infra-red, light and flow rates of rivers and streams. The students are assisted this week by their teachers, and by both local and visiting scientists.

Needless to say, this is not a typical park visit.

Certainly, the teens were excited to see a bear, to encounter historic dinosaur tracks firsthand, to climb a mountain.

They also turned a more critical eye on their environment, per Rachel's observation:

"According to our measurements, rock reflects more light and more warmth than vegetation, which means if the climate warms, vegetation becomes more prominent, which means as it warms, there is more vegetation."

Students saw this firsthand when they walked along the Plains of Murie, beneath Polychrome Pass. Vegetation now covered the landmass, once dominated by glaciers. When they hiked to the recently-discovered dinosaur tracks they noted varied vegetation, thin along the mountainside, thick in deeper crevasses.

These scientists of the future looked more closely at the plants in those crevices - had permafrost melted in those spots, allowing stronger plants? Was there more carbon dioxide in those crevices, also contributing to plant growth?

To accompany this group is to see Denali with a whole new eye.

The information they collect this week is just a small snapshot of scientific information, but it is valuable, nonetheless. It is yet another example of how student scientists and citizen scientists can help add to scientific knowledge.

Who is to say that one of these students won't one day add valuable, even critical information to our combined study of climate change.

When my daughter was little, she used to ask me every night: Do they know yet why all the dinosaurs died? Because of programs like this, I can tell her that perhaps one day, she will be the one to answer that question.

Kris Capps is a freelance writer. Her column reporting Denali happenings appears weekly in the News-Miner. She can be reached at kcapps@mtaonline.net.

reprinted with permission of author, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.


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