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Tori Ward '13 at the Abisko Scientific Research Station in Sweden

Science has no borders.

That became especially evident to Tori Ward 鈥�13 and Sophie Burke 鈥�13 while conducting research on climate change this past July in Sweden. During their month at the Abisko Scientific Research Station some 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, they lived and worked alongside scientists from around the world, including Canada, Germany, Bangladesh and Sweden.

鈥淚t was great to be in another country and to realize how international science is, especially the earth sciences,鈥� says Ward, who is studying hydrology.

鈥淓veryone was welcoming, which surprised me because I wasn鈥檛 expecting that experience as an undergraduate. I thought I鈥檇 be lost in the crowd,鈥� says Burke, an environmental science major. 鈥淚t was really cool to get that sense of being part of an international research community.鈥�

Ward and Burke received from the that enabled them to participate in the inaugural summer of Northern Ecosystems Research for Undergraduates (NERU), a 91制片厂 summer program directed by research associate professor of biogeochemistry Ruth Varner and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The nine students in NERU鈥攔epresenting seven different colleges and universities鈥攄esigned individual projects related to climate change. After a month at 91制片厂 doing preliminary work, the group headed to Sweden to collect data.

Ward鈥檚 research examined the effect of precipitation on the release of soil hydrogen, an area that has received little attention from researchers. 鈥淚n order to understand global warming, we need to know more about this process,鈥� says Ward.

It鈥檚 expected that increased precipitation and thawing of the permafrost (frozen ground) will lead to wetter soils, causing more hydrogen to be released, Ward explains. Increased hydrogen levels may contribute to warming by trapping greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.

Burke focused on the impact of warming on the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by peatlands. 鈥淲e鈥檙e finding that peatlands, when they work properly, can be huge sinks of carbon,鈥� Burke says. Now, with global climate change, peatlands are 鈥渢urning from sinks into sources of carbon.鈥� That shift is occurring because the warming of the atmosphere is thawing the permafrost and causing a release of trapped carbon.

Using sensors that measure gas emissions acoustically, Burke compared the rates of the greenhouse gas methane (consisting of carbon and hydrogen) released from peat, thaw ponds and lakes. Before leaving for Sweden, she enjoyed the challenge of redesigning the lake sensors to work in the shallow thaw ponds. 鈥淚鈥檓 not an engineer,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 always fun making stuff.鈥�

One of her findings was that the July 2012 samples from thaw ponds contained a higher percentage of methane than those from peat, possibly because of characteristics of the thaw ponds such as their vegetation and moisture content.

When she wasn鈥檛 in the field, Burke attended the research station鈥檚 daily coffee hour to hear scientists from different countries informally discuss their work with one another. 鈥淚t made me feel like this was legitimate research I was doing,鈥� Burke says. 鈥淚t was less of a school project and more of a project in pursuit of additional knowledge and understanding.鈥�

Ward and Burke will use their data from Sweden as a basis for their senior theses and expect to present their results at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco this December. They both plan to attend graduate school and credit Varner with helping them develop as researchers.

鈥淪he鈥檚 had a huge influence on my desire to become a university professor and serve as a mentor for undergraduates like myself,鈥� Burke says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 really treated me like a friend and colleague and has given me a lot of advice on where to go next 鈥� and eventually I鈥檇 like to do that for somebody.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 Note:.

Each year in October, the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research marks the academic homecoming of IROP students with the IROP SYMPOSIUM, brief illustrated research presentations crafted for a general audience of faculty, students, administrators, supporters, families, and invited guests.

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