45,000 YEAR TIME WARP IN ALASKA

After arriving and finally falling asleep in my tent at Toolik lake we work up to a morning filled with anticipation and excitement. Blades swirling, head sets on, we took off for an adventure of a lifetime across the remote tundra in the far North -East of Alaska to what's known as the time warp, a place where you can step back in time 45,000 years ago. After 1 hour across a desolate landscape, we came across a silver mountain rising out of the tundra - a sheer grey ice-cliff rising some 40 metres out of the tundra. It looked like a movie set out of Star Wars, and totally out of context in the rolling hillsides of far north Alaska.

The cliff face was a Thermocast, or frozen ice cliff  due to climate change and rising temperatures in the Arctic zone which are accelerating at 3-4 times the global average. We set down our helicopters on the adjacent pebble river bed and checked for bears before getting a thumbs up from the pilot that it was good to GO! Out and wow what a site - I was looking at frozen ice from the last inter-glacier period and from the bottom to the top I was looking at 45,000 years of history. To get to the ice face of the cliff we had to hike around the tundra and then navigate our way across the melting Permaforst which was oozing mud like substance equivalent to quick-sand. I stepped in the wrong place and that was it - my gumboots started to sink and I totally freaked as there was no way to get out - but luckily I was in gumboots so I was pulled across the had to leave my gum boots to sink. The mud acts like a suction cap and pulls everything down with it - lucky to have just changed my shoes from lace-ups to boots for the walk in!!

Finally we arrived at the face of the ice cliff which is called stinky bluffs as it smells like rotting garbage, only difference is - its 45,000 years old.  I touched the ice cliff at its bass and looking up at around 30,000 years we saw a set of old animal horns sticking out of the ice-cliff- large, suspended in time, I really felt like I had gone back in a time machine and to top it off we were all alone, not a single sound, except the melting and carving of ice from the face of the cliff, intensifying as the sun progressed across the day. I decided to do a Jurassic Park style sequence and jumped in the helicopter with our lead camera man and took off for the top of the cliff face, we slowly flew out over the top and then did a vertical drop down the side of the cliff face - it was amazing.

So- things are really changing out here in the tundra - the climate system is getting hotter and causing the permafrost to thaw. It in turn is thawing and releasing CO2 and Methane back into the atmosphere accelerating the warming process even more - this is called a feedback process

We ate some 10,000 year old ice - and all seems fine no one aged!!!, it actually tasted far different to the ice in the freezer at home!

Off to Barrow in 2 days - going FAR north...more soon. LC.

2.30AM FOG BOUND CROSSING

Touched down in Fairbanks after a long 30 hour trip, and was met by a balmy 70 degree temp! So much for the thermals, long pants, boots and wind jackets. But after a good nights sleep in a charming little cottage by the river we packed up crew van,  stopped for coffee, gum boots, and then headed north for Toolik Lake. Where you ask? A remote science station in the far north of Alaska. We drove all day, stopped at the Red Hot Cafe where they shoot Ice Road Truckers and had dinner before starting the last leg - 6 hours and across the Atigan Pass. We needed to refuel and stopped at Deadmans Log, a one town station..totally strange creepy place, all the truckies driving to Prudeo Bay stop here and we managed to hit peak hour 12 midnight. At this stage we found out we still had 3-4 hours to go, and the pass to get across, with fog rolling in, we had 2 options to push ahead or to stay in the portable cabins at Deadmans Log - so you guessed it we pushed on. So up the pass, totally freaked out as we started climbing and the fog started to roll in - it was so heavy we could not see 2 feet ahead and we were at the peak of the pass. We stopped to a crawl and I literally couldn't breathe, but as things go, the fog lifted just as we started to cross the top of the pass and from then on, we were able to see out way down. Next we met the night road truckers who were working on a huge stretch of the gravel road and we waited 30 mins for a "support car" which we had to follow through the road works area. Finally at 2.30am we arrived at Toolik Lake and found instructions to our accommodation - tents, no heating, and no toilets..girls this is not a good look...especially at 2.30am. Unpacked my sleeping bag and fell into bed, the wind then picked up and our door went flying open all through the night/should I mention the sun set at 1.15am and we watched it start to rise at 2.45am, so the tents have a black-out cover which is really fabulous so you really do think its nigh time. All things aside it is an amazing research centre for Permafrost and High Arctic Climate Change research. Though no flushing toilets and 1 shower a week ration is going to be a huge challenge for me - so will let you know how I survive!!! LC x

ANYONE FOR ALASKA?

Okay you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the arctic today - I think it was a good practice season standing in the wind today at soccer thinking this time next week I will be standing in snow (probably knee deep knowing how unpredictable the weather is), wind will be howling, -4 degrees today in Toolik, Alaska, so this made me think, okay not bad today really. Was even better when the portable coffee truck pulled up - never seen so many Mums look so happy!! So next chapter in the adventure is about to unravel if I dont before it! I'm sorry to not have posted that I made it home form the Amazon, was an amazing trip, Shamon man, Amazon herbal tea and all..I think the heat was really what was so overwhelming, like being in a Sauna 24/7, you really had to watch how much water you drank as it just dripped off you and that was  standing in the shade. The last location in the Amazon was really very special - Christalino Lodge in the southern tip of the Amazon, an Eco Lodge in the middle of nowhere. Plane trip to Alto Floresta, then a very bumpy van trip for 2 hours, down direct roads to the edge of the river, then a 1 hour boat trip to the Lodge. While we were there I saw an anaconda - really was suoer amazing, huge. The monkeys were very cheekly and threw fruit and seeds on us - when I say through it was like standing under a rain cloud of berries they just showered all around us really very funny. The bird life and butterflies were beautiful, colourful, and plentiful. At night time we had the Howler monkeys again..they seemed to follow us and they really do howl through the night 0 but like a horror movie/great sound effects!  I had a scary moment one night when I miss timed the generator turn-off ( normally 10pm) and went out to find a patch in the forest where the tree canopy was clear and I could call our travel agent  ont the Sat Phone..yes hard to beleive but we could not access the internet and had no idea if our flights hand changed. In the middle of the call the lights all went out and I was left in the pitch dark with no torch...every shadow was a crouching tiger, howling monkey ot something! Managed to find my way back as there was a full moon, but never again...So this week on Thursday we head off the shoot part of the story on the rapid acceleration of loss of Methane/ and the melting of the Permafrost across the sub arctic regions, namley Siberia and Alaska. We are traveling to several research sites in Alaska to look at the melting Permafrost story and then all the way to Barrow to where the sea ice is rapidly retreating, and Methane Hydtrates are starting to also melt in the shallow arctic oceans. Will try and send a few blogs while I am traveling, but I know we are going to be in remote locations so they will be a bit unpredictable. Getting my sleeping bag out again - Yep seems like I am camping again and this time in -4C. Yes the first time was a novelty, so this time not sure how it will all go, but up for it anyway. Will miss the kids and family, but back end of the month intime for the soccer finals!! Love to all and speak to you from the wild plans of Alaska LC xx