Skiing and sea ice

Skiing can be a big part of life in Laramie. If you already enjoy skiing, there are lots of opportunities; if you don't ski, it is a great place to start. There is excellent cross-country skiing (classic, skate, ski-jouring) at the Happy Jack ski trails, about 15 minutes from town. The trails are groomed by a local club and the skiing is free, although a National Forest parking permit is required. Terrain varies from flat meadows to steep wooded hills, and even on busy days you generally have the trail to yourself (http://mbna.pbworks.com/).

The local ski resort, Snowy Range (http://www.snowyrangeski.com/) has been open for almost three weeks (36" of base snow already!). It is small in comparison to most western mountain resorts, but it is less than an hour from Laramie and the season pass ($150) is much cheaper than bigger resorts. Steamboat Springs, CO, is also two hours away (http://steamboat.com/).

Lastly, there is plenty of backcountry skiing within an hour to several hours of driving. I was surprised by how easy it was to connect with other folks to get out. I began telemarking last winter, and I quickly found out that my neighbor and several acquaintances regularly went into the backcountry and they were happy to let me tag along. In early January I am taking an avalanche-safety course so I can try and get out a bit more.

Classes finished last week, and after lots of hours I completed all of my make-up work for biochemistry. I am now focused on optimizing assays for the muscle samples I collected from polar bears in the field. Our project technician has extensive experience with some of the assays from her previous work on hibernating ground squirrels, and I am looking forward to learning from her as we figure out techniques for these samples. I am also returning to my project proposal. Because our funding began immediately after I accepted this PhD position, I began field work on the basis of the grant application rather than my own proposal. As I return to my proposal I am reading some of the latest articles regarding sea ice loss in the Arctic and related topics.

READING

Despite climate change and ice loss in the Arctic, ice extent in the Antarctic has actually been increasing. J. Zhang proposed this is due to a decrease in Antarctic ice melting that overwhelms a decrease in ice formation. J. Turner and others proposed this is due to alterations of ozone, and that there is a chance the changes in Antarctic ice extent are potentially still within a natural range of variability.

Zhang J. 2007. Increasing Antarctic sea ice under warming atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Journal of Climate 20:2515-2529.

Turner J, et al. 2009. Non-annular atmospheric circulation change induced by stratospheric ozone depletion and its role in the recent increase of Antarctic sea ice extent. Geophysical Research Letters 36:L08502 (5 pages).