Hello everyone! My class on St. Paul Island is having a grand time with our OTC data collection. We built the chambers, set them up in three different settings and altitudes, and have been collecting data once a week since September 19th. I had to put a sign on them asking people not to move them, however apparently since I did not specifically ask for people to not cut the zip ties someone felt it necessary to do so on one of the chambers. Erik, now I really believe you about the harsh winds not disturbing them. We had 60mph plus winds last weekend and they are doing fine.

We are quite interested in the plant growth because some of our plots have really brown grasses in them, while there are splotches of new growth right next to the dead ones. Having only lived here for a year I am not sure if this is normal because I did not observe plants like this last year. Maybe because of all the rain we have had in the last week the grasses are really revitalizing.

The kids love using the thermometer. They do not quite understand why the tenths keep changing so quickly, even though I explained when there is a lot of wind the numbers will fluctuate. Most of our reading from the first month are showing warmer temperatures in the OTCs, however on several occasions the outside temperatures have been warmer than the inside.

This research project has one added benefit: The kids and I are walking about two miles round trip each time we go data collecting. Our first day it took about 2.5 hours to get the chambers set up and walk to each location. Yesterday we went to all three locations and got our data in one hour. They even noticed how much easier and quicker it is getting.