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Ken TapeKen Tape studies how climate change is altering tundra vegetation in the Arctic. For his research in summer 2008, Ken and his colleagues will float down two rivers in northern Alaska to locations where photographs were taken in the past and were recently reshot. They'll use paired old and new photos to guide their scientific sampling. What they learn from the sampling will provide a better understanding of how vegetation is changing in the Arctic. Ken is a graduate student at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and is an avid photographer.

Project Page: Alaska's Arctic Landscape Then and Now

All Posts By Ken Tape


In the Footsteps of Philip Smith

NOATAK RIVER, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- Yesterday we floated through Noatak Canyon, but not before stopping on several occasions to relocate and rephotograph old Philip Smith photos. I added these excursions partly out of curiosity, but partly to extend the record of vegetation... {Read More »}



And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

NOATAK RIVER, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- Long, hot days on the river. We finished the sampling a couple days ago, and yesterday boated the remainder of the Nimiuktuk River, eventually reaching the confluence with the Noatak River. With our precious science bounty aboard... {Read More »}



Ideas Crystallize

NIMIUKTUK RIVER SANDBAR, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- Another solid day of sampling and mosquitoes. We are sampling areas documented in repeated photographs over time that show both expanding shrub patches and stagnant shrub patches... {Read More »}



Take Me to the River, Drop Me in the Water

NIMIUKTUK RIVER SANDBAR, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- If only it were that easy! Yesterday we made the strenuous portage from the lake where we were dropped to Seagull Creek, where the boating commenced... {Read More »}



Science Under the Midnight Sun

UNNAMED LAKE, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- For two consecutive days we have hiked several miles to the sample locations, where we have worked all day before returning at 11:30 PM. The mosquitoes are ferocious, and only the screen tent has spared our sanity... {Read More »}



Into the Wilderness!

UNNAMED LAKE, BROOKS RANGE, ALASKA-- We made it into the wilderness yesterday! Mike Hink of the National Park Service in Kotzebue loaded us all up, and we were promptly confronted with a dead battery in the Cessna 185 float plane... {Read More »}



Greetings from the Alaskan Bush

KOTZEBUE, ALASKA-- Greetings from the Alaskan Bush, and the village of Kotzebue, situated on the northwest coast. Luckily, you’ve missed the worst part of the trip – preparations and packing – and you’re here just in time for the science and adventure... {Read More »}