European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Paoc6 stars and stripes june 2007 searching for climate clues in Frozen North warming effects studied at Thule air base by Ben Murray stars and stripes Thule air Greenland to just about anyone else on the its just a rectangular plot of Muddy marbled with stunted plants and topped with Short Brown grass that might be might but researcher Matthew Rogers has come a Long Way to get to this marshy Little Vale on top of a Ridge called North overlooked by the Edge of the Northern hemispheres most massive ice to him its something for a 28yearold masters de Gree the rectangular Patch is his Little portion of what is arguably the biggest and most sweeping scientific Effort of the Early 21st Century the drive to under stand the effects of climate rising Carbon dioxide melting ice increasing temperatures the need to understand those changes is one of the most pressing in the scientific to get at the raw scientists have to go to some of the most Remote places on the so they come to because like Antarctica in the is one of the most susceptible places on Earth to changes in the effects of global warming Are More evident Here than almost any where the area is really a kind of Canary in the Coal Rogers that makes Thule air with its extreme Northern location and extensive Logis tics a unique tool in climate change the in North West Greenland some 700 Miles North of the Arctic serves As part of the missile Early warning system and the space in formation because of its ability to provide a air and sea lift Lehi life support and other amenities in abundance in such a Remote Thule is a Oneo faking place to stage Rogers for is studying the effects of rising temperatures on the soil and plants of the Greenland and the amount of Carbon dioxide they release As the temperature goes to do he needs Access to a relatively undisturbed portion of a place to store his equipment perhaps most in a Power Supply for his heating those types of things Are hard to find in this but Thule can provide and does so for a number of projects throughout the other scientists Are studying hydrology and the water Content in the Tundra this sum and have in the past researched everything from weather patterns to the thickness of the Ozone with the Onset of the International Polar year a periodic scientific emphasis on the Polar base has made a Spe Cial Effort to accommodate unprecedented numbers of this an entire building will be dedicated to visiting Scien Complete with labs and base spokeswoman capt Elizabeth Paul the scientists will be performing work like whose Experiment is on the leading Edge of climate change conducted through the University of alas above University of Alaska researcher Matthew Rogers and research assistant Katie Nagel work at one of More than 30 study areas in Greenland using portable Heaters propped on Tepee like structures to warm plots of soil to see the effect on the Gas Exchange of the soil and Lowling top University of Alaska research assistant Heidi Kristenson collects data in the High photos by Ben an stripes and supported by the nation Al science the Experiment is a fou year study of the Thule area ecology and How it reacts to warmer what Rogers and his called the Thule Bio complexity want to do is understand How plants and the Greenlandic soil will Cycle Carbon if temperatures continue to that what the bulk of a lot of this work building really Good he to do the researchers have placed heat lamps Over More than 30 Tabletop sized plots of Tundra to raise the tempera Ture Over the soil from 2 to 4 last they took their first measurements of the using an infrared Gas analysis they place it Over the study area and read the amount of Carbon dioxide being re leased by both the tiny plants More in the Tundra up the vast majority of Carbon i 80 percent of is in the soil microbial Rogers Rogers also analyses different from deeper Snow coverage on some plots to the presence and proliferation of pros trate Dwarf to try to get a picture of what is happening to the land in for the most part if s tedious but Over time it could become the basis for the greater theories that make up the scientific knowledge about climate change and global this is the front Rogers email Ben Murray at  product consultant Gas use Koh Lucius Herkart Forster Hof 14 69124 Heidelberg 08000003104 0800 too 3392 1803 customer service Gas Mand Styer Methuen Park Chippenham of modern classics your office design for your ergonomics for your Freeall 0800 too 3104