Posts by Britta Voss

We decided the time has come to describe some of the other samples we’re collecting and what they add to the global rivers project.

Today we sampled the Chilcotin River, a tributary flowing through the dry belt between the Coast Range and Cariboo/Rocky Mountains. This truly unique corner of B.C. features bunchgrass, bighorn sheep, and stunning sedimentary hoodoos.

Each evening we transform a hotel room into a laboratory.

Halfway through the journey through the Rocky Mountain Trench, our surroundings quickly changed from rugged foothills to rolling plains.

After taking advantage of the last remnants of daylight yesterday to collect water from the Robson River for filtration back in Valemount, today the sampling began in earnest.

The 13 boxes of shipped equipment arrived at the University of the Fraser Valley only hours before us. To fit everything into our rental car, we had to jettison a few items (including the 3rd row of seats and a personal piece of luggage).

This project is part of the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Topics in Biogeochemical Cycles initiative and aims to quantify the flux, age, and composition of terrestrial organic carbon transported by large rivers to the ocean.