This
page displays longer news stories that won't fit on the WMRS home page,
as well as many older stories from previous years. Some older links may be broken!
2011 news
Fall 2011 The Mildred Matthias Graduate Student Research Grant Program is seeking applications. Grants may be awarded to any graduate student currently enrolled at any general campus in the UC system who is using one or more of the NRS reserves, including WMRS. There are no restrictions on the research topic, and students from all academic disciplines are strongly encouraged to apply. Details
November 2011 This past summer (2011) was my second field season at WMRS. In 2010, I arrived in the White Mountains as a newly minted Ph.D. student at UC San Diego who was enthusiastic about working in the mountains, but in need of a focused dissertation project. The best way for me to become familiar with the Whites, and its diverse plant communities, was to get out and explore the landscape. This exploration took the form of a resurvey of work done by Harold Mooney back in 1961. In Dr. Mooney’s original survey, he and his associates described the distribution and abundance of several plant species that were recorded along line transects between 2,900 m (9,500 ft) and 3,950 m (13,000 ft) of elevation. In the summer of 2010, I set out to replicate this survey to find out if there had been shifts in species distributions and abundances in the past 49-years. I found that sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula) advanced its upper elevational range margin on granitic soils as much as 150 m (500 ft) from the original 1961 survey. This upward range expansion coincided with significant declines in abundance of three alpine cushion plants: Anderson’s Clover (Trifolium andersonii), condensed phlox(Phlox condensata), andoval-leaved buckwheat(Eriogonum ovalifolium). There were, however, smaller, but significant, declines in these species at higher elevations and on soil types wheresagebrushhad already become abundant in 1961. These changes occurred during a period of increasing temperatures in the White Mountains.Together, these results suggest that rising temperatures may be negatively impacting these alpine plant communities via both direct and indirect mechanisms, increasing the likelihood these communities will be lost. Based on these results I have established an experiment that tests the effects of warming and shading by sagebrush on alpine plant cushion plants in the White Mountains. |
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Warming chambers deployed at Barcroft Field Station (photo Daren Eiri; click on photo to enlarge) |
Closeup of chamber with Sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula) inside. (photo Daren Eiri) |
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During the 2011 field season, I established these experiments at two sites near Crooked Creek and Barcroft. At each site I constructed passive warming chambers and shading structures. The warming chamber will examine the response of the species described earlier to temperatures increased 1-3 °C above ambient. The shading experiment employs shade cloth mounted over cushion plants to test their response to simulated shading by sagebrush. My expectation is that warming will enhance fitness (growth, flower and seed production, etc.) of sagebrush but decrease fitness of cushion plants. I expect shading will decrease fitness of cushion plants indicating their inability to withstand encroachment by sagebrush. These experiments will continue through the 2013 field season and I am excited to see what results are yielded. My first two years in the White Mountains have been a great success thanks to the tremendous help, hospitality and cooking of the WMRS staff. I am looking forward to continuing my research here and interacting with all the great friends and scientists I have met thus far! |
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The 2011 Open House at Barcroft on Sunday August 7th was a tremendous success. Beautiful weather and an outstanding crew of volunteers (thank you Friends of WMRS!!) provided a unique and enjoyable summer outing for over 450 guests! Talks, video presentations, building tours and tours of the energy system were available all day, and over 120 dozen homemade cookies were provided by our cooks. Thanks to our scheduling coordinator Denise Waterbury for organizing all this, and special thanks to Olin Beall and the USFS engineers who graded the washed out White Mountain Road just in time for the event. See photos!
Barcroft Field Station opens July 7. The warm weather permitted WMRS staff to open the road to Barcroft, and we plan to open the station later this week. Currently we recommend 4wd only because of muddy spots in the road.
The Physiological Ecology meetings were cancelled this year. These are normally held every June at the WMRS Owens Valley Laboratory.
May 18 snow at Crooked Creek. See photos and movie from snow cat trip to Crooked Creek, to replace computer switch and plough snow on White Mountain Road.
Barcroft Snows Deep snows have isolated Barcroft Field Station since late December. On April 28 WMRS staff John Smiley and Daniel Pritchett hike in through deep snow for maintenance check. Photos
Some cloud photos taken at OVL, 5-31-11; 11:15 am
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Announcing Two Student Fellowship Opportunities: the WMRS Graduate Student Minigrant Program and the Clem Nelson Graduate Fellowship.
September 2010 Bighorn Sheep Exclusion Fence In recent years the Barcroft Domestic Sheep Facility has been undergoing major renovation in order to eliinate any possible contact between the domestic sheep and the wild Desert Bighorn sheep that roam the Whites. Along with WMRS assistance and under the direction Ben Gonzales, Department of Fish and Game, staff from the Loma Linda University Animal Care facility completed the final stage of these improvements. A 10' high gated pen now surrounds the domestic sheep dung trailer. The fence also surrounds the rest of the sheep facility (see photo-click on photo to enlarge). With this final improvement, dung collected from the sheep pens is directly deposited inside the trailer. Runoff control barriers prevent dung or dung-laden water from escaping the fenced area. When full, the trailer is covered with a tight-fitting canvas tarp and driven down to Bishop for disposal.
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| This sheep facility supports one of WMRS' flagship projects, a long-term, multi-million dollar effort to understand how low oxygen harms pregnancy and fetal development. In 2009 this project was rated as one of the nation's top health science projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). | |
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Holding pens at Crooked Creek. Used temporarily when snow blocks access to Barcroft. rear view |
Front view. 10-26-10 |
Barcroft update, September 1, 2010: WMRS staff re-install 68 solar panels on the roof of the Pace lab. After a major effort including about 25 person days of work, all the solar panels but one were re-installed by gluing them directly to the roof surface using many gallons of EPDM adhesive. As of today all 68 of the panels are connected to the battery bank and are generating 6 KW of electricity at mid-day. The solar-battery installation is so effective that it is seldom necessary to run the backup generator, saving thousands of gallons of fossil fuel every summer. see WMEP web site for more information see also carbon offsets page.
New opportunity for UC GRADUATE STUDENTS working at WMRS! The Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Program is now open to all Graduate Students currently enrolled at any of the University of California campuses. There are no restrictions on the research topic, and students from all academic disciplines are strongly encouraged to apply. The maximum individual grant is $3,000, and the limit on total awards is $38,000. The deadline for submitting an application is 8:00 am on October 18, 2010. Letters of recommendation and permissions to use reserve(s), are due no later than 8:00 am on October 27, 2010. See Matthias grant flyer for details. Please note that the WMRS minigrant program (open to all graduate students from all institutions) will probably also be announced in November or December.
July 28-30, 2010 WMRS hosts Review Committee from the UCNRS. In June 2010, WMRS submitted an application to join the UC Natural Reserve System. In July a Review Committee, chaired by UCLA Professor Tony Orme, made a site visit to the station. They were favorably impressed with the scope and breadth of station activities, and are preparing a report which should move the process along. Although there are questions which need to be answered and details to be worked out, joining the UCNRS would bring more resources and expertise to WMRS. It would also give us a new administrative home within the Office of Research.
Annual Open House at Barcroft, Sunday August 1, 2010 between 6:30 am to 6 pm. Beautiful weather brings a large crowd for an inside look at one of North America's most unique scientific facilities. . Highlights included the Road Kill Museum, lectures by faculty, staff and graduate students, tours of the energy and astrophysics labs, souvenir sales, unlimited free cookies baked by WMRS cooks and, of course, the unparalleled high altitude scenery at 12,500 feet elevation.
July 2, 2010: WMRS staff re-install 33 solar panels and revive battery-inverter system: hope for a full recovery. Once the road opened WMRS staff began a top-priority scramble to recover the solar electrical system (see below for details). The fallen solar panels were straightenend and cleaned, and tested for generating capacity. Remarkably, the 60 panels retained 60-100% of their power (mostly 100%), enough to justify their re-installation. The new mounting system glues the panels directly to the roof. The dead batteries were also revived by a multi-step process which has resulted in at least a partial recovery. On June 30, the generator was shut off after running continuously for 6 days, and the station returned to partial solar/battery power. We plan to remount the remaining solar panels next week and to complete the re-installation over the next few weeks. We are hoping for a full system recovery but this can only be determined by actual performance.
Trek to Barcroft, May 28, 2010: Winter storm sweeps away Barcoft solar panels. The heavy snows and delayed spring snowmelt in 2010 prevented WMRS staff from reaching Barcroft in winter/spring 2010. We knew via remote monitoring that the main power sytem had shut down, but we didn't know why. Getting up to Crooked Creek has been delayed by large snow drifts, and once the way was open the snow was too soft for easy passage. Finally, on May 28, WMRS Associate Director John Smiley was able to drive the snow cat to the base of Sheep Pass; close enough to enable a 6-mile hike up to the station. See full story for what he found, with details and photos.
On March 31, the Owens Valley Roadside Heritage Project hosted an Open House celebrating completion of their new CD "Exploring Extreme Environments: Audio Stories from California's Eastern Sierra." The Eastern Sierra Watershed Project also displayed results of their environmental education program centered on the lower Owens River. These projects have been sponsored by the Eastern Sierra Institute for Collaborative Education in partnership with WMRS, the National Science Foundation, and other organizations.
Major Budget Cuts at the University of California are forcing reductions in the level of service WMRS offers researchers and classes. We have cut staff hours from their already minimal levels, and the entire staff is currently taking unpaid furloughs. The most visible effect will be felt at Crooked Creek. There, in 2010, we plan to offer meal service only to groups larger than 10 persons (see Crooked Creek meal calendar for the actual dates of meal service). Individuals, couples and smaller groups will have to purchase, transport and cook their own meals while at Crooked Creek, except when they overlap with a larger group for which meals are being prepared. It is very important that visitors plan their trips to Crooked Creek (and the other stations) well in advance (at least 2 weeks and preferably a month or more). We ask our station users to be patient through these difficult times, and please know that our primary concern is to support you, the station users, in safety and as much comfort as our field conditions allow.
Summer 2009 monitoring data reveals surprisingly high concentrations of atmospheric ozone at White Mountain summit and Barcroft. Constancy of readings at about 50 ppb indicate that these sites are excellent for measuring the "background" concentration of ozone for North America. New, more sophisticated measurements are planned for 2010. See story for details.
November 2009 Ralph Kellogg, pioneering high altitude physiologist who worked at Barcroft from 1955 to 1965, dies at age 90. more information
October 2009 Announcing 2009 Mary Dedecker Botanical Grant details
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Michael Wing, Science Teacher at Sir Francis Drake High School, and his students have designed, built and installed a cold frame greenhouse at Barcroft. They are still perfecting the design, but this summer they harvested potatoes, radishes and salad greens from this elevation; probably a North American record.as the highest cultivated ground on this continent. |
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| You can view photographs of the project at http://drake.marin.k12.ca.us/staff/wing/WMRS_Project.htm . Michael and students plan to continue to refine this project next year, which is part of a larger effort to figure out how to support humans in extreme environments (including Mars!). | |
| Harvest time! |  |
October 13, 2009 Surprise snowfall closes roads in White Mountains! details
2009 Open House at Barcroft, Sunday August 2! Nearly 300 attend; "perfect weather" all day. details
New article in Mammoth Times about Barcroft Open House, with photos by Denise Waterbury, entitled "Riding the Lunar Landscape."
High Country News article about WMRS friend/associate Hal Klieforth!
July 2009. Major lighting storm damages some equipment at Barcroft, but main power system OK. Barcroft Report from Dori Cann:
7/23/09 Around 7 pm a squall was happening over Piute mtn.I was out in the sheep pens feeding them their evening meal.Looking over at Piute I could see alot of hail and graupel was covering the ground.A few lightnings were striking over there.I finished up with the sheep quickly and ran back over to main building to tell everyone(there were 9 of us here) to check out the good lightning show.So we all stood in the office oohing and ahhing.After 15 mins or so it was obvious that the storm was moving our way.Lightnings quickly fallowed by thunder.Amazing strikes with parts branching off left and right.So bright we would be blinded for a moment .Then a close one with sparks coming out of the outlets.And a few minutes a lightning that seemed to hit the back(west end )of the building and a loud crack and the power was out.Wow,as we are generating our own power that might mean we were struck!We let some more time go by and then went out to look (not touch ) the mian electric panel to see if there was any obvious sign of why power was out.I was walking back in front of shop bench to get flashlight and another crack and bright blue sparks flew out of the outlets on work bench.And that happened with power out.by now it was 8 pm and things were settling down.Went to check what I could and was able to fire up diesel generator and get power to building. Decided to look for any damage in the morning.
7-29-09 Lightning visited the area in a big way last Thursday, and we now are troubleshooting various problems: the T1 connection to Barcroft is down, even though the dome Wi-Lan radio is working. Electric power is also off at the observatory dome - there seems to be short or some other problem. The Starband satellite connection is working at Barcroft, as is the T1 to Crooked Creek. We also just installed a new, higher bandwidth (2 Mb/s download, 500 Kb/s upload, with 5 static IP addresses) "Hughes Net" satellite internet service at Crooked Creek - details on how to access this later. The Crooked Creek Starband has been disconnected.
7/30/09 The lightning event destroyed or damaged at least nine devices, including internet switches, media converters, and digital pressure gauges. There is also damage to the dome power supply, either in the transformers or in the buried line. JTS is working on a write-up of the event.
June 2009. The 26th Annual Physiological Ecology Conference, was held at OVL on June 5-7, 2009. 13 presentations, including one by featured speaker John Harrison of Arizona State University, were given to the audience of 50 attendees.. See phys-eco web site for registration information and other details.
Student Minigrant Awards WMRS awarded 16 fellowships supporting graduate student research at the station, totalling over $20,000. See 2009 list of recipients. Recipients included 9 researchers from 5 UC campuses, in additon to 7 from other Universities.
April 2009. The 7th and final lecture of the Winter 2009 lecture series was held at the station on East Line Street on April 16. We had a very well-attended and successful 2009 seminar series. Our thanks go to organizer Denise Waterbury, the Friends of the White Mountain Reseach Station and the lecturers who donate their time. Details on WMRS public lectures web site.
January
29 article "Tufa, Sagebrush, Fire and Flood;" in-depth reporting
on the CEREC conference!
See entire
on-line article.
Barcroft Snowshoe Trip Report 3-13-2009 see story and photos
Snowcat overnight trip to Barcroft and test of logistics (1-21-09)...see story and photos.
January 2009 In December the Willow Beetle Project was awarded a 5-year, $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, for the research proposal entitled "Ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change in Sierra Nevada populations of a montane willow beetle." See beetle project web pages for more information about this long-running WMRS-based project.
January 2009 White Mountain Summit climate station records 162.4 mile per hour windspeed at 5 am, December 19, 2008! This was the peak of 9 consecutive hours of continuous winds >100mph! See link to WM Summit Weather Station (click on historical data link)
This year in particular I am amazed at the change of seasons in the Owens Valley, and it gives me special admiration for the vegetation and wildlife that live here. I’ve been working in Owens Valley for three years now, but this is the first time that I’ve had field work during the winter. I didn’t think it was possible to miss the sweltering heat of the summer, but as I recently woke up to temperatures in the teens, I caught myself dreaming of long summer days under the scorching sun. My dissertation project involves studying the effects of differing water and nutrient availabilities on vegetation in Owens Valley. In general, grass abundance is usually explained by water availability. However, at any given depth to watertable there is considerable variation in plant cover, suggesting that nutrient limitation may also play an important role. Indeed, we found that sites with greater grass cover had more soil nitrogen, and that grass photosynthesis was closely related to nitrogen availability. These results indicate that controls on nitrogen cycling may be an important determinant of grass distribution in this region.
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1– Measuring salt grass (Distichlis spicata) photosynthesis
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Watertable depths change radically throughout the valley, and lately I’ve been looking at how this difference in water availability affects the water transport system of dominant shrub and grass species. Surprisingly, although leaf carbon isotopes of the shrub species Ericameria nauseosa (Rubber rabbitbrush) showed increased plant water stress with increasing site watertable depth, there was no indication that the more water stressed plants had an altered water transport system to make them more water stress resistant. This pattern was also true for the shrub species Atriplex torreyi (Torrey’s saltbush) and the grass species Distichlis spicata (Saltgrass), where plants in sites with deeper watertables were not more water stress resistant. Currently, I’m focusing on how depth to watertable and soil nutrient availability affect plant chemical and nutrient composition. What a wonderful opportunity it has been to work in such a beautiful location! While in the field I sometimes take breaks to gaze at the snow-capped mountains and reflect on how lucky I am to be out here this time of year. Although I might not think so when I first wake up, being able to see Owens Valley in the winter is definitely worth having to pile on the extra jackets in the morning. |
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| (click on photo to enlarge) | Figure 2– Collecting leaves from an Ericameria nauseosa shrub |
The 5th White Mountain Research Station regional research symposium: "Climate, Ecosystems and Resources in Eastern California" was held on November 5-8, 2008, at the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop. Over 200 scientists, resource managers, and members of the public attended nearly 100 talks and presentations. One highlight was a public lecture by LADWP General Manager David Nahai, on Thursday November 6 at 7:30 pm. Many participants commented on the breadth and quality of the presentations, and on the opportunities for networking and collaboration. See CEREC web pages for photos and other details, including program, list of speakers, presentation abstracts, and powerpoint presentations. |
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August 24, 2008 story in Sacramento Bee newspaper highlights climate change research in the Sierras and White Mountains, and features local naturalist Derham Giuliani. See complete story on-line.
Want info about the proposed White Mountains Wilderness Area? see proposed wilderness boundary map for details
New met tower at Owens Valley Lab! see project page & photos for details.
August 3, 2008 Over 400 people attended the annual Open House at Barcroft. Our thanks to the WMRS friends' group for assisting. See Lecture Schedule and Photo for more details.
June 2008
The 25th annual Physiological Ecology Meeting, was held at WMRS in Bishop June 6-8, 2008. See web site for details. As always, the meeting emphasized an enjoyably informal exchange of ideas and research.
New project based at the Owens Valley lab, including a new 30' met tower: Quantifying feedbacks between groundwater decline, wind erosion, and ecological change in desert vegetation. for details and photos see news story
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Late May snowstorm buries Barcroft in snow! The winter-like storm of May 22-27 settled in over Barcroft and snowed for several consecutive days. The photo indicates substantial depth, at least a foot and maybe more. (click to enlarge) |
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WMRS annual butterfly count sets North American record! Plebejus shasta, the Shasta Blue (photo at right) was super-abundant at 12,700' elevation and above during the 2007 summer butterfly count. Our team of 4 counters recorded 875 individuals in about 30 minutes of counting. Large numbers of these butterflies were also seen in August of 2006 at the 13,000' level. This record eclispes the previous record of 230 in 24 hours by a wide margin. This result, after only three years of counting, suggests some unique characteristics of the high alpine habitat surrounding the Barcroft Field Station. It also illustrates the value of targeting the high alpine habitat for sampling. For more information about the annual butterfly count, see WMRS 4th of July butterfly count pages. (photo Sean Schoville) |
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Snow about 6' deep just above Sierra View on the White Mountain Road. Feb. 6, 2008 (click to enlarge)
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| November 2007. New Astonomy Dome rises at Barcroft! The astrophysics team from U.C. Santa Barbara have just completed a new dome at the WMRS Barcroft Field Station. This portable structure will soon house a new millimeter-wave telescope for detecting and analyzing radiation from the early universe. See photos of the construction process. |
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| July 2007. Barcroft Station goes on solar photovoltaics for electric power! See WMEP pages for story and details! also see 2007 report (pdf) |
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May 2007. See "The Power of 10" - a new color brochure highlighting University of California research at WMRS! pdf file
June 2007. White Mountain Research Station hosted the 24th annual Physiological Ecology Meeting June 1-3, 2007 at the Owens Valley Lab (OVL). As always, the meeting format emphasized an enjoyably informal exchange of ideas and research, and a comfortable venue to discuss topics of interest. 60 people attended.
June 2007. The annual Friends of Clem Nelson campout was held at the Nelson Campground June 22-24. See poster for details. See story from last years' gathering
July 2007. GLORIA "Master Station" at WMRS WMRS hosted the summer 2007 GLORIA field week July 22-28 at Crooked Creek. more info Field week includes annual butterfly count on July 24.
"4-Wheel Bob" completes the first wheelchair-bound ascent of White Mountain Peak! See story and photos...
WMRS-affiliated astronomer George Smoot wins Nobel Prize for his work on the origins of the universe! Using extraordinarily sensitive instruments developed and tested in the dry air at WMRS Barcroft Field Station, in balloon flights, at the South Pole, and in the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite, UC Berkeley Professor George Smoot and coworkers (see Smoot Group web site) discovered tiny ripples in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB). The brightness and pattern of these ripples have helped define modern theories about the age, composition and origin of the universe. Dr. Smoot's work built on a long history of cosmology research carried out at WMRS facilities, particularly Barcroft.
Some of the early measurements of the CMB were made at Barcroft in 1966 by UC Berkeley radio astronomers Jack Welch, David Cudaback and colleagues. In 1967 the MIT group headed by Bernard Burke, and independently, the Princeton group with cosmology pioneer David T. Wilkinson came to Barcroft and made crucial measurement of the CMB spectrum. In 1969 and 1971 research teams from the Aerospace Corporation and UC Berkeley (led by Paul Richards and including Dr. Smoot's co-Nobel laureate John Mather) made a set of crucial observations confirming the blackbody spectrum of the CMB. These findings led to a major program involving balloon flights and rocket-borne instruments. Dr. Smoot's team began working at Barcroft in 1980 and returned most summers throughout the 80's, testing and refining instruments and taking measurements. For a more complete story, read "The spectrum of cosmic background radiation: early and recent measurements from the White Mountain Research Station" by George Smoot, and "25 Years of High Altitude Research" written by WMRS' founder Nello Pace.
For more information see 2 minute video segment of George Smoot and co-workers up at Barcroft in 1990 (35MB avi file). Also see 45 minute web cast of Professor Smoot's Nobel Prize lecture. Here is a quote from Dr. Smoot's Nobel Lecture (see Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 1349–1379 2007) in which he credits WMRS with a key role in the early development of cosmology in the 1970's:
Shortly after the Penzias and Wilson discovery and initial estimate of the CMB temperature, there were a number of observations and determinations or estimations of the temperature at various wavelengths which were the beginnings of the effort to establish that the CMB spectrum was blackbody. David T. Wilkinson and Peter Roll were pioneers in radiometric observations beginning on the roof of Jadwin Hall at Princeton. Wilkinson and colleagues, first Stokes and Partridge continued with a set of long wavelength observations from the White Mountain Research Station in California. This is a high altitude site operated by the University of California and one that is a good site for CMB observations because of its high altitude (12,000 ft, dryness, and reasonable accessibility via a road that is open for about half the year). As mentioned above, by 1974 Professor Paul Richards began a program taking on graduate students, John Mather and Dave Woody. Richards’ program developed bolometers and a Michelson interferometer for spectrum observations and these are the precursor for COBE FIRAS. The FIRAS ((Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer) instrument design came directly from the original White Mountain instrument, which was then morphed to be the Woody and Richards balloon-borne instrument. The FIRAS team, led by John Mather, studied the results and performance of the Woody and Richards instrument and experiment and designed FIRAS both to be as symmetric as possible and to operate at the same temperature as that from the sky input. Another key feature was the sky simulating blackbody which was carefully designed, crafted and tested to be a very good blackbody at a well-defined temperature.
Cosmic origins research continues at WMRS to this day under the direction of one of Professor Smoot's former students, UC Santa Barbara Professor Philip Lubin. The Lubin group continues to design, build, test and operate instruments that look back to the early universe. See WMRS Astrophysics web site for details.
GLORIA "Master Station" at WMRS The University of California White Mountain Research Station (WMRS) hosted a GLORIA planning workshop at the Owens Valley Labs on May 22, 2006, and 16 scientists attended (GLORIA stands for the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments). The primary outcome was a commitment by the group and the WMRS to establish a "GLORIA Master Station" at WMRS, dedicated to investigating the high elevation environment surrounding the seven White Mountain GLORIA summits (see WMRS-GLORIA web pages for details). A second outcome was a tentative plan to host a conference and produce conference proceedings as early as fall 2007. Finally, the group created a working plan for this summer's WMRS-GLORIA field week, held at Crooked Creek Station during the week of July 22-29, 2006.
OPEN GATE DAY SUNDAY, September 3. The gate to the Barcroft Station will be opened for those wishing to climb White Mountain Peak. You may drive to Barcroft, park, and hike up to the peak. Please be advised that the Barcroft research facility will not be opened to the public on this day, and please do not disturb staff or researchers at the station. You will be at high altitude and if you experience any health problems, go down immediately.
Even though the station will be closed to visitors, there will be a team of medical researchers asking hikers if they will volunteer to be interviewed and monitored for symptoms of acute mountain sickness. The results are part of an effort to understand the health implications of travel to high altitude.
August 6, 2006...WMRS ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE at the White Mountain Research Station High-Altitude Facilities and the Bristlecone Pine Forest Visitor Center. Over 450 people attended a beautiful, cloudless day of hiking and educational activities in the White Mountains on Sunday August 6, 2006. Hosted by the friends of WMRS, the program included 5 scientific talks in the upstairs meeting room, a sales desk for WMRS T-shirts and mugs, Kim Smiley's "Roadkill museum", a student survey of mountain sickness for peak hikers, and questions and discussion with WMRS researchers and staff.
Friends of Poleta Folds and Clem Nelson....CAMP NELSON CAMPOUT AND DEDICATION CEREMONY.... About 30 people attended June 24. See web page for details.
WMRS hosts 23rd annual Physiological Ecology meeting at OVL. On June 2-4, 70 scientists attended the two day long meeting, which included 18 presentations. Special guest speaker Hannah Carey (Univ. Wisconsin), who studied marmots at WMRS during the 1980's, talked about her career researching the physiological ecology of hibernation. She also emphasized the many opportunies that have come her way to expand and broaden her perspective. These meetings are a great way for faculty, researchers, and graduate students to get together to discuss research directions and priorities. see web site for details
WMRS Graduate Student Minigrant Award Announcement Over $21,000 awarded to 16 students in 2006, including 13 new awardees! see details
WMRS Research Scientist Jeff Holmquist: research highlighted on cover of Ecological Applications (download pdf file)!
National Science Foundation awards WMRS $255,000 to implement energy infrastructure improvements at Barcroft Station. The grant, entitled "White Mountain Energy Project: Bringing 21st Century Energy Technology to the Barcroft Field Station" will allow WMRS to cover the roof of the main Pace lab building at Barcroft with flexible solar photovoltaic panels, install a hydronic heating system, rewire the station for off-grid operation, and install a clean, reliable, efficient microturbine generator backup system. The project is a collaboration between WMRS and the UC Irvine School of Engineering Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP). See WMEP web pages for more info about the project.
WMRS hosts Terrain-induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX) at the Owens Valley Laboratories. This project uses the latest technology, including three instrumented aircraft, to visualize and model the complex winds that form in the Owens Valley, particularly the "rotor" winds associated with sierra wave clouds, dust storms, and aviation hazards. See the T-REX project web pages for more information.
Friday May 5 at 2 pm there will be a Public Lecture at the Bishop High School Library entitled "An Up-close and Personal Look at the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Sudan." This talk is co-presented by Annie Smiley, anthropologist and educator at UC Davis, and Hashim Hassan, translator/interpreter and former Sudanese refugee. Millions of people have been harmed, killed or displaced from their homes in Sudan, and the crisis continues to this day. Annie and Hashim will present their experiences living in Cairo, Egypt working with refugees from Sudan. Hashim, a refugee himself, will discuss his personal experiences as well as those of friends, family and associates and Annie will present the results of her interviews as well as years of teaching at a school for refugees in Cairo. This lecture will be held in the Bishop High Library (call 873-4275 for directions)
On Thursday April 6 at 7 pm, Dr. Phil Pister, retired biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, will speak on: "Ethical concerns in biological conservation; Examples from the mountains and deserts of the Eastern Sierra.." Phil is a long term resident of the Owen Valley as well as a renowned biologist, conservationist and philosopher. This is the eleventh, and possibly final, installment of our winter lecture series. See lecture series web page for the complete 2006 schedule, and more information.
August 2005 GLORIA project adds 3 new summits in 2005, in the White Mountains. The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments is an effort to monitor climate effects on vegetation on mountain tops above treeline all around the world. The seven White Mountain summits cover a range of elevations, up to 14,060', and include two soil types, granitic and carbonaceous. By resampling every 5 years, researchers will measure climate-related vegetation change. (see GLORIA web page for more details) WMRS is planning to add other types of monitoring efforts to the network in summer 2006, including geomorphology, animal surveys, soil science, and others.
July 2005 First Annual White Mountain Butterfly Count held July 29th. The First Annual 2005 White Mountain Butterfly Count was a great success. Four counters participated, and promise to return next year with more volunteers. The weather was not ideal, but the slow pace contributed to more time for discussion and indentification. We surveyed six sites. The count is part of a WMRS program to gather baseline data on the alpine environments of the White Mountains.Details.
June 2005 WMRS staff packs in on horseback to repair snow cat. See photos.
September 2005 "OPEN GATE DAY” was hosted on Sunday, September 4, between 7 am and 6 pm. Hikers wishing to climb White Mountain Peak were allowed to drive to the Barcroft Station to begin their ascent. Over 100 people participated, including 4 year old Tomo Suyama who walked all the way! (see center of photo) Our Annual Open House was hosted at Barcroft Sunday August 7, 2005. Details on web page, including photos of hailstorm.
June 2005 WMRS hosted the 22nd Annual Physiological Ecology Conference at the Owens Valley Labs on June 4-6. 62 particpants attended a series of about 24 talks spread over two days, including a special presentation by U. Michigan Prof.Bill Dawson, on the history of physiological ecology between 1925 and 1955. For some photos of the meeting, see photos web page.
April 2005 WMRS awards research grants to 13 graduate students! (see minigrant page for details)
April 2005 WMRS submits proposal to NSF as part of White Mountain Energy Project. In collaboration with the UC Irvine Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP), WMRS has developed a strategy for upgrading utilities at Barcroft. This effort has become known as the White Mountain Energy Project (WMEP), and requires several steps to implement. Key analyses, simulations, and recommendations have been produced by the APEP team, resulting in our recent application to the National Science Foundation Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSML) Improvement Program for funds to purchase and install key equipment. The WMEP web pages describe background, analyses and other details for the project.
February 2005 Winter snow-cat trip to sheep pass, and demonstration of Tucker 2000 snow cat performance.
2004 New! Barcroft Webcam. Remotely controlled outdoor camera can be used to pan, tilt and zoom. Click here to learn more.
| Snowfall closes road to Barcroft On Tuesday October 19, 2004, a surprise October storm dumped several feet of snow on the upper elevations in the Whites. The White Mountain Road is now closed at the Sierra View gate, and the upper stations are closed for the winter. August 2004 Undergraduate Research Symposium The WMRS Research Experience for Undergraduates Program presented a series of short talks highlighting the students' results from their summer research, mentored with WMRS research scientists. The students' work may be seen on the REU web site.
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| August
2004 Attention hikers! Open Gate Day will
be held on Sunday, September 5. The gate at the end
of White Mountain Road will be open between 7am and 6 pm, to allow
allow hikers to drive the additional two miles and park their vehicles
at Barcroft Station. The Friends of WMRS will supervise
the parking. Please note that this is not an open house, and the
Barcroft Laboratory facilities will not be open to
the public. The annual open house is held the first Sunday in August.
July 2004 OPEN HOUSE Hundreds of visitors joined us for the annual WMRS Open House at the Barcroft Station on August 1, 2004. There were refreshments, poster displays, short talks, and demonstrations by faculty, staff and students. The Barcroft gate was also open for hikers wishing to ascend White Mountain Peak. Details. |
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| 2004
Physiological Ecology Meetings The White Mountain Research
Station hosted the 21st annual Physiological Ecology Meeting at the
Owens Valley Lab (OVL). As always, the meeting format emphasized an
enjoyably informal exchange of ideas and research, and a comfortable
venue to discuss topics of interest, for students to gain experience
presenting their work in a friendly setting, and for veteran researchers
to try out new ideas with only limited heckling. Held June 5-6, 2004.
Annual
Physiological Ecology Meeting |
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November 2003 UCSD television is working on a feature-length documentary about the station. The web page shows some of the progress. October 2003 In collaboration with the Western Regional Climate Center, we installed a new on-line weather station at the summit lab on White Mountain Peak. It is now North America's highest-altitude weather station! We also have installed a similar on-line station at Barcroft and have plans for one at Crooked Creek. |
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| December 2003 Barcroft station is supporting full winter operations for the first time in many years. Two staff are in residence at the station, taking care of animals and keeping the station open. Winter research projects include animal physiology, growth and development at high elevation, astrophysics, millimeter-wave astronomy, atmospheric studies, and others. The Barcroft staff are in turn being supported by the Bishop staff, who are making weekly sno-cat runs over the snow-drifted roads, to bring in supplies, investigators, and staff shift changes. Photos from 11-20-03 illustrate one such trip. Researchers who wish to ride in on the snocat trips should call the station for details, and tentative trip dates have been scheduled (but please note that safety and staffing needs have priority and that the trip schedule is subject to change without notice). | ||
below:
Piute Mountain Sunset (©mikevirgin2003) |
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