Postdoc Valentina Ekimova measures chemical charicteristics in Imukpuk Lake. (Credit: MacKenzie Nelson)
Field Notes
By Valentina Ekimova | June 2025
Water, Water, Everywhere:
Tracking Infrastructure Impact in Arctic Aquatic Systems
In mid-June, Postdoc Valentina Ekimova and Environmental Sciences PhD candidate MacKenzie Nelson returned to Utqiaġvik to continue the summer sampling campaign at three key water bodies: Imikpuk Lake, Middle Salt Lagoon, and Isatkoak Lagoon. These two lagoons and one lake may look calm on the surface, but they carry the chemical signatures of seasonal rhythms, human activity, and permafrost dynamics.
Equipped with a YSI EXO1 Multiparameter Sonde, we walked the shorelines and gathered key water quality parameters: temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, algal biomass, and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM).
Shore-based sampling lets us do more than capture snapshots in time; it helps trace solute movement, identify zones influenced by infrastructure, and even hint at the direction of flow.
We’ve done this before. Last year’s data showed that areas near roads and buildings were consistently warmer, saltier, and higher in organic material than more remote tundra zones. This year’s mission: to see whether those trends persist or if new patterns are emerging.
Field conditions were mostly in our favor, though lingering ice and snow meant we had to do some careful sliding to reach water deep enough for measurements. Still, we wrapped up the week with a solid second summer dataset.
Now it’s time to dig into the numbers, track the trends, and get ready for the fall sampling season. These Arctic water bodies are sensitive, responsive, and always in flux. We’ll come back to keep listening to what they have to tell us.