Over fifty votes were cast by the end of Friday and some brilliant suggestions came up. Amongst my favourites are Shrubby the Little Droney Copter and The Shrubtor, but the overwhelming winner with 43% percent of the votes is, of course:
Droney McDroneface
Thank you all for participating – what an amazing turnout! It is a stunning day today in Edinburgh and with a bit of luck the new sensor gimbals will be ready this afternoon so that we can take ‘Droney’ out for a first flight with his proper name. We will let you know how it goes!
The next stop for ‘Droney’ and Shrubcopter is Inuvik, NWT before deployment to Qikiqtaruk – Herschel Island for two months this summer in the Canadian Arctic. We will be testing how satellite and drone imagery correspond with on-the-ground measurements of tundra vegetation change from the timing of leaf out and flowering to increased shrub growth.
To find out more about this research, check out our research page.
The time is finally come and the first Team Shrub member has arrived in Canada. Dashing ahead to pave the way for the rest of us, Isla left Scotland yesterday and is now continuing with the field season preparations in Vancouver. The rest of us will follow soon!
Back in Edinburgh, Team Shrub has been a bustling bee hive sorting out logistics and preparing the field season. The amount of preparations involved in Arctic fieldwork is definitely not to be underestimated: research permits, transport, accommodation, scientific kit, food (for two month in one go), planning the experiments and surveys … Simply speaking: a lot to do!
Luckily there is also a lot of fun to have, last week Santeri and I took part in an expedition first aid course, learning how to treat open fractures, decide which medicines to use in case we get an infection and suture small wounds. At the end we were a bit tired of hearing about all the things that could possibly go wrong, but repeatedly packing each other up in survival bags in front of the sunny Grant Institute and getting good at CPR was definitely great fun. Fingers crossed that we won’t have to apply our newly learned knowledge this summer.
Santeri enjoying a neck support for a person with a broken neck.
Ben’s beautifully stitched up chicken breast.
And of course there are the drones: After many hours of planning, assembly, soldering and cutting carbon fibre, ShrubCopter finally got a new twin! We yet have to find a name for it – so if you haven’t done so already already, please click here to vote for your favourite name. The weather was with us yesterday and we went out to Boghall Farm for its first maiden flight. Check out the video! Luckily, all primary tests went well and a big weight flew off our shoulders. Special thanks go to the UoE Airborne GeoScience Team, including Tom, Simon and Callum without their all their effort this would have not been possible!
Our drone family has grown and now we need your help to finda a name for ShrubCopter’s new twin!
Cool and Arctic or shrubby and silly, be creative or let us know which one you like best.
To vote click here. Polls will close on Friday the 20th at midnight; the highest ranking name will win!
And yes, the ShrubTundra project is funded by NERC. 🙂
Typical of Sandra’s work, it is beautifully written with gorgeous photos accompanying the excellently explained science.
Shrubs have been expanding in tundra ecosystems over the last half-century. On this photo, dense, knee-high dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa) has become dominant on previously lichen-covered land in Umiujaq, Northern Québec.
Team Shrub 