06x01 - Alaska

[bunniefuu]

Dragonfly TV's going places in science.

We're flying high over glaciers,

counting birthdays in the rainforest,

and spying on salmon.

Major funding for Dragonfly TV is

provided by the National

Science Foundation, supporting

education and research across all fields

of science and engineering. The

National Science Foundation. where

discoveries begin.

PBS has been inspiring new ideas and

creativity for generations of bright

young minds. Arby's, proud sponsor of

Dragonfly TV and PBS. This is

the song, number one, you might learn

something to tell someone.

It's Dragonfly TV, Dragonfly

TV,

Dragonfly TV.

Hey, it's Eric. On this stop at the DFTV

Tour, we're at 58 degrees N,



we are?We're in America's largest state.

Texas could fit in here twice, and Rhode

Island, the smallest state in the US,

could fit 425 times.

We're in the land of the midnight sun,

the Northern Lights, and real wild

life. You've got it.

We're in Juneau, Alaska.

Juneau is on the southeastern Alaskan

Panhandle, between the Pacific Ocean and

the mountains. It's pretty much

impossible to drive here. You can only

get here by boat or by plane.

Juneau was originally called Flounder

Creek by the Tlingit natives who spent

their winters fishing here. In the 1880s,

Joseph Juneau discovered gold here.

They renamed the city, and this became a

gold-mining town. Hi,

can you take my picture with the bear?OK.

Great.

Adventures are a snap with this insane

scenery. Alaska has every kind of

wilderness, and we're hitting them all

today. We're talking rainforests and

glaciers, all in one show. We'll check

out the rainforests in Ketchikan, Alaska.

But first, it's off to the Mendenhall

Glacier Visitor Center. Grab your

crampons and your ice axe. It's time for

a glacier hike.

Hi, I'm Debbie. And I'm Brittany. We live

in Juneau, Alaska, and we love to play

outdoors.

Alaska is an outdoor wonderland. We

even have glaciers! In fact, we

have a glacier right in our backyard.

It's called the Mendenhall Glacier. The

Mendenhall Glacier is just one of 38

different glaciers in the Juneau area.

All of them flow from the giant Juneau

ice field, which is so big you could fit

the whole state of Rhode Island in it.

The Mendenhall Glacier flows from this

ice field and ends right here at

Mendenhall Lake, just a few miles outside

Juneau.

At the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center,

you can find all kinds of cool stuff

about the glacier. Hey, there's the

Mendenhall Glacier where we are. Did you

know that over 100 feet of snow falls on

the glacier every year?Yeah, and all that

snow gets packed down by more and more

snow until eventually it makes glacier

ice. Wow, this looks like a real

glacier. A glacier is a river of ice

that moves under pressure of its own

weight. I didn't know the glacier was

moving. Neither did I.

We learned that the glacier actually

slides down the valley from the top of

the ice field all the way down to the

lake. The end of the glacier is called

the terminus. If the terminus runs in

water, like the Mendenhall does, it can

calve. The calving is when large chunks

of ice break off from the terminus.

This picture was from 40 years ago from

when the visitor center was first built.

Yep, that rock is called Photo Point and

there it is out there. Look how close the

glacier was back then. I know the

terminus has retreated a lot. Hey,

Debbie, look at this cool movie. It shows

the glacier's terminus over a whole

summer. Wow, I can't believe the glacier

retreated so much in just those three

months. Hey, do you think that global

warming causes the glacier to retreat so

much?Well, warmer temperatures do cause

it to melt faster, that's for sure. And

if it melts more than it snows, then the

glacier shrinks. I wonder what the

glacier is doing today. I think we should

find out.

I think we should go to the terminus to

see evidence of the glacier retreating

first hand, and then we can go on top of

the glacier and see what's happening up

there. What's the easiest way to get to

the terminus?Kayak.

Wow, look at that big iceberg. It used to

be part of the glacier. It must have

counted off the end. After 20 minutes of

kayaking, we made it to the glacier's

terminus. Wow,

this is amazing. When you get up close to

the glacier, you can really see how huge

it is. It's so blue underneath.

We walked up the rock to get a better

look. The glacier's all dirty because of

all these rocks and dirt it moves around.

Yeah, look at where the glacier used to

be. It looks like a different planet.

There's Nugget Falls. Remember that

picture we saw in the visitor's center?20

years ago, that waterfall ran right into

the glacier. The glacier's retreated that

far?The waterfall looks like it's about a

half a mile away from the terminus. So

that means it's retreated half a mile in



I'll take a picture.

After exploring the terminus, we really

wanted to find out what it was like up on

the glacier. There's a camp on the

glacier called the North Star Camp. We

can measure the ice below there. But how

can we get there?We can't kayak there.

Nope, we can fly.

Glacier ice looks blue because it's so

thick. Its big ice crystals soak up

all the colors in sunlight except blue,

which bounces out for you to see. The

bluest part is where Debbie and Brittany

are at the terminus. It can get loud,

too. When a glacier calves, it's as loud

as it can.

I'm walking on top of today's science

secret. Where does everything I'm walking

on here in Juneau, the sidewalks, the

roads, everything come from?Well, you've

got a few minutes to figure it out,

because it's back to our kids in the sky,

who are about to land on top of a

glacier, all in the name

of science.

After exploring the terminus and seeing

how much it was retreating, we hitched a

ride to the top of the glacier so we

could measure how fast the ice is flowing

downhill. We landed at the camp,

and Aaron showed us how to measure the

ice floe. He's an environmental scientist

at the University of Alaska Southeast.

You want to make the wire as flat as you

can so that you can make a good

measurement. He showed us how to place a

wire into the ice using a cool tool

called a steam drill. After

freezing one end of the wire in the ice,

we measured its length. The reading is



glacier melts, more wire will be exposed

on top of the ice. Scientists will come

back and measure it again, and that will

tell them how many centimeters of ice

have melted. Now we need to

record the exact location of the wire.

To do that, we use a device called the

differential GPS. It's the same as in the

other GPS, but with super high

resolution. so that we can measure all

the way down to centimeters. All I have

to do is name the file, and next time we

look at this, we'll be able to tell

exactly where our point is.

After recording the location of the wire,

we hiked to another wire that was put in

the ice two months ago. We took its

GPS readings in order to see how far it

had moved in two months. OK, we got a

reading. Now it's in the computer. We

also measured the length of the wire to

see how much the ice surface had changed.

Now it reads 200 centimeters.

Well, we learned one thing for sure. What?

Glaciers sure are cool, and I mean cool.

Ha ha, very funny. So let's head back and

put all our data together.

When we plugged our GPS data into the

computer, it takes the coordinates we

recorded and places a dot on a map.

That way we can see how far the wire has

moved since the scientists placed it in

the ice two months ago. Our wire

moved a bit over 15 meters in two months.

That's almost 50 feet. So the

glacier ice is moving about a foot a day.

I didn't know it moved that fast. When we

measured the wire that was already in the

ice, it was a meter longer than when the

scientists put it in. So that means a

meter of ice has melted. But our

measurements are in the summer, and in

the winter more snow will build up the

ice again.

Don't forget about our photos of the

waterfall in the terminus. We estimated

it means back half a mile in 20 years.

That's about 100 feet per year. That

means even though the ice is flowing

downhill, the Terminus is retreating even

more, so it's melting faster than it's

moving forward.

Of 38 glaciers from the Juneau Ice Field,



of warmer temperatures. Our data sure

shows that for the Mendenhall Glacier,

and it seems to be melting faster than

ever. We should investigate why

temperatures are getting so much warmer.

Yeah, so we don't end up losing all of

our beautiful glaciers. Let's go!

You can do your part to stop global

warming. Plant a tree, walk or bike

instead of taking the car, and turn off

your TV when you're not using it. But

wait, don't turn off the TV now, because

you'll never learn the answer to our

science secret. Why are all the roads in

Juneau paved with gold?Don't dig up an

answer just yet, because first we're

learning from a biologist who rescues

whales in the Bay.

Let's go. Hi, my name is

Ed. I'm a marine biologist and I help

rescue whales, whales in distress, calves

that have been abandoned by their by

their mothers, calves that have been hit

by boats and of course the entanglements.

That's actually my primary role is

helping cut large whales free. They're

majestic, but they're also very powerful

animals. At 4045 feet long and 45

tons, you've got to definitely respect

the animal. The animals we're primarily

working on around here are the humpback

whales. The whales that are down in

Hawaii in the wintertime, they'll migrate

to 3000 miles up here to Alaskan waters

where they're taking advantage of the

productivity they're feeding. Most of the

gear that these whales are getting

entangled in is the gear that's just

sitting there. Trap gear like crab pots

and and lobster pots. They are very

capable of literally dragging this gear

right off the ocean floor. whales in

Hawaii that have dragged this gear from

from Alaska. Today we were doing some

training, preparing team members to get

some practice, get some hands-on

experience in disentangling a large

whale. So a good sidearm like that, and

you'll do pretty well. The main emphasis

was to give them the experience of what

it's like to be in a small boat. We're

simulating being beside a whale, but just

that experience and handling some of this

equipment is not very easy. Come up and

throw. It's going to be like that. Right

on. I was a little naturalist when I was

growing up. Bones was my big thing.

Fox, skunk, deer. I had a moose skeleton

in my room for a while. I was trying to

put it together. Mom hated it, but I

loved it. So the first step is getting a

hold of them. It's a gradual process. You

work your way in very slowly. You know,

you don't just jump in and and wrestle a



buoys, attaching not to the whale but to

the entanglement itself. And gradually

we'll pour ourselves up close to the

animal. As the animal starts to slow

down, starts to stay at the surface, and

we'll move those kegs even closer. And

eventually we'll have two, maybe three of

these large buoys right up behind the

entangled whale. She'll be stuck at the

surface, float in there, and we can now

make it a proper assessment and cut her

free. Somewhere

beyond the sea. Having a good background

in marine biology is quite important.

When you can understand, when they're

getting upset, you know, hey, maybe it's

time to back off. When you're 45 tons,

you let the animal calm down. How I love

my rubber blubber, rubber, blubber,

rubber, blubber, blubber, blubber, whale,

blubber, whale. I see a breaching whale

as a whalejumping on the water. I stop

what I'm doing. I pull out the camera. I

have a thousand shots of these animals

jumping on the water, and I will take yet

another picture. I love it.

Last year, there were 21 entangled

humpbacks in Alaska. Luckily, Ed's work

can help save them. But you don't have to

wait to be an adult to do cool projects

like that. The Alaska state flag

here?was designed by a 13-year-old.

Start your project now with this do-it.

Make a marble float in salt. You'll

need a clear jar with a cap,

salt, and a marble. Put the

marble into the jar. Add salt to the

jar until it is about half full. Put

on the cap. Try to get the marble to the

top of the jar. Not so easy.

Gently shake the tube vertically and

watch the marble float to the top. Does

the same thing happen if you use a

chocolate chip?How about a die?

Surf on over to the Dragonfly TV website

at pbskidsgo.org. Stream a

cool DFTV video, play an awesome

game, or try a surprising duet. And don't

forget to tell us what you're doing with

science. We want to hear from you. Now

that I've been here a while, I'm trying

to blend in. These are Juno sneakers.

Everyone wears them. Styling, huhNice.

Real nice. I also learned that the dogs

are running doesn't mean dog sledding

here. Running means spawning. And the

dogs are dog salmon. Here, boy.

Juneau fishers take in 15,000,000

lbs of fish a year, and the salmon bake

is the Alaskan way to cook salmon.

Mmm. That is good. Let's

check out what these kids are doing when

the dogs are running. There's something

fishy going on. Today we're tracking

salmon at Steep Creek. They're boring

here and they come back to lay their

eggs, so all the other salmon come back

here to lay their eggs. How do you like

your eggs in the morning?We tagged



then whenever the fish would come close,

you would kind of like scoop it up in a

hurry and pull it in. Putting a radio and

a fish isn't really hard. You fish it

into the fish's mouth, find the right

place, and then you can just slide it in,

then you pull the two about. To make sure

it's in, you just tug on the wire a

little bit. He's going to be just hanging

out. He'll be real mellow. All right,

Wilson. Like, use the tracking device.

Whenever it turned towards there, it got

super loud. That way. And then

we went down the trail a little bit.

We wanted track to see where they go and

how long they live for. We found the fish

where they tagged it, so she was kind of

spawned out. Spawned out means where they

lose their eggs, and she just hangs

around and protects the red. A red is

a salmon's nest. When we found

the fish that had the radio transmitter

in it, it was still alive, so we left it

alone. It was pretty fun.

Rain happens, especially in Juneau. The

Juneau forecast?Rain. It

rains so much that there's even a natural

rainforest here. Bet you didn't know

that. In fact, it's the largest temperate

rainforest in the world. Let's head

further down the Alaskan Panhandle to

Ketchikan and check out what Emma and

Gracie are up to at the Southeast Alaska

Discovery Center.

I'm Emma. And I'm

Gracie. We're on a mission. Deep in

the rainforest. Find the biggest... And

the fastest... Slugs! We

live in Ketchikan, Alaska. home of the

Blueberry Art Festival Slug Race. On

your marks. Oh, yeah.

Go. Go. What makes a good slug

is if it's a banana slug that is

not too pudgy. Like, you don't want the

little slugs that look like round ba*ls.

And you want outgoing slugs, the ones

that poke out and, you know. You're

trying to get out. Oh, that's too bad.

Two blueberry smoothies, please.

umm We love living in Alaska, but it has

a lot more to offer than just snow and

ice. Ketchikan is known for

its collection of totem poles.

It's record rainfall. And trees! Thank

you, thank you, trees!

The Tongass National Forest is the

largest temporary rain forest in the

world. It doesn't get much warmer than 65

degrees, but it is just as wet. The

forests heat up to 25 feet of rain a

year. Let

it rain, let it pull When we can't go to

the forest, we go to the next best thing.

The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center.

The Discovery Center is run by the United

States Forest Service. They're the people

who watch over and manage the forest.

So the green means forest.

Look at all the forest covering southeast

Alaska. Wow!

The Discovery Center has an exhibit that

brings the rainforest inside. Look,

there's been a tree that's been cut down.

We learned that sometimes the Rangers

thin sections of the newly grown forest

to help keep it healthy. Thinning means

they removed some of the trees so the

rest of the trees will have less

competition for water and sun.

The last area of the exhibit reminded us

of where we found our slugs in the old

growth forest. This tree is huge.

It says these trees can grow up to 180

feet tall. Whoa. It also says that these

trees can grow up to be



Makes my head spin just thinking about

it. Since we love old

growth trees so much, we started

thinking... How long would it take for a

new tree to grow as big as an old growth

tree?So we decided to check it out back

in our favorite place, the real

rainforest. We

need a way to estimate the age of the

trees without cutting them down to count

the rains. We got a tip from Leslie, the

forest ranger. Thank you. Thank you.

The Rangers give us a map marked with

three areas where we can collect samples.

We started in the thin forest. Some trees

have been removed from this forest to let

in more light and help the other trees

grow. Look at all the plants. And

look at the sunlight. We picked

four trees to take measurements from. Two

small trees. And two big trees.

We'll mark each tree with a blue ribbon

numbered one through four. Tree hugger.

The next step is to measure the

circumference of the trees. The Rangers

gave us a special measuring device called

the DDH tape. This tape

automatically converts the circumference

of the tree into the diameter. We will

measure the circumference four and a half

feet up from the base of each tree. Is

that minute in the roof?Yeah.

Eight inches?Eight inches. Perfect.

The Rangers gave us a special tool called

an increment borer. The borer can take a

small sample from a tree without hurting

it. Then we'll count the rings on the

sample and write it down in our notebook.

This is really odd.

Whoa, cool. We got our first sample.

We put the sample in a tube to protect

it. Then we'll number it so we know which

tree it came from. We took measurements

and collected samples from all four trees

in the thin forest. The non-thinned

area is only a few feet away from the

thinned area. I don't think we'll find

much of a difference there. There's only

one way to find out. Whoa,

rough trail. Yeah. The ground's a lot

more slippery here because there aren't

too many plants to walk on. Yeah, and

look how close together the trees are.

It's 5 inches.

We took the same measurements and samples

from the four trees in the unthinned

forest. We still have one more area to

look at. Let's go to the old-growth

forest. And have

some sun, sun, sun. I'm always amazed at

how big these trees are. I wonder if

we'll find one that's 1,000 years old.

This is

going to be really difficult. Yeah.

It's 64 inches.

Is it hard?It's really actually pretty

easy. I guess the trees in an old-growth

forest are softer.

We counted the rings and then used that

number to estimate the age of the tree.



find the growth rate, we divided the

tree's diameter by its age.

Then we made a bar graph, comparing the

different growth rates. According to our

graph, the unthinned area grew twice as

fast as the old growth, but it only grew

half as fast as the thinned area. The

thin forest does have the fewest trees,

so I guess it's easier to share sunlight

and water. So I guess that's why they

grow the fastest. Our results show us

that the old growth trees are growing the

slowest, but I remember one tree that

grew pretty fast there. Let's look at

these twoTwo small trees in the old

growth forest. Notice the spacing in

between the rings. The wide spaces show

that this 25 year old tree had a lot of

growth in a short time. These narrow

spaces on the 260 year old tree.

Show grew slowly. So even in the old

growth forest, if a tree has the right

environment, it can still grow quickly.

Incredible. Welcome to my underground

land. Evil. Hey,

Emma, I was thinking, now that we know

the growth rate of trees, how about we

check the growth rate of slugs?OK, but

we're going to have to get lots of slugs

if we want to check the growth rate. Come

on, let's get going. I'm a slug.

I'm a slug. I'm a slug.

Emma and Gracie placed second in their

slug race this year. They think Speedy

Junior will definitely win next year.

It's time to answer the science secret.

Where did everything I'm walking on in

Juneau come from?Well, the city was once

part of the gold rush, and they dug miles

of tunnels in Mount Roberts behind me.

But what do they do with all that rock?

Jerry, a Hard Rock miner, has got the

answer.

Hi, my name is Jerry and I'm a Juneau

hard rock gold miner.

You're standing at the Gastineau Mill at

Mount Roberts. There's 120 miles

of tunnel in this mountain. All of

Juneau is built on the mine rock, so

instead of dumping it someplace, we used

it on the streets and made our nice

streets that we have in Juneau that you

walk down today and drive your automobile

on. This is a mine station here with the

powder and the caps and those things that

miners use. The tools. This is our jack

leg drill.

How'd you like to run that for eight

hours a day?I'm sore. I can't hear you.

This is called an overshot mucker. Time

now to put our earplugs back in.

How's that?There are more

miles of tunnels in Mount Roberts than

there are roads in Juneau. The mines are

no longer digging out gold today, but I

figure panning for some can't hurt.

Whoa! Ohh See?Bling!

If you liked our show on Alaska, then

you've got to check out our other DFTV

investigations on salmon and rainforests.

You can watch them on the web anytime, or

download our podcast and take them with

you.

Yep, that's real gold.

Surf on over to the Dragonfly TV website

at pbskidsgo.org. Tell us

what you're exploring in science museums

where you live. We want to hear from you.

Want to watch Dragonfly TV again?You can

download videos of everything you see on

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Dragonfly TV, G, PS:.

Pack your bags for next time on Dragonfly

TV GPS. Well, there's only

one way out of here. As the locals say,

it's back down south. Or is it?There is

a 50th state out there, in which case,

I could just skip the whole lower 48

thing. Flip here next time to find out.

Major funding for Dragonfly TV is

provided by the

National Science Foundation, supporting

education and research across all fields

of science and engineering. The

National Science Foundation, where

discoveries begin.

PBS has been inspiring new ideas and

creativity for generations of bright

young minds. Barbie's, proud sponsor of

Dragonfly TV and PBS. Ice,

ice, baby Ice, ice,

baby

Yo, man, let's get out of here.