A Lake to Never Forget

During our ventures into the lake, we’d place 

Incubation rack floating in Anabaena

floating racks in the water to hang our bottles  on to incubate. The bottles were used to measure nitrogen fixation rates and metabolism. Since our species of focus, Anabaena, is pelagic and photosynthetic, we hang the bottles from the racks 0.5m below the surface to provide them a similar light and temperature to the environment where we have collected them from. There are clips used to hook the bottles on the rack and to do this, you have to lean over the side of the boat and reach your hand into the water. My hand got quite cold going between getting dunked into about 6ᵒC water and being out in the chilly wind. 

Cladophora growing at the bottom of the source river 
emptying into Myvatn

This task is both terrible due to the cold, but also surprisingly enjoyable. I was mainly surprised because of my previous hatred towards the cold back home in Minnesota. Though, Iceland is different somehow. I found the lake to be very mysterious. It is protected for research, so we are one of the few that get to be on it and it is such a privilege. So the moment my hand enters that water it is like I'm reaching into a different world. A world where organisms float through all depths of the lake, that interact not by speech or movement, but by the flow of nutrients and organic compounds, influenced by atomic charge and chemical gradients to form communities.

The days following this trip, I often think back to this experience. I know that this lake is only one of Earth’s various different ecosystems that is entirely natural and a piece of this unique planet, but I like to think of this experience as if for brief moments my body entered into a new world. This feeling and time spent on Myvatn will never be forgotten. It has opened my eyes to the beauty of nature and to the vast amount of knowledge that we have yet to uncover, inspiring future research. Out on the boat, I was often cold, tired and uncomfortable, but when we returned I always appreciated the experience and the hard work that we put into this research. I will always cherish my memories of Myvatn.

Myvatn sunset