Ever wondered what the terrestrial researchers are doing out in the Arctic? Here is a snapshot of the work being carried out by the teams from the University of Sheffield and the University of Exeter in the Alaskan tundra.

Ideally situated to study climate change in the Arctic, these teams measure emissions of methane from the soil and their effects on the atmosphere. They gather data all year round, in an attempt to understand the sources and fluctuations of methane production.

The deeper soil layers remain unfrozen for a large part of the fall and beginning of the winter, when the air temperature is well below zero and the soil surface is frozen. Capturing and quantifying methane emissions during the cold period has been one of the most challenging and important steps in improving our knowledge of the sensitivity of the Arctic to climate change.

You can read a beautiful account from the field, "Into the Arctic Darkness", written by Natasha Vizcarra and originally published in Sensing Our Planet: NASA Earth Science Research Features. Read the story on the NASA site here.

You can also check out the field report from AccuWeather here: