Environmental scientists like me are quick to show off our beautiful photos and videos of being in the field — fjords and ice and aurorae, oh my! Less aesthetically please — but occupying just as much time — is the time we spend in the lab AFTER returning from the field, often late late into the night in order to process samples before they get too old. Working in the Arctic is especially challenging because we need to keep all of our samples cold at all times to avoid altering the community — this means working in a cold room (like a meat locker) set at the freezing point or below (0C, 32F). Even worse than the cold, though, is the tedium — filtering water is perhaps the most boring job known to human kind — interrupted intermittently by human interaction.

I made this time-lapse video to give a glimpse of A Night in the Lab. The battery lasted long enough to cover about 2 hours of work but missed a couple more. Enjoy!