Our geo-science and environmental science students hail from a wide range of institutions and disciplines. All are interested in scientific research and are participating in our study of biogeochemical processes in northern upland and wetland ecosystems.
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Joel DiStasio University of New Hampshire Environmental Science major Joel is majoring in Environmental Science, with a focus on ecosystems and additionally he is minoring in Music. Prior to becoming a student at UNH, he served four years in the United States Air Force. Currently, Joel is working in Abisko, Sweden, studying methane and carbon dioxide dynamics in peatland lake sediments, within the sub-arctic region of Sweden. In recent years, research concerning the thawing of permafrost and its contribution to atmospheric methane has been conducted at the Abisko Research Station. These studies have monitored the bubbling of methane gas, known as ebullition, from peatlands that until recent years remained frozen. Similar to the well known greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, methane also has the ability to warm the atmosphere, by absorbing thermal radiation as it leaves the Earth's surface. With his research, Joel aims to expand on existing research concerning the release of methane gas from the sediments of freshwater lakes within the northern peatlands of Sweden. After completing his summer research project in Sweden, he hopes to develop a better understanding of the effects of thawing permafrost in global sub-arctic regions and its relationship to the complex issue of climate change.
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