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Tag Archives: lake sediments
Human adaptation to climate change in prehistoric NE Thailand?
This pretty challenging line, however without the question mark, is the title of a new manuscript, which we submitted yesterday. For this manuscript we pulled together all the paleoclimate evidences we have for Northeast Thailand based on our sedimentary records … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Singapore sabbatical, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Department of Geological Sciences, Earth Observatory of Singapore, Geological Sciences, lake sediments, monsoon history, Nanyang Technical University, natural science, science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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Lakes and wetlands tell an important story
A few days ago, I gave a lecture to undergraduate students in geology at Chulalongkorn University. I chose the title ‘Lakes and wetlands tell an important story’ since the focus of our Asian monsoon project is on lakes and wetlands … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Bangkok sabbatical, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, natural science, sabbatical, science, sediments, Stockholm University, Students, Sweden, Thailand
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Plant remains from ancient sediments
During the weeks before Christmas I was busy at the microscope looking through sample after sample to select plant remains for radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dates provide us with an age for our sediment sequences, and to obtain good and valid … Continue reading
Summing up 2014
At this time of the year people send Christmas cards and wishes for the upcoming year. Some even summarize in shorter and longer reports what they and their family had been up to during the year. These types of letters … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Les Eyzies, monsoon history, natural science, science, sediments, Stockholm, Stockholm University, Students, Sweden, Thailand, tsunami
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From the Asian monsoon to North Atlantic climate
As an early Christmas present, Francesco Muschitiello’s and my manuscript Time-transgressive environmental shifts across Northern Europe at the onset of the Younger Dryas is now online! After years of excursions into the Asian monsoon, it seems that I am back … Continue reading
It’s been a long time
Yes, I am still around and yes I am fine, and no, I am not lazy, just terribly busy with other things! It has been exactly 41 days since I published my last blog. And so much has happened since. … Continue reading
The big day
Within one week, two of my PhD students successfully defended their PhD theses: Akkaneewut (Nut) Chabangborn on October 10th and Sakonvan (Moo) Chawchai on October 17. It was a great and stressful day for each of them – first presenting … Continue reading
How a small peatbog reached fame
The small peatbog of Hässeldala in southern Sweden is located in the middle of a mixed forest, fringed with blueberry shrubs and boulders, and almost impossible to find. I stumbled upon the site more than ten years ago and was … Continue reading
Earthquake in Lake Vättern
Colleagues at Stockholm, Lund and Uppsala Universities just published an exciting article in the journal Geology, where they describe a major earthquake that occurred some 11500 years ago! This is really a long time ago, and it is amazing that … Continue reading
Monsoon film gets attention
Great to see that our latest film Under the Eyes of the Buddha – in White Coats now is a news item on Stockholm University’s Science Faculty’s homepage. Hopefully this will help spreading the film to a wider audience. I … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Science and media, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Communicating research, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, natural science, science, science career, sediments, Stockholm University, Students, Sweden, Thailand, university
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Under the Eyes of the Buddha – In White Coats
Finally, finally our latest video about the Asian Monsoon Project is finished! This film really took time to finish! But then it is also different from the earlier films. It involves many more people, a specially designed animation, and specially … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Science and media, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Communicating research, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, media, monsoon history, natural science, Plastic Buddha, science, science communication, scientists, sediments, Stockholm University, Students, Sweden, Thailand
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The luxury of a sabbatical
My application for a sabbatical next year has been approved! What a luxury to being able to spend time abroad and to being able to only and entirely concentrate on my research. It is great that Stockholm University provides and … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Science and media, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Earth Observatory of Singapore, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, Myanmar, natural science, science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Sediments and radiocarbon dating
Time flies, which means busy days and definitely no boredom! Last week we had a successful workshop, which focused on Asian monsoon research at the Bolin Centre, and brought together scientists interested in different aspects of the Asian monsoon: paleo-data, … Continue reading
Asien monsoon research at the Bolin centre
Next week we will host a small workshop dealing with the Southeast Asian monsoon, past, present and future. Three invited speakers will present their research next Thursday, Kevin Anchukaitis and Jessica Tierney from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Hans Linderholm … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, natural science, Stockholm University, Sweden
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Posters and talks at EGU
This year’s participation in the annual meeting of the European Geoscience Union will be tough! All our eight abstracts have been accepted, and this means a lot of work. Of course we still don’t know which of these will be … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Thoughts and Tales
Tagged ancient tsunamis, Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Communicating research, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Myanmar, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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A new year has started again
I have read somewhere that making too many wishes for the coming year just increases the stress, because one will almost always not be able to fulfill most of these wishes and/or all the good intentions. Thus – no wishes … Continue reading
Too curious to wait
Last week we opened two of our Myanmar sediment sequences, described the sediments and sub-sampled one sequence. The first preliminary analyses will be made in January/February and will give us a good idea of where to focus further investigations. It … Continue reading
Still jet-lagged
The seven-hour difference between Singapore and Sweden is still haunting me, but I guess in a few days I will be back to normal again. Would it have been summer with long days and short nights, the jet lag would … Continue reading
Posted in Thoughts and Tales
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Earth Observatory of Singapore, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Myanmar, natural science, NTU, Singapore, Stockholm University
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Busy days in Singapore
Tropical heat, tropical humidity, tropical thunderstorms and tropical rains – that’s how Singapore presented itself to me. Finally I managed to get an experience of heavy monsoon rains! Singapore is well adapted to this type of climate. Air-conditioning is on … Continue reading
160 kg plus 55 kg
After a three-hour drive we were back in Mandalay, the holy and magical city with its many temples, monasteries and myriad of people, cars and motorbikes. We had a couple of hours before our flight left and used the time … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Mandalay, Mandalay hill, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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Bye-bye Monywa
How shall we manage to get all our samples out of the country and into Thailand? This question has been on my mind for several days now. My first worry, some days ago, was about the equipment and the permission … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, Monywa, natural science, sediment core, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Many helping hands
Everyday two or three master students join our little expedition. They help carry the equipment, join us out on the lakes for coring, filter the water samples, assist in sub-sampling and help packing everything up again. The students are so … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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The sounds of Myanmar
During the past two days and nights we have been surrounded by a constant singing or preaching from loudspeakers. Small pickup trucks drive all around the town and the larger villages with loudspeakers mounted on the back. Along the streets … Continue reading
No secrets revealed in Shinme Chauk
The sediments of ‘Banana Lake’ or Lake Shinme Chauk, which is located close to the Bronze Age cemetery of Nyanggan, were the last on our to do list. The lake is very shallow, and partly overgrown, but according to the … Continue reading
Early morning in Monywa
Another of these early mornings! Getting up at 6 am, leaving at 6:30, and eating breakfast in one of the street restaurants on our way to the lakes. The hotels where we had stayed before served breakfast, but our current … Continue reading
Movie time in Leshe village
Both of our teams have been really successful during the last days. We were able to obtain several nice sediment sequences from Leshe Lake, and a number of gravity cores from the deeper crater lakes. The other day Nut, Lin … Continue reading
China phones
What surprises me most, is that almost everyone has a cell phone. Not just a simple one, but smart phones with all kinds of different apps. If we want the man with the bullock cart to come and get us, … Continue reading
Another day in the surroundings of Monywa
One group with Nut, Lin Thu Aung, and Thomas completed coring at Leshe Lake today, and the other group with Sheri, Rienk, Zaw Win and another student drove to one of the three deeper crater lakes to obtain a gravity … Continue reading
What a different world
It is fun talking to the students about life in Myanmar. One of my questions was of course if there were any female geology students, because we have only met men so far. The students told us that only 10% … Continue reading
All these friendly people
I am really overwhelmed by all the friendly people we meet everyday and everywhere: the staff at the different hotels we are staying in, the village chief and the villagers, people in the market, on the street, and in restaurants … Continue reading
And the cores keep coming
No driving down the steep sandy slopes to the crater lake today. I think the drivers got a bit worried yesterday, given frequent meetings with bullock carts, the narrow paths, the steep slope, the deep tracks and the huge hollows, … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, bullock carts, crater lake, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, Lake Kumphawapi, lake sediments, Leshe Lake, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, sediments, Stockholm University, Students, Sweden, Upper Myanmar, water lilies
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What a lucky day!
What an amazing day we had today! Accompanied by three MSc students and two officials from the Ministry of Forestry and Environmental Conservation we headed towards our first lake, Leshe Lake. I had never imagined that the two huge 4WDs … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, crater lakes, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, monsoon history, Monywa, Myanmar, natural science, paleoclimate, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden
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Equipment arrived, permission received!
Lin Thu arrived this evening from Yangon after a 10 hour-long drive. He had with him the equipment and the permissions to core all the five lakes! What more could we wish for! Tonight I passed by the temple and … Continue reading
No connection to the outer world
Our hotel has wireless Internet on all its seven floors. The only problem is that the connection only works sporadically. This is obviously not only the hotel’s problem. We tried at several other spots where Wi-Fi is offered, but it … Continue reading
Sunset over the Chindwin Plain
Sunset viewed from the Pho Win Hills, about one hour’s drive southwest of Monywa, had been recommended to us by the receptionist at our hotel. This site is also described as containing South East Asia’s richest collection of Buddhist mural … Continue reading
Buddha heard my prayer
Day #3 in Monywa and we have still no news regarding equipment and permissions. Now we have a bit more than a week left, but if the equipment arrives soon and if the permissions are issued before the weekend, we … Continue reading
The second tallest Buddha in the world
The second tallest Buddha figure in the world is really something we did not want to miss out while being in Monywa! This 116 meters high golden Buddha statue took 11 years to build. Inside this monumental figure are numerous … Continue reading
Still waiting
Things seem to be more complicated than we had thought. Our equipment has still not been released from customs, and in addition we seem to need permissions from different authorities to sample the lakes. While our colleagues from the Myanmar … Continue reading
Back in Myanmar and back in Monywa
Here we are finally, in the town of Monywa, which lies some 140 km northeast of Mandalay on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River. The Chindwin originates in northern Myanmar and joins the large Irrawaddy River to the southwest … Continue reading
Questions and no answers
Back again in Bangkok! It is always a nice feeling to arrive early in the morning and then drive into the slowly awakening city, which is usually full of life and people, and bustling with energy, but still really calm … Continue reading
On my way to SE Asia again
Just a few minutes left before boarding and then starts the nine and a half hours direct flight to Bangkok. The trip to SE Asia is short compared to the return flight, which will be almost twelve hours, plus the … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Myanmar, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, Myanmar, natural science, sediments, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Stockholm – Bangkok – Mandalay – Bangkok – Singapore – Stockholm
In less than a week’s time I will hopefully be out coring on some of the crater lakes close to Monywa, a town which lies a 2-3 hour car drive west of Mandalay in Myanmar. I write hopefully, because we … Continue reading
Exciting fieldwork ahead
In a bit more than two weeks it is finally time again for fieldwork in Asia. We will return to Myanmar and to the beautiful crater lakes of Monywa and will explore how much sediments these lakes contain, what type … Continue reading
Two days of doing ‘nothing’ at Pak Meng beach
No lake sediment coring today, no long car travels, no rain and not too hot. Two days of doing ‘nothing’ and I am already missing my lake sediments. Maybe there are still some lakes with sediments in Thailand, which we … Continue reading
Leaking boats and 32 degrees C
Early rise this morning and ambitious plans for finishing coring at Nong Thale Pron before noon, because the weather forecast had predicted more torrential rains for around 1 pm. Early mornings are special – the light is different; the noises … Continue reading
Posted in Asian monsoon, Thailand fieldwork and travels, Thoughts and Tales, Travels
Tagged Asian monsoon, Asian monsoon project, Chulalongkorn University, Department of Geological Sciences, Geological Sciences, geology, lake sediments, natural science, Stockholm University, Sweden, Thailand
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Another day of rain and thunderstorms
Despite the weather forecast of heavy rain, thunderstorms and risk for mudflows and landslides, we decided to get back to our lake Nong Thale Pron and to make an attempt to get at least a few cores. We had found … Continue reading
Rains and thunderstorms
A wish comes true! I always wanted to experience a real monsoon rain with dark, menacing clouds, thunder and lightning, and of course heavy raindrops. Here it is now – I have got all I wanted and can follow the … Continue reading
The way of looking at things
My squared brain has real difficulties adjusting. Even after more than two weeks in Asia, I am still in the western mood of going from A to B in a straight line, although I know that one can also go … Continue reading
Being connected with the world
Wi-Fi is available at almost all the places here in Thailand where we have stayed so far, in the lobby and in the hotel rooms. This is great and it would be even better if it would be stable enough … Continue reading
Moving south
Thailand is a very large country extending over 1869 km from its northernmost point at Chiang Rai at the border to Laos (approximately 20 degrees N), to its southernmost point at Betong, which is one of the border crossings to … Continue reading
Not a drop of water
The heat becomes almost unbearable around 10 am, which means getting up really early and using the cooler morning hours for working on and around the lake. Usually a light breeze starts around 11 am and the sky becomes overcast … Continue reading
Who is who in this year’s fieldwork group?
It is probably time to present the participants of this year’s great expedition to the lakes of northern and southern Thailand: Minna Väliranta from Helsinki University, who together with her MSc students works on the plant macrofossil record of several … Continue reading
Big business meets science
Kumphawapi’s water lilies have become a big business. Huge signs are leading visitors from the highway and the main roads through villages and dirt roads towards the two sightseeing points on the eastern and western shore of the lake. Colorful … Continue reading
Nong Han (Lake) Kumphawapi – past and present
The first time I visited Kumphawapi was in November 2007, together with Nop, Sven and Nut. I came back in January 2009 and 2010, and now two years later much has changed. The water level is very low, due to … Continue reading
Tuk Tuk and surface sampling
We are back once more at our famous Lake Kumphawapi in northeast Thailand. Sampling of surface sediments at our previous coring locations, sampling of lake water, algae, and plants for biomarker analysis is what brought us back again. Possibly, and … Continue reading
Tanakha – beauty the Myanmar way
Almost everyone, old and young, men and women, boys and girls put Tanakha in their faces and on their skin. When I first saw this a few years ago, I could not understand why someone would want to walk around … Continue reading
Count-down
Just five days left until I leave Sweden for six weeks of fieldwork in Thailand. Nut and Moo are already back in Bangkok preparing the equipment, booking hotels and cars and drivers, and Kweku is getting all his fieldwork equipment … Continue reading
Barbara Wohlfarth 