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Throughout my life, both science and fiber crafts have been a major through line. My mother was not only a science teacher, but she was also a quilter who taught me science and traditional crafts. As I grew up, my passion for both increased. When I got to the 91����, I decided to continue with my love of science by studying earth and environmental sciences. During my time here, I have also discovered a passion for other fiber crafts such as knitting and cross stitching. These forms of art are not only good for your mental health, but they also have deep ties to culture in many different communities. When I learned that our Sea-to-Sky class would be going to Iceland I was very excited. Not only because of the amazing geologic landscape there, but also because of its rich history and culture surrounding fiber arts, specifically knitting. These facts made me want to combine art and science in my project. The goal going in was to combine science communication and local fiber art culture into my project.

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For the science communication aspect of my project, I chose to explore some of my passions for glacier science, I ended up focusing on subglacial dynamics and formations. We conducted a radar survey of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier and were able to make a glacier profile. This profile gave us an understanding of what was occurring under the ice surface. We can clearly see the bedrock, layers of snow above, and evidence of an interface located about 7 meters below the surface (Figure 1).

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I utilized the radar profile we created to help make my cross-stitch piece. I initially created a pattern prior to the trip so I could work on it while in Iceland. After getting a full radar profile I was able to adjust the pattern to fit the information I wanted. I tried my best to include traditional motifs in the piece while also adding aspects of how the science worked. I included a simplified version of the radar profile, a basic diagram of how radar works, a representation of the glacier, and traditional Icelandic motifs.

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While making the pattern was fun, the most impactful part of the project was the time and effort put into it. The pattern consists of almost 7,000 individual stitches and took me between 40-70 hours of work to complete over the course of 4 months. Fiber arts are slow and meticulous, each piece created is a labor of love and passion. I learned a lot during the course of making this piece. What stood out most is the connection I felt to Iceland throughout stitching. While I worked on the piece in the field, stitching on rocks and glaciers, I also worked on it in my home, around my friends and family. Every time I look at the piece I am reminded of the experiences I had and the time I took to create the piece. It is tactile and represents me wholly. It represents my passions for science and art, as well as my love for other cultures, and the connections we have with one another through traditional crafts.

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The post Fiber Art Culture appeared first on The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability.

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In Iceland, for Sea to Sky 2025, I focused on the variability of stable isotopes (²H, ¹⁸O) within surface waters. The concentrations of these stable isotopes can serve as key tracers of climatic shifts throughout the water cycle. Depending on the influencing environmental factors, such as temperature, precipitation patterns, and water sources, the rate and magnitude at which these isotopes fractionate differ. Therefore, by measuring the concentration and balance of these isotopes, we may begin to uncover new information about an area’s response to climate change. Iceland itself is an area experiencing rapid changes in terms of its climate, from the recession of its glaciers to the warming temperatures of the surrounding Atlantic Ocean. Simply put, adding to our understanding of hydrological dynamics within such a quickly changing environment through sampling waterways was my goal.

Outside of my field area, assembling maps and using spatial data is a common process in my work. When studying a location, it is often customary to begin by gathering a variety of physical information relevant to the area. Visualizing trends, mapping locations, and analyzing results through spatial means is typically a key part of a study. For my Spire artwork, I wanted to demonstrate the factors affecting my research topic, hydrological isotopes in the water cycle, through the lens of spatial data. Therefore, I arranged maps of influencing variables to show what ‘my view’ commonly looks like when studying a location. Data layers of precipitation, visible spectrum imagery, temperature, and topography are displayed, representing the collective information that helps us guide our inferences and decisions.

In terms of my research, previous isotopic sampling of surface waters by Harning et al. twenty years prior offered insight into what to expect for results. I originally hypothesized that Iceland’s glacially-fed rivers should be strongly negative in 18O and 2H values as a result of greater glacial meltwater contributions, likely being more depleted in these isotopes since the early 2000s. After analysis, this hypothesis appeared to be correct as the samples proved to be more strongly negative than the Harning et al. data. These self-collected 2025 river samples are denoted by the larger markers within the isotope data layer, with the findings from Harning et al. shown as the smaller markers. These new findings highlight the continued influence of increasing glacial meltwater on Iceland’s hydrology and demonstrate the value of stable isotope analysis in tracking ongoing environmental change. In the future, with further temporal and spatial sampling of waterways within Iceland and beyond, we can hope to increase our understanding of the current state of our changing climate.

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References:

Fick, S. E., & Hijmans, R. J. (2017). WorldClim 2: New 1‐km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology, 37(12), 4302–4315.

Harning, D. J., Raberg, J. H., McFarlin, J. M., Axford, Y., Florian, C. R., Ólafsdóttir, K. B., Kopf, S., Sepúlveda, J., Miller, G. H., & Geirsdóttir, Á. (2024). Spatiotemporal variation of modern lake, stream, and soil water isotopes in Iceland. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28(18), 4275–4293.

Natural Science Institute of Iceland. (2019). Glacial Contours of Iceland, 2019 [GIS dataset]. Lýsigagnagátt – Geospatial Metadata Portal.

Natural Science Institute of Iceland. (2019). LMI Height Model 2016, 2016 [GIS dataset]. Lýsigagnagátt – Geospatial Metadata Portal.

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Seeing a volcano for the first time, I felt great appreciation for their existence and the raw and powerful force that they are. A force that is beautiful and destructive at the same time. One that is capable of giving and taking life. They are a reminder of our place in a larger, more complex system. Sourcing magma from deep within—the heart and blood of the earth—and letting it flow out, creating something new. We have no power over this process. Earth has been creating since long before we were here, and it will continue to create long after we are gone. Things like this remind me of how lucky I am to be a part of this dynamic system that has existed for so long, and to be able to witness what can come from it. I feel that there is no better way to show my appreciation for the volcanoes I studied during the Sea to Sky Experience than to make art of them. I chose five volcanoes to represent the variety that exists in Iceland. The island’s location on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and a hotspot result in around 130 volcanoes in an area just slightly larger than the state of Maine. My goal is to use my art to provide insight into the relationship between humans and volcanoes in Iceland. I chose to create a series of linocut relief prints because this art form provides a unique, bold look that captures the powerful essence of the landscape, and it is an art form that I enjoy. Volcanoes ignite a depth of feeling within me, reminding me that I am lucky to be alive. I in turn want to use that life to create, just as the earth does, in a way that I find to be meaningful.

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Fagradalsfjall is a volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik. This system consists of a series of fractures, called fissures, that lava erupts from. Activity in this area started increasing in 2019 with swarms of earthquakes that caused damage to homes and disrupted the lives of people living in the nearby town of Grindavik. A series of eruptions began in 2021 and have continued ever since, spewing lava over homes and encroaching on the parking lot of the Blue Lagoon. As the system remains active, scientists continue to monitor and study it to mitigate risks.

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Hekla, nicknamed the Gateway to Hell, is a stratovolcano located in the southern section of the Eastern Volcanic Zone. Stratovolcanoes typically have steep slopes and are made up of alternating layers of magma and tephra. Hekla is considered to be one of the most active volcanoes in Iceland and its eruptions have a history of being destructive and explosive, causing lasting damage to settlements and giving it its nickname.

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Eldfell, meaning Hill of Fire, is an embryonic volcanic cone located on Heimaey, the main island of the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. On January 23rd in 1973, the volcano erupted without warning, forcing everyone to temporarily evacuate. Homes were destroyed and much of the island was covered in thick layers of ash. However, after the eruption, the majority of the island’s population returned and found uses for the deposited ash and abundant geothermal heat.

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Eyjafjallajokull is a subglacial volcano in the Eastern Volcanic Zone, close to the southern shores. Subglacial volcanoes can be explosive due to the interactions between hot lava and the cold ice above it. The high temperature interactions from these eruptions create meltwater floods called jokulhlaups. These floods can inundate large areas of land, destroying infrastructure and farms along the way. Eyjafjallajokull’s most recent eruption, in 2010, produced a jokulhlaup that required around 800 people to evacuate. The eruption also disrupted air travel across northern and western Europe due to its vast atmospheric clouds of volcanic ash.

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Krafla is a volcanic system located in the Northern Volcanic Zone. The central volcano of this system has a caldera, which forms when a magma chamber empties and the center of the volcano falls in on itself due to a lack of support. Between 1724 and 1729, lava flows from Krafla destroyed three farms. Since 1977, the area has been used as a source for geothermal energy.

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