As Arctic Warms, Scientists Watch Changes in Environment | Arctic Now
![The Toolik Lake field site.](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_1000x325/public/2022-11/MBL_toolik.field_.site-feature.jpg?itok=5g6p8vJ3)
The Toolik Lake field site.
By Kelsey Lindsey
TOOLIK LAKE, Alaska — As Alaska's climate changes, almost every veteran researcher at Toolik Field Station, the Arctic research center just north of the Brooks Range, has a story about lightning.
Linda Deegan, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, was enjoying a beer by Toolik Lake when she saw her first strike. She remembers uttering an expletive when she saw it.
![MBL Senior Scientist Ed Rastetter, lead principal investigator for the NSF's Arctic Long Term Ecological Research project, at Toolik Field Station in August. Credit: Kelsey Lindsey](/sites/default/files/styles/full_content/public/2022-11/3790-Toolik-Lake-Field-Station-01.jpg?itok=73iSY8Ur)
Deemed impossible in northern Alaska only 30 years ago, thunderstorms eventually appeared, likely due to rising temperatures. Then came fire. In 2007, a lightning strike sparked Alaska's largest recorded tundra fire, which torched 400 square miles just 20 miles from Toolik. Read more of the article here.