Blogging room

The computer facilities at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC) were great.  We actually had several computer stations and even had wireless!  Of course there were always a few  mosquitos that had managed to find their way in from the outside!

Hanging out!

The CNSC is a converted military base used for shooting off hundreds of rockets in the 1950s and ’60s for researching weather and climate in the upper atmosphere layers.  At one point even NASA used the complex for its experiments.

Latitude 58 degrees N

Bowling Canadian style

If you look closely, you’ll notice that the Canadian bowling balls are much smaller and lighter than its US cousin.  Also their are only five pins (also smaller) to knock down.  The pins have different point values, with the head pin being five points.  I think the maximum score possible is 450 points (don’t quote me).  It’s was a lot of fun but  took a while to get the hang of it!

Polar bear sighting

Finally, a polar bear (ha ha).  We visited the Parc Canada museum which had nice exhibits of the local wildlife!  Unfortunately, this is the closest I got to seeing a real bear!  Churchill claims to be the polar bear capital of the world.   It turns out that the polar bear population around Churchill is dwindling due to the effects of global warming.  It’s very possible that in 30-50 years the polar bear population here will be NONEXISTENT!

Last group picture

Lakes and trees

What amazed me the most about this expedtion is the incredible amount of water, plants, and animals.  And let’s not forget the mosquitos!  I have been blessed to have this “once in a lifetime” opportunity to experience the arctic and participate in meaningful research.  I have an entire new “volume” of incredible memories, and I have my many new teacher and arctic friends to thank for being great companions.  Thanks guys!

Standing room only!

Mosquitos are as everpresent in the air as the oxygen molecules…not sure which there is more of!  However, with my bug jacket and bug hat, they are not too bad…just a nuisance.

Biiig flies!

There are some pretty big flies up here.  Up here they call them bulldogs.  They are horseflies of the extra large variety.  I captured one and measure it with my calipers…about 1 cm long and almost a half cm wide…yikes!

Arctic lichen and forest

Today was an example of how the weather can change very rapidly.  This morning the sun was brightly shining and it looked like it was going to be another beautiful day.  By noon the sun had totally disappeared and the wind had picked up a bit.  By mid-afternoon it was sooo cold and windly even the mosquitos had ducked for cover!  The low tonight is expected to be almost freezing…so much for stable arctic weather!

Lichen covers most of the ground here except for the gravel and boulders.  In some places it is almost a foot thick, and it feels like walking on a trampoline.  Today we had to walk on thick lichen for about 1/2 mile each way, which was tricky indeed! 

We found 13 seedlings!

At each site each group of three of us pick a random quadrant of 1 meter by 2 meters, and search for spruce seedlings.  searching for these seedlings can be quite tedious since they are usually only less than one inch tall and grow in the fluffy lichen.  for each seedling we find we record about a dozen data entries.  In the plot above, we found 13 seedlings…13 x 12 = … a lot of data entries! 

Searching

Getting ready for rafting

Team in-vest-ment

Beluga trio

Mamma and baby

belugas

Arctic school bus

Yesterday (Friday) morning we all hopped onto a school bus for a bird/bear watching tour.  Well, it was primarily to watch birds, but hopefully to see a polar bear (no such luck today).  We saw all types of birds both on land running around and nesting, as well as in the air, of course.  The arctic terns were the coolest by far.  They can actually hover about 20-30 feet above the water looking for small fish.  When they find a catch, they zoom down completely into the water.  They stay down for a few seconds and, if their aim is good, fly back into the air with their prize!

For uncooperative passengers

Sheldon, our tour guide, was very informative and appeared to be very handy with a rifle.  He keeps his rifle right above him for all of us to see, just in case some of us get a little unruly (just kidding)!

Pippit eggs

Clear waters and calm air

Close to the edge

Down under

A piece of floe!

Our team went to the shore and hopped around (and under) several interesting looking ice floes.  many of these had floated to shore with the high tide and will eventually float back out during low tide.  Others will get stranded on the gravel and sand and most will eventually melt over the next month or so.  BTW, what’s the difference between an ince floe, iceberg, and ice blog?

Random ice floe

Look at me!

Give me a hand

Landing on an ice floe!

 We took zodiac rafts out onto the open sea in the Hudson Bay and visited several very large floes.  Our skipper found one that was thick enough to support our combined weights, so we got a chance to get out and take a walk around on top of the ice floe, which you’ll remember, was floating freely about a mile off shore!  This particular sheet of ice was sticking about a foot above the water, and therefore was about eight feet under water, due to the differences in density of fresh vs. salt water.

Ice floe landing

Going with the floe!

Pete Kershaw

Pete is our ChurchillArctic expert.  He has led over 30 volunteer teams over the many years he has been studying the northern Canada region.  He give us our daily marching orders, where, when, and how to do our research, points out local wildlife, and tells us interesting stories.  He knows more stuff about plants, geology, and climate than I have ever heard of!  Plus he is a nice guy.

Pete Kershaw, our principal investigator

My dorm room

Three guys fit very nicely in here.  You might be able to see that the window has bars across it – guess why!

Breakfast

The meals are great!  Even though we eat three times a day, we always seem to be hungry at mealtime!

Our briefing room

We meet in this room several times a day for our morning activities briefing, class lectures, and just plain ole hanging out.

Can't miss our meals!