Blizzard!

Today I will start my long journey back home. It has been an amazing trip. I've learned so much, met great people, and had wonderful, new experiences. I finally got to have a conference with my students Monday morning. It was great to hear their voices and show them around the CNSC! Our team was very glad that all of our outside field work was complete on Sunday because before dawn Monday, a blizzard blew in...50mph winds and wind chills more than -50! We did go outside to take our group photo. Most of us were completely covered up, so you can't see everyone's face. But, we all recognize each other by our outdoor gear after 7 days in the field together. One more fun picture before I finish my blog...I tried to show the students this morning on our tour, but they couldn't really see it clearly. There is a hallway that joins the classroom/lab/dining area to the dormitory. This hallway is not heated, and when we first arrived we'd run down it because it was so cold! It is suitably named the Arctic Hallway. These signs are posted at each end of it.

Student Challenge:

I am very excited to be back with you all soon. I've enjoyed reading all your comments and questions that you've posted to the blog. I've been pleased with your responses and look forward to seeing the work you've done in your journals. I want you to begin thinking about climate change and saving energy at home. Think about how the plants and animals in the arctic would be affected by higher temperatures or longer growing seasons. For example, how would polar bears be affected if the sea ice melts too early in the spring? Write your thoughts and questions in your journal so we can talk about them when I get back.

See you soon! :)

Happy Birthday, Mom and CH!

Igloo

On Friday, we had the chance to hear a lecture about snow shelters from the CNSC Director, Mike. Afterward, we all went out to build an igloo. It was one of the coldest days we've experienced since we've been here...-40 wind chill. But, no one was deterred from this once in a lifetime opportunity! Mike found the right kind of snow in a large snow drift and demonstrated how to cut out a brick of snow. We all took turns using a saw to cut bricks from the snow. Once we collected 50 of them, we could start building the igloo. The igloo is big enough for 3-4 people to sleep in, so we've had to take turns. I joined 3 others on Saturday night for our turn to sleep in the igloo. I discovered that I am a bit claustrophobic because I didn't like sleeping beside the igloo wall. I especially did not like the tight, heavy sleeping bag around my legs. It felt like I was tied up. I had trouble falling asleep, I'd already lost an hour of sleep from Daylight Savings Time, and I knew I would have to dig 2 snow pits in the morning, so I opted to go inside to my warm bed around 2 am. I slept through breakfast, but I was glad I was rested for our last day of field work.

Day Off & Dog Sledding

Saturday was a day off for our Earthwatch team. We went into Churchill, ate lunch at a local diner called Gipsy's, and visited the Eskimo Museum. We had the opportunity to go dog sledding at Wapusk Adventures. The owner, Dave Daley, is one of the founders of the Hudson Bay Quest, a dog sledding race that will take place March 21. It was a lot of fun! The dogs were so excited and eager to pull us down the trail. I got to stand in the driver position for half of the ride, then sat in the front seat for the rest.

Polar Bears

Churchill is known as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World". Though the timing is not right for a sighting during my stay here at the Northern Studies Center, I have met some interesting researchers who see polar bears everyday. This is the time of year when moms emerge from their dens with new cubs. These guys fly out in a helicopter each day (weather permitting) to seek out mother bears with their cubs.
They spot them from the air and move in close enough to dart the mother bear. They use a special drug to paralyze the bear just long enough to gather the information they need. Each bear is given a tatoo inside its lip with a number so that they can document which bears have been counted and examined. The cubs get an ear tag with a corresponding number. Some bears are fitted with a GPS collar for tracking purposes. Depending on what type of information the researchers need, they can take a blood or hair sample from the bears. They can even determine how old a polar bear is by pulling and examining one of its teeth.

Every attempt I've made to beg or sneak onto that helicopter has failed. However, I have learned a lot from these guys, and they generously shared this amazing picture they took out in the field yesterday! Don't you want their job? I sure do!Student Challenge:

The man in the picture above is Seth, a PhD student from the University of Alberta. He studies polar bears and tracks certain ones that he has placed GPS collars on. The GPS collars send the bears' locations to a satellite every 4 hours. The signal and information is then received by the satellite company and sent to Seth by email. Three specific bears that he tracks from the Churchill area can be seen on this Polar Bear Tracking Map. Look at the biographies and tracks of Aurora, Solstice, and Hope. Click Here to learn more about polar bears and what you can do to help preserve their arctic climate.

Post a comment to explain how saving energy in your home and community can help to save wildlife.

Catching Up

Have you ever walked on frozen ocean? It was a truly amazing and awe inspiring experience!!It has been a busy few days, so I have some catching up to do on this blog! Since I last posted, I have helped dig 6 snow pits, build an igloo(and had the chance to sleep in it), gone dogsledding, visited the Eskimo Museum, walked on the frozen Hudson Bay(which was awesome as I mentioned!), and counted hundreds of needles from spruce tree branchlets. We have one more day of lab work Monday(glad we are indoors since there is a blizzard coming), then we leave on Tuesday. It has been a wonderful experience!! I've learned a lot about climate change and met some great people here in Churchill. So...read on about the science, the people, and the fun!

Field Work - Arctic Style

Though we have not had the cold temperatures that the last team had (-56degrees), today felt more like the true arctic experience! We went out to dig snow pits from 8:30 - 12:00. The actual temperature was 6 degrees F at first and dropped to 2 degrees F. With 25 mph winds, the wind chill was -15 degrees F falling to -20. That is the coldest it has been for us in the field so far...which is fine with me! You'd think we'd be sipping hot cocoa or something, but I drank a full liter of ice cold water while I was out today. I didn't want a repeat of Tuesday's dehydration!
Each day when we go out to a site, we are divided into 3 groups that dig two pits each in three areas: tundra, forest-tundra, and forest. The tundra area is the open space. It's exposure to the winds keeps the snow from piling up. Tundra snow pits are usually very shallow at around 20 cm or less.

Forest-tundra is the transition area between the forest and tundra. (I'm sure you guessed as much.) That area can have some drifts that get deep, but it can vary widely. Pits in that area have been 2-4 feet on average.

Forest snow pits can get very deep. The snow that blows across the tundra gets trapped by the trees and huge drifts form. It is very pretty to see the rise and fall of the snow drifts among the trees. Today's snow pits in the forest were some of our deepest. I was on the tundra team, but when we finished both of our pits we went to help the forest group finish their work. We measure temperature in the snow every 5 cm. Figure up how many temperatures were taken in this pit that measured 190 cm.

Student Challenge:

Think about the areas around Aberdeen (or Prairie). Can you identify three areas with different types of vegetation? Post a comment to describe the locations and their vegetation.

Definitions

Let's start with those new words I put in the last blog. (Great job by all of you who posted definitions!)

Qamatuk is a box/sled pulled behind a snowmobile. This is how we get out to our test sites where we dig snow pits. I've ridden out in them twice so far. I enjoy the view as we ride. It can be pretty bumpy, but the only bad part is smelling the gas from the snowmobile.



Zastrugi is snow that has been sculpted by wind. We see it everywhere up here, and it's really quite pretty. Many of them look like frozen waves. We were told that these snow sculptures are actually useful for navigation because they face into the wind, which is predominantly from the Northwest.

Pukak is the fine, powdery snow at the bottom of the snowpack, where small animals can burrow and live in the winter. We see it when we dig snow pits, but I don't have a picture of it. Here are some pictures of the two snow pits we did yesterday (before I got sick).