Wolves, bears, and oversized hares

It's not hard to see all the life that surrounds Alert now with 24 hours of sunlight.

About a month ago, I took some people up to see the GAW Lab on a Sunday afternoon, when we got the call to remain where we were because their was a polar bear sighting at one of the buildings by the runway.  That was the first polar bear sighting at Alert in the past two years, so it was pretty exciting.  We only had to stay a couple of minutes as the polar bear went far out onto the ice of the Arctic Ocean.  The next day, at 8 am there was another polar bear at the runway (well the same bear I was told ) and we were all to remain inside the main building.  So unfortunately, I didn't get to see the bear but I did get some pictures from someone who was at the runway once the bear strode off onto the ice.  Apparently it had a neck of around 5 feet and shoulders 6 feet wide, so I wasn't that dissapointed that I didn't get too close..

Interestingly enough,  the day that the bear appeared the wolves were in their pack on a hill by the ocean howling to one another and were later seen with blood on their fur.  No one has seen the whole pack since, only 4 or less at a time.  I don't want to spread any rumours, but you know, it was a very curious situation.  I didn't hear the howling but did see one with blood on it's neck the next day.  

These two were in the cardboard dump's 'sea container' where the trashman does his cardboard burns.  Because of all the grease and perhaps leftover food on the cardboard, this is a very popular spot with the wolves.

 

I guess wolves get stiff and tired too.


This was the most wolves I have seen at one time, there was four of them at the cardboard dump.

This little guy, or apparently a girl, was following an inch behind me on my walk to the gym before I noticed about half way.  She often hangs around the buildings at the base, whereas the other wolves usually stay off towards the cardboard dump and quarry.  It is believed that she has been kicked out of the pack for reasons unknown. . She was actually waiting at our doorstep for us when we returned from the GAW lab today at Polaris Hall (where our office is, picture to the left). 

 On easter weekend, I went on a drive with the traffic tech, Marie-Eve, to suicide peak, which as you can probably assume by the name, is the spot that someone jumped off in the 70s.  Just to make the place more eerie, a wolf howled in the distance.  At first I wasn't sure what it was, but then many wolves started howling at the same time.  It was my first time hearing this, and I was so happy to witness it but was also getting a little spooked that the whole pack might be too close for comfort to me and Marie-Eve.  This lasted for around ten minutes until we got back into the truck. 

And of course, the animal I see on almost a daily basis is the Arctic Hare.  I find them completely adorable and wish I could take one home, but I have a feeling they aren't very easy to pick up.  The fact that they are the only kind of hare that will eat meat also discouraged the idea.
Below is a picture of Matt trying to get as close as he could to the hare.  Unlike the wolves and polar bears, the hares keep their coat snow-white year round.

 

Being the assistant operator

Yes, there is some work required being the assistant operator.  Though now with the sun up it doesn't quite feel like work with all the beauty of the barrens around me.  I'll give you a general overview of a typical week in Alert (for me at least) :

We (the operator and I ) go up to the lab usually three times a week: Monday, Wednsday, and Friday.  In the track truck it's about a 20 - 30  minute drive depending how bad the snow drifts are on the road (which is not plowed, hence the need for tracks and 4 wheel drive).  Once we get to the "TX site" we plug the truck in to keep the motor warm, and walk the next kilometre to the lab.  This sometimes includes pulling sleds full of sample cases to and from the lab, which I think is the only reason I have not become 200 pounds with the all-you-can-eat meals everyday.



Mondays: I usually think of Monday as 'filter day' because all the filters I put on the week before need to be changed.  This includes the Hi-Vol filter, POPs/Toxics filter, PS-1 filters, ozone etc.. most of which are outdoors.  I'd be kidding myself if I told you I knew everything these filters are being tested for.  But in general, they are looking for stuff such as toxic metals, soot, POPs, and many other chemicals that have made their way up to the arctic. 

To the right is the Hi-Vol filter apparatus, which is located about 500 metres west of the lab.  The walk was a bit spooky when it was complete darkness, especially since when I would turn the pump back on the porch light would turn off and it was just me and my headlamp.  At the bottom right of the picture is the air intake, and the box on the left is where I change the filter.   The picture below is the POPs/Toxics apparatus, which is at the top of the lab's tower, and requires many trips up and down the couple flights of stairs.  Field blanks are taken about once a month for most of the filter systems to be able to measure the contamination from shipping and handling.

Me getting ready for the hike to change the Hi-Vol filter in the dark months

Tuesdays & Thursdays: We usually don't go to the lab on these days, but work in the office that is on the station.  I am in charge of the well being of Captain Nom Nom and SharkBait, the GAW lab's goldfish that have been living in Alert for about ten years. . While I'm not tending to their needs (which takes a whole 10 seconds a day, except for when the tank is crying to be cleaned), I am handling the shipping of all the sample boxes from the week before, which requires making shipping carfs, packing them into tri walls, (similar to putting a giant puzzle together) and strapping them together.   Other duties on these days include backing up and converting files from the lab's computer on the office computer, doing weekly checks on the trucks, getting the tracks greased, and any other miscellanious jobs that come up. 

Wednesday: 'Flask day' This is the day that both the operator and I take our weekly air flasking samples that come from all over the globe.  We are filling flasks for places like Japan, Australia, California, Germany, and France that are being tested for greenhouse gases and other pollutants.  To be able to take the flasks the wind has to be strong enough and cannot be coming from the north or else they will be effected by the emmissions from the base.
Left: Japanese flask.  Right: Scripps flask, from California.  Bottom: Flasks being taken for NOAA ( National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US)

Friday: Off to the lab again.  I don't have a special name for this day since I just do my daily lab tasks and then we are off again.   These tasks include checking the ozone level, a PSAP filter change which collects the particulate matter in the atmosphere (like black carbon) , tank pressure checks, taking inventories, shoveling, tidying etc.  Whenever their is enough fresh snow I go outside with Matt (the operator) to take snow samples which are being tested for mercury. (It's not actually warm enough out to wear just a sweater, but the shoulder gloves needed to take the samples don't fit over a parka unfortunately)

The view from the truck on the drive back from the lab: (the multi coloured buildings in the distance is the station with the frozen Arctic Ocean behind it)
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Sunrise Carnival

 

The first "official" sunrise was supposed to be on Tuesday, February 28th.  On this day half the disk of the sun was going to be above the horizon, but there are very large hills to the south of the base which delayed the date that anyone could actually see any of the sun.  Everyday that week I waited outside around the time that the sun was supposed to rise but it was either blocked by the hills or overcast skies.  Finally, on Saturday March 3rd, the day of the Sunrise Carnival, I joined a trip up Mt. Pulan (not actually a mountain, but a very very, very, big hill) in hopes of seeing the sun.  It was about an hour ride in a military PV, with ten of us in the back in our parkas and sitting on pillows since it was an extremely bumpy ride (almost like being on a slow wooden roller coaster).   

We couldn't see anything out of the back, so I wasn't sure if we'd even be able to see the sun, but as soon as I stepped out of the PV at around 10 am I stared right into the full disk of the sun (I'll admit, I forgot just how bright the sun was and had to close my eyes instantly).  Instantly I felt my mood lift and could not stop staring at the sun and my surroundings.  It was absolutely breathtaking.. which may have been partly due to the fact that it was - 48 outside.

Below is a picture from Mt. Pulan, and the hill across from it is Crystal Mountain, (on these range of hills you can actually find crystals, but unfortunately that has to wait for the ground to thaw in the summer) and beyond it is the Arctic Ocean.  The box-like black speck is the PV that we drove up in.

    



In the afternoon of the Sunrise Carnival there was a number of games like smoosh races, sumo wrestling, and blind volleyball (unfortunately I pulled a muscle in hockey a couple days earlier and couldn't really participate). 

Dinner was a giant PIG ROAST in the maintenance building.  I think 2-3 pigs were roasted outside on giant barbeques, and their was plenty of amazing food, desserts, and of course, beer.  It was awesome.



Since it is the sunrise of the year 2012, and could potentially be the last sunrise ever (if you believe in that sort of thing), it was only suitable to have an 'end of the world' theme to the carnival.   Some people gathered in groups and put on skits and made sculptures that represented the Mayan End of the World.  They were pretty entertaining to say the least.
     The one below was a Mayan temple with a beaver on top that was supposed to be in a ring of fire.  Unfortunately, since it was -54 with the wind chill, all the propane in the ring had froze and wouldn't light. 


The final event of the day was the sunrise bonfire.  It was absolutely the biggest bonfire I had ever seen, and the smoke plumes were almost as fascinating as the fire (don't worry, the GAW lab is about 7 km away from the base and located so that the wind is usually in the direction from the lab to the base so events like these won't affect our air samples).  As I mentioned, it was - 54 by this point, but if you were standing within 5 metres of the fire it was pretty toasty.

Now the sun is up before 9 and sets around 5, but it is getting longer every day.  We do not have any complete darkness anymore, a bit of twilight is always present at night.  In april there will be 24 hours of sunlight! 

Drilling through the Arctic Ocean

      On Saturday afternoon I drove the weather technician, Edward, out to do his ice and snow surveys since his coworker had just gotten frostbite and was unable to go outside for a week.  It was a beauitful clear day without the slightest breeze, so -31 was feeling quite pleasant.  We jumped in the Environment Canada super duty truck and drove off road down a rocky slope to Parr Inlet.  We had to walk a far ways down to the actual ice since the slope started to get pretty uneven and I was nervous about getting us stuck.   There was about seven inches of snow on top of the ice that Edward first had to shovel off before he got his drilling equipment set up.  Around 20 to 30 minutes later, Edward had manually drilled through nearly 6 feet of ice!  (I can't recall the exact measurement ) The ice will keep getting thicker until sometime in March, and then the temperatures will start to rise a bit during April. 

 

Below is one of the two trucks the main operator and I take to the GAW lab and other various places.  We mainly use this one, "Brown Betty" since the four wheel drive is more reliable then the newer truck, "Big Red".

    
    Once the drilling and measuring was done (and of course, some photos were taken) we hiked back up to the slope, which felt a bit longer going up then it did coming down.  I then followed Edward in the truck as he took snow depth measurements at ten different sites along the way back.  (I swear in my actual job I do more work then just watching others work.) .  As you can see from the photos it is getting pretty light up here in Alert! These were taken around 11 30, which Edward told me was "solar noon hour", when the sun is directly south of us or at its highest elevation and the sky is at it's brightest.  The first sunrise is this coming week!
    
I took a quick video of the ice survey and am trying to upload it but I highly doubt it will work on this limited interet connection.  After loading for an hour and a half I still see no hope of it finishing.

Here comes the sun!

We are no longer living in 24 hours of complete darkness here in Alert!  When I first arrived, the only light in the sky was from the stars and moon if it was a clear day.  If it was clouded over, you couldn't see a thing without artificial light.  I've never tripped while walking so much in my life. Two weeks or so ago, there was just a hint of twilight behind the mountains to the south, which  made that part of the sky a dark blue while the rest remained quite black. Since then the twilight has been getting slightly brighter and longer everyday.  It currently comes in the morning and lasts till mid afternoon. 

The photo above is of the GAW lab and was taken within the first week that I came to Alert.  As you can see, you could not make out any of your surroundings.  The photo is facing south towards some hills that the sun will eventually rise from.  Getting out to the GAW lab three times a week for work is amazing for watching the progress of the sun getting closer to the horizon.  Since the lab is six kilometres south-west of the base, the view of the sky is much less affected from the base's lights.   Below is a picture taken a couple weeks ago at the lab when the first signs of light from the south started to appear.  The sky was spectacular on a clear day! With the twilight to the south and stars shining bright 24 hours a day I could start to see the outline of the hills and the far off mountains surrounding the lab.  I saw a shooting star around 11 am while doing an outdoor filter change the other day.  That was a first.

Now the twilight is making the sky a beautiful light blue to the south, while the rest of the sky remains a very dark blue that still shows the stars.  I took the picture below two days ago while the clouds were clear enough to show how light the twilight has got.  The full moon was also that day, and was on the complete opposite side of the sky, towards the north, where the sky was dark.  It was like having night on one side of the sky and day on the other.  Pictures could not do it justice.

I've been told we are currently in the period of "nautical twilgiht", which is when the centre of the sun is between 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon.  In several days we will be entering "civil twilight" , where the sun is between 0 and 6 degrees below the horizon.  Unfortunately this week has been pretty cloudy which usually blocks the twilight, so the next clear day I'm sure it will be even brighter than the picture below!

The end of the dark period is near! The sun is rising on February 28th  and I am absolutely stoked for Alert's annual sunrise festival with a giant bonfire!  I will be sure to get some great photos from that :)  

Weekends in Alert

 

     One of the main questions people asked me before I came to Alert was what am I going to do with my free time at the top of nowhere with a population of around 70?  As much as I tried to convince them I'd stay busy, I didn't really know myself.  Now I've been here about a month and haven't been bored once.  When I talked to people who had been to Alert before they said your experience up here is completely based on your attitude (like most of life).  There is so much to get involved in, but if you choose to hide in your room and watch movies every night the time will go very slow.
     Every night of the week there is something going on, whether it's a euchre tournament, ball hockey, or TGIF on fridays.  By the time I'm out of here I'd be surprised if I wasn't a card and pool shark.  Tuesday nights I join in the crib tournament, a game I'd never played before coming to Alert.  Wednsdays is MESS night, where everyone gets together at the bar and there are raffles with prizes like the signature "Frozen Chosen" pjs, sweaters, glasses etc.   Thursday you can either join the pool tournament or play ball hockey which I've just started getting into and am loving it (hopefully when I go home I can actually give my 11 year old brother a challenging game). 
    TIME FOR THE WEEKEND.  Friday night TGIF: the station gets together in the Arctic Club to welcome the newcomers and give farwells to those leaving the next week.  Lots of music, pool, cards, and the odd time there's been dancing.  Sometimes, like on New Years, there is kareoke which was a great time.  The kitchen staff brings out homemade chips which are dangerously delicious. On saturdays there is sometimes day trips like ice fishing which I went on earlier in the month.  The lake had around 5 ft of ice!  We drove a military PV (a very, very large vehicle) on the ice to the hut where the only kind of fish to catch was Arctic Char.  I caught one and a half.. (one of the fish ate both mine and the girl's hooks sitting across from me, which I reeled in through my hole.. it wasn't actually half a fish). In March the ice can get around 7 feet deep!

                         

     Below is a picture of me standing on the Arctic Ocean next to a giant piece of sea ice which, for as far as I could see, the ocean was covered with.  We climed to the top of one (the second picture, which you can only make out the reflectors on my parka) and looked north towards the north pole where the full moon illuminated the sea for several kilometres out.  It was one of the most spectacular and unbelievable sights I've ever seen.  These giants are formed from the sea ice being pushed together from the currents.  Once there is daylight I will return to the same spot to get a better picture, and there will be alot more excursions on the weekends like hiking Crystal Mountain (not actually a mountain, but you can find crystal on it).

  

An encounter with a wolf..

     Last Thursday I was working in the GAW office, located within the main base, when Bruce, the trashman, came and told me there was two wolves by the cardboard dump and if we were quick I could have my first chance at facing an arctic wolf.  For the past two weeks I have been telling everyone how badly I want to see one, so I didn't hesitate to grabb my camera and jump in the truck (after asking my boss who was all for it ).  When we got to the cardboard dump Bruce took a bag of garbage and started shaking it to get the wolves to come out.  Of course I was yelling at him that he was going to make them mad, but they are pretty used to people here and I soon figured he must know what he's doing since with his job he sees them on a weekly basis. 

     One wolf reappeared and stood about five metres away as I took pictures and Bruce continued shaking the garbage bag.  At times it seemed that it was going to approach us but was being very hesitant, which was fine by me.  The wolf had beautiful white fur and actually looked quite cuddly; I had to remind myself it wasn't just like a dog and to refrain from petting it.   Supposedly there is a pack of about twelve wolves that often appear together around the base, so I am hoping to encounter all of them at once someday.

    

     Other wildlife that I have encountered here in Alert is a lemming and arctic hare.  The lemming was about the size of a hampster and was running along the tracks to the GAW Lab.  I was driving the truck and at first thought it was just a rolling piece of snow until Matt, the lab operator, yelled at me to stop the truck.  We then tried to chase after it but it was surprisingly quick!  Unfotunately I didn't have my camera on hand.

     I have seen over ten arctic hare since I have been here.  Often they have been in bunches of about three to seven or running solo.  They are pure white and very big, not like the typical rabbit you see running across your lawn in southern Ontario.  When they stand up they are three to four feet tall! I swear I have even see one run while standing up, but the darkness does play tricks on my eyes here  (I thought I saw a polar bear the other day on the walk to the lab but turns out it was just a snow covered barrel).  Since the arctic ocean is frozen over this time of year there is no polar bears this far north untill it warms up a bit.  These arctic hare are even known to eat meat if they have the opportunity, which doesn't surprise me since they are larger than the arctic fox.  Below is a picture I tried to take of a hare which was hanging out at the building where we park our truck before the walk to the GAW lab.  I'm hoping to get a better picture soon and with more hare in it once the sun comes up.



        

First taste of arctic winds

With 50 km/hr winds blowing snow against us for the 700 metre walk to the lab, today was the first day I felt a deep appreciation for my gigantic parka with a fur rimmed hood that sticks out half a foot from my face.  For the two weeks that I have been here, it has been around - 30 or lower with very little wind.  So as long as you were layered up it was fine being outdoors, but today definately required the balaclava and hood zipped up all the way.  With those winds work today at the GAW lab was more challenging, but it was actually pretty fun facing them to get the wednesday air samples (which require walking into the wind about 50-100 paces from the lab). However, the wind at our backs did speed things up a bit while pulling our sleds full of air sample cases on the walk back from the lab to our truck. 
On the drive back from the lab I stopped to try and take a picture of the snow blowing along the 'road' back to the base:

Getting there..

      At 4 am, December 28th I checked into the Trenton military base for my 6 am flight aboard a C-130 Hercules. There was only five of us passangers sitting with the cargo on the plane, wearing ear defenders to muffle all the noise from the plane ( I wore ear plugs under my ear defenders! ).  It was an awesome flying experience, and was also the last time I'd see day light for a couple months!  I'm not sure where we were flying over when this photo was taken, but it was an amazing view with humongous valleys and cliffs all covered with massive amounts of snow.

 It was around a 7 hour flight to Thule, Greenland, where we stayed overnight before continuing on to Alert.  Thule is the United State's most northern air base and is on the northwest coast on Greenland.  We ate dinner at the TOW (Top of the World) Club while I asked a million question to the people I was travelling with who were returning to Alert, anxious to know about the place I'd be living for the next four months.  At 5 30 am the hotel's fire alarm went off, and after gettling dressed in your arctic gear and waiting in -30 to -40 weather there was no chance of getting back to sleep before the flight.  (Below: getting off the herc in Thule)