Flecks of color under a cold summer wind

Sofia Jain



Pedicularis hirsuta (Hairy loosewart),
 Diapensia lapponica (Diapensia), Vaccinium uliglinosum (Bilberry)

Despite the persistent cold, the hillside is alive with colour. We are up to 21 species of interest in flower. It's almost funny, how excited I get when we find a new flower. When Orla calls out an "Oh look at this" at a patch of colour that caught her eye, I run over to lie in the warm moss, squirming a little with excitement, to inspect what miraculous little bundle of beauty has sprouted into being. Don't be fooled by their cuteness, they are hardy little things. The loosewarts are even partially parasitic of the surrounding plants.
We are finding that a lot of the plants we thought were one thing really turn out to be something else. It's so much easier to identify and notice them once they have reproduction on their mind.



Eutrema edwardsii (Edward's eutrema)

I've received word from Zoe. She seems to be making good progress in Lake Hazen. She has found many more species of plants we are interested in. She's also seen muskox, lemmings, arctic foxes, and arctic hares, and wolf walked right through her camp! She says she has done some amazing hikes around the mountains and glaciers. Too bad photos can't be sent through these InReach devices.



Oxytropis arctopia (in the pea family)



Pedicularis flammea (Red-tipped loosewart)





Papaver (Poppy)



Dryas integrifolia (Mountain avens)



Town of Dust and Erosion

Sofia Jain

Soap stone carver

After a summer blizzard

The look of Iqaluit really surprised me. I would never guess that it’s in Canada. The amount of garbage, and the kids always playing in the street digging with spatulas and playing with pieces of plastic gives it a 3^rdworld feel. I wouldn’t call Iqaluit a nice looking town, nor can I say it smells very good. The smell on the wind is that of car exhaust, from the crazy amount of people who drive in a town that can be walked across in half an hour, and when the wind blows right it smells of sewage off the sewage lagoon that lies just outside of town. But beneath the dust and the boundless garbage is a charm that is both stunning and difficult to pinpoint. There is something beautiful about being allowed to see the weathering of time, in the tendency for the town to be unkept and bare of facades of glamour and fresh paint. Just as the roads and the houses, there are faces eroded by years of exposure to the harsh wind and sun.





Yellow airport, a pile of recyclables never recyled
in garbage bags and a large pothole (large even for Iqaluit)
 



One of the 2 stores in town

When you pass people on the street, like in all places I have been, there are those who avoid eye contact, like I have the habit of doing. But, those who smile back at you have a different smile than I’m used to in Ottawa. Maybe it’s a small town smile. It consists less of a squeeze of the face in acknowledgement and more of a genuine display of happiness, lit with a hint of humour. The exchange of smiles as you pass by seems more like the sharing of a moment, and I’m blown away by how significantly it can impact my feeling of well being.


The land though, is what draws people here. There is so much land empty of and untouched by humans. In the summer, it is hard to understand why its known as the Barrens because its just teeming with life. Ancient lichens, flower plants, fungi, spiders, bumblebee. I really never get tired of looking at the tundra. It is also the most amusing thing to walk on; it’s like one giant sponge.



Springing into action

 

 

Sofia Jain

 

We've had a few very warm days in Iqaluit. By warm I mean almost reaching 9 degrees Celsius. Things are greening up and the snow is melting like crazy. Many more species have put out their first flower. Things are moving so fast. But, I guess the plants have to be quick considering how short the summer is up here. As the snow melts it's becoming easier to explore new places. We've now found at least 40 different species that we are interested in studying. I presume we have found more but have failed to distinguish between certain species in a genus. It can be very difficult to distinguish species when this is the first time I'm seeing them alive and not in photographs or pressed herbarium specimens. We are taking some DNA sample though, which will be helpful for distinguishing specimens when we get back to Ottawa.    

 Plants are not the only things springing into action. There is the constant sound of birds singing happily as we walk; mainly Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. We also encountered some raven chicks with their mouths wide open waiting to be fed. There are plenty of caterpillars curled up in the sun and spiders scurrying between the rocks.

 

 

 

Potentilla hyperarctica (Arctic cinqfoil)

 

 

Saxifraga oppositifolia (Purple saxifrage)

 

 

 Cassiope tetragona (Arctic white heather)

 Rhododendron lapponica (Lapland Rosebay)



Vaccinium uliglinosum (Bilberry)

 

 

 Silene acaulis (Moss campion)

 

 

Caterpillar and Salix herbacea (Snowbed willow)

 

 

 Raven chicks

Lunch Spots, Drabas and Lemming Poop

 

 

 

 

Sofia Jain

 

 

There has not been much progress in the way of finding new plant species, or new species flowering. But many more leaves have come up as the snow melts and many plants have swelling buds. I feel like in a few days time there is going to be an explosion of flowering. Still I am in constant amazement at some of the plants we come across. On the left is a Pedicularis or Loosewart, that has given us considerable trouble to identify. On the right is the cutest Draba I have ever seen. I new that Arctic plants were small, but this plant barely looks like anything compared to the tip of my pencil. It's even got buds on it!

I've received word from Zoe that she has arrived safely at Lake Hazen. She says the snow is almost gone and that she has already identified 18 species we are interested in. Now Orla has joined the plant hunting team. Other than being great at making cakes and being one of the most generous people I know, she has a knack for finding new species and has been great at showing me around, since she has lived in Iqaluit for many years. Here is Orla with some of the cutest little rolly polly Husky pups I have ever seen. They were the perfect thing to run into after a long days work.

Here is a photo of one of my favorite lunch spots. It's in an old shipwrecked boat on Apex beech. It's a perfect place to get out of the cold wind.

 

Though I have yet to reach my goal of encountering the much fabled creature, the lemming, I have been fortunate enough to come across it's excrement...

Blue Sky Weekend in Iqaluit

Zoe Panchen

Friday evening we went to a piano recital given by the renowned Canadian pianist and philanthropist Angela Hewitt at the newly rebuilt St. Judes Cathedral in Iqaluit. The concert was to raise money to cover the cost of rebuilding the igloo shaped cathedral that was destroyed by fire in 2005. We very much enjoyed the recital in this unique cathedral.

Igloo shaped St. Judes Cathedral
nestled in the city of Iqaluit on the edge of Frobisher Bay

 We had two beautiful blue sky days over the weekend. The wind had also dropped too so it was very pleasant to be outside. The streams through town were gushing with water from the snow melt.

Blue sky day in Iqaluit:
Houses overlooking Frobisher Bay

On the weekend many people in Iqaluit head out on Skidoos, komatiks in tow, to cabins in the surrounding hills to go hunting or just enjoy the outdoors. We sat at the end of the pier in Iqaluit on Sunday afternoon watching many weekenders returning across the bay. It was so beautiful and calm and that blue sky - wow, we could have admired the view for hours!

Hunter returning across the Frobisher Bay

On our wonders around town we have found some amazing murals on the sides of houses and buildings in Iqaluit. There is even a mural committee that spear heads the painting.

Portraits of three respected Iqaluit elders

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For

Sofia Jain

It has been a little bit surprising how cold June can be in Iqaluit. My daily dress is long underwear, 2 fleeces, a jacket and a down vest. I must admit it felt a bit ridiculous to be looking for plants in flower, when all bundled up and leaning forwards against the bitter wind. Would you expect to be seeing flowers in this?


Unexpected blizzard- June 3, 2013

Pack ice- June 6, 2013



Snow bank- June 7, 2013



 Last week, before we were hit by a blizzard, I decided that I had a good feeling about June 6th. It just seemed like a good day for flowers. Soon our house hold all had there guess for the first flower marked on the calendar. On June 6th I jokingly emphasized that there would be flowers today. Just as we were contemplating why a bumble bee would be bustling about something caught our eye. It was a huge surprise when we found four different species in flower! Here are pictures of three of them:





Arctous alpine (Bearberry)

Salix female catkin (Willow species)

Salix female catkin (A willow species)

Saxifraga tricuspidata (Purple saxifrage)

 

 

These little plants just blow me away. Here I am half numb, and stumbling in the wind and these delicate centimeter tall plants put on these extraordinary displays. It is interesting though when we stop for lunch or take pictures, it is quite noticeable how warm the ground is. Putting a cold hand on the moss quickly warms it up. You can also often see a mirage just above the ground because the temperature difference between the ground and the air is so different. This is why arctic plants stay so small. The closer to the ground they are the more access they have to warmth. Many arctic plants also keep dead leaves from previous years to provide insulation. Well, now our job monitoring flowering and fruiting really begins!

 





Gadgets Galore

Zoe Panchen

I am continuing my journey north next week, first to Resolute and then on to Lake Hazen in Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island. I seem to have amassed quite an array of electronic gadgets to use while at Lake Hazen. Some of the gadgets I will be using as part of my research include:

GPS: I will use this to record the longitude, latitude and elevation of the locations of the plants I am monitoring and also for the location of herbarium specimens I collect.

Camera: On my twice weekly visits to each site, I will take photos of each plant species I am monitoring to record their flower and fruit progression.

inReach: This is probably the neatest of the gadgets I have. There is certainly no cell phone or internet coverage at a place as remote as Lake Hazen so this device allows me to send text messages via satellite. Here is how it works. I compose, send and receive text messages using the Earthmate app on my iPad. The iPad communicates to the inReach device via Bluetooth. The inReach sends and receives text messages from the Iridium satellite system. The satellite system relays the text messages to the inReach server. The inReach server notifies the recipient that there is a text message for them to view at the inReach website. How cool is this? Watch out for txt updates on the blog while I am at Lake Hazen!

Solar Battery Charger: The sun is weaker in the Arctic because of its low angle and the rays having to travel further through the atmosphere but the sun is up 24hrs/day in the summer at Lake Hazen so plenty of time to charge my batteries and iPad.

 

2-way Radio: This is so I can communicate with the warden station at Lake Hazen while I am out in the field each day.

Getting Around the Frozen Bay

Sofia Jain

We’ve only found 5 more species since we last posted. It seems it will get trickier as we try to find the less common plants and the plants that do not keep previous years of growth. On Friday we took a break from searching amongst last year’s plant growth for signs of life and went on a skidoo ride with some new friends from the Nunavut Research Institute. We were 5 people, 3 skidoos and a komatik, which is a sled pulled behind a skidoo that we packed with food and emergency supplies.

We then went speeding along the frozen Frobisher Bay. We passed by some groups of sled dogs curled up in the snow. They live out on the ice all winter long. I was told that most of the people who still use sled dogs are Southerners now that do it for fun, because skidoos are so much more time efficient when it comes to moving across the land for hunting.

 

There was never a dull moment in the 7 hours we spent upon the skidoos. There is nothing quite like wiping along the ice at frightening speed surrounded by stunning rocky hills and cliff faces. Around the edges of the land were vertical walls of ice, where the ice freezes to the rock for the season. These can only be seen at low tide when all the ice over the bay sinks, leaving the walls of ice above. The guys who took us out brought along hunting guns with the hopes of getting seal, ptarmigan or goose, all of which are often eaten up here. Other than many Canadian geese, we saw wolf tracks where we stopped for lunch and a seal hole.  They explained that the seals maintain holes in the ice to come up and breathe or bask in the sun during the winter.

Vertical ice wall (top), seal hole (bottom left) and wolf prints (bottom right, taken by Zoe)

 

                    The plant hunters…