Introducing Alexandra Fiord

I have just returned from 5 weeks of field work at Alexandra Fiord. This is the first of a series of blog posts I wrote while there and will post over the next few days. Our field site is located at the old RCMP post along Alexandra Fiord at 79°N. Alexandra Fiord is located on the east side of Ellesmere Island and the post is situated on the south side of the fiord near its exit into Buchanan Bay. It is a beautiful location and on a clear day Greenland can be seen across Kain Basin.

Alexandra Fiord from East Ridge. The RCMP buildings are located
on the far side of the Twin Glacier river fluvial fan.

The buildings we use were built in 1953 for the RCMP staff and Inuit families that lived at the post. We live in one of the RCMP buildings, another building serves as the field lab and the other buildings are used for storage of tools, materials and food. Our first order of business on arrival this year was to clear up the mess made by a polar bear that had broken into the main building over winter. There were pots, pans, books and sundry stuff strewn all over the floor but the damage was minimal as the bear couldn’t reach the food stored in the attic. The bear had clawed at the attic hatch and left huge paw and nose prints on the walls and windows.

Alexandra Fiord RCMP Post with Skraeling Island and Bache Peninsula
in the background. The lab and main living building are the closest
buildings. The photo was taken from a helicopter on 13^th July.

Broken sea ice, small icebergs and land fast ice filled the fiord when we arrived and slowly cleared out and broke up over the summer. It was cool wondering through the small, grounded icebergs at low tide taking photos especially when the water was still with perfect reflections in the fiord.

Land fast ice and small, grounded icebergs on the shore in
front of the Alexandra Fiord RCMP buildings.

Grounded iceberg, north shore cliffs and glacier
reflected in Alexandra Fiord.

The scenery is stunning with steep cliffs and glaciers on the north shore of the fiord dropping precipitously into the fiord. The entrance of Alexandra Fiord from Buchanan Bay is guarded by Sphynx Island to the west, so called for its outline resembling a sphynx, and Skraeling Island to the east on which there are remnants of old Thule settlements.

Looking south from camp towards Twin Glacier and Prince of
Wales Icefield with the airstrip in the foreground. Our field work
is conducted in the valley between the airstrip and the glacier.

Looking north from camp across Buchanan Bay is Bache Peninsula and, on a clear day from a high vantage point, the mountains and glaciers at the southern side of the Agassiz Icecap can be seen. In past years, I could see the same icecap looking south from Lake Hazen. Looking south from Alex camp is the glacial valley where we conduct our plant ecology research. At the head of this valley is Twin Glacier and the Prince of Wales Icefield. Alexandra Fiord is in the land of the midnight sun - the sun did not set throughout our field season and I found the best time to take photographs was at midnight when the sun is less harsh and the lighting takes on pastel shades.

Midnight sun - chilling out at Alexandra Fiord.

Nunavut Day in Resolute

Yesterday was Nunavut Day and the community at Resolute held celebrations at Lake Resolute. There was a fishing contest, a boat race, a picnic of Arctic char and caribou, and a big bonfire of wooden pallets, that last years supplies came in on, to keep us warm. It was a cold blustery day but good to be outside doing something while we wait for good weather to fly into Alex.

Nunavut Day in Resolute.

Fishing on Lake Resolute for Nunavut Day celebrations.
The lake is still frozen and thick enough to walk on.

Boat race at Nunavut Day celebrations in Resolute.

At the reconstructed Thule site nearby, I was excited to see a red phalarope flying around. The last and only time I have seen this colourful shorebird before was at Lake Hazen in 2014. The Thule site has quite lush vegetation from the nitrogen and other minerals accumulated from years of human activity there from about 1400 to 1650 A.D. There was purple saxifrage, tufted saxifrage, sulphur buttercups and Draba corymbosa in flower and Arctic poppys in bud.

Cushion of Parrya arctica with purple flowers. Along with purple saxifrage,
this species in flower all around Resolute.

Bright yellow flowers of Draba corymbosa.
Look carefully you will also see the fleshy leaves of sulphur buttercups
and the nodding stems of Saxifrage cernua.

There is a a large low pressure system hanging over Ellesmere Island that doesn't seem to want to move on. With it comes bad weather and with the bad weather it is not possible to fly into our field sites. A group of researchers from Queens University who had been at PCSP Resolute for a week finally got into their field site at Cape Bounty, Melville Island last night but I hear it was a rough ride with the strong winds. Besides our group waiting to get to Alex, there is a group of microbiologists from McGill University waiting to get to Axel Heiberg Island.

A rare albino flowered Parrya arctica near the Thule settlement at Resolute

Fogged in at Resolute

Resolute has a reputation for being foggy. Researchers staging through the PCSP facility at Resolute on their way to and from their field sites have plentiful stories of spending days waiting for a clear patch to fly in or out. We arrived in Resolute on Friday to clear skies, Saturday too was clear with even the odd sunny patch.

Quick stop at Pond Inlet, Baffin Is. on the way to Resolute
with Bylot island in the background

As Murphy's law would have it, Sunday, the day we were scheduled to fly to Alex - the affectionate name for Alexandra Fiord - dawned foggy and wet. We can't even see the runway across the road from the PCSP accommodation.

PCSP buildings shrouded in fog 8th July 2018

On Saturday, we found purple saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) in full flower at Resolute bringing a splash of colour to a stony barren landscape. Purple saxifrage is one of the first flowers to come out in spring so the growing season is only just underway here at Resolute. For such a barren landscape, when I start to look closely, I am always impressed at how many plant species there are around Resolute. We also saw Parrya arctics and tufted saxifrage (Saxifraga cespitosa) in flower and the mosses below snow melt patches are a vivid dash of green and red.

Purple saxifrage in full bloom in Resolute 7th July 2018

There a treasure trove of equipment around the PCSP building from projects long forgotten. Old cranes, trailers, engines and even an old school bus built in 1964. Shipping out such equipment is too expensive so it just decays whereever it was left.

1964 Orange school bus at PCSP Resolute

Alexandra Fiord - new research, new field site

I am excited to be heading to the Arctic tomorrow to a field site that will be new for me, Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. First Air is treating us to a milk run flight with stops at Iqaluit, Hall Beach, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay and finally arriving at Resolute. We will stay at the Polar Continental Shelf (PCSP) facility before taking a chartered flight to Alexandra Fiord. Check out my MapShare page to track my progress north. Currently it is about 44C with humidex in Ottawa and a windchill of -2C in Resolute so it is going to be like going from the oven to the freezer, I am looking forward to some cooler weather!

Map of Nunavut showing the communities I will be stopping at
on flights to Alexandra Fiord field site

The Alexandra Fiord site is part of the pan-Arctic International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) and was established more than 25 years ago to study Arctic tundra ecology and the impacts of climate change. Alexandra Fiord is also an old RCMP outpost first established in 1926 and occupied again in the 1950s.

Mountain avens (Dryas integrifolia) flowers and seeds

My research this summer will be looking at the relationship between flowering phenology, plant reproductive success and plant community composition. I will be recording flowering times, collecting seed for germination experiments and measuring plant community composition at warming and control plots at the site.