No Snow!

Zoe Panchen

Well not quite but there is a lot less snow here this year than last year and it feels warmer too. To give you an idea, compare the photo of Sofia near the entrance to the Sylvia Grinnell Park last year on 7th June 2013 with the picture of me this year at exactly the same spot on 31st May 2014, the sign is almost buried in 2013 but half out of the snow in 2014 a week earlier.


Sylvia Grinnell Park 7th June 2013

Sylvia Grinnell Park 31st May 2014

 















We saw the first species in flower on our first day out in the field, a small Cinquefoil (Potentilla hyparctica). It was an unusual species to see in flower first and this particular plant must have been in a perfect little microclimate. Usually the first species to flower is the purple saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia), the flower of Nunavut. Last year the first species we saw in flower was purple saxifrage but it was a week later. It seems to me that everything is at least a week more advanced than last year.

Arctic Cinquefoil (Potentilla hyparctica),
the first species we saw in flower this year

The temperature near the ground can be 10-15C warmer than at weather station height. This is because the ground absorbs the near 24hr sunlight and radiates it back out creating a layer of warm air close to the ground. Arctic plants take full advantage of this, forming little hemi-spherical cushions close to the ground and creating their own little micro-climate.

A perfect microclimate! Tufted Saxifrage (Saxifraga cespitosa)
in Resolute August 2nd 2013

This year we will be monitoring ground level temperature using thermistors and HOBO temperature data loggers. We have already set up these at our sites around Iqaluit. You can see from the photo below that this is a homemade setup! I used plastic Tupperware containers to keep the HOBOs dry, burned holes in the side with a soldering iron for the thermistor cables. Emma neatly glued the openings shut with a glue gun. I made little cloth bags filled with silica to prevent condensation in the containers as the HOBOs are not water proof. The thermistor is held above the ground and shaded from direct sunlight by a large plastic tent peg and held in place by the ubiquitous duct tape and cable tie! Programming the data loggers has been a pain to say the least; the data loggers are ancient and temperamental technology that needs patience and babysitting! We have been reduced to superstitious procedures when programming these HOBOs!

 

Temperature data logger out in the field at Sylvia Grinnell Park

 

New Field Season Starting this Week

Zoe Panchen

I arrived in Iqaluit on Monday to start my second field season in the Arctic. When I was in Iqaluit last year, I was amazed to see a star on a Nunavut Territorial Parks' map showing the geographical centre of Canada as being close to Baker Lake, Nunavut. That was when it really sank in how far north I was going. I've reposted the map from last year showing my journey north and my field sites at Iqaluit, Baffin Island and Lake Hazen, Ellesmere Island. I have a total of 10 hours of flying pretty much due north from Ottawa to reach my northern field site!

My route from Ottawa to my field sites at Iqaluit, Baffin Island and
Lake Hazen, Quttinirpaaq National Park, Ellesmere Island.
The geographical centre of Canada is close to Baker Lake, Nunavut

The last few months have been busy preparing for the field season. Everything from applying for research permits and funding to dehydrating food for 2 people for 8 weeks at Lake Hazen. The dehydrator has been humming every night drying huge pots of curries and stews. Roger Bull from the Canadian Museum of Nature gave me some helpful hints; he has been preparing the food for the museum's botanical trips to the Arctic for many years. Here is what he had to say on food prep for the Arctic when he was interviewed by CBC recently http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/going-to-the-arctic-how-to-make-curry-that-ll-keep-1.2595437

                                         A big pot of Jalfrezi curry ready to be dehydrated!

 

My field work this summer will again monitor the timing of flowering and fruiting of Arctic plants but will be a much more quantitative study this year and focused on a subset of the species we monitored last year. We will be tagging plants of each species and recording the start, peak and finish of flowering and fruit dispersal dates by counting the flowers open or fruits dispersing seed on each plant every 3-4 days. We will also be taking photographs to create a kind of time lapse photography of the phenological progression of each species.

 

                                         Phenological progression of the spider plant
                                         (Saxifraga flagellaris) at Lake Hazen in 2013

I have 3 field assistants to help me this summer, Emma, an undergraduate in Biology from Carleton University and Joan, a bachelor of science undergraduate at Athabasca University and living in Iqaluit, will be monitoring the Iqaluit sites and Teresa, an undergraduate in Biology at UofT from Iqaluit, will be working with me at Lake Hazen. Look out for posts from all of us as we conduct our field work this summer.