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Dwarf fireweed (Paunnat, Chamerion latifolium) (top) and
prickly saxifrage (Kakillarnat, Saxifraga tricuspidata)
(bottom) are now
in peak flower at Lake Hazen.
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Mountain
avens (Malikkaat, Dryas integrifilia)
with the fruit twisting (left) and ready to disperse seed (right). |
We have had some amazing warm weather for the
past two weeks - beautiful blue skies, no clouds and no wind. The water is
roaring down the glacial fed Blister Creek, Abbe River and Snow Goose River
that bound the Camp Hazen area. The water level in Lake Hazen is rising fast
because of the warm temperatures melting the glacial ice faster than the last
two years. My temperature sensors have been registering temperatures as high as
29°C at plant height (5cm above ground) and the temperature 10cm below ground
has reached as high as 20°C. The landscape is looking much greener than I
remember in the past two years.
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Arrow Glacier (top) and Bridge Glacier (bottom)
at the head of Blister Creek. The warm weather is producing high amounts of
melt water from the glaciers this summer (top right). The water from the Arrow
glacier runs underneath the Bridge Glacier (bottom left). Zoe at the snout of
Bridge Glacier (bottom right).
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The flowers have not lasted as long as last year
probably because of the warm weather but there have been a lot more flowers to
make up for it. The Arctic white heather (Itsutit, Cassiope tetragona) is a prime example. At my site close to camp
last year the most flowers on any heather plant was 200 flowers, this year one
plant had 1400 flowers at peak flowering!
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An
Arctic heather (Itsutit, Cassiope tetragona)
plant we are monitoring in full bloom high up on McGill Mountain on 8th July. |
