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!
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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.
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| 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.
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