ARCTIC AUKS

Right now it’s 11 pm and, of course, still light. Outside it’s cloudy with a little sprinkling of snow and rain. Earlier today we had a great day at the colony looking for even more nests and setting up the first PIT tags. All four of us had a great time snapping away at our cameras and here are some of the highlights:
Here is Laurel with the stake for the 47th nest.
After exploring our main area, we ventured higher onto the hillside to look for more nests. From up high we had a great view of the colony, the bay and the glacier. The little auks spend a lot of their time at the colony flocking and flying  around together in big circles. Little black and white birds often fill the sky. The sight and sound of them whoosing past my head always amazes me.

We took a break for jasmine green tea and “cheesy portraits in front of the glacier.”

Derek makes a very fierce polar bear.

During our break we spotted some reindeer antlers off in the distance up the slope. Derek trotted off to get them, and Laurel modeled them.

Later on we went for a walk along the shore near the station where we experienced arctic terns. Arctic terns migrate the longest distance in the world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. They also have a habit of diving at things they perceive as threatening their nest.

After dinner a tourship arrived with a group of tourists cruising Svalbard. We breifly chatted and I found out that one of the passengers had also attended my highschool, Chadwick School, in Palos Verdes, California. Jann Wenner, class of 1963, and I posed for a picture in front of a map of the island.

Things have been busy busy at the Polish station over the last few days. The Horyzont (the Polish supply ship that services the station) arrived yesterday with a pack of new scientists and the Polish ambassador to Norway and Iceland. Everything was a hive of activity with packing people into their new rooms and making the station as clean as possible.

Our room is quite nice - only the four of us in one room (quite different from the seven of us I remember being packed into approximately the same area in 2005). 

Julia and Derek’s loft space.

Julia working in our “lab”.

The station has a small population of scientists, usually around 10, that stay for a full year at a time (in addition to the seasonal scientists that come and go). With the arrival of the new crew last week, the old crew is preparing to return to Poland for the first time in a year. Yesterday, with the Polish ambassador and Piotr Glowaki (the head of the Polish Institute of Geophysics, which runs the Hornsund station) on hand, there was a special exchange ceremony for the passing of the station key between the old crew leader and the new, and a raising of a new Polish flag outside the station.

Everyone packs around the front door to watch the exchange ceremony.

VIP’s with the Polish station’s home-made cannon.

Afterward, we enjoyed a great party with a fantastic array of Polish food and singing. One drink particularly popular with the Polish was a incredibly strong garlic concoction, which they purported was an “antibiotic”.

The weather has turned a bit foul this afternoon - raining and windy, making the rocks somewhat slippery. The night watch at the station said he saw a bear about 6am yesterday, so we are being particularly vigilant on our walks up to the colony. No sightings yet, though.

Our little auk study is pretty high-tech. We will be placing sensors in some nests to monitor when the birds come and go. This requires that we have a constant power supply at the colony, which is more than a mile from the nearest electrical outlet at the station. But we won’t let that stop us. Yesterday we laid a mile-long extension cord up the mountain to the colony.

Laurel, Nina and Julia preparing the cord, which was neatly coiled by last year’s crew…what foresight! It’s as though they learned the hard way or something.

We thought we’d need a wheelbarrow to get the cord from the storage to the starting point of our journey, but after we got the wheelbarrow out, we realized that Mirek, the friendly mechanic, had already moved the cord for us! But I wanted so much to use the wheelbarrow that I begged Nina to let me carry her around. She would have none of it, but somehow I persuaded her to carry me around.

Nina moving her lazy field assistant.

Then we began the trek up the mountain.

The el-auk-tricians running the line. (Does that pass, Tara? I came up with it…on-the-fly.)

More views of our accomplishment:

The main reason for running the line was to avoid the alternative of carrying seven heavy car batteries up and down the mountain every day. The batteries can now stay at the top all season, but we still had to get them there…

Our improvised battery-carrying system.

This is about five minutes later. We have moved a couple feet. We decided we would need to carry only one battery between the two of us.

With only one battery, we started to get a little cocky. (Another half-point please, Tara)

We made it to the top with six batteries, each of which is named after an explorer. This rock will be our charging station, and thanks to our initiative in bringing the extension cord, we will now only have to carry each battery a short distance to its respective nest.

That was all yesterday before lunch! At lunch we had a special reception for the Polish ambassador to Norway and Iceland and then took a well-earned nap.

We spent today looking around in the rocks for little auk nests. It is basically a huge Easter egg hunt that never ends! The search is very exciting…you are on your hands and knees, your heart pounding in anticipation, peering into holes with your flashlight, reaching in as far as you can…

…and then you catch a glimpse of something white and round. Can it be? Yes, it is!

Thanks, Easter Bunny, those skills really came in handy! We are well on our way to finding 100 new nests.

Once we find an accessible nest, we mark it with a stake. We then label any rocks that must be moved in order to access the nest.

The whole time we are working, we are treated to dramatic fly-bys of huge flocks of little auks and the most beautiful scenery on earth.

(Note: if you make this photo big, you can also see our white extension cord running up to us from the station)

And you can’t forget the little things:

We are adjusting quite well to life in the Arctic. Yesterday, while we were carrying the batteries, Nina noted, “It’s a good thing it isn’t boiling hot today like it was yesterday.” When we were getting ready for lunch with the ambassador, Julia said “I guess I’ll get dressed up and put on some jeans.”

Our first morning we set out to test the rifles and flares that we have with us. Everyone here has to carry safety equiment like this because of the polar bears that are found in this area. Laurel put us through the paces of polar bear safety protocols.
Here is Julia shooting from the standing position.
Derek trying out the lying down position.

Wayne Steinmetz from the Pomona College chemistry department took Julia and Derek and Laurel to the shooting range the day before we left for the Arctic to practise shooting and handling a firearm. Thank you Wayne for sharing your knowledge with us and taking the time to train us!

Then we headed up to the little auk colony for the first time. The little auks nest on the steep, scree covered slopes behind the station.
Here are Julia and Derek and Laurel at the base of the slope where the colony is.
Once we got to the colony, we were greeted by thousands of little auks whirling in the air. It was spectacular. They fly so close to us you can sometimes hear their wing beats.
Little auks in flight above the colony.
We spent the rest of the afternoon checking the nests. We check old nests by finding the wooden numbered stakes that we use to mark where nests are. Once we find the stake then we shine a flashlight in the hole and search for a bird. We found birds sitting on eggs in many of the nest sites from last year. We also found 12 new nests just by crawling along the slope looking into every crevise.
Nest searching on the colony slopes.

After dropping off the other little auk group at Bear Island we began to see ice in the water. At first, we spotted an ice flow in the distance that stretched to the horizon. As we traveled further north we began to cross through the ice. Although early on in the voyage I had discovered that it is impossible to get seasick while sleeping, my curiosity got the better of me when heard ice scraping past the hull and saw ice floating by my port hole. When I reached the bridge, the sea was covered with 70-80% ice. We were excited to spot a ringed seal on the ice. The water was very clear and calm, so we could see the blue of the ice below the water. Some of the ice had melted into whimsical shapes.

As we neared Hornsund, we began taking surveys of the bird life, especially little auks. Later in the season we will go out on the Oceania to survey the little auks foraging at sea. From the bridge of the Lance, Derek and I learned to distinguish glaucous gulls, kittiwakes, fulmars, little auks and murres. One of the highlights of the survey was observing little auks sitting on ice. In the past, this behavior was recorded on time depth recorders so it was nice to see it in person.

Around 10 pm we stopped in the bay in front of the station. We loaded the zodiac with our gear and then lowered ourselves down with a ladder. As we skimmed across the water towards shore, we could see a welcoming party of our Polish friends waiting for us. Finally on dry land, we exchanged handshakes and hugs. Everyone helped pile our gear into the frontloader to carry it over the last stretch of mud toward the station. At the door of the station we removed our boots and enjoyed a cup of tea with cake. Next it was time to unpack into our cozy but surprisingly spacious room.

I am writing this in a comfortable lounge equipped with overstuffed leather couches, tasteful wooden furniture, a huge flat-screen TV, and a computer. Aside from the penis-bone of a large marine mammal mounted on the wall, the only things that differentiate this room from a standard posh lounge are a persistent low rumble coming from the floor and a rhythmic rocking up and down, back and forth…we are aboard a ship! The R/V Lance, of the Norsk Polarinstitutt, is providing us our transportation to Hornsund Fjord.  We have been at sea for 24 hours now and are at approximately the midpoint of our journey. The boat also houses three Polish biology Ph.D. students en route to Bjørnoya (Bear Island!) off the coast of Svalbard. They plan to set up a six-week camp on the island to study…little auks and their response to climate change! It has been auksome to get to know them.

We boarded the ship Friday, the 4^th of July, at about 5 p.m. The ship was scheduled to depart at 6:30, but due to the large amount of gear being loaded by the Polish researchers, among other things, our departure was delayed. Nina, Julia, Laurel, and I sat in the lounge manufacturing noose carpets and chatting about contemporary social issues while we waited to set sail. Finally the engines started, producing with that inescapable low rumble that has not let up since. But another hour or so passed and the ship still did not start moving. From my seat in the lounge, a porthole provided a view of a cargo crate on the dock. I glanced out regularly, expecting movement that would signal our departure. Eventually, I saw the crate start moving slowly, then faster, faster, past the porthole. I eagerly ran to the porthole to observe our departure and was startled to realize that the ship hadn’t gone anywhere—they were simply moving the cargo container! Feeling as though the subject of a cruel prank, I gave up trying to detect our departure and challenged Nina to a game of Cribbage. She defeated me, and then we set sail for real.

Julia, Laurel, and I went out on deck to observe the passing landscape. The first ten hours or so would be through the scenic, sheltered fjords off the northern coast.

While on deck, something very momentous happened…our first little auk sighting! What a cute little bird, flying frantically, spastically, desperately over the water like a wind-up toy, at times skipping across the surface due to excessive weight in its gular pouch—copepods collected for feeding its chicks.

It felt like a celebration was in order, for our departure, our first auk sighting and the birthday of the U.S.A. But we couldn’t have had a fireworks show even if we had tried—it was midnight and the sun was still out! This is a concept that I have still not fully accepted.  Two days ago I asked if we would see any northern lights at Hornsund and didn’t understand when everyone looked at me incredulously. I was out on deck taking photos last night when I started to get cold and decided to go in and come back out to finish taking photos the next day, when the sun would be out and it would be warmer. Only after I got inside did I realize the flaw in my logic—the sun was out and we were only heading further north. We relocated to the bridge, where Nina joined us and gave us our first bird identification lesson! We can now identify, albeit with limited but increasing accuracy, various gulls, black-legged kittiwakes, northern fulmars, Atlantic puffins, thick-billed murres, and, of course, little auks! I was a little scared to talk to the captain for fear of pissing him off, but he saw me looking at the navigation machines in the bridge and smiled at me and struck up a conversation. He explained his job, which consists of looking at a computer screen with a picture of the ship on a nautical chart and a line indicating the planned route.

His responsibility is to press a button for “port” or “starboard” whenever the ship deviates from this line. (Of course, this is only when things are going right…the man has years of training and practical experience to know what to do when things go wrong, which won’t happen on this voyage. But just in case it does, all passengers have waterproof, insulated, illuminated, buoyant “survival suits” which they are to put on before jumping overboard.)

I retired to the mess hall for a 1 a.m. snack of rooibos tea, sardines from a can labeled “sardiner i olivenolje,” and crackers topped with anchovy slices from a can labeled “cocktailbiter i sherry.” I concluded the meal with my standard cracker spread with nutella (“nugati”) and went to bed (yes, mom, I brushed my teeth first). I think it is true that when the sun is out more, you sleep less.

I awoke at 8 a.m. to a gentle rocking…we were now on the open water. Thoroughly excited (and not wanting to miss breakfast which ended at 8), I quickly got out of bed but could not have walked straight down the hallway if my life depended on it. Instead I swerved from one side to the other, bumping into one wall, then the other, then the first again. How embarrassing…my sea legs were in need of some maintenance. We, the Hornsund team ’08, regrouped at breakfast to debrief. Laurel and Nina, both with much maritime experience, were quite at home on the rolling ship, while Julia and I were experiencing some difficulties. Now, at 11:45 p.m., I feel quite accustomed as well. But I haven’t seen Julia since lunch.

The food selection on this ship is great! All meals include some warm dishes such as potatoes, pea soup, rice pudding, and boiled carrots, as well as a wide spread of various meats cheeses, lingonberry jam, and toothpaste tubes of various creams, from caviar to mayo to bacon flavored cheese. There is an interesting brown sliced cheese that has the consistency of a mixture of beeswax and peanut butter and doesn’t taste much better.

There is a selection of 14 varieties of tea, many types of sardines, and several choices of cracker, available at all hours. There is also the tub of delicious nutella…er, rather, there was the tub…I finished it off a couple hours ago. I hope they put out another one. I felt truly immersed late last night as I was sitting in the galley sipping on tea, eating sardines and crackers, rocking with the waves, and reading my Arctic adventure book (“In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic”). Ru, they use Samovars!

Well, it is about time suit up and go out on deck to witness the midnight sun. We should be approaching an underwater bank soon, a place where planktonic food sources are carried upwards towards the surface, drawing in fish that prey on the plankton and, in turn, birds and marine mammals that prey on the fish. Numerous whale sightings are expected! And a couple hours from now we should be approaching Bear Island, providing a brief break from the endless expanse of water on all sides and an opportunity for yet more wildlife sighting.

And here is a preview of the upcoming episode:

Now we are in the land of deep green pine covered mountains that border wide fjords and, much to our surprise, Tromso is also a place to find amazing food. Derek and Julia sampled steaks of whale meat their first night in Norway. Laurel was especially happy with the breakfast at the hotel; she filled us in on the fact that ‘applesin’ juice is actually orange juice. Derek is now addicted to crackers covered in chocolate spread. Julia made her own waffle and put a different kind of jam on each slice. I was amazed by the fresh seafood sold on the streets just steps from the boats that have brought it in. The raspberries here are the biggest I have ever seen.

The Whale burger that was really a steak.

Derek with his new addiction: chocolate on a cracker.

Julia making her waffle creation.

Shrimp being sold on the street.

When we finally arrived in Tromsø after many long flights, we were greeted by two old friends: Daniel and Jorg, who also work with little auks! The day got even better when we realized we had successfully received ALL of our massive amounts of luggage.

Tromsø is a beautiful city and we enjoyed an exceptional two days of good weather. I especially was ecstatic to be back in the city – many of my good friends from Longyearbyen are currently living in Tromsø, and we were able to have a grand reunion dinner at a restaurant whose name I couldn’t possibly spell correctly (see blog post about the food). Being back in the city brought back all the memories of living there a year ago during my epic foot surgery, except this time I was able to walk – not crutch – all over downtown. My “having two legs” was quite a novelty for friends who had only ever known me in a cast.

Our hotel was conveniently located in the center of Tromsø’s downtown port area. Friday morning, after checking on the location of the RV Lance, we met Jorg at the Norwegian Polar Institute and were able to visit Polaria, the Norwegian museum of Arctic studies. The building is uniquely constructed to mimic piling ice flows. Inside we especially enjoyed visiting the seal exhibit, where we made friends with the three bearded seals. The panoramic video on Svalbard gave Derek and Julia a taste of where we will soon be.

Julia, Derek, and Laurel with the NPI lobby polar bear

Jula and Derek in the seal tunnel

Derek, Nina, and Julia in front of Polaria.

Loading our gear onto the Lance went remarkably smoothly, so we spent the afternoon cruising around the city. Derek loved Tromsø’s unique manhole covers.

Before leaving, however, we made sure to visit Roald Amundsen, the famous Norwegian who was the first person to reach the south pole. Inspired and excited, we headed back to board the Lance that evening, ready to head INTO THE NORTH!

Julia, Laurel, Derek, and Nina with Roald Amundsen

(Welcome to Norway)

Our epic Arctic adventure began on the 2nd at 4:30 a.m. We arrived in the lab to get our massive bags of clothes and gear and were greeted by a beautiful send-off banner from Zach, auk alum ‘07.

Then the stretch limo (that’s right) rolled up and we labored for a while to get the duffels onboard. Good thing it was a stretch limo or there wouldn’t have been enough room.

The grandiloquent transport to the airport came replete with champagne flutes and illuminated color-changing trim.

After arriving at the airport, we spent almost an hour checking our multitude of oversize, overweight bags. It took a lot of redistributing, but in the end we only had to abandon two jars of jam (actually we gave them to Julia’s mom) in order to get all the bags under the maximum weight limit. Then it was a six hour flight to Newark, where we were treated to a fly-by of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. There we boarded the plane for Oslo and witnessed our last sunset for six weeks.

Next we had the big eight hour trans-Atlantic flight (my first!) to Oslo. The time went by quickly thanks to personal on-demand movies, Arctic adventure books, and noose carpet manufacturing (but mostly the former two).

Getting through customs was as easy as getting our passports stamped. Then we spent another long while getting the next airline to accept our huge bags. Then a three hour flight to Tromso in northern Norway. At the baggage claim I saw a girl from Tromso wearing a Duluth Pack, made in my hometown of Duluth, MN. She said her godfather got her the bag when he was in Duluth once.

We met some friends of Nina’s and Laurel’s who helped us load all our bags in a big van (though only after making some snide jokes about the amount of baggage we had).

During my travels in South America, I always wanted more than anything to be mistaken for a local. Of course that was always a stretch. Here, though, I have no problem at all. The only thing is, it means everyone starts talking to me in completely incomprehensible gibberish, and then I have to give away my true foreigner identity by asking them to repeat what they just said in English (or I just fake it–one time a flight attendant asked me something in Norwegian, I responded “Tea” assuming she had asked me what I wanted to drink, and she replied with more gibberish and then poured me a cup of tea–I guess the word for tea is “tea”). But when more complicated communication is necessary, it’s not a problem either, since everyone also speaks perfect English, most with a pleasant British accent.

Everything here seems so appealing and convenient and well-thought-out and tasteful and environmentally conscious. On the way from the Tromso airport to our hotel, we went through a tunnel that had a roundabout in the middle where two roads crossed. A roundabout intersection inside a mountain! The hotel room has a slot that you put your keycard in when you enter in order to turn on the power to the room–there is no way to accidentally leave a light on. The toilet has two buttons–one for a mini-flush and one for a full flush (this feature amazes me). The shower control doesn’t let you go over a certain temperature unless you push in a safety button.

This afternoon we board a ship for the two-day journey to Svalbard and our new home–the Polish Polar Station on Hornsund Fjord!

Please welcome…the 2008 little Auk research team!

Laurel McFadden, Julia Gleichman ‘10, Derek Young ‘09, and Professor Nina Karnovsky.

After a couple busy days of packing and preparation, we are enjoying the HOT California afternoon before heading for the airport early tomorrow morning. Next stop: NORWAY!