ARCTIC AUKS » Julia

Arctic Fossils and Farewells

nina — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:11:27 +0000

While in Longyearbyen one of the best things that we did was hike in search of the fabled fossils at the base of a glacier near town.

Here is Julia (below) and Derek (atop) a steep pile of scree.

Once we got the hang of it, we were finding fossils everywhere in that scree.
Evidence that Spitsbergen once looked like a very different place! Note the thumb for scale. Below is one of the typical sized plants in the area now–much smaller than that fossil leaf (raindrop for scale). This flower was growing amongst the fossils.

Most of the animal fossils we found were worms.

The following day, Julia, Derek and I flew from Longyearbyen to Oslo. Laurel stayed on to visit with friends that she had made during her winter in Longyearbyen 2 years ago.

Our last views of Spitsbergen:

Even though the field work portion of our work is done, we will keep updating this blog with our results and news throughout the year.

Last Days in Longyearbyen

nina — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:41:11 +0000

We spent our last days before flying home in Longyearbyen. Longyearbyen is a small city (about the size of Pomona College). The main industries there are mining, a university and tourism.
Here are Derek and Julia standing by the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS)

Julia and Derek in front of the water pipes that are above the frozen ground and have to be heated during winter.

We had a magical midnight hike around town in the falling snow.
Here is a view of an abandoned mine building on the hillside covered in a light dusting of snow.

The Norwegians get acclimated to cold weather early in life. The babies take their naps swaddled in their carriages outside.
Here is a baby sleeping outside the market in a light rain/snow (we confirmed that the carriage was occupied).

The little auks breeding around Longyearbyen had gone south long before we arrived. The only little auk we saw was the one that Derek made out of snow.

Pauking up

nina — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:05:32 +0000

Our last day in Hornsund Fjord was spent packing up and making our final measurements on chicks. We coiled up the extension cord and with some help from colleagues at the station, hauled the batteries and PIT tag equipment down from the colony. Thank you Adrian, Christine and Witek!

Adrian, Derek and Julia coiling the extension cord.

Many of the chicks during our last day looked completely ready to leave the nest. They only had small traces of downy feathers left. It’s amazing how they grow up in only 25 days!
Here is Laurel with a chick ready to head south for winter. Notice that this chick has an all dark chin.

This chick held by Nina has a more typical white chin.

When the chicks leave the nest they generally go to sea with their father who continues to feed the chick. We put metal bands with individual numbers on the legs of as many chicks as possible in the hopes that one day we will find them again when they return to the colony.