April is sea-ice melt month in traditionally ice-covered Arctic waters and regions in the north. Since satellite measurements began in 1979, this past April was recorded as the second-lowest level. Data shows that multi-year thicker ice also is declining. Second and third-year ice declined by 30% and 10% respectively. Data was compiled by the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, CO.
Sea-ice coverage has become the harbinger of the global warming issue and often portrayed as evidence that the situation in the Arctic is foreshadowing the coming serious repercussions of carbon emissions and human-caused pollution. The polar bear population in the Hudson Bay region will see direct affects from continued sea-ice melting and earlier thawing. Conservation groups such as World Wildlife Fund and Polar Bears International are working tirelessly to create awareness and action movements to recognize and implement ways to curb carbon emissions and control global warming.
Anyone that has worked in Churchill over the years has heard of Nestor 2 goose camp. And, if you’ve traveled to Churchill to see the incredible wildlife within the last 20 years you have seen and most likely heard the plight of the snow geese population. Snow geese have been prevalent out on the tundra and mostly out east near Cape Churchill at La Perouse Bay for decades.
Map showing the Hudson Bay coastline around Churchill and location of La Perouse Bay. United States Geological Survey image.
About 40km down east from Churchill on an island in the Mast River lies a few rustic cabin structures with wire fencing around them known as Nestor 2. The iconic 40 year-old bird research camp also known over the years as Camp Finney, Queens University Tundra Biology Station and the Snow Goose Camp has a storied history that continues to this day.
In 1968 Fred Cooke and Ken Ross journeyed to Churchill with a grant from the Canadian Wildlife Service to study a newly discovered snow goose colony around La Perouse Bay and decided this location would be ideal for long term research of the birds.
Researchers at Nestor 2 round up snow geese for banding in 2005. Left to right: E. Horrigan (graduate student), G. Jackman, Rocky Rockwell. Parks Canada photo.
An initial cabin dwelling some distance from the study area at Knight’s Hill Esker was abandoned and graduate student George Finney, project supervisor, decided a camp nearer the study site was needed. With tremendous assistance from Dave Yetman and Lindy Lee at the Fort Churchill Rocket Range, two trailers and a prefabricated cabin were dragged along the ice on a track vehicle in May before the break-up occurred.
Original Camp Finney building and trailors being moved to La Perouse Bay. George Finney photo.
“Camp Finney” now became the research station for the prolific snow goose camp. A typical season to this day has workers arriving in late April and staying through late July to band numerous flightless geese. Extended daylight hours enable researchers to work long days.
Camp “Finney” as it stood in 1976. Parks Canada photo.
By the mid 1970’s and 1980’s Nestor 2 had expanded in scope and studies of other sub-Arctic bird species was becoming internationally respected in the science world. Films by CBC, BBC, and Television Francaise focused on the work being done there. The snow geese research was cited internationally as the largest avian population study and garnered many awards.
Focus of the camp has transitioned immensely since those early days of a rare snow goose outpost. With annual geese numbers rising steadily between 5% and 10%, environmental damage began to occur. The salt marsh area known as La Perouse Bay became ravaged by the geese which then had repercussions on other wildlife species in the area. Research soon became more focused on the plight of the destruction zone and how snow geese should be managed. Professor Bob Jefferies from the University of Toronto led this new path in research until he passed away in 2010. Dr. Rocky Rockwell from the American Museum of Natural History, who had taken over for Fred Cooke in 1992, took over complete leadership at that point. Focus has shifted even more these days with the inclusion of the affects of global climate change on the interaction of species.
Snow geese culls over the last decade or so have done little to reduce the population numbers. However, Churchill numbers around La Perouse Bay are down considerably since vegetation essential to gosling rearing is gone. Wapusk National Park still hosts large snow geese colonies today.
This 1999 photo of Dr. Rocky Rockwell with a vegetation exclosure that protects from feeding snow geese. The problem was in the early stages then. Grand Forks Herald photo.
For more in depth study of the La Perouse Snow Geese research you can read,“The Snow Geese of La Perouse Bay: Natural Selection in the Wild by Rocky Rockwell, Fred Cooke and David B. Lank.
I still remember the most amazing and intriguing sounds of Churchill’s Arctic summer were the sounds captured from the hydrophone we would drop into the Churchill River when out on the water with the beluga whales. Those clicks, shrieks and shrills coming from the depths of the chilly water mesmerized travelers and myself often for hours. Belugas are in fact nicknamed the “canaries of the sea” because of the incredible cacophony of sounds they produce.
Belugas at the back of the zodiac. Stephanie Fernandez photo.
These sounds are the mammal’s main form of communication and a key to their survival. At least half of the year belugas are navigating in the dark…quite literally. Under the sea ice in dark waters far north, these whales rely on sound from echolocation off the ice as well as communicating with each other. Sound without sight is their world a good part of their lives.
Biologists have begun to decipher the complex system of communication placing behavioral actions to the different and quite distinct clinks and squeals. hydrophones with recording ability are helping extensive research away from the beluga’s natural habitat in the Arctic.
However communication isn’t the only reason for belugas emitting sound through their nasal sacs near their blowhole. They have no vocal chords.These whales also use rapid strings of clicks to echolocate surfaces and food in their environment. The clicks bounce back to them and absorbed in their bulbous melons of their foreheads to form shapes and identify the prey. They also can wiggle the melon somewhat in order to specifically aim these sounds in different directions. Their unique ability to interpret returning sound wave lengths works just like our eyes work for humans.
Beluga whales echolocate using the melon on their foreheads. Steve Selden photo.
Evidence that beluga communication develops when calves are born stems from the evidence that a community of whales acting as sisters, aunts, cousins and grandmothers care for the calves as “allmothers”. They even produce milk when babies from other mothers are born regardless if they have a nursing calf or not. This early exposure to a language sets the base for more to come as the calves develop and interact with the pod.
Controlling the human – made noise in waters inhabited by belugas is of paramount importance to preserve their language and ability to communicate.
Diving on the site of the HMS Erebus shipwreck will resume this month in the high Arctic. Sir John Franklin’s ill fated voyage to find the northwest passage came to an end nearly 170 years ago as the Erebus was trapped in ice for two years off Prince William Island in Queen Maude Gulf near Nunavut.
A Parks Canada diver measures part of the Franklin expedition’s Erebus on Sept 18, 2014. Thierry Boyer/Parks Canada photo.
Franklin’s 1846 expedition had two ships; the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. No sign of either has been evident for nearly a century and a half. Seven months ago the Erebus was discovered by a group of private-public searchers lead by Parc’s Canada. Now the next chapter is unfolding.
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, shown in the Illustrated London News published on May 24, 1845, left England that year under the command of Sir John Franklin and in the search of the Northwest Passage. Courtesy London News/Getty Images.
The irony of this continued expedition and salvage project is that the divers will be descending through two meters of ice to reach the bottom of the gulf. The same ice was responsible for crushing the wooden ship and sending it to the ocean floor a century and a half ago. The benefit here will be that the thick six foot layer of ice will eliminate surface waves and almost all water movement around the wreck therefore keeping any sediment and particulate from clouding the water. Clear visibility will enhance the efficiency of the divers time in the -2 C icy water.
These clear conditions will be most beneficial for the operation of the new 3D laser scanning apparatus archeologists will utilize to produce incredibly detailed images of the Erebus lying 11 meters below the surface. The main goal for this expedition is to create a comprehensive baseline recording or map of the wreck site before continuing on with possible salvage work.
Current dive site plans call for 14-hour dive days from 8 AM- 10 PM over a 10 day period. Divers outfitted with specialized dry suits will be able to dive for over an hour at a time. Two-person dive teams comprised of one Parcs Canada member and one navy member will be deployed in steady succession.
Aside from mapping the site, crews will also try to gain valuable insight by probing an extension camera into nooks and holes in the Erebus to get an inside look into the past.
Churchill has been the focus of countless exploratory expeditions from Europe over the centuries and now a discovery that has captivated the world has also touched this remote outpost on the Hudson Bay. The Anglican church in Churchill is home to a gift from Sir John Franklin’s widow in appreciation of all the efforts from countless men in searching for her husbands lost expedition throughout the north. It appears now that this ancient mystery has been solved.
Lady Franklin stained glass window. Karen Walker photo.
Some inquisitive Churchill polar bears become frequent flyers on Hudson Bay Helicopters. There’s only one flight route, about 40 kilometers northwest, and chances are the bear will not remember a thing once they come back to consciousness on the tundra.
When bears show a pattern for testing the Churchill town limits and are recurring offenders, they are first incarcerated in the Polar Bear Compound just adjacent to the airport. Subsequent captures either by culvert trap or darting land them there again and they then are flown up along the northwestern coast and released. The hope is they will not return to Churchill during the season though some do. Most times they will be flown out again depending on the capacity of the “jail”, at the time.
This relatively new strategy of dealing with “problem” bears by Manitoba Conservation reflects the importance of eco-tourism in the region. In the old days polar bears would be put down if they were frequent visitors within town limits. These days extreme leniency is given unless the bears pose a critical threat to residents.
These photos show some of the process of airlifting polar bears from Churchill up north.
Conservation officers prepare for a bear lift. Brad Josephs photo.
Hudson Bay helicopter lifting off with a cargo of polar bears. Photo courtesy Natural Habitat Adventures.
A polar bear is airlifted up north from Churchill, Manitoba. Photo courtesy Natural Habitat Adventures.
Polar bear sow and cubs being transported north for relocation. Brad Josephs photo.
A polar bear trap being removed with cargo from Churchill. Photo courtesy Natural Habitat Adventures.
A polar bear is wheeled out from Polar Bear Compound and prepared for flight up north. Photo courtesy Natural Habitat Adventures.
Polar bear ready for lift – off in Churchill. Photo courtesy Natural Habitat Adventures.
The Arctic and sub-Arctic permafrost is frozen soil that for the most part stays that way all year round. Carbon is stored for thousands of years in the matter of dead plants in this frozen substrate. A carbon sink is how we used to refer to it in guiding amazing Churchill Summer trips back in the day. Nearly one quarter of the the land in the Northern Hemisphere is permafrost.
Permafrost contains tons of carbon. Ed Bouvier photo.
By some scientific reports, permafrost could contain over twice as much carbon then the atmosphere already holds. Scientists believe that some of that carbon, with the increased warming in the north, is already escaping into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide or methane gas. This is just the tip of the iceberg figuratively speaking.
The National Academy of Sciences estimates that the permafrost stores 1,800 billion tons of carbon which is double that which is currently held in our atmosphere. And with the warnings of global warming that we have now this statistic is of grave concern.
When plant life dies it’s carbon content is absorbed into the permafrost. Steve Selden photo.
There is no definitive way to measure exactly how much carbon will be released from the ground as temperatures rise though delaying regulation agreements in the world today. Choosing not to dramatically reduce global emissions now is a high risk gamble that seems oversimplified by many. Once the permafrost thaws and the carbon escapes in gaseous form to our atmosphere, we can’t put it back. We can’t just refreeze the ground and turn back the clock. It’s the proverbial unpredictable genie let out of the bottle…we need to be careful what we wish for.
Estimates from projected data charts show that an average of 160 billion tons of carbon could emerge from thawing permafrost by the end of this century. The National Academy of Sciences states we need to keep atmospheric carbon down below 1,100 billion tons in order to limit temperature warming increases to 2 degrees celsius.
Arctic ice coverage has shrunk by 35 per cent over the past several decades. We have seen a stabilization of sorts over recent years even though this past winter had a record low maximum ice coverage. This coupled with other natural warning signs give reason for heightened concern over the permafrost thawing.
A lone polar bear skirts a pond in Churchill on permafrost that holds immense carbon deposits. Eric Rock photo.
Other than the threat to human lifestyle on earth, 11 keystone Arctic mammal species are under threat as well due to melting sea ice and global warming. Polar bears are of course the most iconic of these species. Changes need to be addressed immediately in order to reverse the fate of all these living creatures.
