beaufort

This week, Arctic governments are meeting in Norway to talk about Arctic biodiversity. But they need to do more than talk. They’ve invested in reams of excellent research on life in the Arctic – now they need to act! They’ll make commitments this April, when the United States begins its chairmanship of the Arctic Council. […]

Last Saturday, we drove on the Beaufort Sea. It was quite amazing. One doesn’t often think about driving on a frozen sea, looking over vast expanses of ice on one side and low headlands on the other. We spotted fish drying racks left on the shingle beaches from the summer and fall fishing seasons, covered in snow and blowing forlornly in the wind.

Mush! The only race in town this past week was the Yukon Quest, a grueling dog sled endurance race of 1,000 miles from Whitehorse to Fairbanks. Our WWF team, however, was in Alaska for a different kind of expedition – consulting with some of the world’s leading interdisciplinary science and social science researchers on Arctic climate change.

I stare out into a snowy and partially foggy morning as I work my way through breakfast and my morning coffee. Patchy squalls moving across the tundra and out on the ice – could go either direction today. The change in weather is expected, but we hoped for a couple of more blue sky weather days. The visibility is still fair, and the fixed wing will have no trouble flying, so we’ll push on out and see what we can accomplish today.

As luck would have it, the weather is good, but we are required to take the second mandatory crew rest day for our pilot (two off during any 14 day window). He would much rather be flying, but the rules are very clear. With only two more flight days for the season ahead, we begin to make plans for our return to Anchorage on Saturday. For our pilot Howard and our lab technician Jessica, it has been almost seven straight weeks of fieldwork – and as much as they like the job, they are ready to be home.

The large lead (area of open water in the sea ice) that existed just offshore from our camp has closed overnight. The ice in the Chukchi Sea is very dynamic, even in the middle of winter. This part of the Chukchi is always ice free in the summer, so everything we are flying over and working on is first year or newer ice and typically not much more than 2 metres thick. Leads are constantly forming and closing and as the season winds to a close next week, the ice should really start to fragment and simply begin melting.

WWF International Arctic Programme polar bear specialist, Geoff York, is currently in the Chukchi Sea area with the US Fisheries and Wildlife service, conducting research into the status of polar bear populations in the area. This is the first of several blogs from him during his time there …

Midnight and it is time for my first watch with Captain Anders. The crew rotates in the wheelhouse every 4 hours and we have the quiet early morning and mid day shifts. As I am already jetlagged from travel, it is actually a good chance to start a new schedule.

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east […]

WWF’s polar bear coordinator, Geoff York, keeps up his field knowledge with trips out onto the ice to check on the condition of the bears. This year, he is keeping a daily blog of his experiences over two weeks. Keep visiting this blog for regular updates and live the life of a polar bear biologist. […]