There is nothing like cuddling up in your sleeping bag while outside the midnight sun is illuminating the most unique landscape you have ever seen. For three weeks this was reality for our expedition team on Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk in the Canadian Arctic.
But our adventure did not start as relaxed as it could sound here. We had to master the first challenge at Edmonton airport when our luggage decided to enjoy the beautiful city of Amsterdam for a little bit longer. This resulted in a unique bonding experience for our team: racing from store to store to buy rain pants, underwear, socks, sweaters, and house slippers for Hugues, Micha, Verena, Deniz, Kathi, and Pia in less than 2 hours after not sleeping for 24 hours - what could be more fun?
Luckily, our beloved photographer Esther received all of her luggage - so all the precious equipment for the upcoming outdoor photo shootings were safe.
After too little sleep we managed to introduce ourselves to the last (Canadian) team member: Jordan - the man of the fish!
The upcoming five days in Inuvik were filled with many types of fieldwork preparation: un- and re-packing plenty of boxes, device testing, pre-cooking meals and meeting colleagues and old friends. We were just busy enough to ignore a potential jetlag and find perfect sleep. The days were long, hot, and full of mosquitos. We survived and happily boarded the small charter plane of the type Twin Otter towards our final destination in the Arctic Ocean: Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk.
According to an AWI-legend, a brave Master’s student from France went to the Arctic and pulled out the precious Island of Qikiqtaruk from the Arctic Ocean for upcoming researchers to have a place to study the mysteries of permafrost. However, recent research revealed that this might be a fairytale and the island was formed by the power of an ancient ice shield pushing around sediment during the last ice age.
Anyway - the island was welcoming us with two new rangers: Gina (first female ranger on the island!) and Philip (one of the youngest rangers we have ever met), and chilly and windy weather, which kept away all the annoying mosquitos.
Our team members being new to the island immediately fell in love with the unique landscape, flora and fauna (mosquitos should be excluded here). The camp, just a few centimeters above sea level, was regularly visited by numerous birds, seals, and whales - which all stayed long enough for a little photo shooting :)
Precisely because of our excitement and enthusiasm, work felt easy and time flew by in the long working days. Some of the most successful and enjoyable days we spent as a team playing in the mud of Slump D - one of the largest retrogressive thaw slumps in the Arctic. Deniz (AWI-PhD student) and Peter (most-skilled boat driver and wildlife monitor from Aklavik) were serving as a boat taxi for the rest of the team and left us and all the heavy equipment (it was a lot, really!) at the outlet of the slump. Our loaded human caravan made its way up to the top of the slump from where we spread out. Verena, Pia, and Jordan enjoyed a lovely (and only a bit risky) walk on top of the slump headwall to gain precise GPS-points of the slump extent. Together with data from the past years, we can get a detailed picture of the thaw slump retreat.
Kathi and Micha were on a more muddy mission by collecting sediment samples from different spots in the slump. They will analyze those samples for mercury content to create a detailed map about mercury mobilization from coastal erosion.
Esther and Hugues went on the most visual mission by walking through the slump and recording short videos for outreach purposes. Esther's photos capture the special working place in the best light possible.
For three days Ryan and his helicopter joined our team for some lovely helicopter rides around the island and to sampling sites all the way to the Alaskan border. Those very long and eventful days often ended with a relaxed evening sauna. The sauna is the only place where hot water is available for something comparable to a shower. As a little side challenge: try to shower with only three liters of water at home - we completed this challenge more than once to save water! :D
One last surprise was waiting for us right after the last sample found its way into a sampling bag: a white visitor appeared out of the water, raised its neck and made its way onto the island. With waving goodbye to the polar bear we left the island a couple of days later.
Now we are all back home. This time the luggage decided to join us on time. We are looking forward to processing the samples from this expedition. The memories we made will stay with us forever and we are very grateful for this opportunity to work and live in the Arctic for a little while!
A big thank you goes to all of our local supporters: first and foremost Richard Gordon, Peter Archie, Gina Slevinsky/Mamayauk, Philip Elanik, Ryan Longacre, and the welcoming Inuvialuit communities of Inuvik, Aklavik, and Tuktoyaktuk.
