Tundra Times

Posted by CBAWO M.Sc. student Matt Gillman

Teamwork is a large part of the scientific investigations that take place at the Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (CBAWO) here on Melville Island, Nunavut. As a result, a given day may entail assisting in running an ice auger through 2 metres of lake ice so that a sediment core may be retrieved for a limnological view into paleoclimatology; or possibly hiking over tundra to collect soil and/or surface water for hydrological- or biogeochemical-based projects; or maybe collecting atmospheric gas samples with the purpose of investigating greenhouse gas emissions and drawdown due to vegetation; or grabbing stream water samples for sedimentological work; the list goes on.

My work here is focused on improving our understanding of how subsurface hydrology and hydraulics determine the delivery of water and nutrients to High Arctic Rivers. I am particularly interested in late season delivery of subsurface water and nitrogen, both of which act as controls on water quality. From this work I hope to provide information which may be applied to resource management decisions concerned with High Arctic water security, as well as future scientific endeavors aimed at building on our understanding of northern hydrology.

Now that the river is thawed and subsurface flow of water is becoming more abundant, my work in the river system consumes most of my days. Such days involve collecting solute and temperature data along the length of the river to look at the location of subsurface inflows, collecting water samples to assess the chemical composition of waters in soils adjacent to the channel, and measuring water table levels in sampling wells to map out the hydraulic conditions near the river.

Research aside, the landscape and wildlife at CBAWO are amazing. A photo can rarely give justice to the rolling hills and bedrock outcrops of the tundra. Regardless of how rough one’s day is going, it can normally be set right by a brief look around as reminder of setting. Elusive as they may be at times, the wolves, caribou, muskoxen, and arctic foxes are always a neat surprise to come across. 

A muskox enjoying some beautiful weather on the western bank of the Boundary River, Melville Island, NU.

Having had rare encounters, the animals on Melville Island have little fear of humans and are quite curious. The muskox seen in the photo here was content to watch us work from the opposite bank of Boundary River, a river which drains a lake on the boundary of Nunavut and The Northwest Territories.

As a whole, I am thoroughly enjoying the beginning of my first full (I spent a couple of weeks here last summer) field season conducting Arctic-based research. I am lost for words to describe how neat it is to be here.

Vegetation research at Cape Bounty

A guest entry by Sean Arruda (newly-minted M.Sc.)

My research focuses on the impacts of climate change on Arctic plants. For example, air temperature in the Arctic is increasing faster than anywhere else on Earth which is also expected to cause changes in the amount of rain and snow that falls in particular regions. If more snowfall occurs during the winter, leading to deeper snow, how will this extra snow effect the way plants grow in the following summer? And what if the same plants are also exposed to warmer summer temperatures than average? Does the insulating effect of deeper snow benefit the plants beneath, more than the plants that live beneath an average snow pack? Since deeper snow takes longer to melt away in the spring, does this lead to a shorter growth period for plants, or does the growing period shift so that plant development occurs later than plants under average snow conditions? Do warmer temperatures lead to changes in plant photosynthesis or productivity?

In order to attempt to answer some of these questions a long term experiment was set up at Cape Bounty to mimic some of the changes which are expected to occur to the Arctic climate. The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX, for short) has sites located in every Country within the Arctic which use the same methods for monitoring plant growth and abundance, as well as for experimentally manipulating the climate. At Cape Bounty, we manipulate air temperature by using open-top chambers (OTCs; image below). These chambers act like small greenhouses, warming the air inside by trapping in some heat. We also set up snow fences which trap windblown snow and let it accumulate about three times deeper than the average snow depth. We are able to compare between every combination of snow and warming effects by having plots exposed to both snow and warming, snow only, warming only, and some plots that remain in normal temperature and snow conditions. 

Throughout the summer, I spend a lot of time crawling around on the ground staring at plants. I monitor the date that specific individual plants begin to turn green, to flower, and to turn brown or red in the autumn. I do this in order to determine whether these warming and snow treatments are impacting the way plants grow, and also to determine whether specific species of plants are impacted more than others. I also measure how productive the plants within each plot by measuring how much carbon dioxide is being emitted to the atmosphere from the soils/plants, and how much is being removed from the atmosphere by the plants themselves through photosynthesis. We do this in a number of ways.

When I arrived this year on June 8, there was still very much snow throughout the landscape, and especially behind the ITEX snow fences! Since one of my goals this year was to monitor when each of the different treatment plots became snow free, and there was so much snow, I had time to take care of a few other tasks. One of these included setting up a special type of meteorological station which measures carbon dioxide changes in the atmosphere. CO2 concentrations in the winter time are higher than in the summer because there are no green plants growing yet. Once the snow melts, plants begin to photosynthesize, a process which removes CO2 from the atmosphere to use for plant growth. This removal of CO2 is so significant that it’s noticeable when you measure the concentration over the entire spring and summer. CO2 also gets emitted into the atmosphere from the soil. We’re interested in this CO2 concentration because it has been increasing significantly over the past several decades, and seem to be causing Earth’s temperature to increase through a process called the greenhouse effect. This station, seen below, measures the CO2 concentration continually throughout the summer. 

 Wildlife and Landscapes

At Cape Bounty there are no roads, no permanent buildings, no electricity (other than from a gas generator), no internet or email, and no phones. We are totally isolated and we are the visitors here, guests among the Birds, Lemmings, Caribou, Foxes, Muskox, Wolves, and even the Polar Bear! This is there home, and getting the chance to visit this place is something that I never take for granted.

Every day we see several of various bird species who live here. One of the common birds, two of which seem to be possibly nesting nearby because we see them almost daily, is the Brant, which is a type of goose. We’ve also seen the Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur, King Eider, Snow Goose, Harris’ Sparrow, American Golden Plover, Jaeger, and the Rough Legged Hawk (below). This year I’ve made a point to try to identify and photographs all the different birds I’ve seen. 

On more rare occasions we sometimes get the honour of seeing herds of Muskox. Often too far away, I’ve counted herds up to 25-30 individuals. On this rare occasion, we saw the herd 2 or 3 km away in the distance as we approached one of our study sites. About 50 meters away, just on the other side of a river, an object that we all just assumed from a distance was a boulder turned out to be a single Muskox, possibly standing guard, keeping an eye on us? I'm not sure why he was so far from the herd, but he didn’t seem to mind posing for some incredible photos that day!

More often than you might think we are visited by three wolves. They never seem too interested in us, and they have plenty of Muskox and Caribou to eat so they have never been a problem to us. They tend to visit our research sites, mark their territory, and move on, often never even looking at us while they do their rounds. On some occasions they come to our camp and remind us of their presence. These animals are incredible and its amazing to get to be able to see them like this in their natural environment. The feeling you get when you get to stand there and look at a wild Arctic Wolf from 30 meters away is like nothing I’ve experienced before, and sometimes its nice to not have a camera and just take in that moment. I have a lot of respect for any animal who can survive here year round, but the Wolf is by far my favourite.

Lastly, the scenery and landscapes are unexplainable. No matter how many photos I take, none can really capture what it’s like to see this place with your own eyes. The photos below is from one of my favourite location and scenes here at Cape Bounty. On top of this plateau, the bedrock juts out forming these huge pillars. From here you can see both of the lakes and the ocean as far as the horizon. Right now there is so much contrast on the landscape between remaining snow packs, meltwater, distant greening valleys and rivers. Hiking along this ridge really makes me appreciate the opportunity to come here and do science. It makes the long, cold, tiring, days carrying gear seem like nothing when these are the views we get to see every day.