18 July 2004

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 23

Day 2 at Mould Bay....and a great one it was! After a nice breakfast of pancakes and bacon we headed into the tundra to work at a site the team set up last year. Everyone went to work. Several of the researchers headed out to look for our next site and I worked on digging the soil pit-boy did that keep me warm!

The rest of the day I spent shadowing Howie from University of Virginia. He works on collecting the plants from 1/10 of a meter sections that run on transects from the grid.

Our weather was typical summer weather...snowy, windy, high of 1-3 celsius. Quite chilly when you are not moving.

I am amazed at the beauty of this island. It is rolling hills of tundra with snow banks and lots of animal tracks-wolves, musk oxen, and caribou. Below (hopefully) is a photo that Gary took of our camp. In the background you can see the frozen ocean and the other side of the bay.

View of camp from nearby ridge

Many people were interested in the polar bear fence so I am adding a few shots of installation.

Joe, Ina, and Chien-Lu work at setting posts for the polar bear fence

Ina and Chien-Lu adjust wiring on the polar bear fence

Another part of camp life is filling stove tanks, heater tanks and the generator.

Howie, Tako, and Skip work to fill tanks in a spill catch tray

And last but not least, our latrine! Notice the outdoor version in the back...

Mould Bay Laterine