Signs of Life

Guest

I was wondering what kind of life do you see so far up North? I know you probably see polar bears & fish, but how about plant life? Are there any kind of insects that far north?

Tell me more about your normal daily routine when your out on the ice.

What will you do if you if the ice closes you in?

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 64

Hi Julio and I am assuming Nicole!

I think I already answered part of this posting and I just discovered this (duplicate?) posting did not have a reply!

60% of Svalbard is covered with glaciers and most of the vegetation is found in the tidal zone. The growing season is brief and requires sufficient radiation from the sun to penetrate the snow covering and initiate photosynthesis. This is only barely sufficient to sustain the reindeer, geese, and ptarmigan that are the plant-eaters of the area.

Insects? Not that many. One occasionally sees mosquitoes, mostly at Longyearbyan, but not to many here in KappLinne. There is an interesting-looking bright reddish-orange spider that hangs out on the rocks strewn through the tundra. The tundra is covered with moss and short grasses and small patches of flowers this time of year. The permafrost is just beneath the surface, so nothing with very long roots can grow. There are absolutely no trees. Well that is not quite true! There is a stunted arctic willow tree that grows quite well, but only reaches the height of 2 inches max! The same is true for the dwarf birch. Because there are no trees, there are no species of tree-living birds or mammals.

There are an abundance of birds. 164 different species have been identified on Svalbard, but only 10 breed here regularly. Some of these are the red-throated diver, the fulmar, the pink-footed goose, the barnacle goose, the brent goose, the common and king eiders, the long-tailed duck, the Svalbard Ptarmigan, the ringed plover, the sanderling, the purple sandpiper, the dunlin, turnlin, and grey phalarope, the pomerine, long-tailed, great, and arctic skuas, the kittiwake, many kinds of gulls, the arctic tern, various guillemots, the little auk, the puffin, and the snow bunting.

The mammals that live on Svalbard include the Svalbard reindeer, the arctic fox, the polar bear, harbor seals,ringed seals,bearded seals, harp seals, hooded seals, walrus, white-beaked dolphin, bottle-nosed dolphin, minke whales, beluga (white) whales, sperm whale, blue whale, fin whale, humpback whale, the narwhal, the bowhead whale, killer whale, the mountain and arctic hares, the common mole, musk ox, and that is about it! Many of these are rarely seen, but some, like the reindeer, are seen in large numbers everyday!

We have been enclosed by the sea ice on a few occasions already. It means no ships or boats can get in or out of the islands for days at a time. Those that are in the seas get trapped and must wait it out. It does not affect us much because our research is ongoing regardless of weather or sea ice. We are not going in or out, we are just here! Our food supply has run low on occassion, but that just means we eat more mackerel and don't get anything with milk or eggs! Fresh fruit is nonexistent for the most part, and that that is available in Longyearbyan is very expensive, as is chicken and beef! It is not something we get here at Isfjord Radio, though we often have fresh tomatoes slices for a breakfast treat until they run out and a supply boat arrives.

Last week we were out of practically everything good and we were anxiously waiting for the ice to go out so a boat could bring us milk and eggs. It did, but the sea was so rough that all the eggs were smashed and even the cartons of milk were squished and leaking and could not be used. Hopefully there will be another supply boat that has better luck today.

Keep writing to us!