This is the last day for us to stay in the camp and we are leaving today. During these days in Arctic, we’ve explored the climate and the vegetation and animals that are in the Arctic. We also took some samples of the vegetation and the water in the Arctic.
During this journey to Arctic, we learned a lot about the animals, vegetation, and climate in the Arctic. We also took many samples which are really important to our research in the future. However, we also found that there are many animals and vegetation in Arctic are endangered because of the global warming. The ice in Arctic are melting, many animals like the polar bear don’t have places to live. The temperature is also rising higher and higher these days. This is because we’ve been causing more and more pollution, damaging the Arctic circle. In order to prevent these kind of things from happening again, we should do our best to decrease the pollution and make our environment better in order to protect the animals in the Arctic and preserve their natural habitat. We should also stop fishing and farming the minerals in the Arctic. It is very important for everyone to protect the Arctic and other places in the world.
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Today, we finished analysing the results from day 5, which are the marine animals. The algae that is stuck on the end of the ice core revealed that it has been living under the ice since the early age. Algae grows there and gain photosynthesis. Although it is really cold in the Arctic, however it has special adaptations for the constant cold temperature of water and the seasonal sunlight. This what secures the bottom of the food chain.
Then, the algae becomes the main source of food for the zooplankton. According to the results, zooplankton contains lots of fat, mainly Omega-3, which they got them from the algae. The fat is really important for the animals to keep warm, and according to the results, 70% of the zooplankton body mass is fat. That is why it became the main source of food for the animals in the Arctic. We also found a number of Arctic Cod, but comparing to the average results 10 years ago, there was a huge decrease in number. We believe that this is because of global warming. It led to the rise of sea temperature, so more species of animals migrated to the north due to the change of water temperature. It changes the food chain which also increases the competition for food. This also affects the main predictor - the Salmon Shark. Due to the decreasing number of fish, the shark has to adapt to consume other species or die. Which again, affects the food chain. During our expedition we have explored a lot of different Arctic land animals and vegetation. We have met 8 seals, 4 adults and 4 pups. Also we recorded the number of seals we saw, the specific species of the seals, the approximate age of each seal and all other specifics we could see in terms of the physicality of every seal.
It was pretty confused for us to see 4 polar bears wandering into inland areas on such a small area of land. This fact proved the hypothesis,that polar bears moved from ice caps to the land because of the melting ice there to search the food. They looked really tired and exhausted. Arctic foxes, polar bears, puffins-the most popular and well known arctic animals in the world. There weren't so much vegetation because of the inclement climate, but never the less have met some, for example moss and lichen. They are the most common plants in this area, because they have the ability to stop growth at any time and resume it promptly when conditions improve. They can even survive being covered by snow and ice for over a year. Also we saw bearberry, arctic poppy, purple saxifrage, and arctic willow. We were so lucky to have a good experience of observing arctic flora and fauna living in such inclement conditions. Thanks God for such a productive and useful trip. We woke up to a fairly good day with the sun breaking through the thick clouds, today we prepared ourselves to explore and investigate the different types of marine animals living beneath our feet. We walked to the into experiment tent and our first mission was to see the microorganisms that are the most essential part of the arctic food chain. We first used the ice drill and drilled through the thick layer of ice. The core of the ice pole revealed a small orange band located at the bottom end of the pole, the orange bit is the diatoms (Algae) live in the pore spaces between ice crystals and in salty brine water that is within the ice. These diatoms make their energy by photosynthesis. Some zooplankton in the ocean water are able to eat diatoms from the bottom of the ice.
Under the microscope we also saw some zooplankton which are the little species of crustaceans we identified them to be the Copepod and Amphipods which float around the Arctic Ocean. Animals that travel where the ocean takes them are zooplanktons. Amphipods look similar to little shrimps but are much smaller. They are both also crucial to the Arctic food web. We then decided to go deeper and find fish or other animals within the ocean that we don’t usually see, we took the SSN 22 submarine down to around 200m and saw the magnificent arctic cod. They are one of the many species who eat the zooplankton and are eaten by the other marine animals. We took advantage of our time in submarine so we dug even deeper to around 700-800m to find the Salmon Shark. It has Dark bluish gray on back and sides; white on underside. The adventure down to the arctic ocean was spectacular! But eventually we had to go back to base. As we got out the submarine we were greeted by a family of polar bears from a distance, Polars bears are one of the top predators in the arctic so don’t be fooled by their cuteness. They don’t count as marine animal but they do spend a lot of time in the waters catching their prey. Throughout the day we also encountered a lot of Ring seals which pop up through holes in the ice to breathe, they are mammals and are usually seen on the shores. Hopefully tomorrow would be as good of a day as it is today! We walked off to the northeast plane of our campsite in groups of 3 early in the morning, with binoculars and test tubes, in hopes to find evidence in how vegetation has adapted to the warmer climate, warmer temperatures and the high carbon dioxide concentration. We would also hope to do a brief count of different species of land animals in our 5km x 5km square campsite, in order to calculate the average number of that species in a certain area, making it easier for us to calculate the approximate number of each kind of animal on Jan Mayen Island.
In the morning, one of our teammates Artie spotted 8 seals, 4 adults and 4 pups, with the pups under camouflage protection of the white ice and their protective parents. We recorded the number of seals we saw, the specific species of the seals, the approximate age of each seal and all other specifics we could see in terms of the physicality of every seal. This continued on until 3 in the afternoon, and we stopped after we finish counting all the seals, arctic foxes, polar bears and puffins. It was shocking and heartbreaking to see as many as 4 polar bears wandering into inland areas on such a small area of land. This shows that the melting of polar ice caps (caused by global warming) has pushed the polar bears to inland areas in search for food. In short, their weak physical state and sagged body showed obvious signs of their tiredness and starvation. Walking back to the main campsite for a quick, energizing lunch, we went straight back out in hopes of getting a few algae examples with three more phycologists in our biologist group before night falls and it gets too dangerous, too dark and cold to work outside. We went to the planned area of ice drilling, which was pre-calculated by our other team members, before drilling into the area of ice in which we predicted vegetation would grow. We obtained isotopes from algae that grew amongst sampled coral. Our hypothesis is that the pH levels would have fallen at a hastening pace during the 20th to 21st century as greenhouse gas pollution levels rose. We think by analysing the samples of the algae, we think that it is linked to growing cycles of seaweeds that consume CO2 as they photosynthesize. In addition to taking algae and coral samples, we are going to put our 5 newly developed pH sensors down the drilled hole, and we plan to record results from the sensors in order to get accurate data trends and predictions of ocean acidification. If the sensor is successful in accuracy, we plan to develop 200 more of the data-collecting and transmitting devices. Each device will be capable of monitoring temperature, salinity and location, but also acidity and nitrate and oxygen content in the water. We headed back to the campsite at half past 7 in the evening, and I would call it a day of pure hard work and efficiency, considering we only took approximately one hour to find and drill the hole in the ice. Bringing the results back, we were exhausted and went to bed after everything for tomorrow’s busy schedule had been set, in which the other team of marine biologists would be going for their trip to record data on marine animals they see, just how we did with land animals. I am quite relieved, since I never expected it to be as cold as it is now; I would gladly stay at the camp for a much-needed half-day rest, before continuing with the analysis of our data and samples. During this day we have seen some arctic animals,such as seals,arctic foxes,polar bears and puffins. Our hypothesis about the pH confirmed. We planned to put our 5 newly developed pH sensors down the drilled hole, and record results from the sensors in order to get accurate data trends and predictions of ocean acidification. In spite of difficulties and tiredness,it was very productive day. Our team was surprised by such a cold weather,we haven't expected it to be so insufferable cold. I'm looking forward to going to the trip with biologists to record data on marine animals. We are on the 3rd day on our expedition, and our aim today is to investigate the climate and the geography of the area. Waking at 5 am, feeling extremely sluggish and groggy, we managed to gather ourselves along with our gear and we head off to a new day of exploration.
It literally took us 2 hours to reach the investigation site; further 1 hour to set everything up. Firstly we took out the thermometer specialized in detecting temperature under subzero condition.t The reading on the thermometer is peculiarly warm; only 3 degrees Celcuis. However few of our member suffered minor frostbite. We then walked around and start finding a suitable spot to drill rock samples. We used to drill into 15m past the ice layer to retrieve some rock sample. So we can further examine the gases in it, to provide us data of the climate millions of years ago. Around noon, a blizzard was forming and getting stronger, to the point where we had to set up an immediate camp for shelter and the reading shown on thermometer decreases to a staggering point of minus 18 degrees. The blizzard keeps on sweeping up snow to give a illusion of constant snowfall even though there is little precipitation here in the Artic. All in all, today wasn’t as disappointing as we collected a lot of information crucial to our research and in hopes tomorrow’s weather will be fine to proceed our investigation Today we woke up to a blizzard. The wind was howling outside, and we could see nothing but a flurry of white and snow. There was nothing we could do; it was too dangerous to go outside in this weather. I was getting worried about our equipment that we had left outside under no shelter last night, having been too tired to do anything about it. We had also foolishly left our food with the equipment. If this blizzard goes on for too long, it may take us a while to dig our stuff out beneath the snow and scavenge our food. Also, with limited equipment we may not be able to collect all the samples we want to and examine them afterwards.
While this was happening, the rest of us were settling down. We’ve decided to split up into two small tents with four people inside each. It took us a long time to decide who is sleeping in each tent, bickering about it even though the sun was setting already, and we had to draw lots to determine the groups. In the end, Jenny, Artie Bridget and Katrina are in one of the tents together while Mira, Gillian, Lera and Maggie are in another. We’ve also set up a main tent where we can gather together and maybe conduct experiments. I am stuck here right now with everyone else, having just made it to the main tent when the blizzard wasn’t as fierce. Everyone has settled down now with a cup of hot tea in their hands and chatting with one another, sharing their experiences of their first night in the Arctic together. Some of us have already gotten used to the harsh weather conditions of the Arctic however most of us were still complaining about the coldness and constantly having cold hands and feet. As the sky turned dark, the blizzard dies down enough for us to venture back into our tents. We slept early, watching as the last of the sun’s rays left the sky. Faraway through the swirl of snow, I could see the Northern lights, streaks of green and blue and yellow darting across and illuminating the night sky. It looked magical, like someone had smeared multi-coloured paint across and dark blue canvas. It was a sight that you can perhaps only see once in your lifetime. Thinking about it as I fell asleep, I felt extremely lucky to be one of the scientists to be able to come to the Arctic. Hopefully this journey won’t go to waste and we can go and explore the Arctic tomorrow. Together with Mira, Jenny, Katrina, Bridget, Gillian, Lera and I, we’ve arrived at Norway at Jan Mayen Island, waiting for a flight to take us to the beginning of our Arctic Expedition. We sat down in a special helicopter which took us specifically where we were planning to set our camp and headed to the Arctic, full with inspiration and curiosity, finally taking our first step onto the Arctic ice. I didn’t know that travelling there would be so confusing and cumbersome. Here in the Arctic, we have to work under the pressure of limited time; the longer we stayed here the more results the government expects from us. Time here is precious and we expect to get as much work done as possible.
Although we landed as close as we can, we had to walk another 3 kilometers to reach the campsite. We had to carry a lot of things, having brought a lot of equipment which we needed and all of them were extremely heavy and enormous. Using sleds along with the help of the previous scientists who reached here before us, it still took us two whole rounds to carry everything there. Walking on thick heavy ice isn’t easy and by the time we reach there, the sky was halfway to nighttime, making it even harder to set up our campsite. We had a discussion about tomorrow’s plan and we concluded that we will go around the Arctic a bit tomorrow to have a look around but mostly settling down. It has been extremely exhausting, and all of us needed to rest as early as possible in order to be prepared for the expeditions to come in the next few days. I don’t think that tomorrow will be a perfect day, there might be a small storm and the weather might go mad (according to the forecast). There isn’t much for me to write for arriving here but the difficulties and complications. It was tiring and we have much to learn and adapt here but today was still mind-blowing. |