AMUNDSEN GULF, N.W.T. -- A spectacular set of sundogs makes the Western Arctic look like an alien landscape, as it appears as if three equally brilliant stars are rising above the eastern horizon.
To the north, the cool grey cliffs of Banks Island loom over the flat sea ice, the rugged Precambrian rock rising a sheer 425 metres at a point called Nelson Head.
U of M’s Lauren Candlish (left) and Pascale Collin remove ice core sample.
Against this amazing backdrop, three figures in parkas and balaclavas clamber down a gangway from the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen and begin hauling equipment across the ice.
First, they mark off a parabola-shaped perimeter around the port side of the ship, drilling stakes into the ice to create a virtual fence.
They then attach a power drill to a lightweight tube and extract a series of trio cores, one each to test the salinity, density and temperature of the sea ice.
The purpose of the work is to gather hard data about the surface of the Arctic to compare against radio images of sea ice taken from both the ship and from satellites.
The broader goal is to keep closer track of the retreat of Arctic ice, which is disappearing at an average rate of 70,000 square kilometres per summer.
U of M research associate Pascale Collin is bundled up for the Arctic
On this morning, the people conducting this research are students and researchers from the University of Manitoba, the lead institution behind the Amundsen's year-long, $40-million Arctic scientific mission, officially known as the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study.
U of M researchers are at the helm of six out of 10 scientific teams taking part in the CFL study, whose unfortunate acronym has nothing to do with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Right now, 10 out of 27 scientists aboard the Amundsen are University of Manitoba students, staff or allied personnel. The rest come from Laval University in Quebec, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada and universities in Indiana, Belgium, Germany and Spain.
"If you look at the Maclean's (rankings), the University of Manitoba always gets a bad rap, and that's not fair," says Gary Stern, the chief scientist aboard the ship and a team leader of a project that looks at mercury and other contaminants in the Arctic ecosystem.
"It's a point of pride to be part of this project, one of the largest climate-change research projects on the planet," Stern continues. "We're at the forefront of something that's not just important to Canada, but to the world."
Along with looking at Arctic contaminants and the retreat of the summer sea ice, University of Manitoba researchers are studying Arctic weather and the exchange of greenhouse gases between the air and sea.
Chief scientist Gary Stern returns to ship after weapons briefing.
The U of M personnel on board range from professors such as Stern to full-time researchers, PhD students and masters students.
Most stay on the Amundsen for six weeks at a time, ideally when the conditions make the most sense to conduct their research.
For example, climatologist Matthew Asplin, a PhD student who studies cyclones, needs to be in the Amundsen Gulf during the winter, when storms pick up moisture as they pass over the gaps in the sea ice known as flaw leads.
"Sometimes you have to slow down, look around and realize it's a very big privilege to be in the Arctic to do research," he says.
The awe-inspiring scenery is a nice fringe benefit. But so is the buzz of looking out on the ice and seeing multiple groups of scientists conducting separate research projects simultaneously.
"It makes you feel like you're a part of something big, and you are," Asplin says.
Generally speaking, the University of Manitoba is responsible for most of the physical science conducted as part of the CFL project, while Laval University handles the biological science.
But researchers from one team frequently collaborate with others. For example, the U of M scientists studying contaminants may rely on plankton samples drawn up in nets by Laval biologists.
The whole point of the project is to look at the entire physical and biological system in the flaw leads, instead of looking at ice, water, gases, animals and plants in isolation. And that means more co-operation between scientists than usual.
"It really is like one big family," says Joanne Delaronde, a Winnipeg-based fisheries technician who functions as Stern's right hand.
"This is not just a ship we all go on and then go home. We're all happy when we succeed, and we're all sad when we fail."
Success and failure, however, are measured in terms of the ability to gather data. Bright, calm days when the Amundsen does not have to move and break ice provide that opportunity.
But not every morning begins with spectacular sundogs and clear, blue skies.
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