July 12, GM, DC and Greenland
Sure it's 85 degrees and as hot as it ever gets in Grand Marais, but that isn't stopping us from thinking about the future. On July 18, 2006 OWE will make another summer attempt at crossing the ocean's broken sea ice from the North Pole to Cape Morris Jessup, Greenland.
The 50-day expedition will cover 540 miles pulling 160-pound modified whitewater canoes. We expect to reach landfall by September 5th, the last day of 24 hours light and the start of fall storms and precipitation. The route was picked due to favorable southerly drift of the sea ice.
The team will be flown to the expedition's start at the North Pole by Russian helicopter out of Norway's Spitzbergen Island. At Cape Morris Jessup, Greenland's northernmost land and expedition's finish, the team will be picked up by Twin Otter aircraft and flown back to Canada or Iceland then home.
John Hoelscher sends this message: We arrived at the anchorage in front of the East Greenland town of Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund), located near the northern entrance to Scoresby Sound - the world's largest fjord complex, around midnight. This isolated town of around 550 people was established in 1925 when families from the Ammassalik District, around 700 km south, were brought north to this location. It was known that it was rich in marine life and food for the people who traditionally catch seals, walrus and polar bears. Also on the land in the fjord system muskoxen can be found grazing on the grasses and lichen.
Ann reports from Washington D.C.: I'm also involved in the ship tour the Arctic Sunrise will be making down the east coast of the U.S. in early September, working with communities in Massachusetts and New York to promote and implement cleaner, climate-friendly forms of energy such as offshore wind. Stay tuned for more details on this leg of the tour, or check the Project Thin Ice Web site
July 5, East Greenland
My daily duties on board the ship have been to be on Watch twice daily for 4 hours, maintenance to the ship's equipment and field training and logistics support for the science programs. I have been training some crew in glacier travel, safety in the field and Greenlandic customs and way of life up here.
The past two days we were at anchor at the end of Scoresby Sound, the world's largest fjord (350km long) in a sheltered bay with icebergs drifting by, and high mountains (up to 1800 m) and glaciers drooping down off the distant ice cap. The lower land here has some green grass, flowers and shrubs, and musk oxen and arctic hare have been sighted nearby. The air temperature is about 5 degC, and today the wind was calm. The past few days there have been low clouds and fog, but that lifted yesterday to reveal these majestic peaks.
The past two days I have been assisting two glaciologists in surveying the velocity of the nearby Daugaard Jensen glacier. We have now left this site and are looking down the fjord to see if the weather will allow us to conduct further glaciology in Vestfjord, otherwise we will go on to the town of Ittoqortoormiit (Scoresbysund) to visit the locals, catch up with friends and interview some of the elder hunters etc about what they've witnessed with regards to climate change. We have quite a few adventures in store the next two months. We hope to head north toward Zackenburg arctic research station in Greenland's national park (the world's largest) and then head south around southern Greenland and visit some towns and glacial areas on Greenland's west coast. I'm sure I will have plenty to talk about once I return to Australia in September.
June 27, Grand Marais, Minn.
Though the expedition was unsuccessful in dealing with the ocean conditions off the Russian coastline, it was successful in reaching our main goal of bringng attention to Global Warming issue.
With figures still coming in, the One World Expedition garnered tens if not hundreds of millions of media impressions worldwide on Global Warming. A more precise number and list of media will be available in the next few weeks. We along with Geenpeace, our environmental and communication partner, will continue our campaign to fight global warming and bring you more updates from the ice through our 2006 Oceans project.
June 22, Grand Marais
Life does not stop for very long. In Grand Marais, we are already busy with planning and preparation for the summer of 2006 - One World Expedition, the next step. Please keep posted for more exciting information on this upcoming expedition.
In the mean time, we are both keeping busy with preparations and planning. Lonnie has been working with images from the expedition and contacting sponsors and doing research for next summer. I am escaping for the moment and riding my bike around Lake Superior. I hope to make the entire 1300 miles in a little over a week. That means, riding around 150 miles a day.
Stay tuned for more biking, polar and Grand Marais news!
June 15, Grand Marais
You are probably wondering what it was like out there on the Arctic Ocean so far away. We would like to share some of our experiences with you so that you can better understand the conditions that we faced.
Leads were always difficult to cross. They also changed in character throughout the trip and the day. Intially, we had to cross leads that looked a lot like this picture. They were full of brash ice and many times we had to jump from ice chunk to ice chunk just to get across. Of course, this would also make the ice unstable for the second person which would compound the problems even more.
One day we paddled across lead after lead after lead. It was fun paddling the boats because we actually made good time on the water. The stressful part was finding a good landing spot and hauling the boats up and out.
Later in the trip we even had one glorious day where we didn't have to get in our boats to cross large leads. We simply skied back and forth and found a narrow spot. Of course, this was only one day and the next day we were
back to our old arduous routine.
June 13, Grand Marais
It's hard to believe we are home - especially since we almost didn't make it. A four hour train ride from Washington D.C. to New York, another hour on the subway and then our flight was cancelled?!? We were beginning to wonder if we would ever be able to come home. Everything everywhere just seemed difficult.
But here we are, home. What a magical place. Friends, family, support and safety (there are no polar bears in northern Minnesota). It is so weird not to be on the sea ice and instead sleep in a comfortable bed.
Since John and Ann are driving the OWE truck full of gear back to northern Minnesota, they thought they'd take advantage of this opportunity to see a bit more of the world. First stop: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they moseyed through gorgeous green hills, Amish farm country. After a tour of an old flour mill and a stop at a farmer's market, it was on to Niagara Falls, which oddly enough appeared to be a cross between Las Vegas and the Wisconsin Dells.
We thought we'd post this shot of Ann and John; however, look forward to more exciting images from the ice. We spent the morning sorting through our pictures from the expedition and hope to share these amazing scenes with you. Stay tuned for drama, intrigue, adventure, and of course, more global warming news.
June 10, Washington D.C.
It's not that we don't like the East Coast, Washington D.C. and New York and it's not that we don't like the warm weather, either. (Well, actually, we are having a hard time dealing with the humidity.) But Dorothy knew what she was talking about when she philosophised, "There's no place like home."
Tonight we will board a train to New York, hop the subway to the airport and then fly home to Minnesota. We have been recivilizing in stages after being picked up off the sea ice exactly one week ago. Going back to Grand Marais will be the final leg of our journey away from the sea ice and our dreams.
What does it mean to travel from complete solitude to the chaos of New York in seven short days? What will we say to our friends and family to accurately describe our experiences? These are questions whose answers will only come with time.
Still, there are bigger questions that need to get answered. What is happening on the Arctic Ocean right now? Who will go there to document these changes? How can each of us make a difference? While bigger in one sense, these questions exist within the context of our current knowledge.
We will continue to train, to educate and to explore. Please stay tuned for more exciting information from the One World Expedition.
