Edgeøya and Barentsøya Islands, Svalbard
As we endeavor to explore polar Svalbard, we gain appreciation for lifeforms that make a living at an extreme end of our planet. Here in the midnight sun of summer, this surreal icy realm and the organisms that have adapted to survive in it are exposed to us.
This morning we traipsed across arctic tundra at Russebukta on Edgeøya Island, over spongy, lumpy mats of tenacious vegetation. Here, inches above the permafrost, mosses, mushrooms, mustards, sedges, sorrels and saxifrages bounced beneath our feet. We found polar bear scat tagged by that of an arctic fox. Intact reindeer antlers lay strewn on the arctic carpeting like some white calligraphy, telling of annual rack ridding and a lack of calcium-seeking rodents.
Hikers encountered a loose herd of somewhat curious Svalbard reindeer, subspecies and relative of North American caribou whose ancestors probably once walked over ice from Greenland. Browsing the tundra ingesting summer vegetation to fatten themselves up, leading a lazy life due to a lack of predators, and having unique squat insulative bodies are all designs for life on the frozen edge.
On a series of small lakes we found eiders and long-tailed ducks rearing their young, as pink-footed geese, now flightless in catastrophic molt, strode the shore and red-throated divers flew overhead vocalizing loonily. Back at our landing beach we took time to collect plastic and other drift debris, participating in a Clean Up Svalbard program, to remove inanimate material incoming on polar currents.
Through Freemansundet Channel, between islands named for early visitors Englishman Thomas Edge and Dutchman Willem Barentsz, we scanned the shorelines for polar life and were not disappointed. Quite impressively, our sharp-eyed naturalist spotters discovered no fewer than seven polar bears on shore! Discerning distant creamy white living dots from white rocks, ice, and driftwood against an austere dun landscape, we were then able to maneuver the Endeavour in to enjoy observation of these apex arctic animals near at hand.
Polar bears stranded ashore in summer when the pack ice has gone out may have a hard go of it; it is certainly interesting to be able to see a cross-section of their behaviors in one afternoon. One bear lay like an oversized sheepdog in front of a hut above the shore, demonstrating that inactivity in hard times can be a survival strategy. Surprisingly, one bear scrambled high on a loose scree slope, while another poked around beneath a kittiwake colony in guano-enriched vegetation. Another ice bear lumbered along the shoreline as we tracked along.
We reflected upon our day’s discoveries of life high in the Arctic over cocktails, dinner, piano playing and a serene visit to the surreal soft blue waterfall-lined edge of the enormous icecap of Nordaustlandet Island. Tomorrow morning the pack ice and what life it holds await us for discovery.
