Magdalenenfjord, Svalbard
Still surprised by all the Arctic has to offer, we enjoyed our last Zodiac cruise today around the broad bay at the end of Magdelenenfjord. We watched yet another bear sleeping on the fast ice, doing what polar bears often do, uninterested in us. We meandered through broken sheets of ice, and from the boats we again saw our familiar friends, the black guillemots and the ever-present predatory and ominous glaucous gulls. Whether out on deck looking for polar bears, or enjoying the antics of the smaller seabirds, we have all come away with a deeper appreciation of this region and what it has to offer, at least to those prepared to look beyond the charismatic polar bears, wily foxes and the lounging walruses.
Along with the seabirds, eider ducks and barnacle geese cruised along the shorelines, all anxious to lay their eggs and raise their chicks, busily taking advantage of the brief Arctic summer. Two walruses lounged on a beach still covered with snow, and a few bearded seals were hauled out on ice floes. The snow will soon turn a pinkish hue, and the sea ice a greenish-brown, all evidence of the phytoplankton blooms which form the basis for the food chain in this ice-driven environment. Pack ice is just beginning to look off-white by the growth of diatoms, and at times confusing the eyes that search for ice bears. Under that same ice and below the surface or the nearly frozen ocean we have seen video footage of the delicate soft corals, anemones, comb jellies, nudibranchs, crabs and much more.
There is life everywhere, even in this apparent desert of white. This is usually a frozen place, but for a brief period it is teeming with life, and we have been privileged to witness the abundance and diversity of all kinds of plants and animals in this seemingly bare and inhospitable land.
Still surprised by all the Arctic has to offer, we enjoyed our last Zodiac cruise today around the broad bay at the end of Magdelenenfjord. We watched yet another bear sleeping on the fast ice, doing what polar bears often do, uninterested in us. We meandered through broken sheets of ice, and from the boats we again saw our familiar friends, the black guillemots and the ever-present predatory and ominous glaucous gulls. Whether out on deck looking for polar bears, or enjoying the antics of the smaller seabirds, we have all come away with a deeper appreciation of this region and what it has to offer, at least to those prepared to look beyond the charismatic polar bears, wily foxes and the lounging walruses.
Along with the seabirds, eider ducks and barnacle geese cruised along the shorelines, all anxious to lay their eggs and raise their chicks, busily taking advantage of the brief Arctic summer. Two walruses lounged on a beach still covered with snow, and a few bearded seals were hauled out on ice floes. The snow will soon turn a pinkish hue, and the sea ice a greenish-brown, all evidence of the phytoplankton blooms which form the basis for the food chain in this ice-driven environment. Pack ice is just beginning to look off-white by the growth of diatoms, and at times confusing the eyes that search for ice bears. Under that same ice and below the surface or the nearly frozen ocean we have seen video footage of the delicate soft corals, anemones, comb jellies, nudibranchs, crabs and much more.
There is life everywhere, even in this apparent desert of white. This is usually a frozen place, but for a brief period it is teeming with life, and we have been privileged to witness the abundance and diversity of all kinds of plants and animals in this seemingly bare and inhospitable land.
