Ice breaking up on Hudson Bay at Churchill (June, 2014)

The fog we experienced when we arrived at Churchill on June 29 was probably the result of the ice in Hudson Bay breaking apart a few days before. Madison always got foggy before the lakes froze or thawed. Fortunately, thanks to a couple of students, Katerina Sofos and Ryan Rimas, from whom I’ve stolen borrowed shamelessly, I’ve been able to get some pictures of what it looked like.

The ponds melted first, as you’d expect since they were shallower. There was still snow on the ground in June.

The ice or snow is on the rocks near the Bay, and melts in a way reminiscent of glaciers. Here’s Katerina being braver than I’d ever be:

And this is Ryan, who’s doing some really interesting work with CO₂ emissions of Churchill soil. Southern Californians, please note the shorts:

Of course, you don’t go out in Churchill without being armed and ready for polar bears:

This, I think, is Ryan. Here he is with Katrina. For once in my life, I’m relieved to see a gun in the picture.

You can see that the shallow waters are melting as the ice farther out is breaking up. The ice seen here is about half the average thickness on the bay (winter ice averages about a meter thick on the bay), so it’s been melting for a while. The polar bears live on the ice, so you always carry a gun.  Always.

Here’s more of the ice, this from Jeffrey Tran:

From the shadows, this must have been about 10 pm, with the sun going down in the west (to the left). I think  Alexandra Goodman is in the following pictures as well, taking time off between the 8 pm Mesocosm reading and the midnight reading with red-bulbed flashlights:

I would have liked to have seen the ice break up. Maybe some day.