Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2007

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Wed 19th Sept, 4pm GMT (12noon Montreal)
Watch Shona’s video diary, direct from Ny-Alesund, Svalbard (duration: 1:12 mins). Thank you for all your initial questions! If you are a pupil at Heritage Regional High join Shona online for a live QA at 4.30pm GMT (12.30pm Montreal).
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Join Amy’s Live Arctic QA

Wed 19th Sept, 10.40am GMT (11.40am UK)
Following Amy’s video diary broadcast she will be online live from the Arctic for 30 minutes to hear your responses and to answer any more questions. The live QA will take place on the link below from 10.40am GMT onwards on Wed 19th Sept.
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Tuesday,Sept.18,2007

Its been great here.  We’ve been working really hard.  Today as you probably already know I saw a reindeer from only approx.5 meters away. Too cool, and we did a dance.  If you look on the photos posted up on the web you notice that we’re all wearing blue hats, these hats represent creative partnership, back in London we had an interview with them it was really cool. They’re friendly ppl.  Also, we got interviewed several times by T4.  For those who have no ideal what T4 is, it’s a T.V. channel that is exactly like the cw11 or KTLA.  The shows supernatural, smallville, gilmoregirls, and one tree hill is on it.  It is my absolute favourite channel.  Anyhow back to the expedition, we’re getting along really well and I couldn’t hope for more .Last day we were asked to think up of a word that represents what we’ve been feeling through this exhibition and my word was FREEDOM.  The power to feel free is a gift.  There is no pressure, and best of all no expectations.  Ppl don’t judge you and you are not expected to be anything other than yourself.  Therefore, I’ve finally let my personality shine and I’m really happy.

I am enjoying every moment and I am not looking forward to the end of this expedition.  I would love for it to continue, because it has placed me in a realistic environment, in which I can learn and improve.

If anyone is wondering why my title is “Password, “Darling”” it is because everyone on board calls each other darling.  This is how close we’ve all become.

Who are all these darlings, there they are
The cape Farewell students, Liam, Ina, Franzi, Joe, Amy (love), Hayley, Shona, Akash, Jethro, Doriana, Nonie, and myself.
The Adults Cape Farewell, Colin, Suba, Jess, Keith, Mark, Joe, Duncan, Dan, Rebecca,
The Adults Boat Crew who have become part of the team, Anna, Christian, Barbarra, Renzkee, Gert

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Mark Masin in front of the Noorderlicht.

Wed 19th Sept, 10am GMT (11am UK)
Watch Amy’s video diary, direct from Ny-Alesund, Svalbard (duration: 1:13 mins). Thank you for all your initial questions! If you are a pupil at Moorhead join Amy online for a quick QA at 10.40am GMT (11.40am UK).
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Hello all,

It’s been a while as we have mainly been on the boat or a glacier and no where near a computer, let alone internet connections! Mobiles don’t work up here as their are no masts, which is good as they would interfere with the research scientists satellite uplinks and other equipment. A LOT has happened since I last wrote anything on my blog, we arrived at Ny Alesund on Saturday afternoon, and spent the evening getting ourselves sorted out. On sunday we went to the Kinsfjord glacier for a reccy and to experiment with makiing artworks from natural materials. As we were walking up the glacier, which was very slippy, I fell backwards, which was quite funny fr about two seconds until my camera fell onto my eyebrow and split open, blod was dripping in my eye and all over the ice, which looked quite cool once I had got over the shock. Christain, the guide who protects us from Polar Bears and provides us with fascinating info and facts about Svalbard (he is a DUDE!!) rushed over and checked my injury out, he says I’ll probably have a scar. Currently have a very nice black eye!!! The kids were great and they were all really concerned, they are such a great bunch of people who are working so well together and doing so much great stuff, it is an inspiration to work with them!

I am soooooooooooooo glad I bought the Arctic weather boots as they have kept my feet seriously warm, wellies just would not have done the job. It is pretty cold here, though today it’s not so bad, I think it’s about 2 degrees celcius, has been minus 5 and with the wind chill factor it gets really cold!!!! We saw a reindeer yersterday, in London, we visited an island called Blomstrand which used to be part of the peninsular when it was attached to the mainland by glacier, however because that has now retreated it is no longer part of the mainland. London was a small mining community, on Blomstrand, that didn’t fare too well and is now just rusting ruins. The reindeer was casually grazing on the sparse foliage and was not that bothered by our presence, we also saw a seal last night, it was in the water so I not sure what type it was. Lots of birds – gulls, guillemots, sandpipers and types of finches. It is really beautiful and peaceful here, I don’t want to come back to smelly, crowded London!

Being here has really brought home the impact we are having on the planet and how fragile life is, we are doing so much damage and not that many people seem to care, it makes me really sad and scared for the future!!

Gotta get off now as live blogs are happening, will try and speak soon!!!

Jess xx

So I’ve now seen my first reindeer up close and personal!!! We were hiking on one of the mountain slopes when we came across a reindeer. It was grazing on vegetation…not really bothered by our presence. These animals are not migratory and not really social animals, therefore you will hardly ever see them in groups. So far, we’ve seen two reindeer and they were both alone.

We found out yesterday that dwarf birch is now being found on Svalbard. A species, which normally grows at or near the treeline in the Arctic. Its presence on Svalbard would generally indicate that the climate has warmed enough to have a change in plant species composition in this part of the Arctic. I cannot imagine what this area will be like 15 years from now. Will we see trees? If so, how will this affect the herbivory patterns of the reindeer?

We spent the day looking at zooplankton under the microscope to see whether there are any changes in the zooplankton communities in a site far from a glacier (more saline) vs a site closest to a glacier (less saline due to an input of fresh water in the ocean). We are still on the hunt for results!

Read more as the das pass…we only have one more full day in Ny Alesund before we sail back to Longyearbyen.

So far, it has been an adventure of a lifetime…

Hello again, Sorry about the problems on the blog, it was a problem with the host of the website.
The first days in Ny Alesund have been great! Ny Alesund is a scientific research community which we are docking at for the next few days. The water here is wavy because weather is getting rougher.

Yesterday we went back to the glacier that I shot my video next to, we didn’t walk on it this time but we created a brilliant piece of art using the ice. We made a sort of wall with a seat in the middle, it’s hard to explain but it was incredible. While we were doing this we saw a huge piece of ice break off the glacier. The noise that it made was thunderous!

Today we went to London; it’s an island just off the shore of Ny Alesund. When we went up to the top of the first hill on the island we saw a reindeer. It was incredible, we went within a few metres of it and it just briefly looked at us and carried on eating the plants there. To those that asked I’m working on the bangin’ arctic tunes.