Travels with Louis
Day 13 — Citizen Science
Location: 71°58.466'N 95°36.660'W
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The Coast Guard is in the Arctic to wave the flag, to aid shipping, to maintain navigational
aids, to support communities and to exhibit a Canadian presence in a place where citizens
are few and far between. But one of the main objectives of the Louis, and a task for
which she's very well outfitted, is science. At the moment there are a few scientists
aboard conducting various experiments. Later, however, when Aquin and I get off in
Kugluktuk, more than a dozen other researchers from Canada, the United States and Japan
will board to continue a whole series of climate, ice and ocean-related experiments.
That's all pretty serious business, but Carmack, who is a very serious scientist
himself, has been doing a little experiment with beer bottles over the past few years that
is quite intriguing and absolutely accessible to non-scientists. The idea is simple. You
put notes in dozens of beer bottles saying, "When you find this, let me know when
and where." You seal the bottles and drop them into various places in the ocean and,
when they're found, you'll have a portrait of how ocean currents move around
the world. Carmack got Peter Mansbridge and the crew to toss a few bottles into Bellot
Strait today and they loved it. Carmack's website
shows the results.
Posted by James Raffan on Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Day 14 — An American Adventurer on Sovereignty
Location: 69°01.952'N 105°12.580'W
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It's been a funny day today. Stopped about 12 kilometres offshore from the hamlet
of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The National crew flew in to mount the news from there and
some of the rest of us headed in by boat to have a look around town. At one point,
one of the shore party boats ran out of gas and drifted for a while before help came.
Chief mate Ken Brown, who was at the helm of the disabled landing craft, was encouraged
by his fellow strandees to "call the Coast Guard" to describe his dilemma.
He was not amused.
Tied up at the wharf in Cambridge Bay is a boat called Arctic Wanderer. I stopped in for
a chat with captain Gary Ramos, an American who is intent on sailing "around the
North Pole." He had run into trouble (his exhaust system had failed and sucked sea
water into his engine and fuel system) and had spent the winter on his little sail boat
in Cambridge. Brrrrrrr! When he crossed into Canadian waters, having sailed around Alaska,
he stopped in at Tuktoyaktuk and phoned Canada Customs to let them know he was planning
to sail through our waters, in keeping with Canada's voluntary registration for ships
heading through the Northwest Passage. Apparently the customs officer said, "You're
calling from where?" And, when he explained the location of Tuk, he laughed and said, "Have
a nice trip." Good thing he's not a terrorist or at the helm of a big rusty
oil tanker!
Posted by James Raffan on Wednesday, August 2, 2006
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