Storm front over Churchill, Manitoba

I watched this terrific storm roll in over what remains of NASA’s rocket centre. I thought to myself, this is like an aurora. If they were still here, maybe they would launch a rocket into it. Maybe.

It’s been a long week, and a tough shoot. We are without a bear guide. I have a gun license. This means in addition to two camera, a tripod, lights and mics, I am now carrying a winchester 12 gauge shot gun. I am the last line of defence against 1,200 pounds of giant white predator. It’s more than I bargained for.

Sometimes, while I am walking along this great moon landscape, gun in one hand, mk11 in the other, I think to myself, this is my life.

How did I get here?

Churchill, Manitoba

I spent Canada day on a small plane, flying North. I’ll be here in Churchill for the next week filming a story on biting flies, which is a good, because this town seems to have lots of them.

Initial impressions; Big Sky, smells of summer. The sun never sets, the bugs never sleep, and the men are rugged (which is just how I like them.) I could get used to this place.

Along with the Pine Tree Line and the Distant Early Warning Line, the Defense Research Board is established, with the sole purpose of assessing chemical and biological agents with defense capabilities. The greatest biological threat a northern solider will face – the biting fly.

The Northern Insect Survey, conducted between 1947 and 1962, remains the most extensive insect survey in North American History. By the time it was completed, over 72 sights were sampled, all with the sole intent of assessing how troops would withstand northern climates in the event of a Soviet invasion. In the end little was done with the data, and for years it lay mostly dormant in the Canadian National Collections on Insects in Ottawa. Until Now.

The Biological Survey of Canada, a joint initiative by the Royal Ontario Museum, McGill University and the University of PEI, will recreate the Northern Insect Survey at 12 key locations over a two-year period. The timing of this project is imperative; Today the Arctic is among the most fragile ecosystems on earth. The immense environmental pressures increase annually as the effects of global warming are felt most acutely at northern latitudes. With their diversity and potential for rapid population growth, arthropods can serve as barometers of environmental change. In recent years yellow jacket wasps have been observed on Baffin Island, an unprecedented site, and believed to be only the tip of the iceberg for northern arthropod populations.

In the coming weeks I will travel to Churchill, Manitoba, to document this project. There will be biting flies and midnight sun, and if I’m lucky, the odd polar bear. No word on whether the Russians are planning an appearance yet.

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe.

Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

Stripes!

Blue!

Angles!

Lines!