February 18- Arctic Doug Answers Many Questions
Hi Everyone! We are back in Tuktoyaktuk for a bit more filming. We are staying and James and Maureen’s B&B. I just stepped outside and saw a nice display of the Northern Lights! They were gone before I could grab a camera, but with any luck I will send you some pics before we leave. In the meantime here are some other images of some of the beautiful sites we’ve seen. 
The sun never gets much above three or four fingers above the horizon, and moonrises are also nice and slow!
Here are some answers to your questions from our visit a few weeks back!
Question: Are sundogs dangerous? Nope, but they can be very pretty. When ice crystals appear they create what appears to be a rainbow around the sun. Here is a little one. If you could see the whole sky you could tell this tiny rainbow is part of a sundog!
Here is another dog that is not at all dangerous:) He’s one of Judy’s leaders, but I don’t remember his name.
Today we filmed as we drove up the ice road. The ice varies in appearance. Sometimes it is covered by snow, but in my opinion once you get onto the Beaufort Sea you find the most beautiful ice.
Oh, and regaring Muskees under the ice- here’s what I learned: I guess we are too far north for Muskees, nobody has seen them up here. There are other fish, like Northern Pike, and I’m told they feed all winter rather than hybernate. They likely slow down much, but remember it is much warmer in the water than on land! It’s a bit odd to be driving down the road and pass by frozen boats, but after all the ice road is just a frozen river.
I also wanted to show you that even your eyelashes end up frozen around here.
Someone asked whether people own cars or snowmobiles. I’ve seen both but what I see most often are GIANT trucks-you’d think you were in Texas or something. They are often diesel powered, like this one that we are driving. Diesel does better in extreme cold weather, although you still have to plug your truck in at night or the engine will freeze. There are quite a few places you can’t go with these big trucks, so many families also have snowmobiles-especially up here in Tuk.
Question: Why do ice storms fly? I think this was your question, Charlie. What I’ve learned is that it is very dry here- the snow is too dry for building snowmen, or making good snowballs. So this lack of moisture makes the ice crystals very light. When it is windy, and it often is windy here, the snow and ice sail right through the air! Here’s a picture of the snow blowing and forming these little mounds.
The sun never gets much above three or four fingers above the horizon, and moonrises are also nice and slow!
Here are some answers to your questions from our visit a few weeks back!
Question: Are sundogs dangerous? Nope, but they can be very pretty. When ice crystals appear they create what appears to be a rainbow around the sun. Here is a little one. If you could see the whole sky you could tell this tiny rainbow is part of a sundog!
Here is another dog that is not at all dangerous:) He’s one of Judy’s leaders, but I don’t remember his name.
Today we filmed as we drove up the ice road. The ice varies in appearance. Sometimes it is covered by snow, but in my opinion once you get onto the Beaufort Sea you find the most beautiful ice.
Oh, and regaring Muskees under the ice- here’s what I learned: I guess we are too far north for Muskees, nobody has seen them up here. There are other fish, like Northern Pike, and I’m told they feed all winter rather than hybernate. They likely slow down much, but remember it is much warmer in the water than on land! It’s a bit odd to be driving down the road and pass by frozen boats, but after all the ice road is just a frozen river.
I also wanted to show you that even your eyelashes end up frozen around here.
Someone asked whether people own cars or snowmobiles. I’ve seen both but what I see most often are GIANT trucks-you’d think you were in Texas or something. They are often diesel powered, like this one that we are driving. Diesel does better in extreme cold weather, although you still have to plug your truck in at night or the engine will freeze. There are quite a few places you can’t go with these big trucks, so many families also have snowmobiles-especially up here in Tuk.
Question: Why do ice storms fly? I think this was your question, Charlie. What I’ve learned is that it is very dry here- the snow is too dry for building snowmen, or making good snowballs. So this lack of moisture makes the ice crystals very light. When it is windy, and it often is windy here, the snow and ice sail right through the air! Here’s a picture of the snow blowing and forming these little mounds.
posted by Arctic Doug and the 109'ers at
9:47 PM
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