Riding the wind through the channel

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Well today was our first field day on the Mackenzie delta and the weather apparently did not know this, or maybe it did.... Sue is studying the landscape-level variation of dissolved organic carbon amoung the delta lakes, particularly the effects on food web structure and implications of the future (ie global warming). We roared down the silt filled channel in our 16 foot motor boat. Sue says that the river is low this year, meaing that there was not as much of a flood this year. The banks of the river looked like perfectly aligned vertical stacks of mud with trees leaning directly at us as we passed by. The trees lean in toward the centre of the channel because the permafrost beneath them is melting in the summer sun (24 hours/day of it!).

Our first lake was 20 mins by boat down a small channel off the main channel. The first time going down all these different channels is completely confusing, but im sure I will get used to it😊 As we exited the boat on the bank of the river just across from our first lake we were immediately attacked by, I swear, and infinite supply of fricken mosquites! I had a fabulous bug net on but they still fricken bite through that!!! The space on my wrists between my gloves and sleeves was only momentarily exposed as I tied up the boat and carried our gear, but the beasts managed to use there supernatural exposed skin seeking sense to zone in on the slim window of opportunity and bite me there too!!! We dragged our canoe out of its sneak storage place (right near the edge of the river hee hee) and off we went to hunt for the much sought after and praised...ZOOPLANKTON. We paddled around this first small lake many times until we had what Sue thought was enough "little guys" to use. We then leaned over the boat to collect water samples in 1L bottles and a small area on my back between the top of my pants and the bottom of my jacket was exposed...ATTACK of the FRICKEN Mosquitoes! GRRRRRrrrrrr! Once we competed the canoe work Sue climbed into her waiters, which could probably fit 2 of her, and used the kick filter to get mud. The mud went into the seive and we sorted out fresh water clams. The clams will be used for benthic analysis because they are such efficient filter feeders.

The next two lakes that we visited were connected to the channel and accessible by boat. Sue drove around the lakes several times and I held the zooplankton net. It is like flying a kite (only under water...). On our last lake we pulled into the shore to get our benthic samples, turned off our engine, and when we were ready to leave the motor would not start. Jolie and Sean had been having problems with the motor before and told us to fiddle with the pull start but we did this and pulled the pull cord out way too far and it was jammed. So we tried to take off the top to get to the pull cord and unjam it. Unfortuately, the tool box we were given for the boat did not have the right tools to undo the screws holding the lid on. So we used the plyers and pretty much striped the screws, but eventually got them off. and got the boat going again...45 mins later, the whole time swarmed by FRICKEN mosquitoes!.

On the way back it was extreamly windy and the channel waves were throwing us all over the river, it was very hard to control the boat, so much FUN!

When we got back to the research centre we had to sort all the "little guys" by species while they were all still alive (mostly copepodes, clam shrimp and water mites) and filter all the seston out of the water samples. That is what Aquatic ecology is all about I am told😊

Long, cold, buggy day in the field! SO worth the adventure😊

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Photos

First day of field work
There is Sean getting ready to give Sharon a canoe lesson