1 July 2014 From Long Lake to Russell Glacier .... reported by the Ukaleq Group

We went to Long Lake at the beginning of the day, where we met Dave Watts, a biologist from Penn State, whose group has been working in Greenland for several years. There we got to see one of his experiments, which explores how a one or two degree warming could effect the flora in the area. We then were assigned to help collect samples for Swedish scientists who will use them in their own experiment concerning chemical defense mechanisms in the leaves.

Each group collected around one hundred 10 cm stems of dwarf birch and several leaves from the same stalk. After finishing, we had some lunch and had some free time to explore the area. Several of us walked up to the top of the bluff, where we saw a tuttu (reindeer), skin of a musk ox, and a little bird that couldn’t fly, and a great view of the area.

Once we were finished with lunch and exploring, we drove a little bit before hiking to the edge of Russell glacier. We had to walk about 2 km over a ridge before we got the first breathtaking sight of the glacier. It was a wall of ice about 20 meters high and at the very bottom of the glacier, between the ice and us, there was a small river. We weren’t allowed to get too close to the river, in the event that one of the lakes burst and floods it. There was an incident about two years ago where hikers were too close to the river and were killed in a flash flood.

Erica gave us a brief lesson on the geology of the rocks on the shore. We were looking at banded gneiss, which is a highly metamorphous rock. It was probably granite originally but once under extreme heat and pressure, the rock changed. We also saw chunks that had looked like they had almost liquefied, giving it a different texture. We also learned about the fossils, and how they wouldn’t be present in this type of (igneous) rocks.

Tonight was also the Greenlandic program, which the Greenlandic students prepared and executed beautifully. We got to try several different authentic foods, such as dried fish, smoked halibut and salmon, a type of cracker called hard tack (skibskiks in Danish and galleta in Spanish), and some clams. We were then given a brief history on Greenland and heard several myths. Tupilaks are bone animals and were used for sorcery against your enemies, but were a bit risky and hinged on the fact that you were stronger than your enemy (otherwise, the sorcery bounced back to you). The Greenlandic students told us more about mask dances, celebrations, and old religions (nature, souls myths). We then got to watch a movie called Shadows of the Mountain (Qaqqat Alanngui), a horror movie, which is about a Mountain Walker (qivittoq), a type of person unique to the Greenlandic tradition. A mountain walker is a human, who walked out of society to live in nature as hermits. Some people believe the mountain walkers receive supernatural powers and became superhuman (but, as Ivik explained, it is probably because they have lived in the nature and have become strong). There are stories of friendly mountain walkers, with agreements of trade (city members give the mountain walker bullets and rifles and the mountain walker hunts and delivers meat). Then there are neutral mountain walkers, who just observe. Then, there are the “crazy” mountain walkers, who are so mad with humans and civilization that they attack any human they see, generally innocent bystanders.

Overall, it has been a very interesting day, as all days have been so far!!

Words of the day (Greenlandic, Danish, English and [Spanish?]

Nagguteeqqat, Skibskiks, hard tack, captián galleta

Sermeq, gletsjer, glacier, el glaciar

fotosyntesi, fotosyntese, photosynthesis, la fotosíntesis