Deadhorse Diary 2005

We did not fly yesterday because of conditions. This plague of high wind and low ceilings continues unabated, compounded by freezing rain and drizzle in the area. But, the winds seem to be dropping in velocity. Today, we headed to the airfield around 9:30 a.m. in order to launch the flight and see what conditions were like offshore. We were hoping to get out and do a few transects. We got to the ERA hangar just before the airplane was pulled out to the ramp. The ramp mechanic raised the overhead door. The noise sounded like the tune-up of a hopelessly out of tune symphony orchestra, with particular cries of agony coming from the woodwind section. The airplane was pulled out of the hangar and we climbed on board.

We launched without any incident. Cruising toward the coast it appeared that the ceiling was dropping offshore. Our progress confirmed these conditions and we decided to terminate the flight before flying any transects and head back to the airfield at Deadhorse. This is the third time we have gone up for a sneak and peek only to find that conditions were not right for the survey.

The team continues to meet every two hours, gathering at 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to check the weather and decide whether it warrants going up. The result of these gatherings is predictable; nothing looks particularly good, so we decide not to dispatch. The forecast is for improving conditions on Monday and Tuesday, possibly into Wednesday, before the next system moves in with increasing winds

We did not fly on Monday due to low ceilings across the North Slope. The wind died down and the fog seems to have settled on the entire breadth of the Slope from Barrow to the Canadian border.

Today, near perfect conditions were reported at Barrow. We decided to head west. Conditions at Prudhoe Bay are less than the minimum required for departure, so we wait at the hangar waiting for the horizontal visibility to improve. The runway visual range increases above the minimum about 45 minutes lately and we load the airplane and go.

We do the entire block 12 area off Barrow. Conditions are near perfect. The sea surface is the calmest I have seen it on any flight this year and ceilings are not a problem. Yet it appears as though this block, and possibly the one adjacent to it, block 3, is the only areas where conditions are sufficient to allow us to conduct the survey. We do 6 legs in Block 12, during which we encounter more than 50 beluga whales in one group and 3 bowhead whales. We also see many whaling vessels congregated offshore and later learn that the Native Village of Barrow whalers have taken 3 bowhead whales as part of their subsistent hunt. We avoid flying near them so as not to disturb their activity.

After the survey in Block 12, we land at Barrow to refuel before doing a survey in block 3 enroute to Deadhorse. Fueling takes nearly two hours. Actually, fueling takes about 20 minutes, we have to wait for 1 ½ hours for our turn. It seems that with thewhales that need to be processed, all but the most essential personnel from the village are down at the beach helping with that community task. One person has remained at the airport to refuel aircraft while his co-workers have joined the others in processing the whales.

We depart Barrow and head to Block 3. We do four legs of the survey, but fading light and other conditions force us to terminate activity in Block 3 and head back to Prudhoe Bay. We see no critters during our survey of Block 3. Conditions permitting we will head back there in the morning. Total time on search today, including the time on the ground for refueling, is approximately 8 ½ hours.

In the picture at the left, the slick areas are forming sea ice. We record ice conditions and coverage as part of our observations.

Once again, conditions prevent us from flying today. But as with every day we check in every two hours to see if conditions have changed enough to let us fly. Reports across the slope indicate pretty poor conditions, so we stay grounded. My replacement came in today, so I will head back to Anchorage tomorrow.

The Autumn migration of the bowhead whale out of the Beaufort Sea, when we do our aerial survey, coincides with subsistence hunt of the whales by the villages along the North Slope. Another hunt occurs in the Spring during the bowhead whale migration into the Beaufort Sea. Subsistence hunting in general, and for the bowhead in particular, is the activity around which the villages are socially and culturally organized. In these villages, with a limited cash economy, subsistence harvest of these animals is a form of social security for the elders of the village. The activity also represents the continuity of the culture from one generation to the next. As indicated above, we avoided flying near the boats involved in the hunt near Barrow. We give the hunt activities a wide berth so as to not to interfere or intrude.

From reading this log, you can see that during my tour our flight time was limited due to weather conditions. That is the nature of the climate at the top of the world. Perhaps there is another explanation. Upon my return home, I started reading a recently-published book, Entanglements: The Intertwined Fates of Whales and Fishermen, by Tora Johnson. While the book explores right whales and activity that poses a threat to their existence in the North Atlantic, the author opens Chapter 5 with the following passage that originates from the North Slope of Alaska:

The Great Spirit...made a special time each spring, when the ice of the ocean would break apart to form a road where the whales would swim. In the whale road, the Open Lead, the whales would come to the surface and wait to be struck by the harpoons of the Inupiaq. They would continue to do so every year as long as the Inupiaq showed respect...as long as the Inupiaq took only the few whales that they needed in order to survive.

But the Great Spirit decided this also. At that time of year when the Open Lead formed, when the whales came to the surface to be hunted, the Great Spirit made it so that a heavy cloud of thick mist would hang just above the ice, just above the heads of the whales and the Inupiaq. The thick mist would hang there between the sea and sky. "Though I give you permission to kill my most perfect creation," the Great Spirit said, "I do not wish to watch it."