The hut which is my home away from home for several days in Barrow.

Inside, the curve of the walls stands out. I am enjoying the last couple days on shore before heading to the ship.

This morning we woke to a thick dusting of snow which did not melt as the day warmed. We are staying at the facilities of the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium, or BASC, which is a kind of clearinghouse for many research projects that are based in this area. The area also houses the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife, and I?isa?vik College.

This bowhead whale skull stands in front of the college. Subsistence hunting of bowhead whales continues to be an important cultural feature of this area. The autumn hunt begins tomorrow here in Barrow – perhaps over 30 people will launch in small boats from the beach outside of town in the morning, seeking to find and land a bowhead whale.

Our study is the lead project on the science portion of the cruise on the US Coast Guard Polar Sea which begins tomorrow. Several other projects and a total of 24 personnel are involved in the science portion, and in the last three days, everyone has arrived in Barrow and found temporary accommodations. Tomorrow morning I will get up early and walk over to a small warehouse with a large load scale, and, hopefully, beginning at about 715am, each person will come by and we can count, weigh, and label their baggage. Two helicopters and one small boat will be used to ferry people and luggage to the icebreaker, which is planned to be anchored several miles offshore to the west. Simultaneously, 32 people and all of their luggage will be disembarked from the ship. After several meetings and rounds of organization today, the schedule seems to be on track.

Cruise track for HEALY Arctic West Summer Cruise 2008, Leg 4.

The principal work of the first evening included the project of Kate Stafford from the University of Washington, who is retrieving and redeploying moorings placed on the seafloor which are equipped with hydrophones to listen for the sounds of various marine mammals, including seals, walrus, and beluga whales, but with particular emphasis on recording the sounds of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), the sounds of which can be heard at: http://www.dosits.org/gallery/marinemm/15.htm.

The bowhead whales are one of the key marine species in the ecosystem, and important for traditional Inuit culture — their meat and blubber a source of food, and their bones used as sled runners and in house construction. Their baleen (the horny plates in their mouths with which they filter the small shrimp-like euphausiids and copepods — their main food), as shown in the baleen model boat in Day One’s blog, was put to many traditional uses in Inuit culture: as a tough cordage for seal and fish nets; for short lanyards and lashings on sleds; as the tip of dogsled whips; for hunting snares for birds and rabbits; bent into boxes for keeping harpoon heads; made into traditional Inuit snow goggles to prevent snow blindness from glare off snow and ice; as a brow on hats for kayakers to keep spray out of their eyes; as fletching on spears and arrows instead of feathers; and as large knives for cutting ice for igloos, and smaller story knives used to tell stories by ‘drawing’ in snow or dirt. Baleen was also woven together without being cut to form racks hung from the ceiling for general storage, and as floorboards in the traditional semi-subterranean Inuit houses shown in the Day One blogs: a sort of Inuit linoleum! And, in earlier times when warfare between native groups existed, it was also used as plates woven together in the construction of armor. Making of woven baleen baskets was an innovation of the late nineteenth century begun by Barrow resident Charlie Brower.

The bowhead whale is still the principal whale hunted off Barrow. Getting an accurate count of bowhead whales has been a key issue for scientists and the Inuit people for many decades to ensure their proper management and conservation. Preliminary information on the results of the annual aerial survey, along pictures of bowhead whales may be found at: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/cetacean/bwasp/index.php. Kate’s hydrophone arrays are deployed offshore of the 100 meter depth line at two locations along the coast in groups of three to allow tracking of whales passing along the coast. Their batteries allow them to operate for a year. In the first day of science, the arrays already deployed from the previous year are retrieved by positioning the ship over their location and generating a specific series of tones which activates an acoustic release. Floats which had remained submerged with the hydrophones are then released from their bottom weights, and the hydrophone and floats drift up to the surface where they are located by a small boat, and passed off to the ship, which then hoists them back onto the deck.

Coast Guard small boat used to retrieve moorings by snagging their floats after release from seafloor.

Once the hydrophones are retrieved, Kate downloads the data from the past year collected by the hydrophones, changes out the batteries and data recording computer hard drives, and later in the cruise will redeploy them. Of concern when retrieving the hydrophones is the ability to find them if there is heavy ice. High resolution (100 meter) satellite images have been requested by the ship showing where the ice is located.

100 meter resolution Radarsat satellite image showing ice concentrations in Beaufort Sea off Barrow, Alaska.

This imagery is from a Radarsat satellite, which is particularly useful as it can see through the ubiquitous fog. In areas where ice concentrations are heavy, hydrophone retrieval can be delayed until the ice has moved away, and the likelihood of retrieving the moorings is more certain: better to wait a bit for conditions to improve than risk a full year’s data.

The principal components of hydrophone mooring array, shown in the photo below being disconnected from the cable by Kate Stafford of the University of Washington and John Kemp of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, are the hydrophone and acoustic release. When the mooring array is redeployed, a float is put over the side first. It is the float which provides the lift to allow the hydrophone and acoustic release to surface, be located by a small boat and retrieved. After the float goes over the side, the hydrophone, and then acoustic release go over, and last of all the weight for the mooring anchor is put over the side. When everything is in the water, the ship is positioned precisely over the desired mooring location, and a manual release is used which, when a rope attached to it is pulled, drops the weight at the correct location, and the entire array is pulled downward to the bottom, where it remains until the ship returns to ‘ping’ the acoustic release with the precise acoustic series of tones to retrieve it a year hence.

Hydrophone and acoustic release mooring components.

Float, weight, hydrophone and acoustic release.

Manual release for weight.

Bowheads were among the whales fairly heavily hunted during the golden days of whaling in the second half of the nineteenth century. Bowhead populations in advance of this period have been cited as about 16,000 animals, although of course, it is impossible to know for certain their historical abundance. The current estimate of the Beaufort-Chukchi-Bering Sea bowhead population is about 8,000-10,000 animals. The numbers of these whales seems to be stable and actually increasing. It is important to get good data on their numbers and habitat use as changes occur in sea ice and ship traffic in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.

Each year the bowhead whales migrate south through the Bering Strait in the winter to avoid seas completely covered with heavy ice, so that they can continue to surface and breathe. In the spring they migrate north from the ice edge in the Bering Sea into and through the Chukchi Sea, and many migrate north around Barrow and then east along the coast toward the Canadian arctic and Northwest Passage channels. Maps of the migration routes of some whales tagged by Alaska Fish and Game Department personnel can be seen at http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=marinemammals.maps&name=8-10.jpg. As winter arrives, the whales return south along the coast to the Bering Sea.

Interestingly, the bowhead whales are often accompanied north by beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas), the truly “white whales” of the northern seas. Because of their much smaller size, the belugas cannot easily break through the ice to make breathing holes themselves, and follow the bowhead whales using them as their own ‘icebreaking vessels’ to access more northerly waters in spring. Once in the Beaufort Sea the bowhead whales appear to distinctly prefer the waters closer to shore along the Alaskan North Slope, while aircraft sightings and tagged animals show that belugas remain further offshore in deeper waters, with a fairly distinct separation of habitat use. The fact that bowheads prefer the more nearshore waters along the North Slope makes them potentially more susceptible to increased human activities, and Kate’s project all the more important to contribute to continued monitoring of population levels.

Hunting whales by certain arctic peoples is much more than simply an avocation or way of harvesting food. This is perhaps difficult for outsiders to fully comprehend, but whaling in traditional Inuit and other arctic whaling cultures was, and still is, almost a religious or deeply spiritual enterprise, surrounded with rituals of moral purification and behavioral restrictions. It is still emphatically pointed out that one does not actually hunt whales, but one simply goes hunting for whales: it is the whale that gives itself to the hunter and whaling crew which has strictly maintained the traditions associated with successful whaling. In the arctic this invariably includes, among many other things, widespread distribution of the animals taken to everyone in the community, and other communities as well, practices which are still sustained. George Naekok, who is with us as an Inuit observer on this cruise, has been whaling most of his life.

Barrow resident George Naekok.

Insignia of the Barrow crew which includes George Naekok.

It is a short hop by air from Dead Horse on to Barrow. Nok Aker, whose full name, Nokinba, is the Inupiaq word for snowy owl, meets us while we wait for the luggage.

Nok Aker, on the left, and Michael Donovan, on the right.

He is great, maintaining the tradition of the hospitality of the north. In the hours and days that follow we quickly learn that the weather, even now in mid-summer, can change very quickly from pleasant and warm to damp, rainy, windy and bitingly cold. But happily for us, extremely strong winds the preceding days have blown in ice from the open sea, which drifts slowly and beautifully along the gravel beaches of the coast.

Coastal sea ice.

Ice! It is a wonderful sight, and seems to structure the entire ecosystem and community. The locals in Barrow are happy to see the ice too, and launch boats to hunt seals on the ice almost around the clock in the 22 hours of sunlight at this time of year.

The ancient village site of Barrow was known as Ukpiagvik, which means “The Place Where We Hunt Snowy Owls.” Along the beach bluffs the mounded semi-subterranean whale rib and driftwood house beams are visible in the soil where the ancient houses are eroding into the sea.

Welcome to Ukpiagvik.

Ancient house mounds.

Driftwood beams from ancient house eroding into the sea.

Me beside a whale rib house beam sticking out of the ground.

A semi-subterranean house door.

The village of Ukpiagvik was occupied for more than a thousand years, but like many arctic coastal archaeological sites is gradually eroding into the sea. The loss of such important arctic archaeological and cultural heritage sites is exacerbated by rising sea level and increased exposure to spring and autumn storms in the face of decreasing periods of winter coastal ice protection. However, as in the past, the lifestyle of the local people in Barrow remains focused on the resources of the sea: whales, seals, and walrus, and fish, with trips inland to hunt caribou.

The feeling of tradition in Barrow is very strong, we ask questions of all the local people we meet, starting to learn from them about their history and lifestyles. At the Inupiaq Heritage Center we meet the carver of a baleen boat.

Artist Larry Okomailak with his baleen boat.

He is the great-grandson of a Hawaiian who sailed on a whaling vessel to San Francisco in the late 1800s and was shanghai’d on a whaling ship to Alaska, where he stayed to raise a family, whose descendants include this artisan. He is a contemporary example of the historical mix of Barrow traditions that included New England whalers, Hawaiians who came north on whaling vessels (voluntarily or not), and those of the local Inuit. The carver points out that the sail on the baleen boat is multicolored, with stripes of grey, tan, and white. I had noticed it wasn’t the usual black baleen. He explains that colored baleen develops only in old whales: female Bowhead whales must be old enough to have calved at least several times to develop baleen with such colors, and males had to be even older to have baleen with such hues. Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) often live to well over 100 years old, and older whales with such baleen are rarely taken, so it is hard to find such colored baleen to include as the sail of his model boat. With this knowledge suddenly the baleen boat takes on a much greater meaning as a work of art and craft and cultural tradition.

Like many things in Barrow, I continue to realize that just as the mist and fog move in from the ocean and hide the land periodically during our visit, and clear away to reveal the crystalline beauty of the ice, I must look deeper and ask more questions to understand the many and rich traditions here, half revealed and half hidden like the ancient semi-subterranean houses.

An umiaq, circa 1884. Photo taken during first International Polar Year.

Bowhead whale hunting was, and continues to be, important to the Iñupiaq culture—not just for the food it provides, but for the sense of community and cooperation it creates. The whales can weigh as much as 60 tons, which means they have to be hunted by groups of people working together with a whaling captain. When they kill a whale, the Iñupiaq thank it for giving its life to them, and the whole community shares in its bounty. Much of the equipment traditionally used by their ancestors, including a umiaq, or sealskin canoe, is still used today.

An umiaq near Barrow, 2008.

Contact with Europeans came in 1826, when two British men arrived and renamed the area Barrow (the Iñupiaq named it Ukpiagvik, “the place for hunting snowy owls”). By 1854, the first commercial whaling ships arrived at Barrow and trade began between the Iñupiat and European whalers. From 1852 to 1854 the British overwintered twice looking for a lost expedition. Shortly afterwards, the first commercial whaling ships arrived at Barrow and trade began between the Iñupiaq and whalers from the East Coast of the United States.

In addition to skins and whale, seal, and caribou meat, the Iñupiaq traded ivory and crafts.

Trade and contact with the outside world changed the Iñupiaq way of life. They acquired new technology, including guns, which they incorporated into their traditional hunting methods. Missionaries arrived in the late 1800s, introducing western religion. Contact also exposed the Iñupiaq people to new diseases. As a result, the population declined until western medicine was introduced in the 1920s.

In the last fifty to one hundred years, the people of Barrow have seen rapid change. The North Slope is home to the largest oil reserve in the Arctic. The oil and gas industry has brought many new jobs to the area. Barrow is also part of the North Slope Borough, a large incorporated area established in 1972, which has also added government and private jobs as well as modern conveniences. Now, light is supplied by electricity instead of seal oil, for example, and dogsleds have been replaced by snowmobiles.

Snowmobiles have replaced dogsleds in the Arctic; here, they even replace the dogs.

Today, 60 percent of the people in Barrow are Iñupiaq; 98 percent of the people in the other seven North Slope villages are also Iñupiaq. While much has changed, many traditions remain. The Iñupiaq continue to do subsistence whaling and other hunting, for cultural as well as practical reasons (food is very expensive there and hunted food is much healthier than store-bought). Many Iñupiats work part time to accommodate their subsistence way of life, and some jobs are structured so they can take “subsistence leave.” With climate change looming, however, the Iñupiaq people are now in danger of losing their major food sources as well as some of their traditional ways of life.

Iñupiaq Barrow resident Ida prepares whale meat with a traditional Iñupiaq knife.

The Artic summer welcomes many species of whales back from lengthy migrations, including the gray, blue, fin, and minke whales, but a fascinating trio—the bowhead, beluga, and narwhal—make their home in the Arctic and subarctic year round.

Bowhead

The 50-to-60-foot-long (15 m–18 m) bowhead spends its life near the edges of the sea ice, migrating as the ice expands or recedes with the seasons. It’s protected from the cold waters by a thick layer of blubber, and its exceptionally strong triangularly shaped skull lets it break through a foot (30 cm) or more of ice to breathe.

A bowhead breaking through the ice. Illustration by Craig George.

The bowhead is a baleen whale. Instead of teeth, it has several hundred fringed plates, called baleen, that hang down from its upper jaw and filter small prey from the water. When feeding, the bowhead swims with its huge mouth open, taking in enormous amounts of water and trapping copepods, krill, and other drifting crustaceans.

Bowhead whales are the only species of baleen whale that live in the Arctic year round.

To some indigenous Arctic people, such as the Iñupiaq of the Barrow, Alaska, area, the bowhead has been a major food source, with the whale hunt a centerpiece of their culture for at least 2,000 years. Commercial hunting, which took place mainly between the mid-1800s and the early 1900s in the western Arctic, has been banned since 1946, but the International Whaling Commission allows subsistence hunters to take a specified number of bowheads each year.

Bowhead whale bones, like these in Barrow, Alaska, are a common site in areas with populations of subsistence hunters.

The long history of bowhead hunting is helping to shed light on the lifespan of these whales. Several bowheads caught near the turn of the twenty-first century were found with old harpoon tips in their bodies, while others contained stone spearheads. In conjunction with other evidence, these weapons suggest that bowheads can live for well over a hundred years—quite possibly making them the world’s longest-lived mammals.

The bowhead got its name because its upper jaw has some resemblance to an archer’s bow. Its head is immense, making up about one-third of its body length.

Beluga

Beluga whales by the edge of the ice.

As the bowheads migrate northward, following cracks in the ice known as leads, they are often accompanied by belugas. One beluga population migrates from the Bering Sea to the Beaufort Sea, as does the main population of bowheads. But the two whales are quite different.

The beautiful beluga, also known as the white whale because of its adult coloring, is of medium size as whales go, with a maximum length of 20 feet (6 m). It’s a toothed whale with a varied diet that includes fish, squid, shrimp, and marine worms. The beluga itself is prey for orcas, polar bears, and some indigenous Arctic people.

A friendly surfacing beluga.

Belugas are a sociable bunch, often gathering in large numbers, and most of them are chatty as well. Their vocalizations, which include whistles, clicks, and grunts, earned them the nickname “sea canary.” In the summer, different groups of belugas will come together in the relatively warm waters of estuaries and the nearby coastal waters. Beluga mothers seem to find the quiet estuaries ideal for raising their newborns or yearlings—but it’s also a good environment for the belugas to molt. They have extremely thick skin that they shed all at once each summer, often rubbing on the bottom of the estuary to speed the process along. New skin cells grow rapidly.

Like bowheads and narwhals, belugas have no dorsal fin– enabling them to swim more easily under the ice.

Once commercially hunted, the much-admired beluga is now a star attraction in the growing ecotourism industry. It‘s also a poster child for ocean conservation. As a top predator, it’s being contaminated by toxic chemicals that are concentrated high in the food chain.

Narwhal

Closely related to the beluga, the slightly smaller narwhal that’s found primarily in the eastern Arctic shares many biological and ecological characteristics with the white whale: It’s usually found in groups, it’s quite vocal, and it has a similar diet. What distinguishes the narwhal from the beluga—and from all other creatures—is its magnificent tusk.

The tusk of a full-grown male narwhal can extend up to half of the whale’s body length.

Unlike the tusks of elephants and other animals, the narwhal tusk is a tooth. This whale has two teeth. In the male, the left tooth grows out through its lip, reaching a length of about 9 feet (3 m). A small percentage of females grow a shorter tusk, and males occasionally grow double tusks.

During medieval times, narwhal tusks were sold for vast sums in Europe as unicorn horns, which were thought to cure a variety of diseases and even to neutralize poisons. It wasn’t until the late seventeenth century that the origin of the tusks started to become known.

A drawing from 1820 of a narwhal– or, as labeled here by the illustrator, a “unicorn.”

But the discovery of the “unicorn of the sea” created a scientific puzzle—what was the purpose of the tusk? Many theories were proposed; for example: males dueled with their tusks, they impressed the ladies, they punched holes in the ice; they poked the ocean floor to find food. None of the long laundry list of theories gained general acceptance, though.

In 2000, dentist and marine mammal researcher Martin Nweeia, long fascinated with the narwhal’s extraordinary tooth, became the principal investigator for the Narwhal Tooth Expedition and Research Investigation. A multidisciplinary team was established, and what they found was remarkable. Using an electron microscope, the researchers determined that about 10 million nerve endings tunnel from the core to the outer surface of the tusk. That makes the tusk an incredible sensory device, capable, the scientists think, of detecting slight changes in temperature, pressure, and much more. The tusk might let a whale know when the sea is about to freeze over, for example, or give it other life-sustaining information about its environment.

While narwhals are often spotted swimming in groups of 15 to 20, narwhal gatherings of hundreds– and even several thousand– have been reported.

The narwhal is faced with the same threats as the beluga, but it’s under additional pressure from hunting because of its valuable tusk. A tusk sells for several thousand U.S. dollars, while a rare skull with double tusks can cost $30,000 to $50,000, and sometimes even more. The United States and a few other countries forbid the import of narwhal tusks, but there are markets around the world clamoring for them. Scientists and environmentalists urge better oversight of narwhal hunts as well as lower, strictly enforced catch limits.