Welcome to Alaska, where's the sign?

Sunday, 13 June 2010 14:51 Written by Dave Freeman

We have become accustom to hearing “Gale Warning in effect” when we turn on our VHF radio to listen to the weather forecast. The Dixon Entrance is a 40 mile long section of coastline that is missing the protective outer islands that keep the full brunt of of Pacific Ocean's storms from reaching the mainland. The British Columbia/Alaska Border runs right down the middle, and we were not sure when Mother Nature was going to allow us to pass.

Before leaving Prince Rupert, BC, we called the US customs to let them know we would be crossing the border. The first person I talked with said that is was impossible to cross the border by kayak and that we would need to drive across the border, clear customs, and then start kayaking. Since we don't have a car, and there are no roads in this area we decided to try and different number, hoping for a second opinion. Luckily the customs officer in Ketchikan was very friendly and instructed us to check in at the customs dock when we arrive in Ketchikan. Ketchikan is about 65 miles from the border, and he wished us luck and added that it might take us a while with the strong winds that are being predicted.

With the customs officer's blessing we paddled hard for the Dixon Entrance, racing a large storm that was moving in from the northwest. Half way through our exposed crossing of the Dixon Entrance we camped at Cape Fox. Rounding Cape Fox is the crux and it felt a little strange to be camping in the shelter of a tiny island in the middle of this exposed coast. We pitched out tent in the shadows of towering old growth cedars and fell asleep listening to the ocean waves crashing on the exposed white sand beach next to our campsite.

The next day, everyone was up early listening to the weather forecast. The seas were calm, but the winds were expected to reach 45 knots by evening. We quickly packed our kayaks and hurried north, hoping to reach the relative protection of Foggy Bay, 15 miles to the north, before the gale closed in.

As we bobbed in the swell, Clayton remarked that we hadn't scene any Orcas yet, and talked about how much he wanted to see one. With in minutes the characteristic long black dorsal fin of an Orca broke the surface 100 yards off shore. Three Orcas swam past, our official welcome to Alaska. We pulled into Foggy Bay at 11 AM and contemplated continuing on since it was so early, but the winds were showing signs of picking up. The thought of the coming storm prompted us to seek shelter on a small island ringed with white sand beaches. A couple hours later the gale arrived. Bringing rain and wind that has pinned us down for 24 hours. Winds over 40 knots and 22 foot seas are predicted for tonight in the Dixon Entrance. We feel lucky to have made it to Alaska and hope that Mother Nature will allow us to continue north to meet up with the friendly customs agent in Ketchikan soon so that we can make our entry into Alaska official.

Answering the Question "What makes the oceans salty?"

Monday, 07 June 2010 16:09 Written by Dave Freeman

This was a tricky question for us to research while we are out paddling. Luckily, our friend (and future Expedition Team member), Ellen Root, is a geologist and she had an answer for us. Here is what she said:

Here is one way to think about the answer to Amy’s question:

The Earth’s crust is made of rock.

Rocks are made of minerals. You might have heard of minerals such as quartz, garnet, muscovite, or gypsum. Minerals are made of elements like iron, aluminum, sodium, and 115 other known elements, including elements with silly names like ununoctium.

The elements within minerals are held together by chemical bonds.

When rocks are exposed at the Earth’s surface, they are exposed to things like sunlight, rain, wind, snow and ice, plants trying to grow on them, and many other forces.

These forces can act on exposed rocks and cause them to start breaking down. This process is called weathering. Rocks can experience physical weathering, when they break into pieces, and chemical weathering, when the bonds that hold elements together break and release the elements.

Chemical and physical weathering often happen at the same time.

Water is usually a part of weathering. It transports both physically weathered pieces of rocks (think stones in a streambed) and elements that have been freed from rocks.

Feldspar is the most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust. It is estimated to form about 60% of all igneous rocks. The mineral feldspar contains the elements sodium, potassium, calcium, silicon, and aluminum in it. That means there are a lot of these elements in the Earth’s crust. Sodium is the element that is most important to answering our question, so let’s focus on elemental sodium that is freed from rocks through chemical weathering and transported by water to the world’s oceans.

The oceans are very large, with big currents that circulate and mix water from different areas together. This means that sodium that flows out of the Mississippi River will eventually mix with sodium from other rivers to make the oceans have a relatively homogeneous (or constant) sodium content.

The world’s oceans have a lot of surface area for water to evaporate from. When water evaporates, it leaves behind dissolved elements like sodium. This concentrates sodium in the world’s oceans, and is one explanation for why ocean water is salty.

To summarize: water dissolves elements like sodium from rocks on the Earth’s surface and transports these elements to the oceans. In the oceans, the water evaporates and leaves behind the sodium. This concentrated sodium is what makes ocean water taste salty.

This being said, the world’s oceans are very complex with many forces and factors that affect their composition. Can you add another level of complexity to this answer and help Amy learn even more about ocean salinity? Let us know what you find.

A Closer Look at Temperate Rainforests

Monday, 07 June 2010 08:24 Written by Dave Freeman

In last week's Cast Your Vote, you had the chance to pick a topic to study. Plants of the Temperate Rainforest won by a landslide over Kelp and Plants of the Intertidal Zone. We hope this Notes From the Trail provides you with all the information you would like to know about Temperate Rainforests. For more information, we encourage you to check out Unit 3 of our Curriculum Guide or any of the links provided below the article.

Temperate rainforests of the world are shown in dark green. Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temperate_rainforest_map.png

What is a Temperate Rainforest?

A temperate rainforest is basically a rainforest found in a temperate climate. In other words, these forests receive a high amount of rainfall, but have a cooler average temperature than tropical rainforests. Did you know that the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest is the largest temperate rainforest in the world? This temperate rainforest extends along the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska south through Canada to California. Temperate rainforests can also be found in South America, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Scotland.

Temperate rainforests get a lot of rain, up to 80 inches (200 cm). In some areas, such as Olympic National Park in Washington, the rainforest receives over 167 inches (425 cm) of rain per year. That’s almost 14 feet (over 4 meters)! Temperate rainforests have heavy fog in the summer time. The fog creates the humid conditions required by epiphytes and other rainforest plants, like ferns.

Epiphytes are plants that have no roots and don't touch the soil in any way. Instead, they actually grow on other plants and draw their water from the moist air of the rainforest and from rainfall!

Temperate rainforests are usually found close to the ocean. There are just a few inland pockets of forests that fit the basic definition of a temperate rainforest. However the majority of these forests are located close to the coast where ocean rains provide the climate necessary to sustain the plants of the rainforest.

Biodiversity and Biomass of Temperate Rainforests

Temperate rainforests have a long growing season. Unlike tropical rainforests, temperate rainforests have a major change of seasons. Temperatures change from 80°F in summer down to near freezing in winter. The cooler temperatures mean that temperate rainforests are not as biodiverse as tropical rainforests. This means they contain fewer different species of plants and animals.

The coniferous temperate rainforests of the U.S. Pacific coast have the highest levels of biomass of any place on earth. Biomass means the total amount of living things in a region. While there may not be as many different species as a tropical rainforest, trees and plants still grow very well here. These are among the most productive forests in the world—producing more biomass than tropical rainforests. Temperate rainforests have fertile soil. This is a result of all the dead materials rotting into the soil. Decomposing matter releases nutrients back into the soil and is good for growing thick stands of fast growing trees. Trees grow tall here – sometimes over 250 feet and their trunks can reach 15 feet across. Some of these trees can live for 500 years!

Layers of the Temperate Rainforest

The temperate rainforest has three layers. They are the canopy, understory, and forest floor.

Canopy: The canopy is the top layer. The canopy is dominated by tall conifers. These conifers grow year-round, so they can get massively tall, up to 300 ft (91 meters)! There are many bird species that depend on the canopy of the temperate rainforest. However, fewer animals can be found in the canopy of temperate rainforests compared to the canopy of tropical rainforests.

Understory: The understory is the middle layer of the temperate rainforest. The understory is composed of small, shade-loving trees.

Forest Floor: The forest floor is the lowest layer of the temperate rainforest. On the forest floor, there is a thick covering of lichens, mosses, and small plants. The forest floor is also covered in decomposing conifer needles, leaves, branches, twigs, and fallen trees. The soil is full of nutrients from all the dead organic material. The cool temperatures mean that material is broken down much more slowly than in the tropical rainforest. Most of the animals of the temperate rainforest live on or near the forest floor.

Plants of the Pacific Northwest

Conifers are the most common type of tree in the Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest. The dominant tree is the Douglas Fir, which grows up to 280 feet (85 meters). It is one of the tallest trees and is considered one of the most important trees to the timber industry. Further south, the great redwoods grow in northern California, reaching over 300 ft (91 meters) tall. Douglas Fir seeds are an extremely important food for small mammals. Mice, voles, shrews, and chipmunks eat the seeds in the cones that drop from the Douglas Firs.

Western Hemlock can grow to be 130 ft (40 meters) tall and live up to 500 or even 1,000 years old. Their trunks can be more than 100 ft (30 meters) around! Western Hemlocks have a shallow root system, which allows them to grow almost anywhere—on decaying wood or raw humus, but this the drawback is that they are susceptible to blow-down. Western Hemlock is an important food source for deer and elk.

Western Red Cedar is also found throughout the Pacific Northwest. It is also a large tree, ranging from 40 to 150 ft (12 to 45 meters) tall and up to 22 ft (7 meters) in trunk diameter! Historically, it has been a very important tree to many First Nations throughout the Pacific Northwest. The cedar wood would be used for constructing housing, totem poles, and crafting objects like masks, utensils, boxes, instruments, and even canoes. Roots and bark would be used for making baskets, ropes, rings, blankets, and clothing.

Other trees that grow in the temperate rainforest include Sitka Spruce, Noble Fir, and Pacific Silver Fir. Smaller trees include Big Leaf Maple, Dogwood, and Vine Maple. The forests are shady and damp, so shade-loving underbrush thrives here. Some of these plants are Pacific Rhododendron, Blackberries, Salmonberries and Thimbleberries, Sword Ferns, Devil’s-Club, Redwood Sorrel, moss and lichens. Many varieties of mushrooms, toadstools and fungi thrive in this shady, moist environment.

To learn more about Temperate Rainforests, check out Unit 3 of our Curriculum Guide or follow the links to any of the resources below.

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/jason/xv/docs/TempRain.pdf

Temperate rainforest canopy critters

http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ican/education/trfwebsite/canopycritters.h
tml

Great activities for grades 4-12

http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ican/education/trfwebsite/curriculum.html

http://biology.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_temperate_rainforest_ecosystem#ixzz
0kqUctVOp

Temperate rainforest description

http://www.worldbuilders.org/lessons/less/biomes/rainforest/temp_rain/temprain.html

Olympic National Park

http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/temperate-rain-forests.htm

http://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=44&detID=590

Temperate Forest Foundation teacher resources

http://www.forestinfo.org/Teachers/index.htm

Raincoast Conservation Foundation, with blog written by researchers

http://www.raincoast.org/

Visiting the School in Bella Bella, British Columbia

Sunday, 30 May 2010 19:39 Written by Dave Freeman

In last week’s Cast Your Vote, you decided that we should visit the school in Bella Bella and ask students questions you provided.  I am happy to report that we had a great visit to the school in Bella Bella.

As Dave and I walked to the entrance of the school, we noticed rows and rows of bicycles.  These bicycles were decorated with brightly colored streamers.  When we walked inside, none of the students were in the classrooms.  All of the students and teachers were outside on their sports field.

We quickly learned that this was “Sports Day”.  It happens once a year.  Every grade participates.  They had a bicycle parade in the morning.  Then the field was divided into stations, so teams of students would rotate through all sorts of activities.  The activities were things like soccer, shot-put, high jump, balloon popping, nail pounding, long jump, and face painting.  It looked like a lot of fun!

Dave interviewed about 15 students.  Here is what we found out:

What do you do for your birthday?

They have cake and blow out candles.  They invite their friends to birthday parties. Their celebration is very similar to what we do in the United States.

What do you do for fun?

They like to play X-box 360, ride bikes, go fishing, and play outside.

What is your favorite food?

Students’ favorite foods were Chinese food, pizza, meatballs.

What is your favorite animal?

Half of the group said dogs and the other half said cats.

The Bella Bella school was a very nice place.  They have a Cultural Center right inside the building!  Most of the students are Heiltsuk, which is the First Nations group of people native to this area.  All of the teachers work to blend Heiltsuk traditions with their teaching.  The average class size is 15 students.  The school is currently monitoring a Sandhill Crane nest.  They get live video from a camera near the nest.  Apparently the eggs will hatch any day now.  They are also planning to set up a camera near a river, so they can observe the Grizzly Bears feeding during the salmon run—right in their classrooms!

Thank you for suggesting that we talk to students.  We had a lot of fun at “Sports Day” and the students enjoyed answering your questions.  Did you see some similarities to between what the students in Bella Bella like compared to what you like?  Are there any differences?