A Staten Islander’s travel diary: Visiting the arctic for summer solstice

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — As a native Staten Islander living in South Beach, I have always enjoyed the warm, hazy, yes, and even the “sticky” summer months.

On June 20, the first day of summer, the sun beamed down, giving Staten Island approximately 15 hours of daylight.

As much as I love the long summer days on Staten Island, this year I wanted to experience the “midnight sun” in the Arctic, where the sun doesn’t set for about four months. So, I joined an Arctic expedition.

As I typically do before I embark on a journey, I prepared for the expedition.

I examined a map to compare my Staten Island location with my destination. I learned that the territories of eight countries are located in the Arctic: USA (Alaska), Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia.

I decided to access the Arctic via Svalbard, Norway, so I traveled from Staten Island’s 40-degree line of latitude to my expedition’s starting point on the Svalbard Archipelago, in Longyearbyen, at 78 degrees 13’ N, well above the 66 degrees 34’ line of latitude that defines the Arctic Circle.

Prior to embarking on this exciting journey, my reading list included Barry Lopez’s epic, “Arctic Dreams,” the 1986 recipient of the National Book Award. His passionate descriptions of the magnificent landscapes, the free-roaming wildlife, and the hearty indigenous people whose lives are dependent upon the environment truly whet my appetite to experience the reality of his words.

I wanted to compare his observations from about 40 years ago with the current situation.

Of course, my one-week expedition in the Arctic pales in comparison to his extensive multi-year exploration resulting in the publication of his book.

I also updated my knowledge base by supplementing my reading with several current Arctic research articles about the climate, the flora, the fauna, and the Arctic atmosphere’s effects on our planet.

In addition, I watched an informative PBS Nova documentary, “Arctic Drift,” which describes a year-long data collection and analysis project on the high-tech icebreaker, the Polarstern, where researchers from 37 countries examined the effects and challenges of the fast-melting Arctic ice on the Arctic wildlife and the rest of our planet.

What is the summer solstice?

After about 112 days of perpetual polar night darkness with temperatures being as low as -46 degrees Celsius (-50.8 Fahrenheit) in Svalbard, Norway, the gradual reappearance of the sun in early March marks the start of an amazing rebirth in one of the most isolated, desolate areas on earth.

Over the course of about four months (i.e., about 125 days) the midnight sun provides 24 hours of daylight.

During my week-long expedition, the summer air temperature ranged from 1 degree to 6 degrees Celsius (i.e., 33.8 degrees to 42.8 degrees F) — It was cold for summer!

In Latin, “solstice” means “the sun stands still.” In the Northern Hemisphere when the earth has its maximum tilt towards the sun, the sun is the farthest north, and, hence, there is more daylight. It is on this day in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the first day of summer — the summer solstice.

This year it was celebrated on June 20, when I was on board an expedition ship cruising through sea ice in the bay of Russebukta, Norway.

Although there are various rituals and customs throughout the world for celebrating the summer solstice (e.g., Stonehenge in England) those on the expedition celebrated with an on-deck barbecue cruising through sea ice.

While Staten Islanders may have been sweltering in the heat, I was bundled up with gloves on, eating corn-on-the-cob, spare ribs, salad, focaccia, beans and ice cream (with chattering teeth)!

During the expedition, we traveled a total of 950 nautical miles between the lines of latitude 77 degrees 00’ and 78 degrees 13’N.

Except for one very stormy day, we experienced calm waters, allowing for safe Zodiac cruisings and many landings. We were very respectful not to inadvertently drop any trash (e.g., tissues, candy wrappers), and for each landing, we had to disinfect our boots to avoid transporting any destructive pathogens.

Spotting wildlife

On our first exciting day, we were scheduled for a Zodiac landing, but polar bears were sighted and for obvious safety reasons we were only able to observe the bears from a Zodiac, by cruising from a distance.

A mama bear was leading her two cubs through the snow, most likely looking for their next meal.

We learned that an adult bear, an animal not to be reckoned with, is imposing, standing between 7.25 and 8 feet tall, weighing between 900 and 1,600 pounds, and living up to 30 years.

Insulated fur protects the bears from the extremely harsh climate. Needless to say, I felt safe viewing them from a distance.

On the second day, I looked out my cabin porthole, and I saw (and luckily captured with my camera) a huge walrus on an ice floe, ready to jump into the water.

A typical walrus is between 7.25 and 11.5 feet long, weighs up to 1.5 tons, and lives up to 40 years. Walrus’ extremely blubbery bodies help them to survive in the severe Arctic environment.

Usually encountered in a herd, it was surprising to see a lone walrus alongside the expedition ship. Several days later, it was exciting to see a herd of about 30 walruses huddling and lounging very close together on a beach in Poolepynten.

During the one-week expedition, the polar bears and the walruses were just two of the 21 different types of mammals we observed in their natural habitat.

Two mammals that appeared in several locations during our landings were the Arctic fox and the Spitsbergen reindeer.

We also encountered 43 different types of birds.

In particular, I enjoyed observing the Kittiwakes, the Arctic Skuas and the Arctic Terns. They scout out the area looking for their next meal. Kittiwakes and Arctic Terns scour out looking for sand eels and herring; the Arctic Skuas prey on other birds and their eggs.

If I had not joined the expedition, I could never have imagined that the Arctic is more than a block of ice — It is the home of so many beautiful, majestic mammals and fast-flying birds.

Noticing Flora

On our last day, we visited an Arctic “forest” on St. Jonsfjorden. I learned that the very small willow tree “stub” will not grow much taller than a few inches due to the permafrost that prevents the roots from sinking into the ground for nutrients and structural support.

I was not familiar with the vibrant Mountain Avens and Purple Saxifrages that grow throughout the area. I had no idea that there was such a variety of colorful flowers in the Arctic.

As we hiked through the “forest,” we had to be very careful not to crush them with our protective heavy duty rubber muck boots.

Preserving the Earth

This was truly a breathtaking experience that opened my eyes, my heart and my mind to the challenges of finding ways to save our planet.

I witnessed firsthand the severity of the melting ice, glacial erosion, and the potential effect on wildlife, plant life, and the atmosphere.

The Arctic environment can be furious and fierce, and yet it is fragile. What happens in the Arctic and in Antarctica affects the entire planet.

I have returned to Staten Island with great respect and admiration for scientists who are studying ways to preserve our home planet.

I firmly believe that we must examine and adjust our attitudes and our selfish human behaviors to do our part in preserving Mother Earth.

(Dr. Frances R. Curcio is an Arrochar resident and a professor emerita of mathematics education, Queens College of the City University of New York. Her previous travel articles have been about Antarctica, Easter Island, and Iceland. She can be reached at frcurcio@aol.com.)