Solar Wind Sparks Awesome Aurora

On Sunday afternoon March 6th, there was growing excitement about the anticipated geomagnetic storm! A stream of solar wind from a coronal hole on the sun was about to arrive. We were in the right place, the waning moon would not be out until early morning, the wind was not much more than a gentle breeze, and the skies were clear! At twilight, we began to search the skies for a hint of coming lights. It did not take long since the lights were already dancing above us, just waiting for darkness to begin their show.

Aurora was all around us at different points in the night. At home in Maine or Massachusetts, we would look north if we wanted to see the aurora. Since we are located directly under the auroral oval in Churchill (58 degrees north), the aurora could appear in any direction including south if it was a powerful storm. The auroral oval (think doughnut) bulges during a geomagnetic storm, allowing folks much farther south to see it.

Brian was out taking souvenir photos for the guests and painting their faces with light. Below is a group photo of our volunteers. There is a giant snowpile that provided both a tremendous viewing spot and some terrific slides. Lots of laughter filled the air. Since I haven't climbed the snowpile in the daytime, I thought that darkness would provide a dangerous first attempt. I'll wait until another day.

The lights appeared in the early evening and were still going strong when I went to bed at 2 am. You can see that it took a couple days to catch up on sleep in order to find time for editing photos and blogging. Enjoy the photos.

Auroral Light Delight

At this point, I've been in Churchill for about 12 days, and I thought it was time to share what we have been seeing in the night sky some nights. We've been keeping an eye out for auroras with the help of many other folks who are staying at the center in some capacity.  Here is the sign on our bedroom door for those times when we hope someone else will be paying attention.

In an earlier post, I shared the photos that Brian had taken before I arrived. This year I have been braving the elements to take some of my own. Brian has been very patient in trying to get me up to speed. Many thanks to David Marx and Jim Halfpenny who were up here leading a dedicated photography group. With their encouragement and patience, both Brian and I are learning better strategies for photographing and editing aurora photos.  Again, there is a lot to this!

Out in front of CNSC

Enjoy the photos. They most certainly have been processed. With the long exposures needed for aurora photography, the camera collects more light than our eyes can perceive. The photos reveal more color than I see, so it is always exciting to take a look at your own photos the next day. I feel a bit like an artist painting with light, trying to recreate the magic of standing under the northern lights.

Last night about one in the morning, the northern lights danced around the heavens. More below.

In the daytime, this is also one of my favorite views from the side deck.

You can see from the foreground that the aurora was getting stronger, reflecting off the snowy tundra.

The white fuzzy spot is Jupiter.

A band or ribbon of light- a common sight during auroras. There is often a slight twist to it.

More to come as I have fun processing my photos

Home Sweet Home, away from home

CNSC- the landscaped view

CNSC withe Dancing Lights

This is the fourth season that Brian and I have been volunteers at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba.  Members of the staff have become our dear friends and CNSC has become our home away from home. As I write this, I am reminded of my favorite question in Maine- "Are you from away?"  You could be a transplant to Maine for the past 30 years, but you are still from away. That does not state anything about the present reality; we identify with the Maine mentality just as we now identify with life in the north- northness as our friend Heidi would say. We indeed are "from away", and that is what makes this such an extraordinary experience that we will treasure. 

This post has some new photos and some from past years. Below you see the view from the front of CNSC with a rocket launcher from 50 years back, and the tundra/forested areas out the back windows. There are also shallow tundra ponds that are covered with snow right now. I'll include one from last year when the surface was exposed by the winds.

The Front Yard

The Back Yard

Tundra pond with exposed ice- great reflective surface for auroras! 2015

Some of you know more than others about our stays at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. As you see in the photo at the top of this post, it is now housed in a brand new facility which opened its doors in 2011. Churchill is on the western shore of Hudson Bay at a latitude of 58 degrees north. The town is known as Polar Bear Capital of the World, but it could just as well lay claim to being a perfect place for viewing northern lights, observing beluga whales in summertime, spotting migrating birds from your life list, identifying (and eating) the flowers and berries of wild plants, and becoming familiar with the cultures of the many people living here.

The facility at CNSC is most comfortable in this new, green building! Yes, it is very cold outside while we are here, but we dress for it and try to go outside most days for a short and invigorating walk. Occasionally there are longer activities in which we are included, and they are so much fun. While inside we are toasty warm, and when working in the kitchen we are wearing our T-shirts.

The Dome Room

Dome and Back Yard

There are so many things I love about being here, but since my original motivation was to see the aurora borealis, I have to say that it is beyond fantastic to get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities and run up this stairway to the heavens. Many nights it is just a 360 degree view of a starlit heaven. Sometimes it is cloudy, and in a blizzard it might look like you are on a jet plane flying through the clouds. Occasionally there is the thrill of the aurora dancing around the sky. You have the heavens to yourself until you wake everyone else up (if they wish to be awoken).

On the front of the building, I look at the mission each day- "To understand and sustain the north". CNSC does this through research and education. Brian and I are here to support the Winter Skies aurora vacations. We've been able to attend many lectures here on topics ranging from astronomy and climate change  to photography and local culture. It's a very stimulating environment.

Birdfish Logo- Symbol of CNSC

I love the landscape here, and never tire of looking out over the tundra in one direction and the boreal forest in the other. If it is too cold outside, there is always the view from the dome. This building is filled with windows (all part of the green plan), but I do get outside with every opportunity. The wind blows a lot, so there are often sculpted snowdrifts to see. Just the other day we were treated to a gorgeous sunset, but many times it is just the beauty of soft pink light in the sky.

Blowing Snow

Sculpted snow photo from last year

View from the side deck in late afternoon light

There is something new every day here. It might be an outing to the forest, a lecture, a mind blowing aurora, or simply a story from a guest or fellow volunteer as we do dishes together. For our friends and family, I hope this post helps paint a picture of our time up here that helps explain why we've made this journey more than once!

Sunset earlier this week

Sleepless Nights- Northern Lights

My journey continued from Winnipeg to Thompson, and finally to Churchill when the train pulled in to the station around 9 in the morning. I always marvel at what an incredible piece of machinery the train is. I asked a fellow traveler to take my photo in front of it to add some perspective to the size.

Brian has been here for the past 3 weeks, and he has photographed some great auroras during that time. I thought you would enjoy seeing some of my favorites of Brian's many photos.

Lat night, Brian took this photo below of the full moon rising. He has a new lens that evidently transformed the moon into a "star of wonder".

Tonight we had a gorgeous almost full moonrise. I took the camera out for the first time this year after having had a serious review lesson with Brian. All in all, I was pleased with my first photos of the visit. David Marx, if you are reading this, I included the birdhouse just for you!

Brian tells me there is already a hint of aurora in the sky. Can't wait to see what the night will bring!

The Great Ice Show in Winnipeg

With only one day to devote to sightseeing in Winnipeg, this year it was obvious to me that I should take in The Great Ice Show at The Forks National Historic Site.  For anyone traveling to Winnipeg, it will be here until February 28th.

The impressive structure in the background is the Human Rights Museum

I went in late afternoon, hoping to stay through part of the evening when it is all lit up. As it turned out, mine was a daytime experience. It was a ton of fun with over 100 beautiful ice and snow sculptures. Here are two of my favorite.

There were bumper cars (or bumper tubes) that one could try out. There was an ice bridge, an ice igloo, and a replica of Manitoba's Legislative Building which contained the most amazing and thrilling ice slide. I took a lightning fast sled ride down the ice slide from the top. It was reminiscent of a bobsled ride I did years ago in Lake Placid, but it was much shorter of course and I was on a piece of blue plastic!

At the top of these stairs awaits an exciting ice slide ride to the bottom! Note-descending ice steps is almost as scary as going down the slide.

Speaking of slides, there were many. Young and old would grab sleds placed at the bottom of each slide and everyone was having a great time. Some children brought their own sleds. One of the other impressive slides was found on Dinosaur hill where at the top there was a sculpture of life size dinosaurs carved into a mountain of snow.

The top of Dinosaur Hill

There was another slide where you shot out the mouth of some scary toothed critter- a bear or wildcat I think. I liked the view from the top where it appeared you were in the mouth of the beast. Folks could stand on the ice bridge and watch the fun as kids of every age flew out of the beast's mouth.

While enjoying the festivities at The Forks, I was reminded again of just how much these folks embrace their winter months by adding fun. Another awesome visit to Winnipeg.

Northern Bound

Our souvenir shot from last year- Brian's light painting skill

In less than a week, I'll be heading north to Churchill, Manitoba for more viewing of the aurora and whatever else the north has to offer. Here are two pics from last year- mostly practice so I remember how to create blog posts! I'll arrive in Winnipeg next Friday, spend a day investigating the city, and then I'll board the train to Churchill on Sunday morning. On Tuesday Feb 23rd, I should wake up in Churchill or someplace close.

Churchill Northern Studies Centre- home away from home

Brian has been there for over two weeks, and he has already captured some wonderful aurora shots. Perhaps one will be included here in the near future, along with a link to his blog which he promises to keep up this year.

For me, it is great fun to stay in touch with my family and friends while so far away. Please feel free to share with anyone else who might have an interest in our northern experience. This is my third aurora season being covered in this blog, so if you are new to the blog, check out some of the posts for the past two years to see photos of aurora and the Churchill landscape.

Memories- Missing the North

Our first selfie!

Brian and I are back at home now, taking care of all the details of daily life that we had put on hold. This idea of putting daily life "on hold" is most likely one of the marvelous perks of traveling.

David Marx, this one is for you!

I've been going through photos, reliving many of the memorable moments from this year's excursion to Churchill. I've come across some photos that probably should have been part of the blog, but perhaps didn't fit into one of the blog topics. Brian spent 2-3 weeks in Churchill before I arrived. I am including some of his photos  here that I think you would all enjoy seeing.

Aurora viewing out on the deck

The auroras were spectacular, and of course I have a few additional aurora photos of Brian's that just must be shared. Some of these had escaped my notice because there were so many photos to choose from. Honestly, I could spend hours just happily editing aurora photos in trying to recreate the magic of the night. It is not the same as being there, for sure, but the camera gives us the gift of better eyes. I still hope you all get to actually stand under the auroral oval to see the beauty that is above us- often invisible. Still, it is there.

Sword fighting under the aurora

Yes, you can see an aurora during the time of the full moon.

As I look at aurora photos, editing and trying to decide what to keep, I was surprised by how often the Big Dipper is sitting right in the middle of the aurora. In Churchill, where you are under the auroral oval, it is not unusual to have auroras in any part of the sky. In one of Brian's fish-eye photos which includes a lot more sky, you can actually see the Big Dipper on one side and Orion on the other!

Look for the Big Dipper and Orion on opposite sides.

Just included this because I love it. I think this was taken by Brian before I arrived.

Aurora in the backyard of CNSC with my favorite spruce trees

You can see the tilt of the trees from the prevailing winds, and the scarcity of branches on that side.

Brian captured this magnificent red fox on both photo and video. I hope to upload the video at a later time, or capture a better view of the fox.

You can see how gorgeous he is, and that he was not at all intimidated by the snowmobile.  In 2014, Brian got a glimpse of a red fox at sunset, and we did find his tracks the next day. Last year was the first time we saw Arctic fox, and we saw them on several occasions. Churchill is the southern reach of the Arctic fox's range, and Churchill is on the northern reach of the red fox's range. Last year was much colder, and therefore we saw more Arctic fox. Here is a photo of the Arctic fox outside the dining area at CNSC from our 2014 trip.

The Arctic fox is much better adapted to the harsh climate of the north, but the red fox dominates in size.  With a warming climate, the Arctic fox will be finding it much more difficult to compete for range with the red fox.

On March 26th, we headed back on the train from Churchill to Winnipeg. In Winnipeg, the weather was quite a contrast from last year- about 80 degrees warmer. Our LLBean Baxter State parkas were way too much coat, but we hadn't brought any in-between coats.

In Winnipeg, we had a chance to meet up with some of our Churchill friends and a few of the guests from the last Arctic Skies group.  It was a nice way to end the journey.

Brian and I finally got to visit the new Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. I think we will have to make a return trip, as we did not allow enough time to really explore all of the floors. Here are some photos from the outside and also one or two from the top.

A Statue of Mahatma Gandhi- He would be proud of this museum's efforts.

From this view, it looks like he is going to take the train home with us.

From the top, I could finally get a good view of this walking bridge across the Red River

 When I was here three weeks ago in mid March, the Red River was frozen, and there was a skating trail that went for a good long way. I actually walked across the river to explore the very edge of St Boniface, a subsection of Winnipeg.

From this view,  I could see the train station in the foreground, and the Hotel Fort Garry behind it.

Our good friends Roger Starman Woloshyn and his wife Dawn also took us on a day trip north of Winnipeg to Gimli, the Icelandic community located on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. Winnipeg's multi-cultural diversity is to be admired. We learn a little more with each visit. Anyway, on our outing through the countryside of Manitoba north of Winnipeg, some memorable sights were Lake Winnipeg where we saw someone ice kiting, we followed the winding Red River where the ice was in the process of breaking up, and we drove through Bird Provincial Park. The destination of the trip was a quest for walleye at Kris's Fish and Chips. Sometimes, walleye is referred to as pickerel, but evidently it is not the same fish we call a pickerel down here. So, a big thank you to Roger and Dawn for the Manitoba sightseeing adventure.

Ice kiting on Lake Winnipeg in Gimli.

Home safe and sound once again.  A tiny bit of snow still sits on our lawn, but it won't be long.