Like most glaciers, Grise Fiord glacier is retreating rapidly. This is shown by the study for which we were digging in poles with Jimmy on May 21st. But what happens to the meltwater? What influence does it have on the ocean? What nutrient supply can we observe? These are questions from the team we have been working for since 2019.

This year, in addition to the summer cruise, we are taking the pulse of the ocean before the melt, before the glacial rivers appear.

First glacier, Sverdrup, north coast of Devon Island. It takes us three days to reach it. The sea ice in Jones Sound is chaotic this year and on top of that, we spend a day in the tent due to blizzard. I team up with Tom Kiguktak. Together we did a long journey from Resolute Bay in 2012, it is a pleasure to share this new field work. We have the same age. Having become a father a few years ago and employed full time in town, he has less time to go out hunting and has not gone out for a long time; also he is extremely happy! Before hiring him for a week, I wrote to his employer to justify his request for unpaid leave. We enjoy every moment like kids and we quickly forget about the rough ice, the wind, the skidoo or auger breakdowns, the hours of filtering sea water sampled from under the ice or deep in the ocean. Some concerns for our second camp, where we spent three nights in an area with many bears (we watch seven of them)... happy to find it intact every evening!

"We are safe, everything is going to be fine, we don't taste good, we smell skidoo," Tom tells me one evening as he steps into the tent, after checking around and observing two bears. One of them is quite close, hunting a young seal. He will eat mainly the skin and the fat, and will leave the meat to the foxes and birds. If we think that a bear is roaming outside, we must signal our presence by saying something like "hum".

I'm never tired of the incredible hunting stories that Tom likes to tell quietly in the tent. He could be the author of dozens of documentaries and adventure books!

Second Glacier, Jakeman, Ellesmere Island, east of Grise Fiord. This time I'm heading out with Terry Noah. He is not yet 30, he too has two children and has started his own business, Ausuittuq Adventures. In addition he processes some of the food he hunts or fishes. Last summer, we had welcomed him aboard Vagabond with his family. And it was him who had brought a young seal to Léonie in 2012!

Not far from the glacier, Terry has just set up a hut that we are inaugurating. Better shelter than a tent against bears or storms. The pack ice here is nice and smooth, but thick fog could be a deterrent... we reach the glacier front as well and can start the hydrographic transect.

In total, 520 km covered in 10 days, 26 profiles with the probe (23 auger holes and 3 "borrowed" seal holes), 42 water samples and frozen filters, depths from 8m to 620m (winch max.).

See the Ellesmere 2021 album.