Bright Sunshine

 

After over a week of dismal rainy weather the sun is back.  Just in time for my archaeological survey. Yesterday afternoon I took the dogs up skiing and the sun was very strong and it reminded me to grab sunscreen for my survey. It was seriously bright up there!  And the skiing was great.  I even did some tele turns, and I only do tele turns when the conditions are perfect.

Patrick

Birds and Snow

 

Buffleheads

The dogs and I did not get to go skiing during the conference.  We did manage some walks on the beach at Buskin and in the park, and after a few days off I could see that the dogs desperately needed a good run.  And so yesterday afternoon we climbed the mountain and they got in a good run while I got in a good ski.  It has been rainy the last few days so I was super happy to see that it has been snowing high on the mountain - almost a foot of very heavy stuff on high.

Yesterday morning I took the dogs to the park and brought along my long 'bird' lens. I spent the walk looking for birds to photograph. Mostly we just saw ducks on the lake, and I did not think I took any particularly good pictures.  But when I got back and looked at them on the computer, I kind of like the reflections on the waves.  They made an interesting pattern.

Patrick

Our tracks in North Bowl

Bufflehead drake

Mallards

Female white-wing crossbill

male white-wing crossbill

Kodiak Conference

 

Last week I attended a conference - The Kodiak Marine Science Symposium (KAMSS) - in Kodiak.  Usually when I attend a conference I have to go some place else - like Seattle or Fairbanks.  But for this conference I stayed home while other scientists travelled to Kodiak.

Most of the conference related to the marine ecosystem around Kodiak - climate change effects, where cod spawn, rockfish genetics etc.  And there was some archaeology too.  I presented on our archaeological fieldwork at Karluk Lake (click here for presentation) while my co-worker Molly presented on our Tugidak Survey (click here) (abbreviated version read by me).  

The most valuable part of the conference is meeting other scientists and making new connections.  At archaeology conferences I usually already know everyone, but at KAMSS I always meet biologists whose work intersects and illuminates my own.  Understanding the ecosystem where you work and how it changes through time, and responds to changes is always a good thing! And out-of-town scientists get to see the ecosystem they are studying close up and meet the people who live and work there and depend on a healthy marine environment.

Anyway, a bunch of archaeologists and biologists came from out of town and I had a really good time showing them around Kodiak.  On Friday, after the conference had officially ended, I took a bunch of the visitors out the road to Narrow Cape to look for whales.  We only saw one spout, but did see bear tracks and a dead whale on the beach.  Ironically, while we were out there the killer whales showed up in the channel by town.

Then Friday night they came to my house and I cooked them up an elk roast with Yorkshire pudding.  Conference complete!

Patrick

Changing River Mouth

 

This past week Nora and I took the dogs for a walk at Buskin Beach.  It was my first visit to the beach since the big rain event and storm a week ago. And WOW!  The river mouth has changed dramatically.

Through time the river mouth has always changed. It has migrated back and forth along the beach.  Sometimes entering the sea at the airport end of the beach and at other times at the end near town.  In the 1915 photo from below that was taken from near the top of Barometer Mountain you can see that the river mouth at that time was near where the end of the runway is today.  And it looks like there was an old Alutiiq Village at that locality too.  I have also found an old site and evidence for an old river mouth along the steep bank to the west of the parking lot.  So it has entered the bay on that side too.

When I moved here the river mouth cut right through where there is now a beach berm and entered the bay a lot closer to the airport runway.  I have watched it slowly cut into the beach in front of the parking lot and move further and further west towards town.  As it moved it built a big berm on the right bank between it and the ocean.  

The last couple of years it started to eat into the beach in front of the Buskin Beach House.  Then last week with the flood and storm it finally bulled its way through all the sand and gravel, and now the mouth points directly towards town.  Pretty soon I think there there will be a long spit on the ocean side of the river and very little beach along the shore on the landward side.

In the top photo you can see the new berm on the ocean side of the river.  I think that is now going to get bigger and bigger.  Unless there is another big storm that moves all the gravel and sand - I think the new river mouth is back to the town side of the beach.

Patrick

This photo from 1915 has the river mouth (and old village) near where the end of the runway is today

The portion of this beach above high tide has gotten thinner and thinner

The storm also washed up a lot of bull kelp

Floating on melted snow

 

So what do you do when nature turns a warm spigot of rain onto your beloved snowpack?  You ride the melted snow to the sea!

On Sunday after the water level in the river dropped a bit and the sun came out, Stuey and I joined uncle Dicky and some others for a float trip down the Buskin.  Late Friday evening after all of the rain this would have been very dangerous, but by Sunday the water level was low enough to make it a thrilling rather than deadly ride.

Cousin Zeke and his friends wore survival suits and often just floated directly in the water.  Stuey and I were wearing wet suits and when Stuey tried the 'float thing' he found the wetsuit way too thin to insulate him from the cold, cold river.  After all, it is full of snow melt!

Patrick

Bad Spring Weather and Max Snowpack

 

The weather has been a little glum lately.  At the end of the week it rained almost 9 inches in 3 days.  That storm torched all the snow down by the road at the pass, and we did not get as much as I'd have like liked high on the mountain. So we hit max snowpack on Pyramid on April 16th the day before the storm.  That is a little earlier than usual and way earlier than it was last year (click here for post).  Last year maximum snowpack was May 9th.

So for the last few days it has been warm and rainy interspersed with some sun.  And Ughhhhh the snow is going fast.  But we are still gaining snow above about 1300 feet.  It's just that the gain is not offsetting how much we are losing on the lower mountain.

Patrick