A RCTIC CIRCULA NO. I Notes on a trip in l6-foot ... - The Arctic Circle

VOL" XV No. 3 THE A<strong>RCTIC</strong> <strong>CIRCULA</strong>R 45
Apart frorn being an expensive operation - it cost over
$ I00,000 to control the outbreak - the appeara:rce of the disease had
a s erious effect on the sport hunting bus ines s " Unfortunately, anihrax
spores are extremely hardy? resistrng very low temperatures and
dessicationo and may live in the soil for twenty years or more. The
dtsease may be transrnitted from an infected anlmal to a healthy one
by biting flies and the spores may be carried by any bird or rrutmmal
(irrcludi:ag man) r"rhich comes in contact u'i.tir them. The outbreak'
besides pres entl.ng a danger to the Fern&irring bison , pres ents a
potentiat threat io migrati::g barren ground caribou aad other big
game o
It ls not yet known how the disease was introduced. Any one
of a number of rvays, such as by birds, rnarnmals r or even manr may
have been instrumental in bringing the disease to the area, It is
certain, however, that the drs ease wili rernairr a potential danger for
decades and wi.ll require careful attention for a lcng time. The
Wildlife Service han initiated a three -year study in the outbreak area
to try to determine the e:r:te::t cf the disease in bison and to a'i:tempt
to determine ho',.v it arrived i.i: the first place"
Jacobgen-McGill Arctic Res ear:h
During the rall and w:inter of 1961^Z a group of oil cornpanies,
headed by Dome Petroleurn Limited, ,Jrilled an ci1 welL at \4rhter Harbour,
Melville Island, to a depth of 1Z ,54C feet. lYinter Harbour V/ell No . I
ls about 3 !4 miLe from the sea c:l ar: elevated strand line 75 f.eet above
present sea level. The well, which -was the ncrthernmcst oiL well ln
the world, v/ao Ceciared dry and was hantied o'i/er by the Dome Petroleum
Group to the Jaccbs en -Mrcciii Arctic Res earch Expedition for ree ea rch
purposes c To comply l,v:ith petloleum regulatioes of the Canadian
Covernment the expedition had the hole cased with 9 5lB-lnch casing
and plugged with a 150 -fcrot cement plug z't, Z,0C0 feet, The caslng
was their filled w'l.th arctic d-i,eset oil" The expedition decided to install
a thermistor cabl.e i.n this hoie to measure the depth of permafrost and
the temperature gradient " It is expected that analysis of temperatures
measured rviil yielC informati,on on recent climati; changes and postglacial
emergence Lrl the northern Ca:radfu,n Arctic.
The permafros I team of tht': expecit:.on . ccnsistirg of A. R .
Lachenbruch and Gordor: Greene, both of the G.:ophygics Laboratory t
U.S " Geological Survey, George Jacobsen, Departrns:t of Geogra.phyt
McGill Universlty, and A. Milis, Peter Bawden Drilli:rg Compa.nv,