Getting ready for winter

Two weeks without an update, you could be forgiven for thinking we had lost our satellite again. The truth is I have been busy. Last weekend we were getting ready for winter which involved me standing in the sunshine drinking coffee (bundled in my Canada Goose jacket and wearing gloves) watching Blaine work:

He has converted the crate that our sealift came in into an insulated house for the puppies. Naturally they prefer to sit outside in the cold looking pathetic instead of enjoying the warmth of their palatial box.
We had lifted the back of my skidoo up to stop the track getting iced in, unfortunately we had not taken the same precautions with the skis. Many jugs of hot water and some effort later the sled was released from the ice and lengths of wood placed under the skis to prevent repetition.
Fred and Stephane arrived with Blaine's new sled so we reshuffled the toy parking. There is not enough snow to go out on the land yet and the sea is still liquid so the sleds are parked by the house with the quads in front.

Overnight on October 1 the snow fell heavily and covered Iqaluit with a white blanket which has remained. Since then we have had several cool days and more snow, warm days have only succeeded in melting the snow enough to turn the whole city into a skating rink. The forecast is for more snow this weekend and as I type the wind is blowing swirls of fresh snow into the porch where the dogs are barking and messing around instead of sheltering in their house. I am beginning to hear talk of the sea ice forming in November. We can't wait for it to be thick enough to get out on our sleds!

Ground Control to Major Tom...

All 28 communities in Nunavut rely entirely on satellite to connect with the outside world. For example, our Internet service is delivered through fibre optic cables here in Iqaluit, and our telephone service through wires. However the onwards connection is provided by satellite. There is no cabling running under Hudson Bay. 

Our communications are delivered through three of Telesat's Anik satellites. Anik means little brother in Inuktitut, there are four little brothers in the Anik family: F1 serves South America; F1R, F2 and F3 provide service to North America. The satellites broadcast on C, Ka and Ku bands. The lower frequency C band is the original frequency for communications satellites, Ku and Ka bands are higher frequency. As far as I can tell the three bands used together give a more reliable service as each has its own advantages and disadvantages, this Wikipedia article explains some of it. 

Early in the morning of Thursday October 6, 2011 Telesat's Anik F2 satellite malfunctioned. It soon became evident that most of our communications are routed through F2 as the entire Territory was without so many things that we take for granted. No Internet access, long distance telephone calls, cell phone service, ATMs, visa or debit payment, radar communications...

Air traffic ceased because air traffic control couldn't operate. Nobody could leave and no flights could land. This may not sound especially important but consider that we rely on daily flights to bring our mail and groceries, the hospital uses air cargo to bring in medical supplies. Qikiktani General Hospital cannot provide all services and patients are regularly Med-Evaced to Ottawa, similarly patients from hamlets are transported to Iqaluit for treatment at QGH.

Not knowing if the outage would last for hours or days, Nunavummiut began to reflect on their vulnerability:

• A friend was going on holiday and had no way of contacting the friend who was collecting her at her destination.
• Another friend celebrated his birthday with no phone calls from family.
• Banks closed as they couldn't access their banking systems.
• The RCMP broadcast a message on CBC radio asking detachments to call a sat phone number.
• Employers sweated it out wondering how employees could be paid, there was no way to initiate the normal payroll through direct deposit and even if there was no one could withdraw the cash, cheques couldn't be cashed as the banks were all closed.
• People raided their piggy banks to buy the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Someone jokingly speculated that Russia was invading, first taking out communications then they would hit the power plant.

Just as we went to bed at 11pm our Internet service was restored, communications returned and by Friday morning everything was back to normal. We all got paid and we are not speaking Russian.

Our personal preparedness plan stood up well to this and other recent tests. Thanks to sealift we have lots of food both for us and the dogs, we have cash to buy things, a generator and gas to provide power and now that snow is plentiful the dogs won't go thirsty! Turns out the all hazards approach is a solid one, our BC training for earthquake, tsunami, flooding and storm threats works just fine in the Arctic too. 

Is your family prepared?