Nordic Time

NN1604 Earl Plato

Think perpetual darkness. No spiritual connotations intended but think of the cold north lands in deep winter time. Think Norway and the Arctic Circle. Think specifically Tromso. That’s where my cousin’s son, Irvind Benjaminsen, is attending University. I am in continued contact with Irvind via E-mail. He spent a summer week with us and knows something about our Ontario climate. I bemoaned our extremely cold January. He replied that as far as he knew the warmest temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere occur in Northern Norway. You know why. The warm waters of the Gulf Stream from North America bathes the coastline of Norway. Irvind said, “ At Tromso we are warmer today (mid-January) than in Toronto. So? This article is about the several months of winter that daily are devoid of sunlight. Irvind is enjoying his stay as he studies to become a doctor. I asked him if he could check out the giant Eagle owl. “Earl, are you kidding? From November to March twenty-four hours of darkness. Wait until summer.” That’s right. Winter-summer - no four seasons as we have. Summer is only about three months long in the land of the Midnight Sun. Whenever the thermometer climbs above 10 C (50 degrees F.) trees can grow on the tundra. Trees? The frozen sub-soil prevents tree roots from penetrating very deep. What Irvind sees are only dwarf willows and stunted birches. Sort of a Nordic ‘bonsai’. The main vegetation is a patchwork of grasses, mosses, lichens and shrubs - reindeer country. Photos show me a land dotted with lakes and pools. Fishing time come summer? You bet! Arctic char and salmon abound. As in northern Canada flocks of geese, swans and ducks come to the Nordic tundra in Norway and Sweden to breed. Summer time supplies these migratory birds with plentiful food for the fast growing chicks. I asked Irvind about the ‘bully’ swan the Mute swan. No reply as yet. These swans from Europe have come to North America and drive out other swans and ducks when they establish a nesting site. They have a visible black knob at the base of their orange beak. Yes, they show up on the Niagara River at times. The tundra is home to a variety of birds that many birders will recognize. gulls, skuas, terns, petrels, guillemots, auks and the delightful puffins. Again I have to be cognizant that cousin Irvind came to the University of Tromso just when summer changed to winter. Hopefully this summer I will learn more about the Nordic tundra when he can see the land and sky in broad daylight!
Two of my daughters and myself travelled to Norway in 2004. We
drove rrom Oslo to ancient Trondheim in the north to my grandmother’s birthplace, the little village of Hell. Great setting in this Viking country. We were still hundreds of miles south of the Nordic tundra. No time to see my cousin in Tromso. But he came to see us back in Asker near Oslo.