However, there are some unique differences – for example, passing a snowshoe hare while strolling across the tundra to work rather than commuting via a congested highway or a cramped subway. In the middle of winter in Iqaluit the sun doesn’t rise until 9.30am, and it sets around four hours later. The summer sun rises at 2am and doesn’t disappear until 11pm. Regulating your body’s natural rhythm takes some adjustment.

Working on remote sites, such as narwhal camp, takes even more adjusting. Nunavut is home to less than 40,000 residents, 85% of whom are Inuit, in a territory nearly eight times the size of the UK. To get to narwhal camp we first have to fly 1,000km to Pond Inlet, a hamlet of 1,600 residents near the top of Baffin Island and the entrance to the Northwest Passage, as there are no roads connecting Nunavut’s 25 far-flung communities. From there, it’s another few hours by boat to reach the camp set-up on the shore of Tremblay Sound.

When out in the field, I am always stunned the vastness of the area and the feeling of total isolation. We operate in a small group working constantly on meals, checking equipment, setting up temporary structures or cleaning up. But most importantly, we watch for narwhal. I remember on one occasion, being woken up at 4am by calls from the crew and then witnessing hundreds of narwhal swimming by in the morning light of the High Arctic summer. You could hear the cacophony of the narwhal breathing in unison, the steam from their breath rising as they quickly bobbed their heads above water while travelling further into the inlet.

I’m WWF-Canada’s senior specialist on Arctic species and ecosystems, leading our work on beluga whales, bowhead whales, barren-ground caribou, narwhal, polar bears and Atlantic walrus. Conservation work has always been a goal of mine, from loving wildlife as a kid to pursuing wildlife biology in university where I was lucky enough to do a field course in the Canadian Arctic town of Churchill, Manitoba and fall in love with the North. Canada is home to so much incredible and iconic Arctic wildlife that it’s a dream to be able to work on conservation here.

Coming from a primarily scientific background, my perspective changed when I moved to Iqaluit and became more immersed in the cultural and community aspects of conservation. WWF-Canada is the only environmental NGO with a permanent office in the territory of Nunavut and we work closely with Inuit communities towards shared conservation goals. It is really that combination of science, advocacy and community partnerships that defines how we work and allows us to achieve conservation wins in the North.