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Jason Briner knew it was dangerous to camp on the coast of Baffin Island, one of Canada’s most northern points, during the summer. Yet that’s exactly what he was doing eight years ago. ❅ Briner, who had recently accepted a job teaching geology at UB, was no stranger to the Arctic. He’d spent time in Alaska and Iceland, and he made several previous trips to Baffin Island while earning his doctorate. He had the appropriate equipment and knowledge, plus the advantage of youth—at the time, in his early 30s—to make camping at one of Earth’s coldest spots a relatively ho-hum affair. He also had a loaded shotgun. ❅ The average annual temperature on Baffin Island, most of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is roughly 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Sea ice surrounds it most of the year. Beneath the ice swim seals, walruses, beluga whales and other