Home. I arrived at RDU about 10:30PM Friday night. My husband and I hugged, my sons carried my luggage and my daughter did not let go of my hand for a long time. I slept for 2 days, awoke Monday morning and went to school. I met my advisory for the first time.
The Ward Advisory: DA 2008-09
I met my classes. I talked about vertebrates and barrier islands. I packed for the beach trip. I went to Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina for 4 days with 95 8th graders. We learned about shore ecology and about each other.
The Ward Advisory at the beach!
Upon returning to school, I learned that my classroom had been broken into and 7 computers stolen. My laptop, with all my PolarTREC expedition pictures was mysteriously left behind. (For the record, I had backed up my computer the Friday...
LSSL Ship's Log: 19082008
2209- Rosette secured on board. Underway to Kugluktuk, 485 nautical miles.
At 2210 on 19 Aug 2008, Third Mate Marian Punch piped, "We have finished work at the last science station. We are going home."
After 32 days at sea, we are coming home. We have seen and done some amazing things. I have experienced so many "firsts" that I cannot list them all.
Thank you to Rick Krishfield of WHOI who applied for a PolarTREC teacher, giving me the opportunity to join him on this expedition. Thank you to Rick, Will and Jim for allowing me to join them on the deck and on the ice. I can now rechain glass balls, thanks to Will and Jim.
Thank you to Willie, Jim and Rick for a Arctic Oceanography front row seat!
Thank you to the officers and crew...
After taking on fuel we are steaming to our last set of stations at 72N, 133W. This route will be through the last ice of the cruise.
We had to go 13 miles out of our way to go around this huge floe.
I am fascinated by the ice so I am spending the last hours possible observing the ice. Many have remarked on how much less ice there is up here compared to recent years. I want to be sure I see all I can.
This journal has two short movies about ice.
Heart in the ice
So long, for now, from the ice-breaker LSSL!
Breaking Ice
Water and Ice at 75N / 150W
We have been here at 69N, 133W waiting for the fuel barge for the past 24 hours. It is late. While it is frustrating to have to wait, this situation reminds us that it is not worth getting worked up over something we cannot control. We use the time to catch up on data analysis and to pack.
Finally the barge arrives. While watching the fuel barge hook up might not be so fascinating under normal circumstances, we have been waiting for it, and it offers something new in the landscape.
The barge holds 1 million liters of fuel, *half* of what we will take on.
The barge is tied up to the side of the ship
John Bray and Derrick Stone secure the barge to the side of the LSSL.
Bumpers are hung off the side of the ship to protect it from the barge.
We take on approximately 2 million liters...
We are currently anchored at 69.50N, 133.12W waiting for a fuel barge. It is calm with broken clouds, a perfect time to go up top to the Crows Nest.
Above the Bridge stands the highest point on the ship, the yellow Crow's Nest.
Before electronics, ship navigation was done by sight. One person stayed up in the crow's nest, a platform or barrel attached to the main mast, to keep watch. In rough seas, the Crow's Nest moves quite a bit. Think of a pendulum-- the ship is the base and the Crow's Nest is the bob, moving back and forth, back and forth. In rough weather, this swing can be really severe, up to 90 degrees (45 degrees off each side of the vertical) as well as front-to-back movement.
Yes, you can see farther from the Crow's Nest than form the Bridge, but not that far...land is...
After sampling at 72.36N, 144.42W, the LSSL began a 16-hour 293 km steam south to meet a refueling barge. This break in the science work gave everyone time to take breath after the frenetic pace of the past weeks.
Even though we are now receiving satellite TV and are enjoying the Olympics, we decided that we need to stage an event ourselves.
Presenting the LSSL Intergalactic Olympics- The Heli Deck High Dive. The object was to drop a Diver (a small test tube) from the Bridge deck into a red bucket on the flight deck.
Linda White demonstrates the art of Heli Deck High Diving. The object was to drop your Diver into the red bucket below.
These guys are getting psyched up prior to the competition.
Heli Deck High Dive competition was judged by some tough characters: Chief Officer...
This morning is sunny and COLD.
WHOI is deploying its last mooring.
The sun makes the fore deck look inviting; however, the air temperature is -2C!
The key instrument on the mooring is the McLane Moored Profiler (MMP).
The MMP with its various sensors is prepared for deployment.
This alien-looking device spends the year in the cold, cold Arctic waters, traveling up and down over 2000 meters of the water column. The MMP has several sensors that measure or calculate the big three in oceanography: conductivity, temperature and depth (please see 11 Aug Journal entry for a complete CTD discussion). The MMP also measures water velocity using a doppler system housed in the 3-pronged black sensor located in its back.
The top float is moored 40 meters below the surface so that ice ridges...
We are at Mooring Station D. Here WHOI will recover and deploy a mooring, and the science program will do several Rosette casts, some pump lines, Bongo nets and X-CTDs.
We are treated to more sun!
Will Burt takes in the sun on the heli deck.
Second Mate Carol Dunfield who has the Bridge watch from midnight to 4AM, reports that the sun dipped below the horizon last night.
Carol Dunfield works the midnight to 4AM watch on the Bridge.
Tonight I will be up from midnight to about 3AM to collect water samples from the Rosette so I will have a great opportunity to see my first Arctic sun set!
The sun is just about to dip below the horizon at 2:12 AM ship time, 0812 UTC.
The sun is below the horizon at 3AM, 0900 UTC.
Because the Earth is tilted on its axis, in the Arctic the sun does...
Today is our last trip out on to the ice. WHOI is deploying their last ITP, Dave Meldrum is putting in his third SAMS-IMBS and Alice & Kristina are directing an ice-sampling team. The day starts out warm and sunny (OK, the air temperature is 2C. This is the Arctic after all).
A *warm and sunny* day in the Arctic!
After the ITP hole is drilled, Sarah Zimmermann puts a CTD down the hole to profile the water under the ice. They are interested in the freshwater content of this water. To them, freshwater does not mean "drinking water" but instead water of lower salinity that comes from ice melting.
Sarah Zimmermann drops a CTD sensor into the ITP hole before the ITP is deployed to measure the salinity of the water near the surface under the ice. Photo by Gary Morgan....
Because the parameters of conductivity, temperature and depth are so important in oceanographic study, scientists are constantly testing ways to measure it more frequently and more accurately.
One interesting technique uses the X-CTD. This is a small CTD sensing device that is shot from the ship into the water. As the sensor sinks into the water, it sends its readings back up a very thin line to a computer on board.
Shigeto loads the *gun* and records the number of the X-CTD to be dropped into the water.
The X-CTD project on board is run by Shigeto Nishino of JAMSTEC in Japan. The goal of his project is to map the distribution of different water masses throughout the Canada Basin in order to understand the general ocean circulation here. He is especially interested in the nutrient-...
By reading these journals, I hope that you have developed an appreciation for how science is done out here. The sense of scale is hard to imagine-- everything is so BIG. The dip nets are Bongos, water sampling is by Rosette, mooring buoys weight 2500 pounds, holes are made with 10" augers, our arms are replaced with cranes and winches and engines. And all of this is done outside in the Arctic, where both air and water temperatures hover around 0C (and that is before the wind is taken into account). Decks are slippery, ice is moving, polar bears may be interested and all the while big heavy things, from helicopters to strings of glass balls, are moving around overhead.
Who runs all this equipment? The LSSL Deck Crew. The Boatswain is in charge of everything that happens on the...
The most common three-letter abbreviation in oceanography is CTD.
C **= conductivity
**T = temperature
**D **= depth
Measuring these parameters of ocean water establishes the layers of the ocean water sandwich. In order to understand the questions being asked out here, you must first understand how the sandwich layers are determined.
Temperature is measured with a thermometer. In the Arctic, the temperature of ocean water does not change very much, ranging from -1C to 5C, depending on location and time of year.
Eli's right-most cilium is draped over the temperature sensor.
Depth is calculated by measuring hydrostatic pressure. See 5 August -- Furthest North Journal entry(http://www.polartrec.com/node/5385) for an explanation of hydrostatic pressure (and its effect on Styrofoam cups...
Today was Mega Buoy day, meaning that 4 buoys were deployed on one ice floe, creating an Ice-Based Observatory (IBO). The data collected by these 4 systems will give scientists a detailed picture over time of Arctic ice, water and weather dynamics. (And no one has to stay here over winter!)
David Meldrum of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) deployed his SAMS- Ice Mass Balance Station (IMBS).
On the right, David Meldrum is setting up the solar panels and the wind collector that will charge the batteries that power the SAMS-IMBS. Dave Griffith is working on the solar radiation measurement arm (sticking out to the right) and the weather station (on top).
David is trying to measure the flux* of heat through the ice from both the sun and the water. His station has 3...
We have been too far north to receive email since the evening of August 3rd. Going north is cool. Now that we are heading south again, we are all getting anxious to hear from family and friends. Every conversation now contains a reference to communication. We have become so accustomed to instant gratification...it is a bit disturbing to be suddenly cut off. I have been reading Ring of Ice: True Tales of Adventure, Exploration and Arctic Life (Peter Stark, ed.) and thinking about the severe hardships and isolation endured in order to explore this area. A few days without email seems rather trivial by comparison.
Our wonderful Electronics Officer Heather Kinrade is predicting that the email satellite will be far enough above the horizon sometime this afternoon.
Up on the Bridge, Heather...
Randy Turner is the LSSL Chief Cook, and he and his crew in the Logistics department are responsible for the care and comfort of everyone on board. Randy learned to cook at home-- his parents worked so he and his brother chose home chores that suited them. After years in the hotel and restaurant business, he came to the Coast Guard because of the freedom. Here he can invent menus, experiment with tastes combinations and play in the kitchen.
Randy is working on several parts of the upcoming dinner. Though there are 79 people on board, *we eat like 120!*
And cook he does. Randy has the confidence of the seasoned chef saying that he can make a meal out of anything. He also takes his responsibility for our care seriously: to many of his dishes he adds ginger for digestion and garlic for...
Many of the 79 officers, crew and scientists on the 2008-30 cruise of the LSSL. I am up on top taking the picture.
In honor of being at our farthest point north, we sent Styrofoam cups down with the Rosette to 2710 meters. What do you think happens to a cup down there, with the weight of all that water on it? See the end of this post to check your thinking...
We also tossed out our last set of drift bottles on the helo deck.
Captain McNeill tosses a drift bottle off the LSSL heli deck, 83N, 150W.
Where will these bottles end up?
After sampling at this station, we are heading southeast along 140 latitude.
Our mascot Lulu is now sporting a shrunken head.
A LSSL mascot, Lulu's head is signed by all.
I decorated 5 cups, one each for my family and one to thank my supporters of this...
Studying ice means some rather cool (pun intended) field work, involving transport to remote places and using big power tools as well as some purpose-built devices. Alice Orlich (a undergraduate geography student at UAF) and Kristina Brown (a student at UBC) are out on the ice measuring, among other things, how thick the ice is.
First, a hole must be drilled. Brian Hunt uses a 2-inch bit to make the hole.
Brian Hunt drills a hole in the ice in order to measure its thickness.
If the blade goes all the way into the ice and Brian still has not hit the water below, he will remove the engine, add another section of blade and continue on until he hits water, or needs to add another section of blade. Then the depth of the hole is measured.
The water that comes up through an ice hole is very...
Rick and Will have found a suitable floe and we are going out to deploy an ITP. I am going out on the ice! We helicopter out to the ice and work begins right away.
First Will and Jim drill the hole using a 10' auger bit. They drill 3.2 meters down, into the water below.
Will Ostrom (left), Jim Dunn and I start the ITP hole. Photo by Rick Krishfield.
First to go in is the anchor, weighing 250 pounds.
Jim guides the anchor into the hole while Will controls the fall with the brake on the Arctic Winch.
Note that it is designed to fit into the 10" hole. The anchor is lowered into the hole with a most interesting device.
The Arctic Winch was designed by Don Peters at WHOI specifically for ITP deployment. It is lightweight, made of aluminum, so it can be carried onto the ice. It...
Today the WHOI team is putting in their first of 5 Ice Tethered Profilers (ITP) of this cruise.
For detailed information on the ITP, please see:
http://www.whoi.edu/ The first thing to do is find some ice.
Will (left) and Rick head out to find a suitable ice floe for ITP deployment.
Rick and Will are flying out to look for a suitable ice floe. The LSSL Ice Observer Marie-Claude Bouchard accompanies them to add her expertise. The ideal piece of ice is at least 3 meters thick, has a flat top indicating even growth of the ice over time, and few, if any, melt ponds. When they spot one, pilot Chris Swannell will land so Rick and Will can drill a test hole. Once the ice is determined to be suitable, the spot is marked with a flag and GPS.
Will and Rick test the ice by drilling a hole. They...
Though some work the night watch so they end their day with breakfast, and the constant light challenges the brain to differentiate day and night ---- still the ship has routines. Some routines are daily and some are weekly.
Meals are taken in two mess halls
The crew eats here, 3 meals a day plus endless snacks......we are never hungry.
The Officers Mess has *excellent* service and very comfortable chairs.
The science meeting happens most days at 11AM in the Board Room.
Co-Chief Scientist Sarah Zimmerman discusses trends in the data collected so far.
The Captain's Sunday Dinner is a 5-course tradition held in the Senior Officer's Dining Room. Several scientists are invited each week to attend. Hugh Maclean, David Meldrum and I enjoyed a really yummy meal-- the home-made mint patties...
We awoke to snow!
Brian Hunt and Rick Nelson (left) admire Will Burt's 4AM snow creation on the flight deck. Photo by Edmand Fok.
The WHOI team is recovering a mooring today. After yesterday's helicopter preview, Captain McNeill knew to expect some ice. To prepare the mooring site, he methodically and skillfully navigated the ship around the mooring site, breaking up and scattering ice.
Captain McNeill has to break significant ice to clear the spot for mooring recovery.
The wind and currents were not cooperating, however, and he had to use both the ship and the bubbler to create a pond large enough to begin recovery.
On the Captain's command, Rick sent the acoustic signal to the release mechanism to let go.
Rick sends an acoustic signal to the release mechanism 3800 meters below....
The best way to see what is ahead is to go look!
Me in the helicopter, just before take-off.
This morning I had the opportunity to join the LSSL Ice Observer Marie-Claude Bouchard and U. of Alaska, Fairbanks, student researcher Alice Orlich on an ice reconnaissance flight. The purpose of the flight was to verify ice conditions ahead so that Captain McNeill knew what to expect during the mooring recovery scheduled for the next day.
Helicopter engineer Ric Daine prepares the bird for flight.
Marie-Claude is in her second year as an "ice pick." She explained that ice conditions are standardized: she reports "the egg," a series of numbers that describe the amount, age and size of ice observed. (Please see Sea Ice Facts in the Resources section for a detailed...
It was a day of most, first, biggest and furthest.Today we are at our furthest point west of the cruise: 75.5N, -157.10W
We had our first all-ship polar bear sighting. We saw a mother with two
cubs, and an additional bear in the water!
Mother and two cubs, sighted from the LSSL Bridge.
This guy was racing the ship! Photo by Kelly Young.
We tossed out our first set of drift bottles. Information on the drift
bottle project is here:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/SCI/osap/projects/driftbottle/intro_e.htm
Scientists and crew toss drift bottles from the LSSL heli-deck. Drift bottles have been used for centuries to study ocean currents. Where will these end up?
We had our first snow (ok.............flurries).
We had the most wind -- 28 knots, with gusts up to 35 knots-- producing
the...
After a yummy Sunday supper of turkey with all the trimmings, the WHOI team and the LSSL deck crew prepares the mooring to go back out into the Arctic Ocean for another year.
The deck prepares for the mooring deployment.
Electronics are checked, batteries replaced, sediment traps reset, and glass balls prepared. Then the whole thing goes back in the ocean, in reverse order.
First the anchor goes in, 4000 pounds of deadweight. Attached to the anchor is the release hook, and the back-up. The WHOI guys make careful note which release they put on which mooring anchor, so they have the correct release codes next year.....
Will and Rico put the 4000 pound anchor in. Above it are the two yellow release mechanisms.
Then the glass balls in hard hats, 58 of 'em, get hooked on the line, 4...
Today Jim Dunn, Will Ostrom and Rick Krishfield from WHOI will recover a mooring that has been sitting underwater up here in the Arctic collecting data for the past year. The mooring has several data collectors on it: among them are a upward-looking sonar to measure ice thickness and a MMP that travels up and down the mooring line collecting CTD (conductivity (a measure of salinity), temperature and depth) and water current information. This system allows scientists to collect data 27/7/365 in this remote and inhospitable climate -- and adds data over time to our "ocean water sandwich". (See Friday 25 July journal).
The parts of a mooring. Courtesy of WHOI.
Uh huh, you say. So what? Well- you know that arcade game where you putyour money in to try to pick up your prize...
