7 September 2015 Having Guests Over

Journal

Cruise Day 30

Speed 0 knots (kts) (on station) Course n/a Location Near North Pole Depth 4202 m

GO DEEPER DISCUSSION: (see previous journal for the questions.)

Riddle Answer: White. The course described can only be start and end at the North Pole, and the only kind of bear found at the pole are polar bears (although most polar bears are found well south of the North Pole.)

TODAY’S JOURNAL:

It has been a pretty crazy 24 hours, with lots of us running on little sleep but excited with the way our North Pole visit concluded. We followed up our North Pole full sampling station with a very nice ceremony on the polar ice. All hands were summoned to the ice, where several crew members received official commendations. Then all hands, including the science party, were awarded Arctic Service Medals for our work north of the Arctic Circle. Representatives from each ship department and two of our scientists received the award on behalf of their constituents from the captain, who then gave a nice speech to commemorate the occasion. We arranged ourselves for an all-hands photograph, and then everyone had an hour of ice liberty, meaning we could goof off and have some fun at the North Pole. Most everyone got a picture at “the pole” (a big barber pole brought up for the occasion) and with Santa Claus, who made a very popular appearance with a line like you might find at the mall. At about half-past midnight, all hands were recalled from the ice, many to retire for the night.

2015 US Arctic GEOTRACES ship’s company portrait — The Healy’s assembled ship’s company on the ice at the North Pole, September 7, 2015. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cory Mendenhall.

USCGC Healy ship’s company — All hands mustered on the ice to receive commendations and hear a speech by the captain congratulating them on reaching the North Pole in fine fashion.

Ice liberty at the North Pole included some chilly football.

But science must press on, and several of us on the science team got into our orange Mustang survival suits and headed back out for an ice sampling station which didn’t conclude until nearly 10 am today. I called it a night (morning? hard to say when it is light all the time) at around 4, and woke up around 11 to make sure I didn’t miss lunch (which served as breakfast today for me.) When I started towards the galley someone asked me if I had seen the Polarstern yet and I replied something like, “Huh?” Actually, I knew exactly what they were talking about (Polarstern is the German icebreaker conducting another GEOTRACES cruise, their track starting in Denmark.) Although both ships were planning on reaching the pole, there wasn’t an official plan to rendezvous because neither team knew exactly when we would arrive. Last night, there wasn’t any word of Polarstern’s impending arrival at the pole but with our ice station time it turned out that they would reach 90° N just as we would be ready to leave. Instead of departing with barely a wave, the ship’s officers and chief scientists decided that we could afford to stay for the afternoon, giving both ships’ companies a chance to visit each other.

USCGC Healy and RV Polarstern at the North Pole, 7 Sept. 2015.

The Polarstern parked in the ice about 1/2 mile away from us, and after they got their formal pictures taken, a large delegation came our way. We gave ship tours, and I had a good time showing a group of about 10 from the Polarstern around the Healy. Then it was our turn to march over and get tours of the German icebreaker. It is a beautiful ship, very well appointed for oceanographic research. I think everyone on both sides had a great time comparing notes, showing each other around, and building international collegiality. This is one of the hallmarks of GEOTRACES, with scientists and organizations from many countries around the world contributing to the massive, long-term effort to better understand all of the world’s oceans. We squeezed in what seems like a week’s worth of work and excitement in the last three days at the pole, and I’m pretty tuckered out, so I’ll leave it at that for today. Stay tuned for more about what I learned about at the last ice station and from sending some special items down to the deepest point we’ll sample on the cruise.