6 September 2015 Polar Sunday Scenery

Journal

Cruise Day 29

Speed 0 knots (kts) (on station)
Course n/a
Location North Pole
Depth 4236 m

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

I can think of a few ways to answer this question.

The simplest is that a compass will point south from the North Pole, because the only direction from the pole is south.

More specifically, though, the compass needle would point towards the Earth’s magnetic north pole, a spot in the Arctic Ocean off of Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands (roughly at 86°N, 160°W.)

But from a practical point of view, a normal hiking compass won’t work on a ship like the Healy, anyway, because all of the steel in the ship throws off the compass reading.

TODAY’S JOURNAL:

We are on the last sampling operation of a full North Pole sampling station. Even at the North Pole, work takes priority so after a very brief stop at the pole our science teams and Coast Guard support crews have been working around the clock to get their samples. We began the station about a mile from the pole where we found an open lead, but overnight the drifting ice brought us back to within a quarter mile of the pole. Now we are slowly drifting away again, about .8 nautical miles away as I write. This morning the weather cleared, again following the pattern of sunny days being a lot colder than cloudy ones (7° F now vs. 21° F yesterday’s clouds and light snow flurries.) But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (as the saying goes,) so once our sampling station wraps up we will look for a suitable ice floe for everyone on board to disembark on for photos and fun. Then we will get down to business again with an ice sampling station. For the balance of today’s journal, I’ll share a few photos from the pole that I particularly enjoy, and I hope you do too!

Bearded Seal @ N. Pole — A Bearded Seal takes a look at USCGC Healy at our sampling station less than a mile from the North Pole.

Snowflakes on Jacket — Miniature masterpieces, these snow flakes on a crew member’s jacket are each just a few millimeters wide.

Parhelia in Crepuscular Rays — A neat combination of parhelia (aka “sun dog”) in crepuscular rays at the North Pole.

North Polar Sun and Ice — The Sun stays low on the horizon all day long at the North Pole, making a slow circuit of the horizon over the ice.

Frozen Aft A-Frame Block — Work continues on the pole, and as McClane pumps were recovered from a deep cast today the block (pulley) on the aft A-frame in use for the operation got pretty iced up from the wet cable running over it in single-digit temperatures.

USCGC Healy with Triple Fogbow — While we were parked in the ice near the North Pole today a triple fogbow appeared off the bow of the Healy.

GO DEEPER!

Continuing the Sunday tradition, here’s a riddle:

An explorer walks a mile due south, turns and walks a mile due east, turns again and walks a mile due north only to find herself right back where she started. Then she looks south and sees a bear! What color is it?