Cruise Day 38
Speed 0 knots (kts) (on station)
Course n/a
Location Alpha Ridge, ~292 nautical miles south of N. Pole
Depth 2260 m
GO DEEPER DISCUSSION: (see previous journal for the questions.)
Did you get the riddle? H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O
Answer: H to O…
H2O…
Water!
TODAY’S JOURNAL:
We snugged in for our cruise’s second super station at about 1am this morning, and sampling operations have been happening non-stop since. If the schedule holds, we will transition from shipboard sampling to another ice station in the early hours tomorrow morning. We’re working in mid-depth waters over the Alpha Ridge, which separates the Makarov Basin to the north from the larger Canada Basin to the south.
At yesterday’s ice station, I was able to visit with several groups conducting different types of sampling. One new aspect at this ice station was a nearby open lead that allowed a team led by Chris Measures, Professor from the University of Hawaii, to sample water from the ice’s edge. Mariko Hatta, a research associate from the University of Hawaii, along with Andrew Barna from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Johna Winters from the Oregon State University, completed the team. They were interested in seeing how water at ice edges might compare with our other sampling areas. It was pretty cold with a cutting wind chill around 0°F, which gave them trouble with their pump system freezing. They’ve re-tooled the system to better protect it from the cold and plan to try the sampling again tomorrow, if a suitably safe lead can be found near the ice station.
The beryllium pumping team also had difficulty with their pump freezing but employed a new plan after running into this situation earlier in the cruise. They moved their excess hose and pump into an Arctic Oven tent (a very heavy-duty tent designed for polar work), and propped an electric-ignition, diesel-fueled heater at the pump unit inside. Once this was all rigged up they didn’t have any more trouble with their lines freezing, and it was a great place to warm up chilly fingers!
Bill Landing (Co-chief Scientist & Professor at Florida State University) and Chris Marsay (Post-doctoral Research Associate at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography) found a frozen-over melt pond to sample. Melt ponds are formed on the surface of sea ice in the summer, but don’t get all of the way through the ice. In this regard they collect melted snow and surface ice, water quite distinct from seawater or even water from deeper in the ice floe. They are a little tricky to find up here now that they are frozen over and snow covered, but look like flat, slightly lower areas in the ice. To sample melt ponds, the team drills through the few inches of ice covering the melt pond and uses a battery-powered pump to fill sample containers which are subsequently brought back to the ship for study.
Tim Kenna (Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth ObservatoryA location used for observing terrestrial and/or celestial events.) and Alison Agather (doctoral student at Wright State University) gathered snow samples that several different teams are interested in studying, and the teams characterizing the sea ice and collecting trace-metal clean water, snow, and ice conducted their work as well on the expedition’s 4th ice station.
GO DEEPER!
Why is everyone wearing pretty much the same outfit in each picture?
Aloft Con web cam updated every hour
Healy Track
That's all for now. Best- Bill
Comments