Dispatch 1: Cannot Wait to Go!     Print

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Mengnan Zhao

September 18, 2015

Today should have been the first day aboard our new home for the next month – the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent (the Louis). I woke up early in Yellowknife (Northwest Territories Canada), excited and eager to fly north to Kugluktuk and the Arctic Ocean, where a helicopter will deliver us to the Louis. This year, 26 scientists from institutions in the USA, Canada and Japan, will be making measurements from the Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Gyre. Most of us gathered at the airport, busily checking in metal boxes with supplies for our biological, chemical and physical measurements.

Unfortunately, despite the good weather in Yellowknife, heavy fog in Kugluktuk wouldn’t allow for landing. After waiting in the Yellowknife airport lobby for nearly 4 hours, our flight was postponed to tomorrow morning. The waiting was not too bad for me though – as a “newbie”, I was kindly introduced to everyone by scientist Sarah Zimmermann (from the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Canada). Everybody was exceptionally friendly and welcoming, and I couldn’t wait to start our cruise!

Although we couldn’t board today, staying for another day in Yellowknife would be pleasant – autumn has slid into this city, and the interleaving fall colors are beautiful. Walking along the Long Lake just opposite my hotel after dinner and watching the sunset was relaxing.