Although the ice is getting more substantial during the day, there’s still nothing to land a helicopter on. Not even 25 miles away. So we have to head farther north than we expected, just as Bill Williams had mentioned in an email to everyone before we began.
(Peter Lourie)
Rick and Will head out to find solid ice for buoy deployment.
(Peter Lourie)
Seita and Bosun Bill Galliot planning ice logistics for Seita’s ice observations.
(Peter Lourie)
Tamara Fraser, who has worked for 20 years at Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Sydney, British Columbia, in the lab on the Louis doing chemical oceanography, analyzing the nutrients in the water. “Think of that as the fertilizer that supports the very beginning of the food chain.” “Nutrients support the smallest life forms in the Arctic Ocean,” she continues, “the phytoplankton, upon which all of the larger species depend.” Although Tamara has done a lot of work in the Pacific Ocean, this is her very first time in the Arctic and on an icebreaker. She said that at least four members of her family wanted to hang out in her suitcase and travel up with her. “How many people can say they were anywhere near the North Pole!” she exclaimed. Loving the collaboration aboard, Tamara said, “I’m here to help our Arctic program.”
(Peter Lourie)
Last night, Rick gave a talk to all onboard about the Beaufort Gyre project, scope of the project field work and the kinds of operations and data collected over the past 14 years. It is found that since 2003, the Beaufort Gyre region has accumulated more than 5 thousand cubic kilometers of fresh water which is approximately one fourth of the fresh water volume in all of the Great lakes combined. Potential release of this amount of fresh water can result in climate cooling of the Northern Hemisphere. Scientific hypotheses of this project are discussed at http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=9208 and http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/v2/article/images.do?id=241649 .
(Peter Lourie)Text, images, graphics and other material contained on this website are subject to copyright. For more information or to license material, please contact the Director of Digital Assets, images@whoi.edu or (508) 289-2647.
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