Hi, everyone! I’m Anna, one of the summer school students.
I have spent a lot of time in the Arctic, but always onshore. I collected samples in bogs and swamps near the Barents Sea, watching and envying those who study marine organisms. And now I’m here. A bog changes over time, but these changes are traceable. Here I feel a little bit lost: everything around me moves – water, ice, and clouds – and there are no reference points I can rely on.
Onboard I help in the hydrochemistry laboratory measuring silica content in the water, which is brought up by the rosette (it’s a big frame with some sensors and 24 bathometer tubes, which an operator closes at different depths to sample water as the instrument is coming up through different depths). It helps to understand the vertical and spatial distribution of diatoms (part of phytoplankton), the most important primary producers in the ocean (they produce oxygen and are a food source for other things). You can see on the picture a long row of bottles waiting to be analyzed. All those bottles are from only one station! (A station is a location where the ship stops to do measurements.) And there are a lot of stations… and a lot of work. But right now we are going to the next location and there will be no stations for two days. It seems I can finally finish the skirt I am knitting.
I am participating in the cruise to learn more about relationships between diatoms and sea ice. I hope I will reach that goal by processing and combining the information from the lab and visual observations.
I always knew that diatoms live at the bottom of sea ice. But it was a revelation for me when I saw yellowish spots at the surface of the ice (which you can maybe see in the photo). Can it be diatoms too? Unfortunately, I couldn’t have a closer look yet and have to live with doubts for now…
– Anna Nesterovich
Photos from Anna Nesterovich
Hi Lindsay, my name is Ja’Kara Harden and i’m a student in Ms.Gilbert’s physics class at Law Enforcement Officers Memorial High School. We’ve recently gained knowledge of your expedition in the arctic. As a physics student does your expedition in the arctic have any effect on what we’re learning in the classroom? Does it provide a new insight on into physics?
Dear Ja’Kara, I’m so glad you asked that question because the answer is YES! 🙂 Everything from the movement of water currents, to the levers, pulleys, and other equipment we need to deploy monitoring instruments in the ocean, to the relationship between the temperature, wind, and the pressure and composition of the atmosphere, to predicting the ice conditions year after year, to the satellites in orbit that transmit data about Arctic conditions and help us plan the ship’s route, all have to do with physics, and this expedition, and others like it, would not be possible without physics. I hope that gives you a better idea of how physics is everywhere! 🙂
Hello Lindsay of the Arctic,
I’m a high school student who was told about your expeditions in the Arctic. I was wondering if you’ve gained any insight on things that pertain to physics?
Dear Paola, I’m happy you are asking about physics, because it is everywhere on the ship – in how the ice looks (light and optics) and moves (wind and water currents), how the ship works (the propellers, engines and thrusters), the machinery on the ship (like the cranes and gears and pulleys), and the experiments to measure properties of the ocean like temperature, pressure, and salt content. Soon on the blog I’m going to post a question and challenge for you and everyone interested in physics.
Hiya Lindsay in the Arctic*,
I was just wondering you know, how are things going with your studies in physics. Oh where are my manners, oh i found them, i’m a high school student in my senior year taking physics and i wanted to know any tips or facts that could help in my studies.
Hi Xander, nice to meet you. Since my background is in physics, it’s exciting for me to see so many things on ship that have to do with physics… the pulleys and cranes that help us lift heavy objects and lower them into the ocean, the different colors of ice and how it has to do with light, the weather stations and experiments onboard that measure the temperature, pressure, and chemical composition of the atmosphere, and more. Have a look at the blog very soon, and I’ll post a challenge to everyone interested in physics.
Hi Lindsay, Since you are on a ship with 60 other people from North America, Asia, and Europe do you ever seek to one of your colleagues for inspiration or do you ever provide them with inspiration regarding this expedition?
Hi Ja’Kara, good question, when you’re on a ship doing experiments and projects, sometimes you need help with something, and when you’re so busy all the time, sometimes you need re-inspired or a laugh to help you through a problem. So I think with so many of us onboard, it’s great that we can all come to each other for that! Also, we are learning things about everyone’s background and where everyone is from, so just that is a learning experience!