Buoys, Buoys, Buoys, Buoys

We have stopped at dozens of stations over the course of the expedition, each time deploying instruments to sample and monitor the ocean. But our main purpose at this station (80°N latitude and 155°E longitude) is to deploy FOUR buoys. On the ice. All of them involve drilling a small hole in the ice and stabilizing a surface component, and some have scientific instruments going way down into the water underneath. But they all have different purposes, and tell us different things about the Arctic climate (think of each of them as a piece of the Arctic puzzle). Plus it was a fantastically impressive sight, seeing tiny scientists and technicians in the middle of endless white.

The O-buoy has a component above the surface that takes measurements like temperature, humidity, and wind speed and direction. It also has a tube that goes down through the ice with instruments that circulate air through them to measure atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, bromine oxide, and ozone, all of which have effects on the climate system. Then it has the yellow “flotation collar” which keeps it afloat, should the ice melt. Want to track it yourself? Go to www.o-buoy.org  and look for O-buoy #9!

The ice-tethered profiler (ITP) goes much deeper. Using instruments that continually go up and down a cable that reaches 750meters deep, it can measure temperature, salinity (salt content), and pressure for different water depths. Scientists can use this data to better understand not only conditions in the Arctic, but also, for example, how some water currents that may have originated elsewhere in the world may affect the Arctic. And this also has a yellow flotation piece in case of ice melt, so you can still find it! Want to track it? Go to: http://www.whoi.edu/itp and look for #59!

Ice-Mass Balance Buoy, Photo from Drew Slater

The Ice Mass Balance Buoy measures ice thickness, and the “balance” of the amount of ice that grows versus the amount of ice that melts every season. Under the ice is a tube 3meters long, and at the bottom is an upward-looking sonar device, which measures the thickness of the ice. Throughout the tube there are also sensors that measure the temperature throughout the ice, all the way up to the top (so air temperature is also measured). At the very top is a weather station, and also an acoustic snow depth sensor to measure how much snow accumulates on the ice. Track it here for yourself! http://imb.crrel.usace.army.mil

The Met Buoy (“met” is short for meteorological), measures weather parameters, as you may have guessed, like temperature and air pressure. From the surface it looks like a small white ball (so it’s hard to see in photos on the ice), but it also connects to a cable that goes down 60meters, with temperature sensors all along it. These can be deployed on the open ocean, or the ice. It transmits live weather data, so while it tracks the weather, it can be tracked too! (The University of Washington monitors all met buoys in the Arctic.)