Sunday Treats

A scientific expedition goes full-steam ahead at all times. Scientists are running experiments in the lab and deploying instruments and collecting water samples at all hours. Students attend – and give – daily presentations, and work on projects offered by scientists onboard to get them involved first-hand in Arctic research. And I run around trying to be everywhere at once so I can tell all of you about all the awesomeness on. So on Sunday, we had a couple special treats. We spent a little time in the afternoon with some icebreaker games (get it? icebreaker) provided by Florence, a student onboard. (She has a million of them in her back pocket.) The result of this experiment? Excessive bouts of laughter.

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“Telephone” mixed with “Charades:” Without talking, Drew has to get Sasha to guess the phrase (in this case, the phrase was “climate model”). Without finding out the real answer, Sasha has to do the same for Vladimir, then continuing on to Masha, Mathieu, and finally Alena, who then has to say what she thinks the answer is. And let the hilarity ensue.

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And here is a yummy Sunday treat. Ice cream! For “tea” (meaning our afternoon snack), we got an enormous helping of ice cream, and of course, what I’m sure you all would assume naturally goes with ice cream – a huge piece of sausage wrapped with bread. It was like a jumbo version of the “mini-cocktail franks wrapped in crescent rolls” appetizer that my brothers would always help my mom make for family events. But I don’t think we ever thought of combining it with ice cream.

Post from a Scientist: “Marginal Ice Zone Versus Solid Ice Zone”

Last night I, and most likely everyone else as well, was kept awake by almost continuous scratching of ice against the ship. In our yoga session this morning, the relaxation was interrupted by bursts of laughter when the voice on the dvd told us to listen to the sound of the ocean. I think the instructor was talking about a different ocean: our ocean sounded more like construction work area. Sounds of the ship shaking and creaking were blended with the noise from ice and metal being scratched against each other.

 I thought we had finally reached the solid ice cover, but when I went outside, there were still smaller and larger openings in the ice cover, with ice floes floating around. I was confused: Are we still in the marginal ice zone, or is the solid ice cover this broken and speckled with open water? The marginal ice zone is defined as the area where waves and swells break the ice cover into smaller (near the edge) and larger (further inside the ice cover) floes. This marginal zone is typically 100-150 km wide, but as the ice cover is getting thinner with the warming climate, the waves and swells are expected to penetrate further into the ice, expanding the width of the marginal ice zone. Changes in the characteristics and physical processes in the marginal ice zone are important, because most of the ecosystem in the Arctic Ocean depends on the productivity of this area. A wider marginal ice zone is likely to increase biological production in the Arctic Ocean, as it provides perfect conditions, light, and nutrients for phytoplankton, which further maintains the whole food chain, all the way up to the seals and polar bears.

 So are we still in the marginal ice zone or did we already reach the solid ice cover? Even when you know the definition, here it provides no answers as you look around yourself. The definition becomes useless without satellite images; without them we cannot tell whether or not this, or the next, ice floe is attached to the solid Arctic ice cover. 

Marginal Sea Ice Cover? Photo from Meri Korhonen
Marginal Sea Ice Cover? Photo from Meri Korhonen

Finnish Translation

Viime yona en mina, eika todennakoisesti kukaan muukaan, pystynyt nukkumaan laivan kylkia lahes jatkuvasti raapivien jaalauttojen vuoksi. Aamun joogaharjoituksen rentoutus paattyi naurunpurskahduksiin, kun nauhoitteen aani yritti loihtia mieliimme meren aania. Ohjaaja puhui luultavasti eri meresta: meidan meremme kuulosti pikemmin rakennustyomaalta. Laivan tarina ja narina sekoittuivat meteliin, joka syntyy jaan ja metallin hangatessa toisiaan vasten.

 Ajattelin, etta olimme vihdoin saavuttaneet kiintean jaapeitteen, mutta mennessani ulos, nain, etta jaapeite oli edelleen erikokoisten rakojen ja railojen taplittama. Ihmettelin olemmeko edelleen jaan reunavyohykkeella vai onko kiintea jaapeitekin nain rikkonainen? Jaan reunavyohykkeella tarkoitetaan aluetta, jossa aallot ja maininki rikkovat jaapeitteen pienemmiksi (lahella reunaa) ja suuremmiksi (sisemmalla jaapeitteessa) lautoiksi. Tama vyohyke on tyypillisesti 100-150 km levea, mutta kun jaapeite ohenee ilmaston lammetessa, aallot ja maininki voivat edeta pidemmalle jaapeitteeseen leventaen reuna-aluetta. Jaan reunavyohykkeen fysikaalisten ominaisuuksien ja prosessien muutosten tutkiminen on tarkaa, koska suuri osa Pohjoisen jaameren ekosysteemista on keskittynyt talle alueelle. Leveampi jaan reunavyohyke todennakoisesti lisaa biologista tuotantoa Pohjoisella jaamerella, silla se tarjoaa hyvat olosuhteet, valoa ja ravinteita, phytoplanktonille, joka puolestaan yllapitaa koko ravintoketjua aina hylkeisiin ja jaakarhuihin asti.

 Joten olemmeko edelleen jaan reunavyohykkeella vai saavutimmeko jo kiintean jaapeitteen? Vaikka maaritelma on tuttu, siita ei ole apua, kun taalla katselee ymparilleen. Ilman satelliittikuvia maaritelmasta tulee hyodyton: ilman niita emme pysty sanomaan on tama, tai seuraava, jaalautta osa Pohjoisen jaameren kiinteaa jaapeitetta.

 – Meri Korhonen

 

 

Post from a Scientist: “The First On-Ice Station”

My first steps on the sea ice was four years ago in Barrow, Alaska. Back then I was helping to measure the ice thickness of shorefast sea ice (ice very close and attached to the shore). This was one of the moments in my life that led to the decision to study Arctic climate. I wanted to understand more. Why does the sea ice in the Arctic melt? Why do we have years with very low sea-ice extent, and other years with a large sea-ice extent? For sure there is no easy answer! It’s like doing a puzzle – however, to solve the puzzle, many scientists have to work together. For my PhD, I try to understand some of the puzzle pieces that explain the atmospheric processes that control the sea-ice extent, and yesterday I had the opportunity to see some scientists in action try to solve some oceanic parts of the puzzle. Five scientists deployed an oceanic buoy (also called ice-tethered profiler) on the ice, which is designed to measure properties of the ocean (down to around 800m depth). For example, in this region we can even measure a warmer ocean current that originates from the Atlantic Ocean (far far away from here). To understand the impact this current has on Arctic climate (including ocean, sea ice and atmosphere), we need as many measurements as possible to help solve a couple more puzzle pieces

Photo from Antoine Barthelemy
Photo from Antoine Barthelemy

To deploy the buoy, scientists were let down onto the ice in a sort of fishing net that was attached to a crane. Even for some of the well-experienced scientists this was the first time they had to use this kind of amusing “elevator.” The work on the ice started with the deployment of the meteorological buoy (in the photo, the white thing on the sled). While this deployment went quite fast, the deployment of the oceanic buoy (the yellow object in the photo) required almost 4 hours of work. Fortunately the weather was quite good, with almost no wind and temperatures around 0°C (32°F), which is a blessing if you have to work with your bare hands (it’s hard to work with small screws with thick gloves on). It also made the watching for us much more enjoyable. 🙂 Unfortunately we summer school students were not allowed to go on the ice yet. But many of us, including me, cannot wait to finally have the opportunity to get off the ship and out on the ice, to have the full Arctic experience! 

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Photos from Marie Kapsch
Photos from Marie Kapsch

How Does the Buoy Work? You Can Track it Yourself!

The buoy is basically structured in two parts. One part is under the ice (this is a long cable that goes about 800 deep into the ocean with several instruments attached to it), and another part is above the ice (that is the yellow device that looks similar to a bottle cork, and can float if needed). To install the lower part, scientists drill a hole into the ice wide enough to fit the instruments. One of the main instruments is a profiler, which goes up and down along the cable and measures the salinity and temperature of the upper ocean layers (this gives us information about where the water is coming from). Another instrument attached to the cable measures oxygen and other parameters that give more information on the water masses. The yellow cork is connected to the cable with the instruments, and is put on top of the ice to hold the whole structure in place. Even if the ice starts to melt and the hole that scientists made in the ice gets bigger due to melting, the cork will not sink (so it really is kind of a cork). And if all the surrounding ice melts (like in the summer), the cork would float on the water, so the instruments hopefully do not get lost. The yellow cork also includes a satellite sensor that sends out the data directly and connects the buoy to the internet. So you can actually watch the buoy (luckily from your warm home or school)! The data are transferred to the internet in real time, and should be already online now! Check it out here: http://www.whoi.edu/itp – the number of this buoy is 72, and it was deployed at latitude 80°48N and longitude 132°37E.

 – Marie Kapsch

Anna and Ioana out to see the buoy deployment. Photo from Lindsay
Anna and Ioana out to see the buoy deployment.
Photo from Lindsay

Plan A: Backpedal. Plan B: Find a New Route.

This ship can crack through sea ice several feet thick, and keep on going. Think about that. It’s still amazing to me. But there are still times when the ice gets to be too much and we have to go to Plan B – which recently happened. We had to change our track slightly a day or two ago because there was too much ice concentration in the planned route, after finishing one of our transects. (A transect is a series of stations which follow a line from shallow water (hundreds of meters) to deep water (thousands of meters), where we stop to deploy instruments. Have a look at the map on the “Expedition Route” page of the blog website to see where we are now, at 81°N latitude and 138°E longitude.) We were not able to head east through the ice to the next planned transect, so we had to head south again to relatively clearer waters, to then start north again on our next transect. So, the water has become temporarily, and relatively, ice-free, but we’re heading back into it again! That is one option when we are heading into lots of ice. The other way around it, which has also already happened a couple times on the ship, is wiggling and even backpedaling the ship when we got to a point where the ice became too thick too continue forward. Having multiple options is always good when you’re in the middle of a frozen ocean.

Here’s a peek into a complicated-looking little nook of the engine room that helps get us through the ice.

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Post from a Scientist: “Remember the Big Picture”

Hi everyone! Happy (belated) first day of autumn! My name is Alena Malyarenko and I’m from Moscow. I wanted to go on this adventure because I was desperate to listen to people with different backgrounds, and I haven’t been disappointed. We have in this Summer School the most diverse group I’ve ever been a part of. We have people who studied theoretical Math and Physics, some of whom have gone into environmental fields later. There are people who studied Geophysics and then went into Meteorology or Oceanography. There are also biologists and people who create physical models from scratch. And here I am: I studied Oceanography from a geographical point of view, without using as much Math and Physics as others. So it’s safe to say that we all have different point of view on every topic. 😉

 After I gave my presentation about water masses from a global scale point of view, we had a very heated conversation about using math to go for precise results. The main idea of my presentation was that sometimes you don’t have to use so much math, statistics, or great models that describe every process to learn something about the ocean. You can just look at observations and results, and create a hypothesis about ocean processes. And if you have good experience in the field, your hypothesis will probably be true.

 And this idea can be spread to every area of science. In recent times, our definition of “better” has come to mean “smaller, and more numbers after the period,” instead of meaning “closer to reality.” For example, we look at brain cells, and try to find out how small parts of our bodies work. Some of us actually try to find out how water molecules interact with each other. But sometimes, in all this rush, I fell like scientists can forget about the big picture. There are like a bazillion different molecules in the world’s oceans. Not only do we not have powerful enough computers to calculate all of that, but more importantly, we don’t necessarily need it. There has to be a line drawn of sensible decisions about where to stop. Think about how oceanographers worked in the 1970s. They had a little bit of data about the ocean, but there weren’t very powerful computers for them to use, so they used their imaginations, and created some awesome techniques for analysis of ocean processes. And now we just forget about them in the rush of racing for precision. I think that it would be nice to try to combine the old methods with the new data we can get from modern instruments.

 Personal PS:  Happy Birthday to my first cousin once removed – Arseniy!!! He is 1 year old today!!! Love you!!!

And my dearest family, please answer my emails!

 NOTE TO EVERY FAMILY / FRIEND WHO DIDN’T GET AN EMAIL Check your spam folders, please!!! The address we use ends in  @rambler.ru ! We are all waiting here for your answers!

 – Alena Malyarenko

Scientists stopped to eat chocolate while deploying instruments into the ocean!
Scientists stopped to eat chocolate while deploying instruments into the ocean!
Here I am standing on the ship’s deck – tiny compared to the ship and the ice! Photos from Alena Malyarenko
Here I am standing on the ship’s deck – tiny compared to the ship and the ice!
Photos from Alena Malyarenko

Frazil, Shuga, Bergy Bit

Take a guess: into what category do these words fall? Frazil… Shuga… Pancake… Nilas… Brash… Bergy Bit… Hummock…

Breakfast foods? Plants? Muppets? These are actually categories of sea ice. A researcher onboard, Alice Orlich from the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University Alaska Fairbanks, has spent the last 6 summers conducting sea ice observations in the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean.  This season, she is instructing IARC Summer School students to observe the sea ice conditions along the NABOS cruise track. Visual shipborne sea ice observations are made from the “bridge” (where the Captain and crew drive the ship) which has the highest view of the ocean and ice cover from the ship – plus there is access to navigation information like latitude, longitude, wind speed, and ship speed. (Working on the bridge also takes some “navigating” of ship protocols – in other words, don’t get in the way of the captain, officers and crew.) Panorama photos are taken for each hourly observation to capture the ice conditions around the front of the ship, and more are taken to focus in on some features to document what’s really going on in the ice. And there can be a LOT of things going on – the World Meteorological Organization has defined 120 terms (!) in 11 categories to describe sea ice and its relation to the atmosphere and navigational issues , based on its formation, scale, age, thickness, etc. What are some of the things we have seen so far?

Nilas (thin ice, about 10 cm thick, that has formed within the current ice growth season) with “frost flowers” (the tiny white dots) forming on it. For scale, the biggest cracked piece of ice here is about 6 feet (2 meters) across.

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This first year ice floe survived the recent melt season and has refrozen. This “amoeba” (not an official term, but it looks like it anyway), is about 5 feet long (less than 2 meters). It is slightly raised from the ice surrounding it (that dark color is thin, refrozen ice – not water), and the white areas are dryer ice where the water has drained from it.

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This 4 foot (less than 1.5meters) thick ice was just cracked by the ship. It is first-year ice that formed at the beginning of last year’s growth season (late summer/early fall 2012), but since we are coming around to that time of year again, this would also now be known as second-year or multi-year ice. The white layer is the top, and in the bottom layer, you can see sediments that were in the ice as it formed. The blue layer is the clearest, most compressed layer.

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Trick question – where is the open water in this picture? (This will be good to know if you’re ever stuck in Arctic ice.) You can tell by the “water-sky” effect. See where there is a dark layer of clouds in the distance? Those are actually areas where not as much light is being reflected back up to the clouds. So the answer to the question is: Below the water-sky.

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Post from a Scientist: “Diatoms from the Deep”

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

mini-1_Samplesmini-2_Surface_diatoms                Photos from Anna Nesterovich

 

ON THE ICE!!!!!

We have just completed our first ON THE ICE operation! Only the necessary few technicians actually went out on the ice to put our first “ice-tethered profiler” of the expedition through the ice and down into the water. One of the scientists will be telling you more about that tomorrow’s post, so stay tuned for details, but it was so exciting that I took Willy the Box Turtle from Miami out to see the action from the ship’s deck. It was a first for both of us! I still can’t believe that the view off the ship’s deck is OCEAN. It’s still so unreal to me. And very different from ocean views in Miami!

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Post from a Scientist: “Learning Teaching”

Learning teaching is also a learning process. If you are a young scientist, many things that the “old guys” do on a regular basis are a first for you. This time was a first not to talk directly about my own work but to stand in front of a very diverse group of people and try to teach them about a complicated topic in a short time.

 My experience is that learning how things are derived is the only way to truly understand the topic to a satisfying level. This however, takes a lot of time, and oftentimes you just want to give a quick overview. In this case, it is important to stick to the big picture and not to get lost in every single detail. This might leave some inaccuracies, and since you know the topic you might be bothered about those inaccuracies, but no one else will feel that way. They are maybe even new to the topic and are happy when they understand the bigger picture. The idea is to create interest, and not confusion by overwhelming them.

 Another thing is, things that are clear to you might not be as clear to others. Different branches in science have different languages. I have felt that already a few times while on this ship, and discovered that it is important to react to that.

 What unites these two ideas is that clarity is crucial.

 -Tobias Wolf

What is Hilarious, Difficult, and a Little Scary? Learning to Speak Russian.

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We started a Russian language class onboard the ship, and so far, it has provided some of the biggest laughs and scary moments of the cruise. Svetlana, a scientist onboard who is “half student/half instructor” of the Summer School, volunteered to lead the class. She is a good instructor, but tough. So you have to listen and behave (hence the periodic bursts of laughter, as grown scientists try to behave and get the right answer). I’m excited that after a couple days, I can recognize the letters and what sounds they are supposed to make, so when I see signs around the ship, I can at least sound out the words (this does not mean I can necessarily pronounce the words however). Want to try it?

Here are some familiar (and not so familiar) letters, and some examples of words that start with that sound:

A a (Anna)

E e (Elena)

К к (Katya)

М м (Masha)

Н н (Neck)

О о (Olga)

С с (Steve)

Т т (Tobias)

Р р (Robert) – make sure to rrrrrrroll your “r”

Г г (Gift)

Д д (Delta)

Л л (Lamb)

П п (Pie)

У у (Ooze)

Ф ф (Phillip)

Х х (Help)

Ы (at the end of a word, adds an “ee” sound)

Now try this Russian tongue twister:

Карл  у  Клары  украл  кораллы,  а  Клара  у  Карла  украла  кларнет.