Last night I was up writing, after midnight ship time (mid-day local time). All of a sudden I felt like a flashlight was coming through my window. I looked out the porthole, and it was solid ice. Not only that, the Sun was shining, and I realized we hadn’t seen a clear sunny day since we left Norway. I put on layers of clothes and boots, and went outside, and it was like the heavens opened up and poured light blue sky onto sheets and piles of shimmering white ice. Several other people must have seen the same flashlight in their window because all of a sudden people appeared out on the deck, smiling and staring at the Earth. I think everyone was probably re-invigorated as to the reason why we are all on this ship. Here’s the view.
do you think that the sun melts any of the ice bergs through out the days that it is out?
Heaven, thanks for all the questions! In the Arctic, the Sun is up nearly all the time (even if it’s behind clouds), and in the winter, the Sun almost never comes up at all. So over the course of the summer, that is when the ice melts, and over the winter, when it’s colder AND it’s darker, the ice accumulates a lot.
Hi Lindsay I am a student at LEOMHS and I’ve got to say what a lovely view! I want to know when do you estimate global warming will melt Glaciers in the Arctic or Glaciers anywhere else for that matter?
Hi Ashley, actually there are scientists onboard right now who are using observations of the Arctic (from the ship, from remote instruments in the ocean, and from satellites) as well as computer models to analyze what has been going on in the Arctic, and forecast what the future ice levels might look like. What I can tell you is that even though there are fluctuations year to year, the amount of ice over the last few decades has been decreasing, and 2012 was a record low. So I hope that the decreasing trend slows down or reverses.
Hey Lindsay how cold does it usually get over there at night in relation to the day time?
Dear Juan, actually day and night are not much different in temperature during the Arctic summer. It is light all the time, so the temperature doesn’t vary by more than a couple degrees over the day.