The Arctic Ocean. Here we are. Some people onboard had already had signs of it thanks to the birds that constantly fly around the ship. Some of them belong to species only encountered in Arctic regions.
But now icebergs have made it clear to everyone than we have eventually reached the northernmost ocean of our planet. As soon as a few people have seen these white spots at the horizon, many of us have grabbed our cameras and climbed to the upper deck to have a better view. And during the whole morning the ship has gone through a number of icebergs, some big ones at a safe distance, some little crunches of ice much closer.
Although observing icebergs is amazing, nobody stays outside for a long time anymore. At the time of writing, air temperature has just dropped to 0°C and it is always windy. Water temperature is a tiny bit warmer, 0.3 °C. For us coming mostly from mid-latitudes, it seems we have switched from summer to winter in just a couple of days. Kind of a strange feeling … And it will get even colder in the next days!
-Antoine Barthelemy
Hey lindsay! im a Julie Gilberts student. ive always been into the ocean life and exploring all of those weird things. i would like to know if you guys stop anywhere to fuel up the ship or anything. i would love to see pictures of the animals and fish over there thank you so much hope you have fun in the artic.
Dear Jesse, If you’re into ocean life and interesting things, I hope you get to the Arctic someday! We will not be stopping for fuel anywhere (there is nowhere to stop anyway), but sometimes for really long expeditions they will plan stops or plan to meet with another ship to refuel. If you check the blog you will see a picture of some Arctic birds and even a polar bear! I hope to see more animals and will send photos if I do! Also, can you please tell Ms. Gilbert that I am so impressed with all of the good questions that all of you asked, and that I hope you keep following along!
How long does it take to record the clouds height.
. Dear Tachala, good question – the ceilometers measures cloud height almost instantaneously every couple minutes with a laser, but we do observations with our eyes every hour, all day and night.
HELLLLLLOOOO LINDSAY ! im part of Ms Gilbert’s class. and im exciting to ask you questions about the artic, I bet its really nice over there, i’d like to see picture soon. is there a difference with the weather during the day and night ? have you seen penguins!? there are so cute. please let me know, have fun in the artic !
HELLLLOOOOO STEPHANIE! I’m so glad you are excited to follow me on this expedition! I hope you check out the blog, because there are a lot of pictures there already, and there will be more to come. The weather now is pretty much the same day and night. It’s summer here, so it’s daylight ALL the time, and it’s just below freezing (and windy) pretty much all the time now. No penguin here (they only live in the extreme south), but polar bears live here, and they are so cute too! I haven’t seen one yet, but other people have, so keep your fingers crossed for me!
Dear, Ms.Lindsay
I’m Hazzell, I’m student of Julie Gilbert. I want to know How deep is the is the Artic Ocean?
Hi Hazell, the Arctic can get to about 4,000meters (2.5 miles) deep! It’s amazing.
Hello Ms. Bartholomew
I am Nija Walker-Vincent. I am a student of Julie Gilbert in her intensive math class. If i can take a moment of your time I would like to ask you a question. Say that you took a dive underwater to explore. How much time does it take to get hyperthermia underwater?
Hi Nija, your question depends on what kind of temperature resistant layers of gear that you were wearing. Here the water temperature is just below freezing – I don’t know the exact amount of time for hypothermia to set in, but I would say it’d be really quickly. We won’t be doing diving, we let the scientific instruments do the diving for us.
Hello Ms. Linday Barthalomew,
I am a student from Ms. Julie Gilberts class at Law Enforcement officers Memorial High school and i am interested in learning about your expedition. I have many questions but for now i do not wish to bombard you with questions since i understand you are extremely busy . For now i just wish to know how has your diet change since you left Florida
Thank You
-Amet Blanco
Dear Amet, thank you for the consideration – I am very busy, but I’m also happy to answer questions too! 🙂 On the ship we have 3 and a half meals a day prepared for us. Mainly they are some kind of soup, along with meat with potatoes or pasta. They feed us well!
how the cilmate diffrent in artic from the cilmate in miami?
Dear Kenya, I’d say there are two main differences. The first is that while it’s so hot in Miami in summer, the temperature is freezing here (and it’s even summer here too)! The other thing is that there is no land – just ocean.
Hi i’m M.s Gilbert student. What is your favorite thing about going to Arctic? Also what convinced you to go to the Arctic?
Hi Nicholas, I think my favorite thing about the Arctic is that it looks like another world. Imagine the ocean covered in white ice! I have always wanted to explore the world, and I really wanted to come to the Arctic on a scientific expedition, because I think it’s so important to understand the Earth, for the benefit of our future.
Hi I am a student of Ms.Gilbert. How has the arctic changed over the years because of all the poulltion that is happening in the world ?
Ernalyn, lots of good questions! There are lots of kinds of pollution, both in the air and water. Pollution in the air, like “black carbon” can have effects like changing the chemistry of the ocean (which is bad for marine life and us), and contributing to the greenhouse effect.
How did the climate impact in the arctic you since you are use to miami`s weather ?
Dear Ernalyn, actually I have always liked cold weather, so it’s nice to dress in warm coats and hats for a while!
What is the temperature in difference depth areas I the artic ocean.
Ashley, the temperature difference is actually only a few degrees. Right now it is just below freezing on the surface.