I have unraveled the mystery of the seemingly random baby pool sitting on the helideck of the ship in the Arctic! Of course it’s not random. Everything is here for a purpose. In the case of the baby pool, when you bring seawater samples onto the boat to study the growth of microscopic life forms, you need to recreate the conditions in which they live. So you keep them in a “bath” of seawater, which is the same temperature as the ocean, while you study how they live and grow in certain light conditions. So, for those of you in Miami (or any of you who spends a lot time outside), which conditions do you want to control when you’re out in the Sun? You want shade (in other words, you want to control the intensity of the light), and you want sunscreen and sunglasses with ultraviolet (UV) light protection. Two scientists here, Janghan and Howon, are doing the same for the phytoplankton. They take the bottles with water samples in them and put some in quartz bottles (which allow UV light through), and some in polycarbonate plastic bottles (which do not allow UV light through). Then they cover the bottles with screens to darken the inside of the bottle (to simulate the amount of sunlight that reaches the depth where the phytoplankton normally live).Here’s where the baby pool comes in. They put the bottles into the pool, which has water at the same temperature as the ocean. And there you have it: a perfect little phytoplankton habitat in a baby pool, to watch them grow.
How do you know the baby pool temperature stays the same as the ocean? It’s more exposed and doesn’t have the same mass, so I woudl guess more susceptible to fluctuations.
Hi Gillian! Good question. The temperature here in the “high Arctic” is very constant day to day (just below freezing), and also, the ocean temperature and the air temperature have actually been within a degree or two of each other the whole time. I talked with the scientists in charge of the experiment, and they confirmed that temperature fluctuation in the baby pool water is not an issue. Funny you mention though, because I was going to be posting a entry on air versus water temperature tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying the blog, I have gotten a lot of great comments, questions, and feedback!
Dear Lindsay
I’m a student in LEOM H.S keeping up with your adventure. I find it so amazing how you risk your life to go discover new things and bring it back to share. There are two questions I would like to ask you. To begin, I was wondering about how thick are the ice bergs and the crust of the frozen water? Also, who was the mastermind to come up with the route for the expedition? Thank you for going to a place where most people won’t even dare to.
Dear Mayra, I really appreciated your comment about how I am in a place that most people will never be able to see. Thank you for that! I am so grateful to be able to do this, because we are here not just because it’s cool, but because we want (and need) to learn more about the Earth, and we also need to share it with young people like you! The sea ice where we are can be sheets up to 5 or 6 feet thick! As for icebergs, they are on the outlying part of the solid ice-covered part, and they can be bigger than huge buildings. The masterminds of this expedition were two groups, the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and the Arctic & Antarctic Research Institute in Moscow, Russia. They wrote a proposal to the National Science Foundation to help fund the work, so it is a global partnership, which is good because climate is a global concern!
Dear Lindsay
Wow! Those Ice Bergs are really Huge. Also, another question, how do you guys maintain your body temperature Warm if it’s so cold? How cold is it anyways?
Hi Mayra, the temperature is amazingly constant. It is usually just below freezing, at -1°C (30°F). And the water temperature is about the same! But the air temperature has also gotten a few degrees colder on a few days. Although that air temperature doesn’t account for wind, which makes it feel lots colder. The trick to surviving the cold is to wear layers if you’re going to be outside for a while. But we’re always on the ship, and it’s always warm in here, so whenever your fingers feel like they will fall off from being cold, you can come inside to warm them up (assuming you are not off the ship and on the ice).
That’s extreme! How many doctors are on board? So if any of you guys get sick who assist you? Has anyone gotten sick on the expedition? If so how were they treated?
Hi Mayra, I think the most that has happened in terms of anyone being sick is little colds here and there, and a little bit of seasickness. I’m grateful that it has not been me so far. There is a doctor onboard if anyone gets really sick, so no worries!
That’s good, what’s the wildest animal you guys have seen? Have you touched any wild animals yet?
Hi Mayra, we have seen some amazing wild animals! We have seen polar bears (we even saw one swimming), walruses, seals, and someone actually saw two northern bottlenose whales! We have also seen beautiful birds too, which are so interesting – one kind, the ivory gull, does not migrate south like the other gull species. It is the only seabird which stays all year round on the ice!
That’s so awesome! When does the expedition end? Do you guys have limited of time you’re allowed to stay over there?
Hi Mayra, I can’t believe it but the expedition only has a few days left. We have been on the ship for over 4 weeks now already, imagine that! There are a lot of international details that you have to work out to be on an expedition like this too.