Irina Repina, a scientist onboard, has spent over a year on this ship over several expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic! (And a personal side note: when I participated in a research expedition to Antarctica 3 years ago, Irina and I were roommates!) Summer School students are working with her to study atmospheric conditions over the Arctic, and her lab could not be much cooler. When I say “lab,” I mean the onboard Meteorological Lab, the Flight Tower (where helicopters would be guided in, as needed), not to mention the entire Arctic itself. Their focus is the atmospheric boundary layer – the lower layer of the atmosphere mostly influenced by “surface effects” like temperature, wind, and humidity. But that’s just the first step. They want to learn how this layer affects conditions of the sea ice underneath it, like the extent of the ice, its thickness, and its movement. So, how do you measure atmosphere and ice from a ship? Luckily, everyone brought the most important tool with them – their senses and their knowledge. Looking out from the Flight Tower, they observe sea ice conditions – how concentrated is it? Is it a solid cover of ice, big ice floes, or little chunks? Is it surrounding us, and if not, which direction is it?
Other tools are in the Meteorology Lab and the Flight Tower (they are close to each other, but you do need to go outside to go from one to the other). You can see your exact latitude and longitude, a radar screen with the live location, direction, and concentration of the surrounding sea ice, and monitors with continually updated data like temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and concentration of gases like carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
And – I love this – I’ve mentioned how science is like a puzzle. Each field, scientist, and instrument provides a piece. Different methods may give you similar data – using more than one method might give you that little extra bit of information. For example, Irina’s team use the ship’s multiple onboard weather stations (see the photo below), which include an anemometer (the red devices, to measure wind speed and direction), a sonic anemometer (the little pole with the 4 little arms sticking off of it, to measure wind speed/direction in 3D), barometer (for atmospheric pressure), thermometer (the device that looks like a pine cone), and more. But they are also working with another scientist onboard, Kensuke Komatsu, and comparing their observations with data from his radiosondes experiments – huge scientific balloons that he releases off the ship to measure atmospheric conditions as they rise. So on one hand, the weather station can take continual measurements… but you can’t continually release balloons. On the other hand, the balloon can rise through the atmosphere as it takes measurements… but the weather station can’t. This is one of the great things I keep seeing over and over again on this expedition – with science, you need the technology, but you also really need what you bring with you: knowledge, experience, people to work with – and all of your senses.
Hi im one of Miss.Gilbert student and i had a question. how deep is the arctic ocean. aslo how do you measure how deep the water is.
Hi Nicolas, the Arctic Ocean varies a lot in depth. There are deep basins though that go down to over 4000m (over 2.5 mile deep)! The depth is measured by sonar, which is sending a sound wave down, which bounces back. Then we can calculate the distance the wave traveled if we know how the speed of the wave and the time it took to get the signal back. The seafloor is already mapped for depth, but we also do our own measurements when we need to know more exactly for a specific location, like when we’re deploying a mooring (an anchor with a cable with scientific instruments that reaches from the bottom almost to the surface).
What type of wildlife do you encounter the most in the Artic? Is it evident what is being said about global warming, is it visible, and how does it visibly affect the wildlife you’ve encountered?
Hi! Yes, the evidence is definitely visible, because scientists have been monitoring the amount of sea ice, and it has been decreasing over time (last year was the lowest amount on record). We have seen some animals, like polar bears, walruses, seals, and birds, and they depend on the ice in different ways for survival. Polar bears for example, use ice as hunting grounds to find dinner in the ocean. Without ice, they will not be able to find food. It’s sad to think about, so I hope we can find ways to make good decisions about climate in the future.
Hi! I was wondering how the cold may effect the machinery and technology on the ship, thats is, if it does all? I am really interested to know how the tough conditions mayaffect your research.
Dear Sabrina, this ship was designed for this polar, icy environment, so it can handle things quite well (which is comforting). It can break ice up to 6 feet thick, and the ice will not break the ship. As for the machinery onboard and the scientific instruments that we put into the water, those are also designed to handle the cold and wind. One of the things that is hardest, as I’m told from the scientists, is that when the water samples come up from the ocean, they have to open the bottles and let the water pour out into containers. The water is below freezing, and there are tiny stoppers and levers on the bottles. So it’s hard to do with gloves on, but cold to do without gloves!
Do you ever feel worried or frightened when you see an iceberg near the boat or when you have to break through the ice to get through?
Hi Stephanie, we never get near icebergs, because we can see them from a distance and also have radar. But in sea ice, when we are crunching through sheets of ice, and ice is breaking and scraping along the sides of the ship, the sound can be so loud it sounds like a construction crew working. But it’s not scary, because the ship is designed to be able to handle ice up to 5 or 6 feet thick (so we break the ice, it does not break us). If we get to ice too thick, then we have to turn around. So it’s actually really cool!
What type of sciences apply to your expedition in the Artic?
Nicolette, great question! Nearly all kinds of science are represented by the people onboard, which is super cool. There are people working in physics, chemistry, biology, and also technicians and engineers as well. When you are studying the ocean, you need to know things like temperature, pressure, chemical composition (salinity, oxygen), how things grow in the ocean, how to model and predict climate and combine factors involving air, ocean, ice, and living things, and also need to know how to build the tools to study and monitor those things. So you need a lot of people with different skills and knowledge in order to study climate in the Arctic!
Also, I was wondering if the harsh weather conditions infer with any of your experiments/investigations while in the Arctic?
Hi Nicolette, actually yes, the best example of that is the fact that we have had to change our planned route because the ice got too thick for the ship to be able to crack its way through. The ship can handle ice up to 2meters thick (about 6 feet), but even though the scientists planned our route in advance, we do have to adjust plans if the ice gets thicker than that. It’s still amazing to me that we can get through ice that thick, and that the ship can break that ice without the ice breaking the ship!
Hi Lindsay! You mentioned in your post, that Irina Repina has spent over a year on Akademik Fyodorov, in contrast to you. My question is: What it’s like to live and work on a research ship?