On September 19th and 20th, we didn’t move very far. We are now traveling to stations (locations where the science equipment is deployed in the water) on a line to the North Pole. The plan is to alternate full-day long stations with short station stops of a few hours so that we can proceed timely to the Pole.
Grease ice with open water. Note how the thin ice flexes in the swell.
Unfortunately, we recently had a glitch that delayed our journey. The multi-corer had been deployed to take mud samples from the sea bottom and was being brought back to the surface. As it came up, the cable wound improperly on the drum. It was the deepest the cable has been deployed (to 3800 meters, 12,000+ feet) since it was prepped before the ship left Seattle. Finding a solution to the problem prevented us from moving for almost a full day.
New ice and open water.
For two days, we were in the pack ice, though it’s not very thick yet. We’ll be “in the ice” for three to four weeks."
The forms in the ice vary from snow on hummocks to flat ice where former leads (areas of open water) have frozen over, to small pools of open water or frozen pools. September 19th and 20th were remarkably clear with beautiful sunrises and sunsets and light sparkling on the ice and snow.
New grease ice and thicker new ice, with its bluer tones.
The fall equinox is today, September 22nd, and we’re less than 550 miles away from the Pole. For the last few days, though the sun dropped below the horizon at night, it hasn’t been completely dark.
At the Pole, September 24th is the last day that the sun will be above the horizon until it reappears at the spring equinox. It seems counterintuitive, but until September 23rd the sun is still up for 24 hours a day at the Pole. Starting September 25th, it won’t rise above the horizon for 174 days.
If our journey gets us to the Pole in the next 10-12 days, there should be some level of twilight there, as twilight doesn’t disappear completely until October 6th. Hopefully there will be enough light that I can do some photography when we get there. Then, as we head south again, the length of the days will slowly increase and by the time we get back to Dutch Harbor on October 28th, we should have about 9 hours of daylight.
Sunset and new ice. Note that the flat formerly open water, known as lead, forms right angles.
For more information about the purpose and research on this trip as part of the Synoptic Arctic Survey – A pan-Arctic Research Program, go to: https://synopticarcticsurvey.w.uib.no.