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| Sunrise on the Chuckchi Sea |
In November of 2008 I was on an icebreaker in the Antarctic Ocean and in November of 2012 I found myself on an icebreaker in the Arctic Ocean. In some ways it feels like I have come full circle (but I guess it is more like 180 degrees) in four years. The two experiences were comparable but not really similar -- both, however, were unimaginably rich. On the Antarctic trip I was an ecotourist with nothing more to do than enjoy the ride. In the Arctic I was a woman with a job!
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| Barrow and the Arctic Ocean |
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| The "man camp" at Barrow |
We flew from Anchorage to Barrow and were transferred by shuttle to the "man camp" where we had lunch. After much uncertainty about whether the helicopters would fly that day (the weather was a question mark throughout the project), we were bussed back to the heliport, rushed into our suits, forced again to watch the helicopter safety movie, and were finally off.
To board the Tor Viking we first landed on the heliport of the Fennica, a Finnish icebreaker, then transferred with the Fennica's crane by "basket" to the Tor -- an experience not be be forgotten.
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| The Tor Viking |
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| Billy-Pugh transfer basket |
The Tor Viking is a Swedish Anchor-handler/Icebreaker that normally works in the Baltic and North Seas. There was also an Ice Advisor on board from Halifax. I felt very confident even as the ice started "growing" in the Chuckchi Sea.
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| The Fennica in snow |
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| Shoveling snow off the back deck of the Tor Viking |
We had the total spectrum of weather including ice, snow, fog, rain, strong winds, a real storm, complete calm, and bright sun. And it could all change within 10 minutes.
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| A calm day on the Chuckchi |
One of the days the weather was mild on the Chuckchi Sea. Very soon ice would start growing. I thought I was going to miss the ice entirely since the season started so late, but we were out there long enough to see all of the phases of "new" ice which grew strong enough to support resting seals on its surface.
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| Pancake ice in the Chuckchi |
This form of new ice is called
pancake ice. There are a number of stages in the development of first year ice, but most of what we saw was pancake which later consolidated into large sheets. There is a good description of all the niceties of ice formation at the following site: http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/characteristics/formation.html.
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| The Fennica and one of the Harvey supply vessels |
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| Pale sunrise |
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| A sunrise of another color with the Fennica in the distance |
My watch was in the morning so I have lots of photos of sunrises. Don't imagine I was getting up at the crack of dawn -- oh well, yes, the crack of dawn which was about 8:30 am. Sunrise was around 10:00. I warn you all of my photos on this trip are of ice, other ships, and sunrises.
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| The icebreaker Nordica |
The vessel behind the Nordica is the Noble Discoverer. The next photo was taken when the Tor was providing ice management while the Nordica refueled at the tanker Affinity. The Nanuq is standing by for assistance with any potential problem.
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| The Nordica refueling from the Affinity |
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| Ships in the ice and fog |
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| The lights of Barrow in the early morning |
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| Another spectacular sunrise |
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| Close-up of new ice |
On the way back to Dutch Harbor in the Bering Sea we were hit by a storm with 50 knot (60 mph) winds, Beaufort Level 10, and 30 ft seas -- it lasted two days. Although one shouldn't wish for bad weather, I'm happy to have experienced it. It was probably about the same level storm as the one in Drake Passage off Antarctica. Luckily, this time I didn't crack any ribs. The photo really doesn't do it justice.
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| Storm in the Bering Sea |
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| Back in Dutch Harbor with snow on the peaks |
As you can see, by the time we docked in Dutch all was calm. About an hour before departing to the airport we all had the gift of the following on the back deck of the Tor Viking.
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| Eagle on the back deck of the Tor Viking |
This post will probably be the last on this blog. It has been an incredible 4 years exploring ice and snow (with a few diversions in Florida), but I think I am ready to close this chapter. I don't know what I will do next but between now and spring I have some time to think about it. I do intend to come back to work next summer and the firm has indicated they will cover my travel, but there are more adventures out there .......
Happy Thanksgiving to all and I should see those of you in Florida sometime in the spring.
