Polar Bear Swim

Hey All,

Well it is 2:30am on August 30th. We leave the final ice station in about
10 hours. I have the 3am ice observation so I am still up. We tried to do
a flight along the flight of a satellite track but bad weather limited this.
However we were very close by and we have data for a flow that is
representative of the region. It was miserable yesterday and today with 20
knot winds (which is like 40km/hr or so, and below freezing. I was out on
the ice for most of the day today and then did this short flight.

Today I did something I normally wouldn't do, I swam in the Arctic Ocean. A
bunch of us scientists went in to the water and then quickly climbed back
out. We did this one at a time, with a rope and had a safety diver nearby.
It wasn't graceful or particularly fun, but I'm glad I did it, even wore my
Canada toque.

Only a few more days and this first cruise is over, then the second one
begins.

Justin

Scared Another Bear

Well I'm coming to the end of another bear watch (for the weather station).
the 0130 to 0430 shift (actually two shifts), there was a polar bear when I
came up at 1:30 and we had to frighten him off from the weather station
using three flashbang flares. Have not seen him since.

We did two more flights of airborne sea ice thickness measurements (bringing
us up to 10 total). Later today we will finish the current ice station and
maybe have another one starting sunday. I'm not sure at all. I am quite
tired but had a fairly relaxed day, just long with little sleep. Today
should be okay again, potentially another helicopter flight.

This first cruise is almost coming to an end. Most of the scientists on
board will depart and new ones will come on on September 2nd/3rd.

This cruise has been interesting in the fact that we have been sampling from
2000m below the water to my airborne measurements and everywhere in between.
Measurements such as conductivity, temperature, turbulence, biological
sampling of the ocean floor, and the water column, as well as radar
satellite imagery, and even a team of divers going under the ice to take
measurements of light.

Well my replacement is here

Have a good

Justin

82N 31E

Hey All, so yesterday started out as a dismal day, just like August 25th.
but had some surprises.
We came across a polarbear with two cubs with her and they came right up to
the boat (close enough enough for my little camera to get some pictures).

Then in the afternoon we arrived at the mooring site and it was not foggy,
overcast but still not foggy. A quick test flight was done to make sure we
could go up to the height we need and this was the case so we did two quick
flights, one before and one after supper. Got lots of data and got to go to
82N, not my northernmost point but it was for everyoneone else in the
helicopter (pretty cool), and it will likely be the farthest north anyone on
this trip gets.

Then after getting back from the helicopter, the oceanographers recovered a
buoy successfully. After this and a little bit of chocolate with the pilots
and other heli team (on getting to 82N) I went out on the ice at midnight
with Sebastian and Steve to set up the weather station. It was a really
beautiful night, with some really nice light. This of course meant that we
had to setup a watch over the night and so I was then up from 0230 until
0500 this morning watching the weather station, making sure no bears came. I
am up again (at 730 am, having gotten about 3 hours sleep. We have a full
day today and so no rest for the wicked.

Well have a good day, I know I'll be a zombie later.

Justin

Steaming

Well today is a day of cruising to another sight. We are going to recover
some oceanographic moorings (instruments deployed in the ocean). However
we've had to smash through a lot of ice and go quite aways south. This did
mean that we could look at some of the data and catch up on entering notes,
and on sleep.
I was caught up on most of my processing/data but still had a bit to do.
Today we saw something like 3 polar bears from the ship and 7 seals.
We also saw a large rock on some ice (I think it was glacial ice and some
rock from a cliff or something. A few scientists got to go off the boat to
the ice to collect pieces of the rock. Also since the helicopter pilot was
the first to really notice it, he got to go too. I asked him to bring me
back a piece. So mom, you will have a piece of rock from both the bottom of
the ocean and unbelievably a rock that was floating around on a piece of ice
in the ocean, no just going to the beach in Longyearbyen (though I may still
grab you rocks from there too).

Well I don't have a lot to report.

Justin

Curious Bear

Well our bear visitor from the 23rd came back yesterday (24th). He didn't
venture close this time at all. The night of the 23rd we posted a bear watch
on the ship to guard the weather station we put up on the ice. No one on
the watch saw the bear at all that night, then the next day we went back on
the floe to do some more work. I joined after lunch and sure enough the
bear decided to walk near the far far end of the floe. We all stopped work
and went on the ship until we were sure that he was just passing by. This
time he seemed to have no interest in the ship unlike the previous day.

We have all been working really long days lately (I worked 19 hours on the
23rd and about 14 hours yesterday). We've been trying to do more helicopter
EM measurements but fog limits us. Yesterday I got to go along with the
helicopter to check for icing before our EM flight. This was nice as the
pilot could fly as he wanted to and I guess decided to show me a thing or
two as I was staring at the ice through the side window as though it was the
bottom of the helicopter. We did a couple of fast steep turns and some
others as well. Quite nice, a little disconcerting the first time but then
it was okay.

Today we are steaming East to go to some moorings that need to be recovered
and redeployed. However there is a fair bit of ice (as the amount of sleep
I got last night is a testament too). Lance is not an ice breaking ship,
just ice strengthened, so they try to stick to the open water between the
floes, or at least the thin parts (from what they can judge) on the floe.

Well I need to go. It is 6am so it is quiet still and I am going to shower
(it's been awhile) and do laundry.

Justin

On Ice Station

Hey Everyone,

Well if you'll remember before leaving Longyearbyen, everyone had shooting
training and polar bear training. Well yesterday was our second on ice
station and the first day I have been within 400m of a wild polar bear.
Yes, that is correct there was a polar bear on the flow with us. At first
he was heading towards the ship, out polar bear guard persons noticed him as
early as was possible and we all collected. After he walked towards the
ship for awhile it seemed to lose interest in that and decided to come
investigate us. I will admit it was a bit freaky to have this bear coming
towards us. We fired off several flashbangs which had a great effect and he
ran off. Then the ship kept track of him while he walked away. We
continued our measurements. It was interesting to see him and to see his
curiousity. In the morning we had noticed several seals in the water and
even when we were working, which is likely what drew him close, that and the
smell of us and the ship.

We set out a weather station, did some drilling of ice thickness and took
some ice cores.
No flying yesterday but hopefully today.

Otherwise things look good.

Justin

81.33N 22.36E

Hello everyone,

Another EM bird flight today, two actually with mixed results. Good EM data
but the new laser scanner on our bird is causing some frustration for me.
Oh well.

Things on the boat are going quite well. The cruise has finished with the
open water stations (and Mom I even have a stone from 400 or 500m below the
ocean surface for you, since you asked).

Our group does ice observations every 3 hours from the bridge of the ship,
noting the amount/type of ice, the size of the floes and general
meteorological (weather) parameters. Then I am also doing the EM bird
flights, setting up a high quality GPS station on the ship while we fly and
maybe on the ice once we start doing ice stations (which I will also do).
Ice stations involve us going out on the boat, either using the stepway from
the ship or using a small zodiac or the helicopter to go onto the ice. We
take measurements of ice thickness by drilling, EM induction measurements of
ice thickness, snow depth and other properties, and light transmission
through the ice, as well as some other variables.

Things on the boat are okay, I am getting quite used to sleeping in a loud,
bright environment, though I still need earplugs to sleep. My roommate for
the cruise works very different hours than I (often anyways) but this works
out well so far.

So now our ship will continue heading north, and we will keep flying. I am
hoping to do some trouble shooting tonight and tomorrow to get the bird and
laser scanner working better together.

So far I have seen one polar bear (from the helicopter). The risk here
seems much higher as everytime anyone goes on the ice there is a designated
polar bear watcher (this was also the case on the CCGS Larsen) but here
everyone on the science team has had gun/polar bear training.

tonight we had a fancy meal with wine and reindeer (which is delicious).
Will do a bit more processing tonight and then maybe shower/shave and go to
sleep.

Update

So we are in ice (and this ship is noisy when it is breaking the ice). But
on to more exciting news.

Yesterday I took part in light transmission measurements on the water. We
went out in a small boat (a bit bigger than a zodiac) and lowered both a
light sensor and a Conductivity/Temperature sensor into the water. This is
my first oceanographic work ever and my first time on such a small boat on
the ocean (in a survival suit of course).

Today we did the first test flight of the EM bird and all seems to be
working well.
Other than that I have nothing exciting to report.

Talk soon.

Justin

August 19, 2010

So not much to report in this blog posting. We have been doing oceanographic work in Rijpsfjorden for a couple days now and will continue with that today.
I have put the bird together and have't had many problems.

Looking forward to seeing some sea ice soon, but at least the water is calm. Thats it for now

Cheers,

Justin

Everything Almost Came Up

Well I didn't throw up, almost (ie salivating more, feeling very sick) but got a Gravol down before anything came up.
So I laid down for awhile and then later this afternoon the seas calmed down dramatically, and we had lemon meringue pie.

I put the bird partly together and started testing the system to make sure everything is running. We are about a few hours work from being ready to fly. But so far the weather is foggy and we are planning to do oceanography work in Rijpfjorden first (can try google but I don't know so here are our present coordinates. N80o,20.9163' and E022o, 04.6864' or if you want about 80.33N and 22.0E).

That's it for now. There won't be any pictures posted while on this trip now, as the internet connection is slow and expensive for the science funding. Also I will try to post everyday but no promises.
We have encountered out first sea ice floes already as the sea ice is blowing south with the strong North wind we've experienced so far.

That is it for now.

Cheers

Justin

Seasick

Hello readers,

Well I am seasick, haven't puked yet, but came close. Now have a Gravol motion sickness pill in me. I have patches with me but can't get past the side affects to actually try it.
Not much to report, we headed out yesterday into Force 7 winds and these are continuing. Seas are like 2-4 meters by my un-trained eye.
I always find it interesting that so many scientists are very prone to seasickness (like me) and yet still go on lots of these cruises. I guess it is because it is rarely bad the entire time.
Everyone onboard has been real friendly. I am hoping to get past this seasickness and work on putting the instrument together.

Well that is all

Justin

Leaving longyearbyen

Well it's now almost 4 pm Monday and we are about to sail from
logyear, gear is loaded and mostly strapped down. This is important
because we are apparently heading into rough seas, is I'm going to be
pretty darn sea sick. I may try my sea sickness patch, really don't
want to be liking for the next 2.5 days while we sail into position.
Also when it is this rough we can't do muc work on deck so can't prep
the HEM bird.

That's it for now, update tonight or tomorrow

Longyearbyen Day 3

Well here I am in Longyearbyen, back in the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) offices, borrowing a network connection.  Need to check e-mail, download some satellite photos and make sure my credit card is paid off before I go.

Oh, I did get my luggage (even had a rush sticker on it).  The only problem then was that my toothpaste had opened inside my toiletry bag, but that was easily solved with a rinse.

Today we did some searching for someone's equipment (not ours as we knew where it was).  Found that and then went for breakfast.  We then had three hours of gun training which was good as apparently there are lots of polar bears around here (someone was attacked near town last week).
We had to practice shooting, loading, safe handling etc.  I did pretty good, kept my groups tight and could do a good job whether laying, kneeling or shooting.  We practiced at 30m with a 30-06 (for those of who know gun caliber). We also got some practice in with flare guns which we can also use for scaring away bears (have flashbang cartridges).

The afternoon was spent cleaning the guns and then getting some gear to use on board and on the ice from NPI (this includes boots (winter and rubber safety), parkas, toques, mitts, waterproof mitts, coveralls, and most importantly survival suits (for working in on the ice or when we go in the small boats).

I think that this cruise will be a little more intense for me than the Larsen, sound like there will be lots of going off the boat in small boats out onto the ice, but as I am also supposed to do HEM flights, we'll see how often I am involved. I am looking forward to this cruise, hoping to be busy but also to have time to do some writing and processing of data.  We will see.

Tonight we have a quick packing session at 6pm and then 7pm is a group supper so that everyone can meet. I have met many people already and I think I can convince them all to write a short post on my blog so that you can all learn why everyone is here.

I don't have much other news to report.  Look for a blog post sometime tomorrow or the day after.

Cheers

Justin

Longyearbyen

Hey all, well just a short update since I was too tired last night. Overall my trip was okay though I am a little worried about by luggage as I'm told it should be here tonight, should.

Oh well not much i can do about it, but it sucks not having a toothbrush or soap, but again no big deal. Norway is a beautiful country and Svalbard is no exception, big beautiful snow capped mountains cover much of the island. Longyearbyen is a town of about 2000 people. Europeans on the whole are very friendly (as I already knew).

The plan today is to get some breakfast/lunch in a bit and then maybe some GPS training. May also go down to the bird equipment to check that it is all here, which I also really hope.

Well I miss Nicole as it would be neat if she could share in my adventures.

Talk to you all soon. This will all cost me a fortune in data but oh well, I should be able to get reimbursed.

Justin

Sent from my iPhoneoe

Longyearbyen at last

So i am in longyearbyen. Have a small little apartment for myself. No Internet though. Am too tired to write much so just wanted to say I arrived safely. More tomorrow or later if I can't sleep.

Justin

In Oslo but with problems

So part of my long journey is almost over. i made it to oslo. however my plane was 1hr late from edmonton because the pilots for our plane were late on the plane they were flying to edmonton from vancouver. this meant that my stop in london was extremely short.  upon arriving in oslo, i find out my bags didn't made it and are still stuck in london.  the should make it to longyearbyen tonight on a very late flight. so hopefully that is true as that has all of my clothing and toiletries.

this of course serves me right as this morning i was telling nicole that I thought air canada wasn't too bad and that i have never had any major problems with them....that willl teach me. howevr air canada did manage to get me a window seat with no one next to me for the entire flight from edmonton to london.  but there was a mom travelling with two small kids sitting in the middle and she let the kids sleep across the three seats, so i offered her my aisle as she looked exhausted. well now to eat some supper, and then fly to longyearbyen.

as long as my clothes do come tomorrow then i amokay, otherwise air canada will be getting some pretty upset emails/phone calls from me.

wel thats it for now.  more soon i hope

Justin

Off

Well my trip has officially begun. I'm skirting I the Edmonton airport now waiting or my flight. I get into longyearbyen at about 3:30 tomorrow afternoon Edmonton time, so I'll be up for quite awhile. In going to try to sleep on the lane to try and move Arafat into longyearbyen time.

I usually get some strange looks at security just due to the sheer number of electronics and cables I bring. This time I have my imputed and external hard drive, some flash drives (5) and them a field computer, gps unit, iPod and all the charging cables and connection cables. I also have some cables for a piece of equipment we will use ( the em31, which is a ground based em induction instrument.

Well I already know that I will miss jax and Nicole alot, but i am hoping that both Nicole and I will be busy so that the time passes quickly. However another side of me ( the professional side) is looking forward to the opportunity, adventure and hopefully some time to work on thesis stuff.

Well that is it for now, no pictures yet but hopefully I will have internet in longyearbyen so I can send some photos of it.

Cheers a d keep follow

Sent from my iPhone g my post. I know text isn't as exctinv as pictures but all the blog posts will be updated with pictures when I return.

To Nicole, my lovely wife, I love you and take care. Be safe and I will as well.

To Dan, have fun in S. Korea. Will catch you out there.

To Amanda and Cory, all the best in your quest. :)

To family, love you and take care. I'll be safe.

To other readers, hope you enjoy the posts

10 Days until Departure

Well I haven't exactly blogged much in awhile.  I thought I would do so during the whole pre-wedding week but that was soon dropped as I was busy. Then I thought I'd post pictures from the wedding later but still haven't done so (though check out http://alilaurenphotography.wordpress.com/.  Ali, our wedding photographer has posted some pictures on her blog.  You may have already gotten an e-mail about this from Nicole, the pictures are amazing and I can't wait to see the rest of the photos when I get back from my long trip.


So onto my long trip now.  Okay, in 10 days or so I depart for Longyearbyen (making stops in London (England), and Oslo (Norway).


View Larger Map


View Larger Map


Longyearbyen, located in the Spitsbergen (or Svalbard) Archipelago, is a pretty important staging ground for European arctic research. Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund are home to many arctic research programs and stations (especially Ny-Ålesund, see http://www.kingsbay.no/ for more information).

Naturally before you can go on a scientific research cruise many things need to happen.  Besides being invited to join, there is usually a medical examination, some forms for next of kin notification should something go terribly wrong, research logistics (sending the equipment in time) and then all ones personal logistics (flights, packing, organizing data/software/manuals).

For me, this cruise is relatively simple logistically as most of the equipment is owned by the Norwegian Polar Institute (http://npweb.npolar.no/english). I just had to worry about the medical exam/forms, personal logistics and we sent along one piece of equipment (though that was handled by someone else). The Norwegian Polar Institute is even providing me with nice outer clothing (jacket pants, boots, survival suit)

So more info about this specific cruise, my role, and the schedule as I know it so far.

I am joining two cruises, ICE2010 and Fram Strait (just the names).  Each cruise will consist of numerous scientists (largely from Norway but also from the UK, the USA and other countries).  There are always numerous activities going on at once, and hopefully this year I can bring you some information about them all. I myself am involved in electromagnetic induction measurements of sea ice thickness.  Basically we fly a torpedo shaped instrument (for aerodynamic reasons) below a helicopter.  The instrument flies at about 45 feet (15m) above the ice, emitting electromagnetic radiation. As sea ice is relatively non-conductive, and sea water is conductive, the signal penetrates the ice, hits the water and induces a secondary field which is sensed by the instrument. The strength of this secondary signal depends on the distance between the instrument and the water (which is under the ice)  The instrument also carries a laser altimeter to measure its height above the ice surface and by subtracting these two distances we can get the total thickness (which is the thickness of the snow plus the sea ice).

Photo courtesy of Melissa Peters.

Our instrument (one of just a few in the world) provides sea ice thickness measurements over large distances. We try to make measurements each year in Alert (Ellesemere Island and where I went in May), and then anywhere else we can.

I am a little excited for the trip (for the opportunities, to meet some other people in my field and to gain alot of experience).  I also hope to get lots of work done.  However I am not looking forward to being away from Nicole and Jax for so long.   I know I'll miss relaxing at home, reading books etc.  Also it pretty much ends the chances I have to do more camping this summer.

Expect lots more blog updates, though they will almost certainly not have pictures until after I return as internet access isn't exactly fast or constantly available while on the boat.  I will basically be able to receive text e-mails and only through a special process.

Well that is it for now.