Here is an English translation of a transcript of instalment 13 of the Arctic drift podcast posted on the MOSAiC website that is otherwise only available in German.
This time the podcast is almost up to date because it refers to events that happened on the 27th of February, one day before the Dranitsyn managed to reach the Polarstern. It reveals the problems that have been encountered in maintaining the emergency landing strip because of ice movements and that the expedition has probably experienced its closest approach to the Pole. It also includes a contribution from the new expedition leader Torsten Kanzow, who tells listeners something about the mood of his team.
Installment 13 – Delay of Provisioning Icebreaker, Airstrip kaput and a seal.
Introduction: The next leg of the MOSAiC Expedition is already coming to an end. However, the arrival of the Russian icebreaker Dranitsyn for provisioning and crew exchange has been considerably delayed. Naturally, most of the existing scientific projects continue, but there are others that, because the Arctic dawn (return of daylight) is beginning, should be begun as soon as possible. For the third leg of the expedition, Torsten Kanzow will take over the position of expedition leader on the Polarstern from Christian Haas.
Commentator: Arctic Drift, the Audio Logbook.
Christian Haas: Our current position is 88 degrees, 30 minutes North and 39 degrees 48 minutes East. That‘s about 90 miles from the North Pole and the Dranitsyn, the ice breaker with our supplies and exchange crew that we are so eagerly awaiting, is located about 30 miles to the South.[Ed.: According to the data on the MOSAiC webpage, this makes the date of this recording the 27th February]
Commentator: The next leg of the MOSAiC Expedition is already coming to an end. By the half-light of the Arctic dawn (the return of daylight) the crew associated with Christian Haas, the leader of the expedition, is eagerly awaiting the Russian icebreaker Dranitsyn with supplies and exchange crew, whose arrival has be considerably delayed. The delay has consequences for various types of measurements that should already have started. As a result, it’s now important to coordinate the exchange of personnel and materials as quickly as possible to avoid losing any more time.
Christian Haas: The communication with the Dranitsyn is very difficult, because it is only possible to speak with them via Satellite telephone, where there are big lags in the conversation and the connection is often interrupted, or by E-Mail, where it’s difficult to clarify complicated technical issues quickly and clearly. Anyway, as soon as the weather allows, we are planning to make additional flights to the Dranitsyn to bring more scientists here, in particular to allow them to start the measurements that should be made during the Arctic dawn, that’s just beginning.
Christian Haas: We haven’t just been sitting here doing nothing. Rather, we used the delay period, that‘s now lasted about 2 weeks, to continue and intensify our monitoring. The MOSAiC project is planned to continue for a whole year and therefore it’s important to continue weekly measurements. We’ve done that so the scientific projects are continuing routinely.
Commentator: After the months-long persistent darkness of the polar night, the Arctic dawn is beginning. Even among experience researchers this natural spectacle evokes fascination and elation.
Christian Haas: We are still thrilled by the environment that surrounds us, and by the moving around and work on the ice. Naturally, that’s become even more fascinating because the sunrise is already beginning. Just today [Ed.: 27th February] for the first time, because the sky was clear, we could really see the ice we were standing on and orient ourselves without using our head lamps. Despite this, many of us on board are of course also still a little incredulous about the situation that our return home will be delayed by so many weeks, which will result in a lot of organizational and private problems
Commentator: The current monitoring programme will hardly be affected by the delay in exchanging the crews. In fact, just the opposite has happened: in the last few weeks some continuous 24-hour measurements that required a lot of preparation could be carried out.
Christian Haas: In any case, among the recent scientific highlights is the fact that we were in a position to continuously monitor the turbulent flows under the ice for periods longer than 24 hours. Turbulence measurements are very important for being able to estimate how heat from the ocean can be transferred to the ice and then to the air above the ice. The strength of the turbulence is dependent on the speed of the current flow and the roughness of the ice. Normally we can only make these measurements during the day and when there is good weather. What does that mean? The wind should be relatively calm and there should be no drifting snow. But these are not conditions under which the current flow is particularly strong and the turbulence correspondingly large. For this reason, we made a special effort to make continuous 24-hour recordings out in the oceanography tent. Naturally that meant that we also had to ensure safe working conditions 24 hours a day. People had to be on bear watch all the time and shifts had to be organised to make sure that the monitoring was continuous.
Christian Haas: Anyway, a further highlight was that we met the first seal on our ice floe. The first time it was seen was only for a few moments in the ROV tent (the ROV is our underwater robot), but for such a short time that nobody was able to photograph it, so half-jokingly we doubted if the observation was real. Then, just this week, the ROV’s dives took it for long distances under the ice and in its livestream all at once we saw a seal appear, a ringed seal, that we able to observe catching Arctic cod directly under the ice. This is a very nice example of how the ice provides a habitat for microorganisms and zooplankton, that are then eaten by fish, in this case arctic cod, of which we see large numbers in our underwater video footage, but have not been able to catch. The fish then serve as a food source for the seals.
Commentator: The specially constructed landing strip that, in emergencies, would allow crew members to be flown out and supplies to be air lifted in was damaged by strong ice movements. Temporarily a new area for it must be found, but for the handover between legs 3 and 4 in April a kilometre-long strip will be required.
Christian Haas: The airstrip was operational for five weeks and in really good condition. But unfortunately, a week ago it was damaged. A split that went the whole way through the floe also went through the middle of the landing strip and divided it into two parts. However, the crack was less than a metre wide and on the next day we were already able to fill it with snow, compacted snow, so that planes would have been able to land again. Sadly, two days after that, because of continuing ice movements, the floe was disrupted again, but this time the crack was much bigger, at least a metre and a half wide, so that one couldn’t just jump over it. To make matters worse, one of our Pistenbullys, these are the vehicles that we use to remove snow, smooth the ice and remove pressure ridges, got stuck on the wrong side of the crack. After several days we were able to bring the Pistenbully back to the ship over the slowly closing crack. But then, there where the crack had been, the ice edges moved together further and the thin ice that had formed in the meanwhile was squeezed out and a pressure ridge formed where the crack had been. Because the ice there was particularly unstable, we haven’t been able to level the pressure ridge and can’t use this part of the landing strip. But despite the storms of the last few days we are in the process of extending the other part to the North so we will have a new 500 metre long landing strip which, when the cracks to the South have been mended, can be quickly extended to provide one a kilometre long.
Commentator: Despite the demanding work on the ship, the scientists are still able to devote some time to sporting activities that bring them ever closer to the North Pole.
Christian Haas: A special kind of sport on arctic expeditions is that, for fun, one is always trying to get as far north as possible and establish new records. Therefore, we were particularly excited to see how far north we would come and whether we would possibly get to the North Pole. During the last two weeks the drift in a northerly direction was very strong and very swift, so that we really did approach to within 80 miles of the North Pole. Since then we are now moving southwards and, because we are now in the downstream part of the Polar Drift, it is unlikely that we will reach such a high latitude again. Therefore, we are happy that, in all probability, we got to the northernmost point of the MOSAiC expedition. Since we were only 80 miles away from the North Pole, we feel that it was justified for us to have called our skiing club the North Pole Skiing club, right from the beginning. And, until we leave the ship, we will continue to make our weekly ski tours and push even further North.
Commentator: Some scientists have already been flown from the Dranitsyn to the Polarstern. Among them is Torsten Kanzow, who will take over the leadership of the expedition from Christian Haas. During the long outward journey, the new personnel has had a chance to grow together as a team and prepare itself for the forthcoming tasks.
Torsten Kanzow: I’m Torsten Kanzow. I’m a physical Oceanographer, working at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research and will be taking over the leadership for the third leg of the expedition.
Torsten Kanzow: We have tried very, very hard to come together as a team. Many scientists didn’t know each other before they joined the expedition and they have now got to know each other well and organised themselves to be able to work together. And we have worked an awful lot within the team. Apart from preparing themselves for their individual duties, the scientists have tried to work out different ways for ensuring effective cooperation between individual groups within the team. In addition, we indulged in an awful lot of free time activities together. We met for communal film evenings, had a table tennis tournament, and quiz evenings. There was frequently a presentation of the best photographs of the day. There were many, many activities, some on deck as well. I believe we used the outward journey and the leg very well to become a team.
Torsten Kanzow: But on the way here, when the progress through the ice wasn’t so great we went through a roller-coaster of emotions. During the last few days we have been progressing much faster and the mood depended very, very strongly upon how high we rated the chances that we would be able to reach the Polarstern. From time to time we discussed other alternative possibilities of how we could accomplish our mission, if the Dranitsyn couldn’t get to the Polarstern. So naturally for a long time, and indeed still even today, because the Dranitsyn isn’t there yet, she is still 30 miles distant, we have been holding our breath. [Ed.: in the meantime, the leg3 people can breathe out. The Dranitsyn made it the next day 28. February] But with the good progress that we made during the final part of the trip, its only natural that there are many more happy and hopeful faces to be seen.
Commentator: The next thing that must be done is to coordinate the mooring of the two ships so that people and materials can be exchanged. The captain of the Dranitsyn has received a comprehensive plan for this. Torsten Kanzow is very happy about the next leg but also has very high expectations for the next few months.
Torsten Kanzow: On the Dranitsyn we received the plans from Captain Stefan Schwarze, that the mooring of the two ships should be different from the last time. The mooring position of the Dranitsyn should be about a kilometre away from the Polarstern, to the East. There, as I understand it, there are some sort of infrastructural measures being made to ensure that the transfer of goods from the Dranitsyn to the Polarstern can take place over the ice floe. Naturally we are very happy about this, because it will allow us to kick off with our activities on the ice floe. The third leg can begin or continue activities, because as I have been told it has now officially started. Our expectations are very, very high, in the main because the team seems to me to very motivated and friendly. That’s… That gives me good reason to anticipate that we will be able to achieve a lot, both by carrying on with MOSAiC’s successful projects and by complementing them through starting new ones. Naturally some of this expectancy is bound up with the fact that we will experience the transition from darkness to 100 percent daylight. That makes our leg a really, really special one – although of course the other legs were too, in their own way – and that understandably gives this leg its own powerful allure. Today, on the flight here, we could get our first impression of what we are about to experience: the ascending sun was already producing a red twilit sky and I have to say that it made the flight breath-taking. The helicopter trip today was quite an amazing experience.
Commentator: How successful the changeover from leg 2 to leg 3 will turn out to be and whether the expectations of the new expedition leader Torsten Kanzow will be fulfilled, you can find out by listening to the next instalment of Arctic Drift – the audio logbook.
