Thanks to Bardian for this
https://www.polar.se/media/btank21q/veckobrev-fraan-isbrytaren-oden-2021-08-09.pdfWeekly letter from the Icebreaker Oden 2021-08-10(Translated from Swedish by google translate)
Hello!
Now we have finally come out on an expedition again. It has been two years since Oden made a scientific expedition. That it has taken so long is due to the ongoing Corona pandemic that has put sticks in our usual routines and it has been anything but easy to get away. It started with the fact that on July 16, we were quarantined in a hotel, where we all, crew and researchers, sat in separate rooms for eight days. We probably all thought it would be a bit hard to sit in a room for such a long time without getting out, but as we know there are those who are locked up full time and we also had good service with food and amenities, so it there was no need for us. On July 24 we had to muster at Oden and on July 25 we left Sweden.
This expedition goes by the name Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) and takes its place on our side of the Arctic Ocean. We start the expedition along the longitude E030 ° 00 'and go north on this line over and past the North Pole. After this straight leg, we start sweeping east and south according to the turquoise line on the map. The V-route down to the Greenland coast, as shown, can be difficult to implement, as the most difficult ice conditions in the entire Arctic Ocean are there. We'll see, everything should get an honest chance.
SAS is part of an international expedition where Oden is one of a dozen research vessels surveying the Arctic Ocean in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The research results are then coordinated to study the status and change of the Arctic ecosystem. Together, the measurements will provide a better picture of how variations in the Arctic Ocean are interconnected, how chemical and biological disturbances in one region can be spread to another. When scientific studies are conducted across several Arctic regions simultaneously, researchers can gain an understanding of the systems' basic structures and functions.
The main question for SAS is:
What is the current state and what ongoing changes are taking place in the marine Arctic system?
SAS is divided into three major research areas:
Physical driving forces of importance to the ecosystem and the carbon cycle.
Ecosystem response
The carbon cycle and ocean acidification
The Arctic is the area on our planet that is currently most affected by climate change, which makes it an important region to map. Changes in the Arctic will affect both locally in the area and our entire planet. The Arctic Ocean is the ocean that is least studied by the Earth's oceans and it is of great importance to our climate.
SAS will provide forecasts by the researchers modeling physical, biological and chemical data. This will form an important basis for future climate models and an increased understanding, especially in an Arctic that is constantly changing. Data collected under SAS will provide a unique reference point that allows researchers to track climate change and its effects in the Arctic for a long time.
Navigation
As I told you about when we last went this route during expedition AO-2018 (Moccha), it was very compact ice and it applies almost to this year as well. The conditions we had in 2012 and 2016 when Oden was this far north, it took about 5 days from the ice edge to this latitude with an average speed of just over 6 knots. It is much tougher this time too and we sail with an average speed of about 3-4 knots. At the time of writing, we are in position N88 ° 30 'E029 ° 32'. The ice offers this resistance, we as ice navigators are happy, as there is constantly gloomy news about "extremely small ice distribution in the Arctic" "Ice-free in the Arctic Ocean" etc. The nature of the ice has been if we start down at the ice edge (N81 °) and up to N83 ° the ice was compact and quite difficult to find your way through.
This should be compared with 2018, when the ice edge was at N83 °, in other words 120nm further south this year. From N83 ° and up to N85 °, there were huge flakes with bumps between them, which is unusual as it is mostly ice-crushers and smaller flakes. N85 ° - now at N88 ° it is a large flat with much less water around the flat, but we find our way around, but we have to break a lot of ice. The weather does not offer much visibility, so it has not been possible to fly as much with the helicopter, but we have done some helicopter shrimp. Our route goes over the North Pole where there is also a 24-hour station, so it will be a longer stop at that point. Considering all the ice we have seen so far, there is great potential that this ice can survive this summer and get older and maybe manage another summer and become perennial ice.
As we lie still for longer periods under the research stations, we can study the ice drift pattern, which is very interesting in our world. A couple of days ago we had moderate winds of around 10-12m / s from S and SW, which lasted for several days and then the whole ice mass gets a real speed and we drove at a speed up to a knot. With these speeds, you have to start looking out for equipment that hangs at a depth of about 4500m, as the wire to the equipment begins to risk hitting the ice edge.
You see in the first picture what the operating patterns look like. Each arc is 12h long and during the first arc we had light winds, but towards the end of that period the wind started to pick up a little more and if you look closely at the end of the first arc and the last picture, it looks a little worried . This concern is due to the ice starting to press on us and we had to let go of the moorings we anchored in the ice and then we just had to let the ice squeeze us instead. It worked a few hours ago, we started moving again in the force of the ice and the wind. We then had to start up the machines and hold position with them until we got up the equipment we had hanging 1500m under the ship. We then turned the ship around and managed to get stuck again and this time until we finished the station. The other two arcs became significantly more elongated due to the increasing wind and the fact that the wind managed to speed up the entire ice mass in the area.
The research
The projects are in full swing and all the labs on board are being fully worked on. At each stop, it is rushed out into every corner of the ship and out onto the ice to collect data and samples. Today we run a vertical trawl for the first time and the first emptying gave some shrimp and a transparent mask. We have not had any luck on the longlines that have hung out from the ice edges, so we are waiting to catch our first fish. We have caught some polar cod, but they live at the surface around the ice and are not too unusual, but we are waiting for the first big fish from the depths of the sea !!!
Odin's engine room
Here are some pictures from Odin's nice engine room. Machines that tirelessly fight on towards our exciting and challenging goals. The machine staff has worked a lot to help the researchers assemble, manufacture holders for equipment and repair equipment that has broken even before we even started research. The 3D printer is hot and the activity in the welding workshop is high.
Wildlife
We have actually seen some animals, 3 polar bears, lots of birds, whales, seals. However, we have not seen a walrus yet. We had a polar bear who was very curious about us and would probably have liked to jump on board to revel in all the good it saw and felt weathering.
Life on board
Life flows smoothly and everyone seems to thrive. The work is now in full swing in the service of research. We have an upcoming North Pole visit, which will probably take place at the end of the week if the ice allows us to get there. 2018, the ice was so dense that we thought that 6nm away was counted as a valid visit. Now we can hope for a visit to N90 ° !! Everyone is tagged in this "North Pole 2021"
Have a good time now, we'll hear from you next week or so.
With cool but sincere greetings
Mattias
