Friday, 22nd August

We have now reached the end of our expedition and we are currently based in Longyearbyen - awaiting our early morning flight back to the UK. We got of the ship yesterday at noon here in Longyearbyen - all tired after a long night of packing up gear, cleaning labs and the end of cruise party of course - which was great fun. 

Although tired, we all managed to go on a hill walk up on one of the mountains surrounding Longyearbyen – guided and well protected by our Norwegian colleagues Stig and Anette (you have to carry a gun for Polar bear protection if you go outside town). The weather was superb and so was the view over Longyearbyen and Storfjorden from the top of the mountain.

Looking back on the last month I think we have been very lucky with almost everything. My landers didn’t get caught under the ice, we had very good weather during the entire cruise, we saw loads of wildlife and most importantly we managed to get a lot of interesting science done!

To be honest, half way through the cruise – when we had difficulties with changing ice cover and finding suitable stations - I was a bit sceptical to whether I would be able to collect all the information I needed. But the second part went really smoothly and I’m now quite pleased with the data set that I have accumulated during the expedition.

However, this wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the excellent crew and officers on board the James Clark Ross – our ship and home for the last month. So, I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Graham - the captain - and his team of officers for safely taking us through the ice and to the crew for all their help with everything from deploying landers to serving excellent food and their positive attitude in general. I would also like to say thank you to all my colleagues on board. The atmosphere has been fantastic and I think this is one of the best expeditions I’ve ever been on.

Finally, since this is my last blog I would also like to thank all of you - the readers of this blog. I hope you have enjoyed it and that you did get an insight into how it is to be on an arctic expedition. So, until next time – good bye everyone!

Tuesday, 19th August

Over a week has gone by since I last did a blog and quite a few things have happened. To my great relief I finally got the lander back from its adventure under the ice! We also made it to Ripfjorden on the north east corner of Svalbard as the ice cleared up there in the last minute. This remote place is covered by ice most of the year and few research ships have ever been there before – so we where all delighted to get into it.

My work has been running smoothly during the last week – landers popping up and down, experiments running in the lab etc – and it have been quite intense days keeping up with all the accumulating samples and measurements. I haven’t had time to sleep very much and I’m really tired now. However, there is only five more days to go before we head back to the UK and it is now mainly the packing up that is left to do. We have been cut off from the rest of the world when we were north of Svalbard and I haven’t spoken to my family for almost three weeks, which feels like a long time. So I do look forward to going home!

In summary, it has been a fantastic and challenging experience to be part of this expedition. The Arctic was a new environment for me and I’ve learnt a lot about it over the last three weeks. One of my main impressions from this trip is how variable and unpredictable the conditions are in the Arctic. We expected a retreating ice cover but got the opposite – lots of ice already early on in the expedition. The weather has changed from summer to winter and back again - sometimes in the same day. The other day we had heavy snowfall and ended up having a snowball fight on deck: a fun but somewhat unusual mid-August activity!

The rapidly changing ice cover and finding suitable sediments to sample has been the greatest challenge for me personally during this cruise. There are a lot of stones in the sediments around Svalbard – carried out from land by the ice – which made it difficult to sample. Fragile probes and hard stones do not mach very well I’m afraid and it has taken its toll on the equipment. It’s also amazing how quickly the ice moves back and forth over large distances and every time I put out my instruments in the water the question has been: can I retrieve them when I come back or will they be covered by ice?

The wildlife has exceeded my wildest expectations on this trip with lots of whales, seals, birds and not least polar bears in all sizes and situations. We have now seen no less than 27 of these arctic giants – the kings of the vast ice - and it feels like a great privilege every time, especially when you know that they might not be around for that long if the sea ice keeps melting away in the same pace as it has done over the last couple of years.

Sunday, 10 August

Well, it seems like it was the wrong decision to deploy the lander after all! Coming back to after working deep within the ice for several days, we found the lander station to be covered with ice again – making it impossible to bring back the lander to the surface as it would get stuck under the ice. There has been much more ice than we expected, and we have not been able to reach our intended stations north east of Svalbard - so far at least – although we have found other suitable stations instead. When comparing this summer with the last years of declining ice coverage north of Svalbard, it becomes very apparent how variable Mother Nature can be. Ironically enough, this expedition officially is called the “The ice chaser expedition” – but I’m not sure who’s chasing who this time!

Concerning the recovery of the lander we still have several chances to pick it up before we have to leave back to Longyearbyen. So, I’m not that worried – not just yet anyway – although I’m slightly annoyed that I can’t redeploy the lander again soon. The weather forecast looks promising and southerly winds have started to blow which should push the ice cover north again – away from our lander site. Fortunately my lab-based work is progressing well, so I have plenty to do, which keeps my mind busy with other things than being concerned about instruments under the ice.

I have also had the pleasure to participate in two birthday parties this week: my own and a colleague’s (Eric Fouliand), both celebrating our respective 40th birthdays with cakes, drinks and presents. I got a very nice Scottish hat with fake hair that I can wear in the cold room, a nice T-shirt from the ship, and a beautiful polar bear picture. Thanks to everybody onboard for making it a memorable evening!

Speaking about polar bears: there have been lots of them on this trip. I think we have counted 16 different bears so far. The wildlife has been fantastic – far beyond my expectations. Yesterday we actually had a curious bear swimming all the way up to the ship to have a sniff around. Believe it or not but at the same time a whale swam past, both to our and the bear's surprise, I think. Polar bears are impressive creatures and as the top predator in this arctic ecosystem, they seem totally unafraid of any dangers. Even big structures like the James Clark Ross don’t frighten them and to our great delight (provided we are not on the ice!) they often come close to the ship to check us out.

Monday, 4th August

We are now heading to our ice station and the ship is bouncing and vibrating as it pushes through the densely packed sea ice. It’s a fascinating and beautiful place to be and I enjoy every moment. As the ship breaks the ice, the seabirds feast on the small fish whirled up from underneath the ice. Today, there was a polar bear coming up very close to the ship (apparently) sniffing around and checking out the party, and I was probably the only one who missed it as I was fast asleep after a long night's work. Hopefully, it won’t be the last polar bear we see on this trip……

The last few days have been very hectic for me (as for most other people on the ship) running the landers as well as lab-based experiments - hence my sparse blogging. The landers have made their first return journey to the sea floor at 500m depth of the north west coast of Svalbard. It was good to see them come back and they had performed reasonably well, although some delicate sensors had broken as they had made unwanted contact with some rocks in the sediment.

On the way to the ice station we picked out what appeared to be a nice open water station for the next deployment of the landers (you don’t want them to get stuck under ice…..). But when we came there, the ice had moved in quicker than I ever thought it would do and I suddenly became very aware of the risks involved when putting equipment into the sea close to sea ice! We stayed in the area for a number of hours (thanks
everyone for your patience) awaiting weather information and sea ice reports and from that tried to make a calculated risk assessment. I wish I had the capability of predicting the weather! Finally, the ice started to clear again and I took the decision to deploy one of the landers. I hope it was the right decision but I haven’t come all this way to do nothing!

Thursday, 31st July

09:30 BST

After a week of travelling trough the English Channel, over the North Sea and along the west coast of Norway and across the Norwegian Sea, we finally arrived at Svalbard yesterday morning. The weather gods have been smiling at us the whole time and it has been a comfortable trip so far. It's considerably colder outside now (four degrees), so I have to wear lots of clothing when working on deck from now on.

We have spent most of the day yesterday in Storfjorden at the south end of Svalbard taking water samples and deploying three landers from POL (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory). They will be measuring physical parameters (currents, salinity, temperature, pressure etc) until late September, when they will be recovered on another expedition.

We also spent some time trying to pick up a mooring (a string of sensors hanging in the water column tethered to a weight at the sea-floor) that had been deployed here for almost a year, but without success. It could possibly have been swept away by a fishing trawler just after the ice broke up in Storfjorden. Disappointing of course, but it is always a risk involved when putting equipment on its own in the sea, which in turn is necessary if you want to obtain information on long-term changes in the ocean.

While working on deck yesterday evening I could see the silhouette of Svalbard with its snow covered mountains and glaciers in-between "pouring" into the sea. The sun was cutting through the clouds in places creating glowing spots on the white snow cover. It was stunningly beautiful. I'm very glad we're here and I'm looking forward to start with my own science.

Although some of us are just about to start, others have already finished their science and are actually leaving us today when we reach Longyearbyen, where a new set of people will come aboard for the second leg of this trip.

Monday, 28th July

11 pm

It’s been a good day today. The pressure test of the buoyancy spheres and the releases went according to plan. We sent the gear down to 1500m depth and fired the acoustic releases (mechanical hooks that can be triggered by a sound pulse to release e.g. ballast in this case) which all released as expected and thankfully no glass spheres imploded.

The rest of the day has been spent on fine-tuning the landers and on exercise in the small but well equipped gym (second time now – it’s almost becoming a habit... :-). I also went to the store today. Yes, we actually have a small store, selling clothes, toiletries, snacks etc.

I bought a really nice red windproof jacket for a bargain price with the ship's emblem on it. Thanks Hamish - you made my day! Now I think it’s time to turn in. I have the second night shift (2am-8am) for the continuous water sampling that we do en route - so I’d better get some sleep now.

Sunday, 27th July

It’s Sunday morning and I have just had breakfast, fresh fruit with yoghurt and cereal. I was really tired when waking up this morning which I blame on the fact that we lost one hour during the night when switching to Norwegian time. But I didn’t go to bed an hour earlier (it was Saturday night after all) – and maybe that contributed slightly to my tiredness. However, it’s yet another beautiful day and I will soon do my daily walk around the ship and then climb up to the top of the ship (seven stories high!), which is called “Monkey island” for some reason I can just imagine, and then down again.

Yesterday was also a beautiful day with flat calm waters and we made good progress on our route to Svalbard. I saw several pilot whales in the midst of the Norwegian oil-fields and lots of seabirds (fulmars, gannets, shearwaters and even a skua). Scientifically, I continued working away on preparing and fine-tuning my different instruments and I discovered a leak in my new incubation system which meant that I had to re-design and re-build a small part of it. Thankfully I had the help of one of the engineers onboard. The crew on the ship is really helpful which makes all the difference on a scientific cruise like this.

Today I will prepare the two landers (autonomous instruments that perform measurements at the sea-floor) for a pressure test, which we will do the following day when we reach a deep water station north of Norway. Basically, what we will do is to send down the equipment on a wire to ~1500m depth to check that the buoyancy (air-filled glass spheres) and the acoustic releases can withstand the high pressure down there. If not, the landers would not come up again after a normal deployment.

Friday, 25 July

Today I have prepared myself mentally and physically for the Arctic. Despite the nice weather I have spent most of the day in the ship's cool-room at 1^oC where I have set up and tested an incubating system for looking at bacterial and animal activity in sediment samples. One can wonder why on earth I would need a cool room when we will be operating in the Arctic? Well, some of my samples need to be processed on-board ship and preferably at in situ temperatures (i.e. the temperature at the sea-floor) not to alter the properties of these samples too much.

We also participated in a safety drill on the ship today, squeezing ourselves into the lifeboats with life vests strapped over our shoulders. Easier said than done actually, but now we know how to act just in case... The wind has been a little stronger today than yesterday and the gentle rolling of the ship has improved our "sea-legs" although I have seen one or two green faces among the rookies. Ah, and we saw some dolphins surfing on the bow-wave of the ship. By "we" I really mean the others, I was too busy in the cold room....

Thursday, 24 July

Finally, we are on the way to our destination - Svalbard! The last few days have been intense: Loading the ship with tonnes of gear and scientific instruments and getting all these in place  can be a bit of a challange sometimes. Carrying heavy boxes through narrow doors and stairs on a ship forces you to use muscels that you didn't know existed! Anyway, we are now steaming across the North Sea and people have settled in very well. I've spent the day setting up and testing some of my instruments. So far so good! The weather has been stunning and the ship is very stabile. So, no wonder that the atmosphere is great onboard and so is the food. The only complaints will come from my wife when I get back somewhat heavier than I left...