Scientists to Study the Arctic in a Wooden Schooner
internationally-renowned explorer, Jim McNeill, who has been running scientific expeditions to the Arctic for over two decades and has acted as a consultant for natural history programs such as the BBC’s Frozen Planet.Designed to collect critical scientific measurements from remote areas of the Arctic Ocean in order to build up an improved picture of the changes taking place due to climate change and other factors, Ocean Warrior will also help to ‘ground-truth’ data collected via satellites.For the first 10-day leg of the expedition (departing Svalbard on September 1 with a subsequent
To Predict Future Sea Level Rise, We Need Accurate Maps of the World’s Most Remote Fjords
to its northeast, which has been more stable since at least the 1950s. Was it kept in place by a shallow fjord entrance keeping out warmer water?At the time, no ship had ever entered Sherard Osborn Fjord where Ryder Glacier drains, because the sea ice in that region is the toughest in the entire Arctic Ocean. Therefore, nothing at all was known about the seafloor. Ryder Glacier became the target for our next expedition with icebreaker Oden in 2019.Shielded from warmer waterThick ice in the narrow passage separating Ellesmere Island from Greenland made it hard to even get to Sherard Osborn Fjord. And
US Coast Guard Cutter Healy, Scientists Deploy Ice Stations
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) crew and embarked researchers ventured onto a floe of multi-year ice for the first of three multi-instrument ice stations in the Arctic Ocean Basin late July and early August.As the Healy carefully approached and maintained position alongside an ice floe above 77 degrees north, the crew and a team of scientists, working in cooperation with the Office of Naval Research, (ONR) offloaded a diverse collection of equipment on to the floe carefully selected for its size and composition of multi-year ice.The objectives included the installation of two major instruments:
Arctic Ocean Could Be Ice-free In Summer By 2030s, Scientists Say
The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in Nature Communications.Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean have a long and complicated history, and the 2030s is sooner than most scientists had thought possible (though it is later than some had wrongly forecast). What we know for sure is the disappearance of sea ice at the top of the world would not only be an emblematic sign of climate breakdown, but it would have global, damaging and dangerous consequences.The
Hearing the Light: DAS could Revolutionize Subsea Defense
During the summer of 2020, a group of Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) marine scientists based on the Svalbard archipelago successfully detected the vocalizations of baleen whales frolicking in Arctic Ocean and North Sea, some 70-90 kilometers away. At first blush this might seem somewhat unremarkable, given that researchers regularly monitor whale behavior, and whalesong has long been known to traverse great distances. But what made this particular set of observations special was the sensor of choice. It wasn’t a hydrophone, the trusted tool of the marine bioacoustics trade.
FerryBox: PONANT Exploration Vessel Collecting Arctic Ocean Data
PONANT’s new science-focused exploration vessel has started collecting Arctic Ocean data with -4H-JENA engineering’s FerryBox multi-parameter water measurement system on board.The system is now being used to evaluate the role of global warming and glacial meltwater on the rising level of oxygen in the oceans aboard PONANT’s Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s only luxury icebreaker, a hybrid-electric vessel powered by liquified natural gas.A unique concept with minimal environmental impact due to her green energy and propulsion systems, Le Commandant Charcot provides a luxurious
ASL Hires Chawarski as Biological Oceanographer
in a Swedish expedition to an uncharted glacial fjord in Northwest Greenland where the team uncovered new insights into fjord morphology and glacial melting dynamics. In 2022, he traveled by icebreaker to the North Pole to contribute his expertise in the European Fisheries Inventory of the Central Arctic ocean.Chawarski brings a wealth of knowledge and insight to using echosounders, biological sampling and other innovative technologies to the studies of aquatic systems and is eager to develop new tools for monitoring the ocean’s health and its resources
UAF’s GINA Provides a Guiding Hand in Arctic Ocean Research
the chunks and slabs of Arctic sea ice above Alaska for several weeks on two voyages this fall, breaking through frozen slabs when it had to, just as its sturdy hull is designed to do. It's now on a third trip.The Sikuliaq, a 261-ft. ice-capable research vessel operated by UAF, pauses in the Arctic Ocean in June 2021 during its fifth year of operation. A few months later, it traveled farther north than ever before — almost 500 miles beyond Point Barrow.Satellite imagery produced at the Geographic Information Network of Alaska, or GINA, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute
NASA Sends Robots to Study Climate Change in the Arctic
.“The problem is that almost all of our buoys are located along the coasts of the United States, Europe, near India and Asia and along the tropics. We aren’t able to deploy and maintain buoys in the Arctic,” Gentemann said. “We have to rely on satellite data to understand Arctic ocean temperatures and how they’re changing with climate change.”Saildrone USVs, are autonomous sailboat-like vehicles powered by green technology; they are propelled by wind and use solar-powered sensors. These autonomous vehicles can be steered from computers hundreds of miles away, allowing
February 2024
