Taking ocean research at BBSR to the earth's extremes
Since 2002, three of BBSR's research technicians have traveled to the polar regions of Alaska to study the dynamics of the frozen
Arctic Ocean. Here, Christine Pequignet talks about their excursions. |
Senior Scientist Dr. Nick Bates'
research on carbon chemistry took us from the warm coral reefs of Bermuda to the polar icecap in Alaska. For a long time, the Arctic Ocean was neglected while scientists studied the world's larger
oceans, trying to understand global ocean circulation and climate change. This ocean may comprise only 1 percent of the global ocean, but it represents 10 percent of the global precipitation and plays a major role in the transport of
pollutants. The Arctic is also a vulnerable ecosystem and therefore a good indicator of global changes in our climate. Recently the arctic summers have been getting warmer, the summer melting more important
and the ice thinner. These factors not only threaten the local traditions of the Inuit populations, but also impact the climate of more temperate regions. In the last decade, tremendous efforts have been
made internationally to understand the dynamics of the Arctic Ocean and its effects on the global ocean. As a component of this effort, Dr. Bates' group at BBSR is involved with the Shelf-Basin Interaction Project, the goal of which is to understand the
physical and biogeochemical processes that link the Arctic Ocean's continental shelves, slopes and deep ocean basins.
The bow of the USCGC Healy, the 420-foot research ship that was home to three of BBSR's
technicians during their six-week Arctic research cruises |
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Between 2002 and 2004, during the spring, summer and fall seasons, a series of 10 cruises visited the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea north of Alaska. Our
team from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (Paul Lethaby, Megan Roadman and myself) traded our shorts and flip-flops for winter gear and took part in three of these expeditions on board the USCGC Healy. The Healy is a 420-foot U.S.
Coast Guard icebreaker designed to conduct scientific research in the polar regions. Along with American, Canadian, European and Japanese research teams, we shared the life of the 75 Healy
crew members for six weeks on each cruise. The logistics of such deployments are tremendous and are only made more complicated by the hostile
environment of the Arctic. The ice is clearly one of the main obstacles. The Healy can go through ice as thick as eight feet, but when pressure ridges
formed around the ship in the spring of 2004, we ended up icebound for three days. Further challenges were met when we tried to sample water and sediment at 3,000 meters under a frozen ocean!
Each season presents its own characteristics and unique challenges. During the spring cruises, we had to divert our track to make sure we did not
interfere with the local Inuit traditional fishing and hunting practices. This sent us north and well into the pack ice, where polar bears hunt and live for the
season. Bear inquisitiveness was a real hazard for those deploying instrumentation on the ice. In the summer, the ice gets thinner and breaks
into chunks, which makes navigation easier, but the deployment of sampling instrumentation in the water becomes very perilous. As the ice continues to
melt, the fog takes over and in place of 24 hours of expected sunshine we found 24 hours of grey skies. In the fall, the ice starts to form again, but is not
enough to attenuate the large waves generated by rough weather. Despite all the challenges, our mission was very successful and we came
back with enough samples and data to keep us busy for a few years. This will help us to assess the temporal and spatial partitioning and
transformation between the different forms of carbon and nitrogen, and their mass transport from the shelves to the deep Arctic Ocean, and to estimate the net primary productivity, or plant productivity.
We also came back with wonderful memories from this once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Arctic is truly a different world. It's hard to describe the
stunning beauty of this desert of ice, where the presence of living creatures seems miraculous. The light in the Arctic is what amazed me the most; it
always seemed to complement the frozen tranquility. Overall, there were a few boring days but many beautiful days. My most memorable day was
actually a bright sunny night. The ship was surrounded by ice and we were witnesses to the curiosity of a polar bear as it encountered a bright orange
buoy. On that day, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else and I was really glad to be a scientist. |
