HLY1502 letter 03 from Jim Swift

Sunday, 23 August 2015, 5:30 pm, local date and time (0130 24 August UTC)

80°N, 175°W (in the Arctic Ocean, near the Siberian end of the Mendeleyev Ridge)

air -4.9 degC / 23 degF

water -1.3 degC / 30 degF

wind 8 knots from NNW

On Station 19

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

The past week has been busy: We’ve traveled about 700 nautical miles north, meanwhile completing 12 more stations along the way - some were quite long and complex. We’ve had some stormy weather, moved into the Arctic Ocean ice pack, now are in perpetual daylight (until mid-September), and in various ways have settled into the routines that will carry us and our work through to mid- October.

Shortly after we completed station 6 (when I sent letter #2) the winds came up as we steamed north - steady near about 35-40 miles per hour and too windy for our work. So we passed over a planned science station location on the mid- outer continental shelf. The weather improved by the time we hit the shelf edge, and, ever since, we’ve been working the plan northward, albeit in the reverse order - taking the western leg north - in order to take advantage of ice conditions.

The rapid and early Arctic Ocean sea ice retreat - which many know about from news accounts - has impacted walruses. Indeed, there was little or no ice in the part of the Chukchi Sea we passed over. This is bad news for walruses because they feed at the bottom on these shelf seas where the depth is only 50 meters, but they need sea ice in the same area to haul out on from time to time. As we sailed north into deeper water, at the first belt of sea ice we did encounter walruses. We are guessing that the water there may have been nearly as deep as they can bear for bottom feeding. That ice will not be there much longer this summer, so we wondered about the fate of those walruses. A bit further north, as soon as we got into more ice, we saw a couple of polar bears. One was rangy looking, but the other (the one in the photo) seemed to have put on quite a bit of weight - this bear must be an expert hunter (they eat seals).

The sea ice came very close to taking some of our equipment: at one station a sizeable piece of ice drifting past the side of the ship snagged the CTD cable while we had the CTD in the water and pulled the wire (and CTD) about one hundred yards astern. A combination of luck and hard work by the deck crew saved everything, with the sole damage being to the CTD cable. The damaged part was cut off and new electrical and mechanical terminations were made to the equipment. Whew! (It was the closest call of that type yet in my experience.)

We had a bit of excitement last week when a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft flew out to the ship and air dropped a few items needed for the engine room and extra heaters for one of the science team’s outdoor-stored equipment. The crew had a small boat standing by to pick up the waterproof floating package. Breaks in routine are welcome!

I will write more about the sea ice in future letters, but we are happy to be in the ice, which provides visual variety, polar bear tracks to sight (and bears!), and the many sights and sounds of icebreaking. So far we are transiting only first-year ice which is fairly easy going. In fact, we are making good progress.

We are enjoying the food. The Healy galley staff serves tasty, hearty meals four times daily: 7-8, 11-12, 5-6, and 11-midnight - one can catch a hot meal no matter what hours the work dictates. The bakers are adept, turning out not only breads and rolls, but tempting pastries and desserts. The officers cooked Saturday night: excellent teriyaki chicken (grilled outdoors), a tasty vegetarian Thai green curry, braised cabbage, and more. We still have a salad bar, too. Counterbalance is provided by the ship’s two gyms full of commercial grade equipment, plus there are exercise sessions and other inducements to keep fit.

All is well.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

PS - Feel free to send questions to me at james.swift@healy.polarscience.net.

Addendum to Letter 3

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

A few minutes after I sent Letter #3, a bear came by the ship at close range. Everybody turned out: this was a well-photographed bear! (And a healthy looking, fat one at that.)

Here are two of my photos, at much-reduced resolution.

Jim Swift