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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Weekly Science Report from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, Week 6 Sep 23, 2015

USCGC Healy Cruise HLY-1502

US Arctic Geotraces

Weekly CTD/Hydrographic Team Report 06

from Jim Swift, UCSD/SIO, CTD/hydro team scientific leader at sea

Sunday, 20 September 2015, 1:30 pm, local date and time (2115 20 September UTC)

82°23’N, 149°33’W (over the northern Canada Basin)

air -4.3 degC / 24 degF

water -1.5 degC / 29 degF

wind 7 knots from W

en route to station 045 (a repeat hydrography station)

Note: This is a hydrography-oriented report from Jim Swift, who is working with the SIO Oceanographic Data Facility (ODF) CTD/hydrographic team on the US Geotraces Arctic Ocean expedition led by Dr. David Kadko, FIU, chief scientist. This is not a report from Dr. Kadko or the other science teams.

Dear Colleagues,

We have completed our crossing of waters above the Alpha Ridge and early tomorrow will be engaged on a station which begins a long track south toward Alaska across the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean, one of the more nearly isolated areas of the World Ocean. The crossing of the Alpha Ridge - the bathymetric boundary between the northern Makarov Basin and the northern Canada Basin - came out nicely in the CTD/hydrographic data. Even in that far north reach of the Makarov Basin its ties to the Atlantic-dominated Eurasian sector were clear, contrasting with a greater degree of isolation from that influence on the south side of the ridge.

On my longer research cruises, there has been a point well into the cruise where problems of various sorts pop up. We seem be dealing with a touch of that: the wear and tear of weeks of work in the Arctic is evident in equipment quirks (and failures) and a few data issues which defy untangling. One also sees on some faces traces of dealing with the sameness and oddities of shipboard life and being away. But everyone adapts to this twilight zone and pushes through together to the finale.

Speaking of twilight, during the past week the sun began going below the horizon every evening. In the wee hours the dim, flat natural light makes it more difficult to navigate the ship through heavy ice fields. The transition from 24-hour light to day-and-night comes very quickly if one is heading south from the Pole near the equinox, as we are doing. Will we first run out of heavy ice cover or will we run out of sufficient light to drive through heavy ice at night? Considering that the autumnal equinox is almost upon us with its 12 daily hours of sun below the horizon, I’m guessing that darkness will hold up our progress some, though we plan to do station work when the ship must stop during darkness. (The navigators in the aloft conning station must be able to see pressure ridges sufficiently well in advance to avoid them. The ship has searchlights, but I’m told their reach is often not quite far enough.)

The ship’s two evaporators supply the large quantities of fresh water required for the 145 persons on board, including for the galley, showers, laundry, and labs. One of them went out of service last week, and so we are now on the same water restrictions we abide by on long ‘super stations’ - very short showers, paper plates & plastic tableware, and no laundry. My guess is that the situation is sustainable in that the laundry was opened for 24 hours today.

We have had snowy weather. The deck crew shovels and salts the decks, but some areas of the decks are icy. We certainly feel as though winter is chasing us south. We also experienced a week of cold (around -12°C/10°F), and that took its toll on science operations. For example, the CTD/hydro program’s rosette water sampler, loaded with electronics, is stored between casts in a two-deck- high space called the starboard staging bay, which has a tall roll-up ‘garage door’. The motor mechanism which raises and lowers that door stopped working last week. There is a hand crank mechanism to very slowly raise the door above the height of the rosette, requiring at least 15 minutes of hard labor - the deck crew takes turns. Meanwhile this exposed the rosette’s electronics to the cold air for longer than desirable. We compensated by blowing warm air (from a large ducted heater-fan) onto the electronics right up until launch over the side, but this does not always work well enough. The dissolved oxygen sensor in particular is freeze-sensitive and we are slowly going through our inventory of spares to replace cold-damaged units. On last night’s cast, however, the door motor worked! The Geotraces trace metal clean rosette is stored outdoors (partly to keep it clear of contaminants), and even though it is covered and has heaters in critical places, it has suffered more from the cold, and yesterday the CTD on that rosette failed. A spare unit has been installed and measurements will go on.

Over the Alpha Ridge we traversed what is likely the heaviest ice overall we will encounter this cruise. But the navigators in the aloft control station were always able to spot a feasible route, avoiding heavy, impassible pressure ridges. Sometimes it took some back-and-ram operations to get through a thicker, older ice floe, but, still, progress was remarkable for a single icebreaker in this domain. For example, Healy made it solo through some areas last week that were too tough for Healy and Oden together in 2005; hence Healy may be the first surface ship to gather scientific data from some of these areas. Once we were over the south portion of the ridge, there were many- miles-long, wide leads that Healy followed. Watching from the bridge, it was almost like navigating a river with ‘shores’ of ice on either side - a remarkable experience.

As we were plowing through the ice the other day, we came across a polar bear

  • appeared to be a relatively young one - who first moved away but then came right up to the ship as we motored by. (I’ll attach a couple of photos.) Then something spooked the bear, who took off at a speed that impressed and alarmed those who work on the ice - that bear could really move!

The galley keeps the food coming - lots of baked goods including bakery quality pastries, good soups, and some nice salads such as cous-cous with vegetables, and one made from asparagus, blue cheese, and croutons. Some items are in short supply but most of these are of the type to be expected on a long voyage.

This week my closing line is, “All is well, but we hope the second evaporator is back in operation soon.”

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

We are still restricted to 100k total message size in and out. I’ve squeezed in two photos of that inquisitive young bear. The close up was taken by Cory Mendenhall, US Coast Guard, and the photo of people photographing the bear was taken by Croy Carlin, OSU.

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Weekly Science Report from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, Week 5 Sep 17, 2015

USCGC Healy Cruise HLY-1502

US Arctic Geotraces

Weekly CTD/Hydrographic Team Report 05

from Jim Swift, UCSD/SIO, CTD/hydro team scientific leader at sea

Sunday, 13 September 2015, 7:00 pm, local date and time (0500 14 September UTC)

85°48’N, 150°34’W (on the northern flank of the Alpha Ridge)

air -13.4 degC / 8 degF

water -1.4 degC / 29 degF

wind 4 knots from NE

on an ice station following hydrographic station 041

Note: This is a hydrography-oriented report from Jim Swift, who is working with the SIO Oceanographic Data Facility (ODF) CTD/hydrographic team on the US Geotraces Arctic Ocean expedition led by Dr. David Kadko, FIU, chief scientist. This is not a report from Dr. Kadko or the other science teams.

Dear Colleagues,

We are now about 250 nautical miles south of the North Pole, following the planned track toward Alaska along 150°W longitude. Before heading back into the Makarov Basin we did a trio of stations over the Lomonosov Ridge to help define the waters there as compared to those over the Mendeleyev Ridge, which we crossed earlier during the cruise. Tomorrow we will leave the northeast reaches of the Makarov Basin and begin crossing over the very rarely visited Alpha Ridge, where a 55-hour Geotraces “superstation” is planned. Part of the area we traversed here from the Pole was not passable on my previous expeditions due to very heavy ice. The ice has changed over the past decade to the point where Healy has been able to work here solo. Still, the going has sometimes been tough, but we do keep on going. The Healy has plowed through long stretches of ice which appeared to be roughly two meters thick. There is quite a bit of snow on the ice, which impedes motion by increasing friction on the ship’s hull. The result has been some slow, long hauls between stations.

Our measurement work is a methodical process, following a planned and practiced suite of well-honed procedures. Sometimes the ice or the Arctic cold has its say. Today the skies cleared - the sun on the ice is beautiful - but meanwhile under those clear dry skies the air cooled quickly, temperature dropped to well below 10°F, and we needed to improvise a bit to keep sensors and samples from freezing. I confess that while we were later sampling water in the near-freezing rosette staging bay, I was thinking of the present heat wave back home - perhaps both we and those at home would have gladly switched places for at least a few minutes of relief.

Support from the ship continues to be excellent. We have enthusiastic, capable deck and MST crews that make rosette handling a nearly hands-off business for the SIO and STARC tech teams. Crew and science team alike are busy. The part of the program I oversee (the water column temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and nutrient measurements) is going very well. This is a long cruise, but we have passed “hump day” - the halfway point. We press on with the CTD/hydro work, adapting it as needed to any adjustments made by the chief scientist and Geotraces leaders. For my part, I find the sameness of the work days helps the weeks go by, meanwhile feeling quite satisfied with our progress.

All is well.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Weekly Science Report from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, Week 4 Sep 14, 2015

USCGC Healy Cruise HLY-1502

US Arctic Geotraces

Weekly CTD/Hydrographic Team Report 04

from Jim Swift, UCSD/SIO, CTD/hydro team scientific leader at sea

Monday, 07 September 2015, 7:00 pm, local date and time (2100 07 September UTC)

90°N (in the Amundsen Basin of the Arctic Ocean)

air -3.8 degC / 25 degF

water -1.4 degC / 29 degF

wind 16 knots from N (not certain what the “N” on the meteorological display means, considering our location!)

on station 34, at the North Pole

Note: This is a hydrography-oriented report from Jim Swift, who is working with the SIO Oceanographic Data Facility (ODF) CTD/hydrographic team on the US Geotraces Arctic Ocean expedition led by Dr. David Kadko, FIU, chief scientist. This is not a report from Dr. Kadko or the other science teams.

Dear Colleagues,

Last week we completed all planned station of the reoccupation of the Makarov Basin transect carried out in 1994 by the Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St- Laurent and the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea. This was one of two principal goals for the repeat hydrography team on board the Healy. Preliminary hydrographic results include a huge freshening of the upper layer, re-extension of the low oxygen, high silicate halocline across the Makarov Basin, and a basin-wide warming of the Atlantic layer. CTD/hydrographic data quality is excellent.

The ship then continued to head north…

As the US Coast Guard has reported, at 7:47 ship’s time Saturday, September 5th, USCGC Healy became the first US ship to reach the North Pole unaccompanied by another icebreaker. It was also a milestone of sorts for me, because there have been three scientific crossings by surface ship from Bering Strait to the Pole - 1994, 2005, and 2015 - and I was on all three, doing similar work each cruise (and thus learning about ocean change in this remote part of the World Ocean).

My informal assessment of the Arctic Ocean sea ice we have been traversing continues in the same vein as during the past two weeks: much of the ice appears to be first-year ice. I have observed that extra power appears to have been required remarkably few times for an expedition working in the central Arctic Ocean. This is very different from the experiences we had with the ice 10 and 21 years ago.

There was a large lead quite close to the Pole, so we first carried out a long, 8-cast Geotraces science station. On our deep cast we attached several net bags full of decorated Styrofoam cups which were shrunk by the more than 400 atmospheres of pressure they encountered, making nice souvenirs. We did face colder weather conditions than I expected yesterday because a high pressure system built up, and with it came clear skies and a still, dry atmosphere, causing air temperatures to dip down to -14°C (7°F) when we were working. This was cold enough to freeze up our CTD in the time it took to move it from the sampling room and deploy it - it took nearly 20 minutes in near- freezing ocean waters to thaw it. This freezing caused some CTD damage, but we were able to complete the cast and later replace damaged parts. Freezing was an annoyance during sampling, too. We anticipate colder conditions later this month, so we are installing a heater-fan to blow warm air over the rosette when it is outside on deck.

After we were done with the science work the captain looked for an ice floe nearby that was large and rugged enough for an excursion onto the ice which began with a recognition and awards ceremony on the ice and a group photo. Then came fun for all - known as “ice liberty” - a chance to play and let loose on a couple meters of ice floating on more than 4000 meters of water. Bill Landing (FSU), the co-chief scientist, played Christmas songs on his saxophone. Santa visited, too.

The North Pole is a point on the globe, a spot similar to many other places in the Arctic Ocean. But it seems to be a magnetic pole of sorts considering how it attracts steel ships. The Canadian icebreakers Louis S. St-Laurent and Terry Fox passed us southbound as we were on the final stretch to the Pole, and the German polar research ship Polarstern pulled up near us today as we were preparing to leave. We held up, re-lowered the brow, and each ship hosted visits - a good time was had by all. In the next year measurements from all three nations will be compared. In our immediate future, however, we have resumed our station work, heading south to Alaska.

All is well.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Addendum #1 to weekly report from North Pole

The email queue has improved to the point where I can send a couple of photos from the North Pole visit.

This photo shows the bow of the Healy at the North Pole. Note the partially refrozen lead around the ship, and the low sun angle. (At the Pole the sun goes around and around, with its elevation above the horizon - and below in winter -‹ a function of the date; we are closing in on the Equinox, at which date the sun would go around right at the horizon, if viewed from the pole.) Note also the rainbow-like “sun dog” caused by ice crystals in the air. Photo credit: Cory Mendenhall, US Coast Guard.

This photo shows co-chief scientist Bill Landing (Dr. William Landing; Florida State University), playing the saxophone (Christmas songs) on the ice at the North Pole. Photo credit: Katlin Bowman, UC Santa Cruz.

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Letter from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, 5 Sep 10, 2015

HLY1502 letter 05 from Jim Swift

Monday, 07 September 2015, 7:00 pm, local date and time (2100 07 September UTC)

90°N (in the Amundsen Basin of the Arctic Ocean)

air -3.8 degC / 25 degF

water -1.4 degC / 29 degF

wind 16 knots from N (not certain what the “N” on the meteorological display means, considering our location!)

n station 34, at the North Pole

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

At 7:47 am ship’s time Saturday, September 5th, USCGC Healy became the first US ship to reach the North Pole unaccompanied by another icebreaker. I am not certain of this, but Healy may also be the first ship of any nation to reach the pole from Bering Strait unaccompanied. It was also a milestone of sorts for me, because there have been three scientific crossings by surface ship from Bering Strait to the Pole - 1994, 2005, and 2015 - and I was on all three, doing similar work each cruise (and thus learning about ocean change in this remote part of the World Ocean).

My informal observations of the Arctic Ocean sea ice we have been traversing continue in the same vein as during the past two weeks: much of the ice appears to be first-year ice and passage through it has mostly not been difficult. Yes, there are larger, tougher floes and some pressure ridges. [Pressure ridges form when floes and sheets are pushed together and pile up high (and well below the surface) and can be very tough to pass through.] But these can usually be avoided and even the ones we have crossed have not yet been significant impediments to our progress. Extra power (provided by bringing more engines on line) has been required remarkably few times for an expedition working in the central Arctic Ocean. This is very different from the experiences we had with the ice 10 and 21 years ago.

There was a seal near the ship at the Pole and people saw bear tracks on the way here, so the ecosystem we associate with the Arctic Ocean - a simple food chain from phytoplankton & algae, to zooplankton, to Arctic cod (a small fish that lives under the ice), to seals, and finally to bears - is active even at the Pole.

There was a large lead (open water) quite close to the Pole, so we first carried out a long, 8-cast Geotraces science station. On our deep cast we attached several net bags full of decorated Styrofoam cups which were shrunk by the more than 400 atmospheres of pressure they encountered, making nice souvenirs. I earlier told some of you who asked how we handle the cold, “well, it isn’t all that cold in the Arctic Ocean in summer, just about freezing”. Perhaps it is time to eat words … yesterday a high pressure system built up, and with it came clear skies and a still, dry atmosphere, causing air temperatures to dip down to -14°C (7°F) when we were working. This was cold enough to freeze up our CTD in the time it took to move it from the sampling room and deploy it - it took nearly 20 minutes in near-freezing ocean waters to thaw it. This freezing damaged the CTD’s pumps and at least one sensor (we have spares), but we were able to complete the cast. Freezing was a problem during sampling, too. So we are considering some adjustments to our deployment and recovery methods such as making space to install one of those heater- blowers that are used to keep football players warm on the bench. We will use it to blow warm air over the rosette when it is outside on deck.

After we were done with the science work the captain looked for an ice floe nearby that was large and rugged enough for an excursion onto the ice. This began with a recognition and awards ceremony on the ice - I was surprised and deeply touched to be recognized for my experience and contributions - and a group photo. Then came fun for all - known as “ice liberty” - a chance to play and let loose on a couple meters of ice, floating on more than 4000 meters of water on the top of the world. Bill Landing (FSU), the co-chief scientist, played Christmas songs on his saxophone. Santa visited, too!

Life on board: Fresh vegetables are now only a memory, but there is still watermelon, apples, oranges, and grapefruit. Someone in the galley has been making very good salads from non-fresh ingredients on hand, including Asian orange, snow pea, & water chestnuts; asparagus & feta; a flavorful bean salad with a ton of minced onion; and an excellent halibut salad. We were talking about the extreme hardships long ago polar explorers faced daily. Here’s how one of the intrepid polar explorers on my hydro team summed up his first visit to the Pole: “I was awakened in my warm bunk by the pipe [announcement on the ship’s PA] that we had reached the Pole, and went back to sleep. I had Greek food for lunch and pizza for dinner.” He also worked a solid science shift including sampling freezing water barehanded, before heading out onto the ice, and quite enjoyed all his experiences at the Pole.

The North Pole is a point on the globe, a spot similar to many other places in the Arctic Ocean. I joke that it is a magnetic pole in the way it attracts steel ships. The Canadian icebreakers Louis S. St-Laurent and Terry Fox passed us southbound as we were on the final stretch to the Pole, and the German polar research ship Polarstern pulled up near us today as we were preparing to leave. We held up, each ship hosted visits, and a good time was had by all. In the next year measurements from all three nations will be compared. In our immediate future, however, we have resumed our station work, obtaining water for isotope samples that are being done in parallel with work from the Polarstern. In 2-3 hours we will be heading south (no matter which way we point the ship!).

All is well.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Letter from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, 4 Sep 6, 2015

HLY1502 letter 04 from Jim Swift

Sunday, 30 August 2015, 2:45 pm, local date and time (2245 30 August UTC)

86.3°N, 170.6°E (in the Makarov Basin of the Arctic Ocean)

air -5.0 degC / 23 degF

water -1.4 degC / 29 degF

wind 16 knots from E

En route to station 29 in near 100% ice cover (at the time of this report)

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

We are making excellent progress north, keeping to the planned replication of the stations occupied on the 1994 trans-Arctic section, thus providing a look at 21 years of change in the temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, CFCs, and dissolved carbon in Arctic Ocean waters from surface to bottom. (And the Geotraces trace element and isotope [“TEI”] program is going well, too.) Ice conditions in today’s Arctic Ocean border on astonishing to a person like me who recalls the thick, tough, old ice of the Arctic Ocean in 1994. If my memory serves, in 1994 we were continually looking for a workable course around thick ice floes - the size of football fields to small towns - occasionally necessitating a slow crunch through a tough area we couldn’t go around. Helicopters were used to scout out feasible routes. As we know from recent published scientific studies, the older, thicker ice has in more recent years occupied a smaller area of the Arctic Ocean, nearer Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago. Thus much of the ice we are traversing is first year ice, but there is multi-year ice out here, along with thick ridges. The ship is able to follow leads around the ridges and multi-year ice, and motors well through the extensive first-year ice. (I enjoy the “Richter 3-4” jostling as the ship gets buffeted by the ice.)

None of the ice adjacent to the ship has yet been substantial enough to permit scientific sampling of and from the ice. Presumably we will soon have a station near suitable ice for the researchers who need to be out on the ice.

It has been chilly all week - in the lower 20s in Fahrenheit degrees - with occasional light snow and periods of 15+ knot winds. Sometimes we see bear tracks in the snow, though I am not aware of sighting in the past few days. There is new ice on the small leads, with some frazil and grease ice on large ones. We are prepared for the weather and all CTD/hydrographic operations are going well, with continued excellent data quality.

Last week I enjoyed providing lectures to the ship’s oceanography class, as other faculty on board have been doing. I ended up with a session on water masses and what I’ll call here the Global Overturning Circulation, favorite subject areas of mine.

We are now well north of the maximum polar latitude from which a ground station can “see” a communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit - which in practical terms means the end of internet for about a month. The Coast Guard does provide email via polar-orbiting Iridium satellites at a very much slower communication rate. For now we are restricted to text-only, generally with no photos or larger attachments coming or going. (If you receive this with a photo, thank the Coast Guard for allowing it.) The ship normally receives a daily electronic 10-page “New York Times Digest” which is posted on the ship’s internal web site, but the computer on shore that provides it died. This will probably be replaced soon, but meanwhile we have had no news the past few days.

We have a Geotraces “super station” coming up tomorrow. This series of casts and ice work will involve a planned 52 hours on station (compared to 3-4 hours for one full-depth hydrographic cast). The ship was designed to store wastes for long periods - even engine cooling water is held I think - so as to minimize disturbance of the water we are sampling with our science gear. But 52 hours is exceptional. In order for the ship to “hold it”, we will be restricted to two minute showers, use of paper plates and cups, no laundry, etc. The ship takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. There is aggressive recycling, minimal use of disposable products, and so only truly degradables are pumped off the ship: grey water, black water, and the output from the ship’s giant garbage disposal - known as the ‘red goat’.

The Coast Guard has really pulled out the stops on support - we have enthusiastic, capable crews leading every science operation, 24 hours a day. The meals continue to be very good - my favorite last week was excellent New England clam chowder, honey-Sirracha glazed salmon, wild rice mix, sautéed summer squash, fresh-made dinner rolls, and strawberry shortcake!

The topper: We are only 220 nautical miles from the North Pole.

All is well.

This is PolarTREC teacher Bill Schmoker’s photo of Greg Cutter’s (Old Dominion University) trace metal rosette being recovered after a long cast in the ice.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Weekly Science Report from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, Week 3 Sep 6, 2015

USCGC Healy Cruise HLY-1502
US Arctic Geotraces Weekly CTD/Hydrographic Team Report 03 from Jim Swift, UCSD/SIO, CTD/hydro team scientific leader at sea

Sunday, 30 August 2015, 2:45 pm, local date and time (2245 30 August UTC)

86.3°N, 170.6°E (in the Makarov Basin of the Arctic Ocean)

air -5.0 degC / 23 degF

water -1.4 degC / 29 degF

wind 16 knots from E

En route to station 29 in near 100% ice cover (at the time of this report)

Note: This is a hydrography-oriented report from Jim Swift, who is working with the SIO Oceanographic Data Facility (ODF) CTD/hydrographic team on the US Geotraces Arctic Ocean expedition led by Dr. David Kadko, FIU, chief scientist. This is not a report from Dr. Kadko or the other science teams.

Dear Colleagues,

We are making excellent progress north, keeping to the planned replication of the stations occupied on the 1994 trans-Arctic section, thus providing a look at 21 years of change in the temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, CFCs, and dissolved carbon in Arctic Ocean waters from surface to bottom. (The Geotraces trace element and isotope [“TEI”] program is going well, too.) A preview of coming attractions in hydrographic data results: Compared to 1994 there is marked impact of freshening on the waters above the Atlantic layer, but underneath that mid-depth temperature maximum the waters are more saline.

The ice conditions in the area we are traversing border on astonishing to a person like me who recalls the thick, tough, old ice of the Arctic Ocean in

  1. If my memory serves, in 1994 CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and USCGC Polar Sea were continually looking for a workable course around thick ice floes - the size of football fields to small towns - occasionally necessitating a slow crunch through a tough area we couldn’t go around. Helicopters were used to scout out feasible routes. As we know from recent published scientific studies, the older, thicker ice has in more recent years occupied a smaller area of the Arctic Ocean, nearer Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago. Thus much of the ice we are traversing is first year ice, but there is multi-year ice out here, along with thick ridges. The ship is able to follow leads around the ridges and multi-year ice, and motors well through the extensive first- year ice. (I enjoy the “Richter 3-4” jostling as the ship gets buffeted by the ice.)

It has been chilly all week - in the lower 20s in Fahrenheit degrees - with occasional light snow and periods of 15+ knot winds. Sometimes we see bear tracks in the snow, though I am not aware of sightings in the past few days. There is new ice on the small leads, with some frazil and grease ice on large ones. We are prepared for the weather and all CTD/hydrographic operations are going well, with continued excellent data quality.

Last week I enjoyed providing lectures to the ship’s oceanography class, as other faculty on board have been doing. I ended up with a session on water masses and the Meridional Overturning Circulation, favorite subject areas of mine.

We are now well north of the maximum polar latitude from which a ground station can “see” a communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit - which in practical terms means the end of internet for several weeks. The Coast Guard does provide email via Iridium satellites at a very much slower communication rate. For now we are restricted to text-only, generally with no photos or larger attachments coming or going. (If you receive this with a photo, thank the Coast Guard for allowing it.)

We have a Geotraces “super station” coming up tomorrow. This series of casts and ice work will involve a planned 52 hours on station (compared to no more than 4 hours for one full-depth hydrographic cast). The ship was designed to store wastes for long periods - even engine cooling water is held I think - so as to minimize disturbance of the water we are sampling with our science gear. But 52 hours is exceptional. We are preparing for two minute showers, use of paper plates and cups, no laundry, etc.

The Coast Guard has really pulled out the stops on support - we have enthusiastic, capable crews leading every science operation, 24 hours a day. The meals continue to be very good - my favorite last week was excellent New England clam chowder, honey-Sirracha glazed salmon, wild rice mix, sautéed summer squash, fresh-made dinner rolls, and strawberry shortcake!

The topper: We are only 220 nautical miles from the North Pole.

All is well.

This is PolarTREC teacher Bill Schmoker’s photo of Greg Cutter’s (Old Dominion University) trace metal rosette being recovered after a long cast in the ice.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Weekly Science Report from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, Week 2 Aug 31, 2015

USCGC Healy Cruise HLY-1502
US Arctic Geotraces Weekly CTD/Hydrographic Team Report 02 from Jim Swift, UCSD/SIO, CTD/hydro team scientific leader at sea

Monday, 24 August 2015, 7:30 pm, local date and time (0330 25 August UTC)

80.x°N, 176.x°W (heading toward the Makarov Basin of the Arctic Ocean)

air -3.4 degC / 26 degF

water -1.3 degC / 30 degF

wind 9 knots from NE

Coming on to Station 20

Note: This is a hydrography-oriented report from Jim Swift, who is working with the SIO Oceanographic Data Facility (ODF) CTD/hydrographic team on the US Geotraces Arctic Ocean expedition led by Dr. David Kadko, FIU, chief scientist. This is not a report from Dr. Kadko or the other science teams.

Since the last report we have traveled 750 nautical miles farther north, completing 13 more stations along the way - some were quite long and complex. We’ve had one bout of 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 report #1) 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.

When we first entered the outer fringes of the Arctic Ocean sea ice we saw some walruses, and since then have seen several polar bears, including a curious, fat bear which came close to the ship last night while we were on a long station - it was a well-photographed bear! We have been making good progress through what is almost all first-year ice, with significant areas of open leads.

The bridge and deck crew work well together to keep ice off the wire when we are doing a cast. But a sizeable piece of sea ice came very close to taking some of our equipment one night when it drifted past the side of the ship and snagged the CTD cable while we had the CTD in the water. It pulled the wire (and CTD) about one hundred yards astern. A combination of luck and hard work by the deck crew and bridge saved the day, 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. (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.

The CTD/hydrographic team has been doing a great job, producing very high quality data while dealing with both the myriad samples and casts of the Geotraces program and the quick, high-sample-output repeat hydrography casts. After we made our first switch from the 12x30-liter ODF rosette (used for Geotraces casts) to the 36x10-liter ‘CLIVAR’ repeat hydrography rosette, we continued using the 36-place rosette for subsequent Geotraces casts (by closing three bottles at each level). This reduces the wear and tear of switching the termination. Performance has been excellent, thus for the moment we are doing all ODF casts with the 36-place unit.

Captain Hamilton, Healy’s officers, and the crew continue to treat us very well, enthusiastically performing a great deal of hard work to keep science operating around the clock. They (and we) have adjusted deck and cast procedures for cold weather and ice, and we are keeping a good pace in all respects. Meanwhile, we are quite 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. 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.

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Letter from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, 3 Aug 31, 2015

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

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Weekly Science Report from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, Week 1 Aug 17, 2015

USCGC Healy Cruise HLY-1502
US Arctic Geotraces
Weekly CTD/Hydrographic Team Report 01
from Jim Swift, UCSD/SIO, CTD/hydro team scientific leader at sea

Sunday, 16 August 2015, 6:45 pm, local date and time (0245 17 August UTC)

68°N, 168°W (in the Chukchi Sea, about 100 miles north of Bering Strait)
air 7.8 degC / 46 degF
water 5.7 degC / 42 degF
wind 15 knots from NNE

On Station 6

Note: This is a hydrography-oriented report from Jim Swift, who is working with the SIO Oceanographic Data Facility (ODF) CTD/hydrographic team on the US Geotraces Arctic Ocean expedition led by Dr. David Kadko, FIU, chief scientist. This is not a report from Dr. Kadko or the other science teams.

US Coast Guard science icebreaker Healy left Dutch Harbor, AK, on schedule at 1300 local time on 09 August, one week ago, bound for the Arctic Ocean. The SIO/ODF team had loaded its equipment in Seattle in June, but the routine chemistry equipment (for analysis of bottle salinity, dissolved oxygen, and nutrients) needed to be set up in Dutch Harbor because the science team on HLY-1501 was using the designated lab space. The data processing computers were installed, and the CTD/rosette systems also needed final set up and checking. The set ups, chemical preparations, and tests went smoothly.

ODF is using two rosette systems on this cruise: a 12-place system equipped with 30-liter bottles, used to support Geotraces, and a 36-place system equipped with 10-liter bottles, which will be used to support extra CTD stations along the US Geotraces track in support of the US Global Ocean Carbon and Repeat Hydrography program. [There is also a third rosette system in use - Greg Cutter’s (ODU) trace metal clean system.] These two large rosettes share the Healy’s starboard staging bay and though we use one at a time, they use the same winch, sheave and CTD cable. Switching from one to the other is not trivial, so we plan to use only one of the systems at any given station, switching in between stations. [That sounds fine, but CTD aficionados will know this invites gremlins. Time will tell.] We plan to use the 12x30 system for the first 11 stations, so we tested the 36x10 system in water at the dock, then moved the 12x30 system into cast operation position. The CTDs in both units are working well. The 30-liter bottles are touchy in terms of leaks. (There are ca. 65 lbs of water pushing at the bottom end caps, held tight onto an O-ring by a strong spring in the bottle.) The techs have been working out the kinks and we are satisfied with progress. [One way we stop a leak is to hit the bottom end cap with a non-metallic mallet (see photo, taken by Joseph Gum, SIO, showing oxygen sampler Andrew Barna and hammer-wielder Melissa Miller of SIO). Yes, using a hammer is still how some equipment is fixed!]

The quality of the ODF CTD and bottle data is excellent. The CFC/SF6 team (LDEO and UofHawaii) on board reports their sample analysis equipment is working reasonably well, with a few of the usual bugs. The ocean carbon team (UofMiami) has been generating good data, but their lab van has been overheating. Their analysis equipment generates appreciable heat, but needs a stable lab temperature for best performance. They have a fine air conditioning system but the ship cannot connect it, and so they must attempt to cool the van by leaving a van door part-way open to the cold outside air. This requires that they use headlamps in their van at night (even though we are well north we currently still have a dark period) because their van is in front of the bridge, and the normal lab lights shining out the open door would affect the vision of personnel on the bridge. There is attention being paid to this issue, and progress may lie ahead.

Most of the stations to date have been shallow shelf stations (50 meters or less), and the hydrographic structures of the shelf waters are as one would expect: summer waters on top of winter waters, and, at station 001, which was just off the Bering Sea shelf, a transition to cold, low-salinity, low oxygen, high nutrient Bering Sea waters.

Within the next week we will carry out a section off the shelf. The chief scientist may choose to run the planned track in reverse, in order to take advantage of present and predicted August-September ice conditions over the planned track as a whole.

All is well.

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Arctic Geotraces 2015 Letter from Jim Swift, CTD/hydrographic Scientist, 2 Aug 17, 2015

HLY1502 letter 02 from Jim Swift

Sunday, 16 August 2015, 4:30 pm, local date and time (0030 17 August UTC)

68°N, 168°W (in the Chukchi Sea, about 100 miles north of Bering Strait, above the Arctic Circle)

air 8.2 degC / 47 degF

water 6.4 degC / 44 degF

wind 15 knots from NNE

On Station 6

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

We have been carrying out sampling over the continental shelf of the Bering Sea and Bering Strait, and are now in the Chukchi Sea. In a few days we will leave the shelf behind and head north into the Arctic Ocean proper. The region we are working at present is shallow - 50 meters deep, compared to 4000 meters depth or more in the Arctic deep basins. Most of the shelf here is solidly ice covered in winter. But this part of the ice pack melts early in the season, so there is no ice in the area now; we will not encounter sea ice for another few days.

Arctic Ocean ice conditions ahead are much in the thoughts of the chief scientist (Dr. David Kadko, Florida International University) and the ship’s captain and officers. On the whole, the Arctic Ocean ice cover is light this year - not the lightest ever but still “2 standard deviations less than the mean”. But it matters a good deal where the ice is, how heavily it is concentrated, and how thick and old it is. The ship requires more power, and uses fuel more quickly, the heavier its icebreaking chores. It is easy to understand that if the ice has frequent, well-placed openings - these are called “leads” - the ship can make way more quickly and efficiently. Just as obviously, it can go through thinner ice more readily than thicker ice. Perhaps not as obvious to some readers, the younger the ice, the easier the icebreaking: first-year ice is easier to traverse than ice more than one year old. Fortunately, with today’s satellites, it is possible to picture or estimate ice extent, concentration, thickness, and age - but not on a small enough scale for navigation, because the ‘footprint’ of some of those satellite data is on the order of tens of miles (though finer than that for some types of remote imaging). The short version is that the present and predicted ice conditions seem to favor working north on the track we were originally planning to take south. Then we will try the other track southbound. We will know soon which track Dave choses.

My team has been using a water sampling system equipped with 12 30-liter water sampling bottles, which go down open and are closed at selected depths as we haul the system up. These are large bottles (most of my work on past cruises has been with 10-liter bottles) and we knew from experience they are touchy in terms of leaks: there are 65 lbs of water pushing at the bottom end caps, held tight onto an O-ring by a strong spring in the bottle. The techs have been working out the kinks and we are satisfied with progress - one way we stop a leak is to hit the bottom end cap with a non-metallic mallet (see photo, taken by Joseph Gum, SIO, showing oxygen sampler Andrew Barna and hammer-wielder Melissa Miller of SIO). Yes, using a hammer is still how some equipment is fixed!

Most of the water sampling and analysis programs I work with are doing well, but though the ocean carbon team (UofMiami) has been generating good data, their lab van has been overheating. Their analysis equipment generates appreciable heat, but needs a stable lab temperature for best performance. They have a fine air conditioning system but the ship cannot connect it, and so they must attempt to cool the van by leaving a van door part-way open to the cold outside air. This requires that they use headlamps in their van at night (even though we are well north we currently still have a dark period) because their van is in front of the bridge, and the normal lab lights shining out the open door would affect the vision of personnel on the bridge. There is attention being paid to this issue, and progress may lie ahead.

The food aboard has been good. There is a cafeteria-style line - we choose and they serve - with a salad bar, condiments, and dessert nearby - and we are chowing down the fresh vegetables while they last. Some of us work a set watch (for example mine is 11:30 am to 11:30 pm) for which others cover our off time. But most of the science staff on board do their work whenever the ship gets to that particular point in the program, so continual adjustments and naps-when-you-can are standard routine for many others. The work is spread out just enough to allow catch-up from time to time.

Because it’s interesting and uniquely “Alaska”, I’m also including a photo taken by Croy Carlin, OSU, of bald eagles on the beach near Dutch Harbor - pretty wild to have bald eagles instead of seagulls at the beach! (These eagles were hanging out where people were fishing - looking for an easy meal?)

All is well.

Jim Swift

Research Oceanographer

UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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