2 August 2019 Delayed Expedition

Yesterday was a sunny and warm day here in Nome. I continued to explore the community. I visited the library, the Carrie McLain Museum, and met more of the research teams. You can tell that everyone going on the expedition arrived the night before because the town almost seems crowded now. The extra 40 people has been noticeable!

Piper Bartlett-Browne beside the Nome city sign.

In the afternoon, there was a mandatory meeting for ship operations at the UAF Northwest Campus. It was run by Robert S. Pickart, the Chief Scientist on the Healy. He discussed each of the projects and gave an overview of ship policies. At that point, the weather for our scheduled departure day of August 2nd was looking stormy. If the captain of the Healy deemed the transfer too rough for tomorrow, we wouldn't be getting on the ship until Sunday August 4th. We would lose 2 days of research, but looking at the radar, we are not scheduled to run into any sea ice during this expedition (sadly...) allowing us to move faster and make up the time.

Robert S. Pickart, the chief scientist, giving the expedition briefing.

Sure enough, we all woke up today to a very angry Bering Sea. The waves are 5-6 feet tall, the wind is whipping at 20-30 mph, and there is heavy rain. Unfortunately, we will be waiting to board the ship until Sunday. This is not an uncommon occurrence for field research. Patience and flexibility are key!

The Bering Sea storm that delayed our expedition on August 2nd, 2019.

A Question From the Crow's Nest

We will be studying benthic organisms in the Chukchi Sea. Where do benthic organisms live?

Answer from the previous post: Polar or Arctic amplification is the phenomenon that causes the higher latitudes (such as the Arctic) to warm faster. The loss of sea ice is one of main causes of this phenomenon. The bright, reflective ice melts and gives way to a darker ocean. This dark ocean absorbs more heat and causes an increase in warming. There are other factors that contribute to Arctic amplification, but sea ice is the most substantial.