My team's primary objective for this expedition is to collect sea ice physical data and install remote buoys to collect information in regions of the Amundson and Ross Seas, some of the least studied regions of the world. We will be involved in 4 main activities once we reach the sea ice:
- Hourly sea ice observations from the bridge-working in 4 hour overlapping watches and later 3 hour solo watches, we will use the ASPeCt protocal to record information about ice type and concentration, floe size, topography, snow type and thickness, and visible water. These visual observations will be supplemented with photographic images taken from an automatic digital camera in a special housing mounted on the deck directly about the bridge.
Blake Weissling and David Prado mount the ice camera on the deck railing above the bridge.
- EMI (electromagnetic induction) measurements -once the appropriate ice floes are detected, the ship will stop for six to eight 8 hour stations and four 24 hour stations. Our research team will go out onto the ice to conduct our work. The EMI is a hand carried device which sends and receives electromagnetic waves to measure the ice thickness over a determined transect.We will collect this data, as well as share it with the other research teams to help them choose appropriate research sites.
Anne Marie Wotkyns practices using the EM 31 on the University of Texas, San Antonio campus at a summer teacher workshop.
LiDAR mapping - Light Detection and Ranging-LiDAR uses active illumination and reflection on a landscape to produce a realistic, 3 dimensional model of a given area. We will set up an area of 250 square meters with 8 reflective "targets" on tripods. A rotating laser scans 360 degrees and uses the reflected light to create a 3D "picture" of the target area. This will be one of the first attempts to use LiDAR on a floating surface (ie. an ice floe.)
Installing two Ice Mass Balance buoys and two GPS/thermal buoys at four different sea ice sampling stations. At these stations we will also be taking ice cores to measure physical properties and ice structure, measuring ice thickness by drilling and EMI, and snow sampling to collect data on depth, density, oxygen isotopes, grain sizes, and stratigraphy. These buoys are actually metal frames which hold a variety of instruments which collect and transmit data such as air/water/sea ice temperature and GPS geolocation for up to 2 years as the buoy travels on the ice floe.
We have been issued our "floating coveralls" - insulated one-piece jumpsuits with a built-in floatation device. We'll wear them whenever we are out on the ice. And, wow, are they warm! We'll also wear big sno-boots, carry a ship's phone and a walkie talkie, so we will be well connected with the ship and our science team.
Anne Marie Wotkyns wears the Oden's ice coveralls- required attire to go out onto the ice.
I can't wait to see the sea ice and get to our first ice station. It won't be long now! All of the research teams are ready to "get on station" and get to work!
Lesson Learned - Waiting is difficult when you're prepared and have work to do