We Are Free, We Are Free, We Are Freeee!, Moving again Options

[Steve_Marshall]

Saturday 6/18/05
We Are Free, We Are Free, We Are Freeeeeee!

Some of the pictures I’m posting for today were actually taken about 1 am. Why?? When I was thinking about the earlier pictures taken at midnight, and explaining they represented the lowest point the sun would get to the horizon and also indicate a due north direction, I realized a mistake I made: The pictures were taken at midnight DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME. This means the sun was actually in the “real-time” 11 pm position. Not wanting to lose the opportunity to have a picture of what I was originally trying to get, I made sure I took some pictures at 1am (12 midnight standard time) so I could REALLY show the lowest point the sun would get to the horizon and the direction of due north. Once I corrected that problem, I was able to sleep better at night, and that’s exactly what I did!:)

Got It Right This Time

THIS was taken at the time the sun is closest to the horizon and a line from the sun to the horizon indicates due North

A Strong Spot Light

I lined the sun up to appear to be right on top of the bow marker, which makes it look like a really bright spotlight

More Directional Indicators

A picture of an ice ridge. If the sun appears in a due North position at the time this picture was taken, the shadow cast by these ice ridges should be pointing in a due South direction. (I think I’m obsessed by celestial navigation!)

Getting Artistic With the Camera

I don’t consider myself a “photographer,” but I have been finding myself to be a little more creative with my shots. I thought this was a neat reflection of the sun and myself in a porthole

Once “normal” morning hours arrived, we started out with the standard breakfast and discussion of what the day would hold. Since we were still mostly immobile, we continued with the helicopter rides to look for sediment trapped in any ice flows. One of the two missions was successful in locating good samples, so we continued to slowly accumulate something we could work with while waiting for the ultimate objective of getting a core sample.

In addition to the helicopter flights, the talk of the day was about the opportunity to have “ice liberty,” where we could all go out on the ice and enjoy the scenery and the excitement of knowing we were standing on ice in the Arctic Ocean. As excitement built for something different to occur, we soon found out it wasn’t safe enough to go out, so liberty would have to be postponed. It was an ironic situation; We had maneuvered enough to break up some ice, thus preventing our chance to go out on the ice, but we had not broken enough to free the ship, so we were still stuck.

With ice liberty postponed, the captain ordered the crew to begin moving the ship back and forth to try and rock our way out…Sort of the same idea as if you have ever gotten your car caught in sand, snow, or mud…You need to roll back and forth to get the momentum to get out. Watching this process was another amazing show, because you could see huge boulders of ice being churned up in the water by the propellers, bow thrusters, etc. While it was another fine show, we all thought basically that’s what it was going to be…Another show of a giant slushy being created by the ship. However, this time…..It finally worked!!

More Whitewater

A picture of some of the turbulence created by the boat as we moved back and forth in what was now a large hole in the ice

Making Progress

This shows the extent of how far forward we could move in our location. With every inch of extra space, we could gain that much more momentum to help break us out.

Hard to Believe

All the individual ice “boulders” you see here are floating in water. These are the big chunks of ice that were churned back and forth by the ship as we rocked our way out. Considering some of these probably weighed over a ton, it was hard to believe the ship could toss these things around like they were nothing

The Big Crunch

As the ship backs up, all the ice blocks were piled up like we were a large snow and ice plow

Watching the Latest Show

Members of the science party and the ship’s crew alike enjoyed seeing yet another show put on by the attempts to break us free. It turns out that one of the crew members shown in this picture (fourth person from the left with the blue sunglasses on) turned out to be from Suffolk, Virginia…The city where I teach.

If it Seems to Work….

A picture through one of the openings in the bow of the ship showing a firehose rigged up to spray down the ice. Since this seemed to work so well in the back of the ship, it was decided to see what it could do for the front.

We had broken free of the ice, and were moving well. I never knew how much I would appreciate again seeing the large cracks that appear in the ice well ahead of the ship, indicating we will make our way through. Even the relatively loud noise of the engines working harder, the ice banging into the ship and sliding along the sides, and every bump and shift was something I was glad to hear and feel again. The more I heard and felt this, the more I realized we were finally going to get to our first core location.

What a Welcome Sight!!

We had finally broken free, and were in open water. The dark blue line just below the horizon is more open water ahead. These narrow areas of open water ensured we would have enough momentum to break through the icy areas too.

[Tom_Crumrine]

Steve,

I love the pictures of the ship breaking through the ice. I have been enjoying your entries. Such a wildly different experience than here at Toolik but sounds very cool.

Tom