16 June 2004

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 87

June 16, 2004 Wednesday
9:30 PM Alaska time

Everyday on the Healy is a good day, but some days are exceptional. It started early this morning with Rolf Gradinger recruiting volunteers to go out with his team on the ice. I could not have arranged a better experience. The sun was bright, the sky blue and the temperature blazing above the freezing mark.

The snow covering ice is beginning to melt, forming large melt ponds with fabulous colors. Most of the ponds are crystal blue. Some are turning a pale emerald green from the phytoplankton bloom and there is white everywhere the snow has not melted. At first, it was a bit eerie walking through the ponds. Intellectually, I knew the ice was more that a meter and a half thick, but there was still something disturbing about having 10 cm deep ponds on top of the ice and 500 meters of ocean below the ice. The feeling did not last long and I soon got into the rhythm of the work.

The snow is melting.

The last time I volunteered for the ice crew, I worked with Sarah Story drilling ice cores. Today I pulled the electro-magnetic sensor for Kazu Tateyama (see journal entry for June 4th). We walked in a straight line stopping every 5 meters taking measurements until we found a crack that indicated the edge of the ice floe just under 500 m from the Healy. That is approximately the same distance to the seafloor at the station we were working. We walked a second shorter line and then hand-drilled four ice cores.

Kazu and I walking the transect line. Picture by Heike

During our break time, we enjoyed the beauty that surrounded us. We even found thin ice sheets on top of the melt ponds with an art-like appearance caused by the physical processes that occur during refreezing. Of course, we had to taste them. They were fresh water and tasted GREAT!

Ice sheets on top of the melt ponds looked like artwork. I held this piece up to the sky.

Surrounded by all this beauty, it is easy to forget the dangers. Each time anyone goes onto the ice, one of three Coast Guard members stands bear watch. BM2 Geist, BM2 Bresnahan and BM3 Dawalt rotate their work schedule between bear watch, crane operator and deck supervision. The ice team could not function without them.

BM2 Bresnahan stood bear watch for the ice team.

After we returned from the ice, a dive team was deployed. They dove from a small landing craft boat that the ship carries. The boat was lowered to the water surface by crane. The divers entered the boat using a Jacob's ladder (a vertical ladder thrown over the side of the ship.) The water temperature is actually below freezing. The extreme low temperature is possible because the salt in the water lowers the freezing point. The divers are US Coast Guard qualified and must wear dry suits to stay warm. The divers went out to film ice algae underneath the ice floe. I wanted to take pictures of the divers, so I explored the outside deck areas for the best places to see the boat. I found ways to places I have been wondering how to reach. It was fun.

The small landing craft the divers used to go to their dive sites.

LTJG Amaral is climbing Jacob's ladder.

MST3 Suzanne Scriven was one of the divers today.

I met BM3 Dawalt June 4th on bear watch for the ice team. Today, I found him working with the dive team.

BM2 Geist is another member of the bear watch that assisted during the dive operation.

In-between my exploration and while I waited for the diver's return, I hung out in the sun. I was not alone. It was a glorious day in the Arctic and we took advantage of it. Pictured from left to right is Rebecca Levy, MSTCS Glen Hendrickson, Sybille Plourde and Catherine Lalande.

To see photographs taken by Steve Roberts of UCAR/JOSS, click here.