Sunday 8th - Ice station, Monday 9th Helicopter station!, Tuesday 10th CTD station

Hello again - I am sitting in the bar at 1.15am in the night waiting for the final data from the 00 UTC weather balloon to be received. When looking out of the window one would easily think it is daytime - and it gets brighter and brighter for every day! We are currently heading north - now at 88.12 degrees and the plan is to reach the North Pole on Saturday eve! The North Pole will be our second 24-h station and we will be there the whole Sunday - I really hope we get good weather for all our CTD measurements as planned, as well as ice work, helicopter stations and that we are able to dance the North Pole Lindy Hop dance. I hope we get to practise dancing enough the coming days - I have created a short 1.5 min choreography, including some basic Lindy Hop moves and some solo jazz in the end. We are also soo lucky to have LIVE saxophone accompanied to the dance performance! I cant wait! Right now we are steaming northwards to reach our next destination for tomorrow, where we will test one of our instruments (the beam net for fishing) for the whole day. For the CTD scientists, it means a more relaxed day (if the beam net works) - but they really deserve it, as many have to work until 4 in the night to analyse the water samples etc from the CTDs. 

But lets return to the two past days - which was been soo (again) full of new experiences and excitement! On Sunday, our main ice station day, the weather conditions were not optimal for ice work  - and we had to wait to see what they decide regarding the winds and heavy fog. The CTDs were running as usual - I think they only had minor issues but are getting good samples now! For our meteorology team, as we were supposed to go out, as well as for SAS ice corings, we had to be patient and wait. In order not to just roll our thumbs and while being properly dressed with our rescue suits, we started to make flux chamber measurements over the ship. As we just set it all going, we got green light to go to the ice - well not everyone. They allowed 8 people (3 bear watches + 5 scientists) that want to work close to the ship to go out on the ice. I stayed on board to keep the flux chamber running while John and Lina, also helping out with us, got transported by the red basket with the crane onto the ice. I would have wanted to join them, but I was not allowed to due to the bad visibility. Also another team of 3 people were allowed. Later on, the groups were changed, but they did not get enough of time for the ice work as needed.

Later in the evening the wind was still strong, and the weather balloon launched by our doctor got crashed due to the winds, so before dinner I went to run and help him prepare and launch another one - and we just made it before 18 UTC. To release the stress and coldness of the day, we made some Yoga with Lina later in the evening. The plan in the beginning was to stay at the station over the night to do the Beam net measurements - but the strong winds made it impossible and we decided to head northwards to our next destination already in the evening. For me, this day was super long - as I had to wake up at 5am for the morning sounding AND stay awake for the midnight one. We decided to switch shifts with John on this ice station day. But the evening went well and I managed to stay awake until 2 am, as being motivated to be able to sleep until lunch (noon) the next day, as John promised me there would be no work before lunch. BUT—>

My first helicopter flight!!! Monday 9/8

I got up around 11 am and wanted to go to the gym to run a bit — after 5 min of running John comes into the gym, knowing he might find me here haha. And he said that he knows he promised no work before lunch, but this was worth it —> we were offered a helicopter flight to a lead close to the ship at 1 pm. And as he was busy calibrating one of our remote sensing instruments, he thought that I might want to go by myself, be the boss and run all the instruments. WOW!!! I just exploded of excitement, ran into the shower, ate a quick lunch, prepared the instruments AND then headed to the helipad! This was sooo amazing! The weather was absolutely beautiful - no fog, the sun was shining, reflecting over the sea ice and meltponds. Perfect day for flying the helicopter and to work on the ice. We were only four people joining for the helicopter flight (2 with guns - also the pilot had to be bear watching us) - and I got to decide and be the boss during the work on ice. Felt absolutely amazing! We took off and flew around Oden and did a quick survey for polar bears and then landed 200 m from the ship, close to a lead. We unloaded and set up the instruments for flux measurements and took some water samples from the lead and meltponds. We stayed out for around 2-3 hours, continuously doing measurements in 10-15 minute cycles - in between just enjoyed the scenery - seeing Oden from this far, talking to the pilot… For the safety, I was also wearing a harness when I was at the edge of the lead so that I would not fall into the water. I was sooooo happy that I could go - still cannot believe how much I have already experienced here in the Arctic! It is unbelievable and soooo cool! Glad we got this opportunity - the helicopter station was only for us! We hope for more to come - we have 41 days left in the Arctic, so there should be more days with good weather possible for helicopter flights. Fingers crossed! The evening ended with a short dance session out on the Helipad and then the midnight weather balloon. What a wonderful day - again!

Today (Tuesday) the weather was too foggy for any helicopter flights, but some groups were allowed to go out on the ice while the CTDs were running. The wind was decreasing during the day, but the fog and the light drizzle made the weather wet and unpleasant. We did some calibration work on one of our flux instruments on the foremast and also measured fluxes of methane and co2 from the water over the ship - it was nice to have a more relaxed day after three days of working on the ice. In the evening we also watched a movie in the cinema. I have just finished the data retrieval from the weather balloon and it is time to sleep - a new day tomorrow, as we will be stationary while the beam net will be going (hopefully!). Also some helicopter flights are planned for tomorrow - unfortunately not for our group - but only in case of good weather conditions. 

Not long before we reach the North Pole (3 weeks after departure)!