Ice coring station and Ice station Q (3-5/9) - a glimpse of Greenland

Friday 3 September - SAS ice coring station

After a few days of transit, we finally reached our next short stop on Friday 3/9 - this station was dedicated to ice coring and a box core sample in the evening. During the early morning balloon the sun was still shining, but after a while the fog came suddenly and the ice station had to be shifted to later due to the bad visibility. We were searching for a location to park in the ice for a long time, during which the first SAS ice coring team went out with the helicopter. In the afternoon the sun came out again, sun rays magically reflected by the ice surface. Despite the return of the fog, me and John got allowance to go to the ice around 15, got lifted out with the basket and did a successful ice station this afternoon, during which the sun came out again, the temperature was pleasant -1degrees and the winds calmed down. It was magical. The second SAS ice coring team went out with the helicopter around 17, at the time when we got back on the ship. The evening became even more magical - meditative slow-moving waves on the wind still surface, reflection of the sky on the water surface, some ice flows passing by. In the evening after a successful box core (takes ocean bottom sediment samples), the transit to our next ice station Q - 50 km north from Greenland - started. In the map, you can see our real track in green, and the planned track in pink. The peak closest to Greenland is our station Q, and the red flower indicates our location on 6 September. 

Foggy afternoon on the ice

Water sampling from the lead. The fog begun to disappear. 

Magical evening - picture focused on the Pyranometer (measuring incoming solar radiation)

Box core sample

Magical, wind still evening scenery.

Flower on the map indicating the location 6/9 at Station H (north of Greenland). The pink dashed track shows the preplanned track, which had to be changed during our expedition due to ice and weather conditions (actual track in green).

Ice Station Q - 50 km from Greenland on Saturday 4 September (4-5/9)

During the SAS Polar expedition in the Arctic Ocean 2021, one of the goals was to reach the Greenland Shelf - a region where nobody has been before. We had to adjust the plan of the trip multiple times and discard one of the pre-selected ice stations and add new ones and replace old ones. Finally we reached station Q - question station- located at 84.3N in the early morning on Saturday 4 September. The photo is taken in the early morning - Arctic Ocean filled with melt ponds, open ocean and ice and in the horizon you can see Greenland. I got to enjoy this lovely scenery while launching the early morning 6UTC weather balloon. It was absolutely amazing to be able to see Greenland. This ice station started with the beam net for catching fish (no fish was found though) and the helicopter went out to deploy fishing trap-and longlines. In the afternoon, a thick layer of lower level clouds and fog covered Greenland, so that only the mountain peaks were visible from Greenland, but then slowly disappearing behind the clouds during the day. 

For the ice work, we got lifted again on the ice with the basket, that fits max 4 people at once. Only 3 scientists plus a polar bear watch were allowed on the ice simultaneously due to the high risk of polar bears this close to land. Therefore, ice work during the afternoon was dedicated to the two ice coring teams, collecting ice cores and water samples, whereas project-specific groups were allowed to enter the ice from 7 pm. As it was Saturday, we had a fancy dinner with delicious food and dessert, providing energy for this ice station. At 9 pm, me and John were the last team to go on the ice to measure gas exchange at a wind still lead located around 80 m from the ship. Despite being out so late, the weather was magical and the ice work was again successful. 

Simultaneously with the evening ice work, CTDs started to operate through the whole night, both at the front and at the back of the ship, ending with a box core around 9 am on Sunday 5 September. The helicopter had to go for retrievals of the equipments early in the morning, before the departure to our next destination: Ice station H. I also had to get up early for the morning balloon, so only 4 hours of sleep for me, but some early morning (at 6am) boxing workout at the gym gave me energy for the coming day! 

During our transit to Station H (flower on the map), we stopped for a CTD station in the afternoon. The weather during the transit was absolutely amazing again (see the photo with the ocean and ice floe, the horizon disappearing in the low-level clouds and the sun shining through the upper-level clouds). Also, the carrot game ended today, with Clare as the winner! Congratulations!