LAST WEEK of the polar expedition - Transit from the Ice edge on Saturday the 11th to arrival in Helsingborg on Sunday 19th

 

We left the last ice station on Saturday evening at 8 pm and reached the ice edge around midnight between Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th. The ice got thinner and changed to the forms of pancakes, and then suddenly disappeared within some hours. 

Waking up on Sunday 12th - the first day of the transit - and looking out of the window: NO ICE only open ocean!!! It was really heartbreaking to realise there would not be any ice more, and the noises form the ship while moving on open ocean is not coming from breaking ice, but from the waves. The new sea-conditions required adaptation to a lot of us - as we were not used to the wavy motions and thus some of us got really seasick during the first days of the transit over the Atlantic. 

However, we were not only seeing ocean and sea spray, but also the mountains of Svalbard were visible on Sunday. Me and John decided to launch the last weather balloon once we reach Svalbard - so it was time today :/ We invited our colleagues to witness this emotional moment, as we together launched the last, at 18UTC weather balloon up to the atmosphere. As a greeting we wrote on the balloon: “Rest when you can, SAS2021”, as this sentence became one of the slogans for this expedition. 

Last weather balloon :/ - let's launch it together!

Good job!

Svalbard!

The sea got even more rough and we got waves up to 3 meters on Monday 13 September. We were not allowed to go to the front or back of the ship, due to the high risk of getting flushed by the waves breaking on Oden. Thank you Yannis for the photo, capturing the wave breaking at the front of the ship. 

Occasionally big waves flushing onto Oden! Watch out!

The weather during the transit was mostly sunny, with varying winds. We were supposed to have a captains farewell dinner on Monday eve byt it got shifted to Tuesday night instead. A lot of us were busy during the transit to write on the cruise report, where each of the work packages need to describe the work done on Oden, present the metadata and preliminary results, as well as further collaboration and future publications. Other tasks during the 9-day transit was to pack everything into boxes, label them with their destiny and clean our cabins. Each of us was busy packing,  finishing the last filtrations and tests or coping with the weather change or with the high waves and seasickness.

 On Tuesday evening we were invited to the Captain's dinner. We got spoiled with a pre-drink (with alcohol) in the bar, a three-course dinner with two glasses of wine in the mess, lovely speeches, a live music performance (me and Frank dancing Lindy Hop to Christiens song, which they performed live by singing and playing (guitar and clarinet), revealing the winners (top three) of the highest (and lowest) weather balloon-competition and each of us got a diploma of being on the expedition as well as a small greeting of water taken from the ocean depth at the NorthPole. As we were close to Lofoten, reaching latitudes suitable for Northern lights (see the map), we were lucky to see Auroras three evenings in a row: Tuesday to Thursday! It was amazing to witness sunsets, seeing stars in the sky and enjoying the lights of the Auroras and full moon. Thank you Christien for the lovely photo of the Northern lights, taken on the 15th.

Northern lights. Photo: Christien

The weather continued to be lovely and sunny for a couple of days, and during the last days of the transit me and John started to pack away the sounding station, the weather station and finally the instruments on the foremast. We also finished with our part of the cruise report already a few days before arrival in Helsingborg, so that we could enjoy the last days with the company of the others on board, packing and partying.

We were also lucky to celebrate three more birthdays on Oden, and of course, with cake! On Wednesday 15th we celebrated Lisa's birthday, she was surprised by balloons and celebration at midnight in the bar, right after the captains dinner. On Saturday, we had two birthdays: Hauke and John! As we had our final fancy dinner on Saturday on Oden, we were all nicely dressed up for celebrating them in the bar. John was also so kind to ask for vegan cake, so we got served by two different cakes for fika and real coffee. It was heaven! During Saturday we also got to experience a Search and Rescue - training, where one was covered from a helicopter to Oden and then brought back on the Helicopter. Our pilot decided to fly home with the helicopter as we were close to the Norwegian coast. Some of us were standing outside waving him goodbye. 

Happy Birthday John!

Darkness being lighted up by the full moon !

We arrived at the Harbour in Helsingborg early morning on Sunday 19th. It was so chocking when looking out of the window: NO ICE; NO WATER but a bricks and a fabric! How is this real?! I went out to the deck and saw that they put down the gangway: but it looked so wrong! Compare these two photos: One with the gangway on the 8 September onto the ice at Gakkel station and the bottom one from today at Helsingborg... A realisation that this amazing expedition is really getting to its end now - the gangway takes us back home and not onto the ice! The mood at Oden is melancholic, bittersweet, happy but sad. We are looking forward to get back home, meeting friends and family, but also sad to leave this all behind - as it all became as a family on Oden. We had no argumentations, but sharing all the lovely moments together while doing science and discovering untouched regions in the Arctic. An expedition we will forever remember and hopefully we are able to keep our group alive and visit each other, writhing scientific papers together, collaborating and who knows, maybe meeting again on the next expedition to the Arctic? 

Top: at the ice station Gakkel, bottom: at Helsingborg...

Some of us left Oden already today, but most of us will leave Oden tomorrow (Monday 20th) after breakfast and cabin cleaning check. But it is not over yet for a handful of us, as a group of lovely people decided to stay in Helsingborg for one more night together, having lunch in town and a farewell party before we unfortunately need to say goodbye to each other and return to our lives we had before stepping on the Icebreaker for the Arctic expedition. 

I am sooo happy to be given this opportunity to come to this expedition and a special thank for John! This was an expedition that exceeded all the expectations one can have: living on an icebreaker, teaching and dancing Lindy Hop and finally performing on the North Pole to live music, seeing polar bears, whales, walruses, Arctic birds and dolphins, working on the ice, fishing (despite lack of fish in the Arctic Ocean), flying the helicopter, learning how to launch a weather balloon, how to operate meteorological instruments, learning about other chemists and biologist's work, coping with the changing weather in the Arctic, enjoying northern lights and sunsets once the 24h-daylight was gone... The list is endless. This trip was also a social challenge - living with the same people so close and intensively, with a lack of personal space, with no internet AND no alcohol. But honestly I think exactly these three things made this trip just so successful - we all got along so well, all contributing for making this expedition as perfect and lovely as it was - an unforgettable trip with the most amazing people. Thank you all! I am sad that it now comes to an end - but all good has to end at some point - being sad is just a sign of all the happy memories you will keep for the rest of your life. I will miss you all! But I am also looking forward to go home - meeting all lovely dance friends, work mates, friends and family and to return to my PhD-life and sport routines. 

I truly hope taking part of this expedition has opened a few new doors for all of us for the future.

I myself wish to be able to return to the amazing Arctic for collecting more observations and discovering more of the unknown and enlarge the understanding of processes we know so little about. But before that, with the energy of this trip, I want to be able to finish my PhD in Stockholm and then, being ready for new adventures the life has to offer. 

Rest when you can!

Dancing on the helideck in the Arctic with Frank.

Happy me - this is exactly where I want to be!

Halos around Oden

I will post some videos in the coming weeks, as well as the final Northpole dance choreography. I hope you have enjoyed to follow us / me on this expedition. If you have dreams, reach for it and grab it - and live your dreams!