Day 1:
After a morning spent at BARC listening to the safety orientation and brief overviews on modelling, remote sensing, and in situ observations, we headed outside for our first session of on-ice activities.
Today’s session was with Hajo Eicken on the physical properties of sea ice. In other words, core-drilling time!
The weather was fine and I wondered if I had overdressed with my parka and snow pants. I even took off my hat and gloves. It was a short walk off shore to the site where we set up to drill ice cores–far enough to get a good measurement but not so far that it was difficult to walk to. Walking along the ice, Hajo and Bonnie consulted about whether the surface layer was deteriorating ice or re-textured snow. Carefully, we treaded through the partially melted ice, probing to find the bottom of the (shallow) ponds.
After a quick survey of the area, we set up to drill a few cores to get the temperature and salinity profiles of the sea ice. We even tried to make an ice slab but unfortunately, due to difficulties cutting it out, we left it for another group to attempt tomorrow.
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