Blog from the RV Polarstern: MOSAiC trace gas fluxes update 4.7

By Byron Blomquist

Since leaving the site of our Leg 4 ice camp and saying goodbye to the floe we had occupied since last October, we have been busy recovering gear from the broken remnants of the Distributed Network sites. Over the past several days we have removed buoys, surface instruments and various waste items from L1, L2, M1 and M3. We are currently in transit to the L3 site and this will be our last stop before rendezvous with the Tryoshnikov and the incoming Leg 5 team.

For most of the last week we have had foggy, wet weather but today was brilliant and sunny. Now that the ship is free to move we have been able to keep the bow into the wind during non-working hours, although wind speeds have been very low - 3 m/s at most. Our shipboard measurement systems have been operating continuously and we will have a good data set from the marginal ice zone before heading back into the ice on Leg 5.

Plans for Leg 5 have not been finalized, but we are certain to establish some sort of new ice camp at an intact floe, probably near 84°N. The focus on Leg 5 will be processes and conditions leading up to the onset of freezing and ice regrowth. We'lll see if it's feasible to set up the MetCity tower once again for these last few weeks of MOSAiC.

Photo: Team Ocean recovers its 'Cluster,' an instrument that measures temperature, salinity, currents, turbulence, and CO₂ in the ocean. Photo credit: Lianna Nixon/CIRES