Blog from the RV Polarstern: MOSAiC trace gas fluxes update 5.1
By Byron Blomquist
After transiting the North Pole we are now starting to reestablish a research camp at a new ice floe, currently located at 87° 44' N 105° 40' E. This is near the Leg 2 drift track. The ship is positioned along a large ridge and across the ridge is a fairly large area of ice with ~50% melt pond coverage and thickness in non-ponded areas of 1-1.5m. Sites for the various research 'cities' have been selected.
Yesterday we transported most of the material for Met City out to the site on human-powered Nansen sleds (no snow machines are on the ice yet). Today we will start setting up the 10m tower and begin pulling power cables. A crack opened in the logistics area next to the ship and split the flow, but it has closed a bit. We are keeping an eye on it but proceeding with the camp installation. The ship may be repositioned a bit if the crack widens, but we will stay with this floe until the end. We hope to get 4-5 weeks of measurements here by the end of September and will be back in Bremerhaven on October 12. Flux and gas analyzers on the ship have been running normally and wind direction has been favorable so far. I hope to have the Met City CO2/CH4 flux system running sometime next week. We had the CO2/CH4/DMS flux chamber system out for measurements on melt pond and ice surfaces yesterday (photo).
The RV Tryoshnikov will be in Bremerhaven by Monday. Best wishes for a smooth trip back home to our Leg 4 colleagues.