Into the darkness

The first few days of an expedition are always the hardest for me. I’ve actually spent most of the last two days in my bunk as a result of jet lag, exhaustion, and seasickness. Don’t ever let anyone tell you marine biologists don’t get seasick – it happens to the best of us.

When I woke up today, I could feel the motion of the ship had changed. We were no longer racing along and rocking from side to side. The ship had slowed down, and I could hear ice scraping against the hull. Every once in a while, we’ll hit an ice floe and get a good jolt to one side or the other.

Sea ice, as seen off the bow of the Helmer Hanssen.

I headed to the bridge to see if I could get a glimpse of the ice. Of course it’s pitch black outside, but I was able to see some of the ice floes thanks to giant flood lights shining off the bow. Ice floes are transported around the southern tip of Svalbard from the Barents Sea, so the ice we’re experiencing now is advected from elsewhere. We’ll actually get out of the advected ice as we continue to head north along Svalbard’s western coast, then reach an area with pack ice north of the archipelago.

It’s thrilling for me to be in an area of sea ice, on a ship in complete darkness, heading north to the end of the earth. We’ll dock in Longyearbyen later today to load some scientific equipment and supplies onto the ship. For me, the most critical items coming on board are my settlement plates. Daniel and Peter, the two SCUBA divers that I worked with to deploy all my settlement plates in September, have by now hopefully completed a dive to recover and replace half of the plates from the Longyearbyen pier. Once the plates come on board, I’ll be able to examine them, counting and identifying all the organisms present. Plates will also be recovered from Ny-Ålesund and Kvadehuken, two locations in Kongsfjorden, later this week. 

I feel a bit like the last few days have been the calm before the storm. Once we hit Longyearbyen, it's going to get crazy on board, and I'll be working pretty much constantly. For now, I take a deep breath and ride on into the darkness.