Polarstern
Back in December, I received an e-mail from my collaborator, Thomas, in Germany. My old working group at the Alfred Wegener Institute was going on a research expedition in August 2019, he wrote, and they were planning to use an ROV to establish a new experimental station in the HAUSGARTEN
long-term ecological research area in the Arctic deep sea. Did I have any good ideas for new experiments, Thomas asked, and did I want to come on the cruise?
Um, YES. Friends, when a trusted colleague offers you a spot on a world-class research vessel and free license to start any experiment you want, that's an offer you accept. Did I want to come? Please. Is the ocean salty?
I responded almost immediately and told Thomas I was in. I also scribbled down 5 or 6 half-baked ideas for experiments to try, but more on that later. This expedition is important enough to me that I planned the rest of my summer projects around it. I scheduled the sampling for both my
Crepidula experiment and my shipwreck project early in the summer such that both were completed before I left town (I still don't understand how everything managed to come together in time, but it did, thank goodness!). I adjusted the dates for my shipwreck telepresence cruise so that it began
only after I got back. I was not going to miss this opportunity.
And so, here I am. I'm on board R/V Polarstern, a German icebreaker, headed north to the Arctic. We'll be at sea for a little over a month, conducting routine annual sampling and beginning new experiments in the HAUSGARTEN. Some of you may remember that I was on a similar cruise in
2017, but if you want to refresh your memory, look up posts from my archive in August and September of that year.
It's going to be a great cruise!
long-term ecological research area in the Arctic deep sea. Did I have any good ideas for new experiments, Thomas asked, and did I want to come on the cruise?
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| Polarstern in port in Bremerhaven, Germany |
I responded almost immediately and told Thomas I was in. I also scribbled down 5 or 6 half-baked ideas for experiments to try, but more on that later. This expedition is important enough to me that I planned the rest of my summer projects around it. I scheduled the sampling for both my
Crepidula experiment and my shipwreck project early in the summer such that both were completed before I left town (I still don't understand how everything managed to come together in time, but it did, thank goodness!). I adjusted the dates for my shipwreck telepresence cruise so that it began
only after I got back. I was not going to miss this opportunity.
And so, here I am. I'm on board R/V Polarstern, a German icebreaker, headed north to the Arctic. We'll be at sea for a little over a month, conducting routine annual sampling and beginning new experiments in the HAUSGARTEN. Some of you may remember that I was on a similar cruise in
2017, but if you want to refresh your memory, look up posts from my archive in August and September of that year.
It's going to be a great cruise!
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