Fantasy world

Sea ice and fog in the western Fram Strait

A bivalve in one of my larval traps in the East Greenland
Current (996 m depth)

"It looks like the entrance to another world," Carla shrugged as she shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. We stood on the upper deck of the ship, and in front of us, ice floes roamed lazily on the surface of the ocean, covered by a thick layer of fog. The ice was so slushy and the air was so moist, it felt like we had reached the critical point where states of matter cease to exist. There was no longer gas nor liquid nor solid, only dull grey moisture, and the very earth was breaking apart before our eyes. At any moment, we would become completely enveloped in the cloud. We would feel weightless and strangely euphoric and be unable to see, but then the fog would lift and we'd find ourselves back on the deck of the ship under a sunny, cloudless sky, and look up to see Narnia on the horizon.

This expedition is my first time in the western Fram Strait, near eastern Greenland. Polar water flows south out of the central Arctic over here, so the temperatures are much lower and the surface ocean is usually covered with ice. By now, the sound and motion of ice grinding against the hull of the ship is familiar to me, but I had never seen such intense fog. I was captivated by the fantasy world.

Polar bear!

While we sat at Narnia's doorstep, another mooring was recovered with my larval traps and fouling panels attached. I wasn't expecting to catch much, given that we were in the polar-influenced East Greenland Current, but there were actually a number of interesting species in my samples. Two sea lilies had settled on panels at 246 m depth – in the middle of the water column. This species usually only lives on pebbles on the seafloor, so its presence on the panels must indicate its larvae are dispersing at shallower depth. I also found a bivalve larva at 996 m, close to the seafloor, that I look forward to identifying.

Of course invertebrates aren't the only fauna to be found in the ice-covered polar water. We also saw two polar bears swimming and climbing on ice floes near the ship. I was glad to experience the beauty in the western Fram Strait!