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Fuelling up
The icebreaker refuels and the researchers move their equipment ready for the move into open water.
Overnight we’ve moved to Summer Harbour, where the ship spends all day taking on fuel from the barge that’s been moored here since summer. There’s still plenty of ice around near the coast and it helps to keep the barge steady as we moor alongside.
The captain has issued strict instructions for the scientists to tidy up their labs onboard. They need to tie down all their glassware ready for when the ship goes out on the open water. The refuelling means there’s no data collection going on today so it’s an ideal time for a clean-up.
Yves Gratton of the University of Quebec is also taking the opportunity to move his rosette - a piece of kit for taking water samples - into place for the open water. Until now, the rosette has been operating through the moon pool, an opening in the ship’s hull that enables scientists to put instruments into the water even when the ship is surrounded by ice. With its cylindrical arrangement of twenty-five 12-litre sample bottles the equipment is strangely reminiscent of bullets in a revolver chamber. From now on it will be winched over the side of the boat into the sea to the required depth.
The rosette is one of the most important pieces of kit on the boat as many of the project teams need samples of water. They’ll use them to look at factors such as nutrient levels, contaminant concentrations, the amount of plankton, and the levels of gases dissolved in the water. Gas levels could provide information about how much of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide the ocean is currently removing from the atmosphere; there are concerns that climate change itself is reducing the amount that the ocean can absorb.
The teams share samples from the rosette and there are strict rules for who gets to take their water from the sample bottle first. The scientists looking at gas levels are first in the pecking order as once water is taken from the bottles, oxygen gets in and could affect their readings.
Meanwhile, entertainment on board the ship continues - last night was one of the three nights a week the bar is open, and this morning saw a yoga class in the officers’ mess.
The captain has issued strict instructions for the scientists to tidy up their labs onboard. They need to tie down all their glassware ready for when the ship goes out on the open water. The refuelling means there’s no data collection going on today so it’s an ideal time for a clean-up.
Yves Gratton of the University of Quebec is also taking the opportunity to move his rosette - a piece of kit for taking water samples - into place for the open water. Until now, the rosette has been operating through the moon pool, an opening in the ship’s hull that enables scientists to put instruments into the water even when the ship is surrounded by ice. With its cylindrical arrangement of twenty-five 12-litre sample bottles the equipment is strangely reminiscent of bullets in a revolver chamber. From now on it will be winched over the side of the boat into the sea to the required depth.
The rosette is one of the most important pieces of kit on the boat as many of the project teams need samples of water. They’ll use them to look at factors such as nutrient levels, contaminant concentrations, the amount of plankton, and the levels of gases dissolved in the water. Gas levels could provide information about how much of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide the ocean is currently removing from the atmosphere; there are concerns that climate change itself is reducing the amount that the ocean can absorb.
The teams share samples from the rosette and there are strict rules for who gets to take their water from the sample bottle first. The scientists looking at gas levels are first in the pecking order as once water is taken from the bottles, oxygen gets in and could affect their readings.
Meanwhile, entertainment on board the ship continues - last night was one of the three nights a week the bar is open, and this morning saw a yoga class in the officers’ mess.
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