Posted by jossg -
19 September 2011 at 12:46pm -
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At about a quarter to eight, still sitting in the Mess having just cleaned off Ronnie's lasagne, we got a call from Paul, the first mate, over the ship's tanoy system. "There's a big polar bear to our starboard."
Polar bear cub plays with science equipment near the Arctic Sunrise
This afternoon I was on watch. Bear watch.
Whenever there are people out on the ice, it's necessary for a couple of people at least, and more if there's fog, to be keeping a look out. On these occasions there's usually one person up on the wings of the bridge, another person up in the crow's nest, and somebody else out on the helipad. There's a rota so nobody has to stand for hours on end and get too cold, but today I did an hour in the heli slot.
Two crew members get their first sight of sea ice from the bow of the Arctic Sunrise, in waters off Arctic Svalbard
A few months ago I took the train down from London to Cambridge with my colleague Frida Bengtsson, who is leading this expedition, so that we could meet up with Professor Peter Wadhams. As head of the University’s ‘Polar Ocean Physics Group’, it’s fair to say Peter knows a thing or two about Arctic sea ice. Friends at Greenpeace like to call him ‘the Elvis of sea ice science.’
Woken up as usual at 7.30 for breakfast and cleaning, I'd had a shower and was getting clothed when someone said 'polar bears outside'. I said to Ethan, the assistant cook who is also my roomie, who has been aboard two weeks already: 'Wow, they're saying there's polar bears outside.' He replied, 'Nah, there isn't man. They're just saying that to get us up.' 'Well, I'm popping outside to check.'
Scientist Clare Miller collecting data on the amount of plastics in the Arctic ocean, on the Arctic Sunrise
For many people the Arctic is seen as one of the last wilderness regions left where there has been limited human impact. However, sampling of marine plastic debris over the past few days shows that the far reaching effects of mankind is clearly present even in the Arctic ocean.
Ever had that dream where your house moved while you were sleeping in your bed? Where you wake up and walk out the door to find that your house has pulled up its roots and drifted down the valley to where the river meets the sea?
The Arctic sea ice is getting smaller - and thinner - each year
The cracking and rumbling when the ship pushes the ice flows aside to
make passage; the countless shades of blue and white in the ice, sea,
and melt water; the feeling of being completely removed from the
ordinary world, without phones or internet.
Today, as news of the discovery of a 22-mile plume of oil droplets is revealed in a report in the Journal, Science
the first leg of the Greenpeace expedition on board the Arctic Sunrise
ended. The scientists, Drs. Jo Lopez and Chuck Messing from Nova
University, have spent much time underwater collecting specimens of
sponges and recording what they have found in the Dry Tortugas National
Park off Florida.
Posted by jamess -
17 August 2010 at 9:33am -
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While our ship the Esperanza is busy confronting the oil industry, our colleages in the US are on the Arctic Sunrise in the Gulf of Mexico, researching the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill. Paul - a longtime Greenpeace campaigner and campaign director at TckTckTck - updates us on how it's going.
It is just after five o'clock in the morning. I've just had a slice of
toast and a cup of tea. The decks are wet from a recent downpour that
has cooled the air somewhat. It is quiet, the ship and crew sleep. The 4
to 8 is the best watch. You get to see the sunrise and the sunset. But
just now it is the darkness just before the dawn – just the harbour
lights and the occasional lightning flash in the darkness.
Posted by jamie -
29 September 2009 at 12:04pm -
4 Comments
There's some stunning photography in this final video from the Arctic Sunrise's arctic expedition. Ice sheets, icebergs, glaciers and (yes) polar bears all feature in a kind of greatest hits package from Greenland and beyond. View it on Youtube for a larger, more panoramic version.
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