When Holga went in the Arctic (Part IV/VI)
By stouf
29 Dec 2008
Week 4 (Jan. 10 to Jan. 16, 2008)
Day 22: 10 January 2008
Position: 71°40.032 N / 126°08.684 W
08:00 – I had a good night of sleep. I feel very good this morning. We start the day by going on the ice to sample from our previously opened hole. Everything went fine. We took two samples, one from 10 m to the surface and a second one from 250 m. It was very dark and we were lifting the net with Josée on a snow-mobile. When we were 200 m away from the hole, the engine almost stopped and then went recovered. It was a bit scary...
14:00 – I went to yoga with the others for the first time. It was funny, we were following a ridiculous projected video of a muscled guy surrounded by sexy girls, saying stupid things like "this position should make you feel like someone is liking ice-cream off your body"... It was hilarious...
16:00 – A sad moment. Some scientists went away and some others came in by twin-otter. The sad thing is that Laura left. She was a real sunshine, always smiling and having a good joke to share.
19:00 – The first science meeting directed our new chief scientist. Great.
21:00 – Let's go to the bar... But not too late, tomorrow we'll have to remove our stuff from the ice because we have to change locations. We've already drifted too much, almost out of our region of interest.
Day 23: 11 January 2008
Position: 71°37.115 N / 126°02.110 W
07:00 – We woke up early this morning because we had to go on the ice to retrieve our material. We're leaving at noon.
12:00 – After half an hour of forcing with the engines, the ship is finally free. We start moving towards the South. The noise of the crushing ice starts again...
17:00 – We got stuck in the ice once again. After two hours working hard with the engines, we finally freed the ship. We need to travel about 60 miles to get back to a good position and we only managed 7 miles today...The ice is very thick...
Day 24: 12 January 2008
Position: 71°30.996 N / 125°10.401 W
07:00 – We started the day with one hydrobios and two tuckers. The crew rushed me because the helicopter had to do a recognition flight (and while there's helicopter operations, all other operations are stopped) so I sent the tucker down at 50 m/min instead of 40 m/min. The result was that the wire was twisted around the net when it came back, and we only won 3 minutes, without getting the precious sample...
11:35 – We start moving again. From outside and closer, the sound of breaking ice reminds me of a mix between polystyrene and ceramic breaking.
14:00 – After a little walk on the deck, where I realized that the daylight is progressively increasing, I sewed a net, repaired its mounting and cleaned the lab with Josée.
Day 25: 13 January 2008
Position: 71°29.582 N / 124°32.588 W
04:00 – We're moving, it wakes me up... Usually we move only during the period where there is a minimal amount of light (from 11:00 to 15:00). I fall asleep again.
07:00 – I wake up, and go to sample from the moon-pool with Marc and Josée. One hydrobios and one tucker. Everything went fine. Like yesterday, there's going to be a recognition flight by helicopter to find a good place to go next.
17:00 – The ship got stuck in the ice again... It looks serious. We have to change our scientific schedule again. Let's wait and see tomorrow.
20:00 – After dinner, we played a game called the Werewolf. It's very funny; everyone has a role to play...
Day 26: 14 January 2008
Position: 71°31.053 N / 124°50.891 W
08:00 – After 3 hours of manoeuvring, the ship was freed without us needing to get on the ice.
12:00 – We waited for the visibility to improve, it was all white outside, nothing to see.
16:00 - We arrived at a new position which seems suitable for sampling. So we're going to stay here for 5 or 6 days (or more...).
20:00 – We do sampling from the moon-pool, one hydrobios and two tucker nets. I'm tired and tomorrow is going to be a very hard day...
Day 27: 15 January 2008
08:00 – We went out on the ice and made our hole. Everything went fine.
13:30 – We sampled from the hole. Perfect. I shot some videos.
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(see : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apSsxyczKi8)
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20:00 – We did a tucker from the moon-pool... That was an intense day!
Day 28 : 16 January 2008
08:00 – I was sent on the ice with a team (Steeve, Ramon, Loic and Graig) to build the tent again. We did it in one hour! We're a good team.
09:30 – I joined Marc and Josée while they were finishing a Hydrobios, and then we did two tuckers from the moon-pool.
13:30 – We went on the ice for another sampling from the hole... I really liked it. The sun is starting to return, though we can't see it yet, we had good light for three hours. I'm going to be able to shoot in the Normal setting with my Holga... The end of Bulb, finally.
16:00 – I completely repaired the ring-net, sampling from the ice is going to be easier now.
21:00 – I helped Elizabeth to build a messenger for a Niskin bottle to collect water from the ice.
1 response
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Tom Mertens gave props (29 Dec 2008):
Great stories and photos!!
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When Holga went in the Arctic (Part VI/VI)
Photo Essay — 31 Dec 2008
Holga shots from an Oceanographic expedition in the Arctic, during winter. Multiple Exposures.
