Second icecamp - up to 30 polar bears until now!

Overview of the icecamp and the main “roads” to the ROV site (to the left) and our met-alley (to the right) taken on Monday 5 June.

 

This ice camp (see photo above) was built on Monday 29 May and we were still at the same icefloe, 2 weeks later. We have developed a routine schedule for almost every day, but the plan of the day changes due to the ice conditions, weather or polar bears. Sometimes, there are helicopter ice stations planned, drone flights, Helikite or Helipod operations or other ice work conducted on the ice apart from the “regular” ones. You can read about the first snowstorm and the frosty weekend during the first week of the second ice camp in my previous posting (“First week of the Second icecamp - Icework and its challenges”; posted 8 June).  For this posting, I will continue taking you on a journey through the second week of the second icecamp – with the emphasis on the several polar bear visitors we had during the last week. In fact, the polar bear seen a week ago (that caused evacuation of people on the ice back onboard on Saturday 3 June) was number 9 – and now (a bit more than one week later, Monday 12 June) we are up to 30 bears!!! CRAZY! The “polar bear rally” started properly on Sunday 4 June, after which 1-3 polar bears were seen almost each day! 

 

 

Ice work at met alley during fog on Saturday 3 June. Note the fog bow to the righr of the met-mast over the snow scooters on the bottom photo.

Ice work was on hold after the visiting polar bear and foggy conditions on Saturday morning (3 June). A short window in the visibility after lunch enabled for the icework to continue. Some scientists returned to their sampling site to retrieve their instruments they had to leave there in the morning due to the polar bear. Me and Heather headed to our met-alley for the regular battery change and data download (see photo above where Oden is behind light fog and Heather is downloading data at the radiometer site). It was beautiful outside on the ice and we also got to see a fog bow (see photo above). The icing of several instruments due to the weather continued and frost of instruments both on the ice as well as onboard had to be removed for better data quality. The day continued with birthday cake, fancy Saturday dinner and another science talk from a work-package leader.

 

Saturday 3^rd June was also a big day for us meteorologists: we launched our 100^th weather balloon! And there will be more to come (at least four evert day throughout the expedition). This day was also interesting for several aerosol scientists – the air was super clean with very low particle concentrations. A tea cup with boiling water brought out to below zero temperatures did not create any steam! But when a lighter was turned on (providing the air above with particles), the steam was there! More about aerosol measurements onboard Oden and out on the ice in the next posting J

Saturday 4 June – Too many polar bears preventing work on the ice

Polar bear in the early morning of June 4^th

 

 

Sunday (4 June) was another beautiful day in the Arctic. We had to re-moore the ship at the icefloe in the morning. While I was finishing my early (6 UTC) weather balloon, the next polar bear was spotted close to the ice camp (see photo above). Only a fifth of the ice floe we chose for our icecamp a week ago was left now – but fortunately we chose the stronger part of the floe (and our instruments were all safe). The plan is to stay here another week if nothing unexpected happens. The weather was still occasionally foggy, and the drifting of the ice as well as polar bears were still challenging for the ice work. The polar bear was also chased by the helicopter to allow for further ice work.

 

Polar bear fight observed 4^th of June. Photo by Martin Schiller.

Some hours later, while me and Michalis were working at the formast in the front of the ship, two more polar bears were seen further away. Martin Schiller (Engineer from Alfred Wegener Institute) succeeded to capture these two polar bears on photo – and these were not that kind to each other as you can see. At first it looked as they were playing around, but eventually it cleared to us that they were actually fighting (and blood could be seen on their necks). Polar bears are not just cute, but they are strong predators you don’t want to confront alone out on the ice.

It started snowing around lunch and the visibility got worse, postponing ice work further. There was a 3-hour window in the visibility during the afternoon, when several scientists together with polar bear guards were let out on the ice. The visibility stayed good until later in the afternoon, when another fog band arrived over Oden.

Later in the afternoon, another group of scientists were let out on the ice challenged by the lower visibility. At 17:00, another polar bear was spotted, but this time quite far away from Oden. This was the fourth polar bear we saw just today!

Another science talk was given after dinner, after which I went out with Theresa to change batteries at her instrument. This was a great day with many hours out on the ice and polar bear visitors. However, the melt onset we were waiting for and expecting to happen this weekend did unfortunately not happen. Temperatures rose up to -1.5 degrees C, but that was it. For the coming days, temperatures were about to drop as we were again surrounded by dryer and colder polar air. But we are optimistic – there is another warm air pulse forecasted for the end of next week which looks quite promising (and at this point, I can assure you, it really came!). This hopefully will be the onset of sea ice melt!

Monday 5 June – Even more polar bears, this time a mum with her cub checking our instruments!

Another beautiful day in the Arctic. Temperatures fell down to -4 degrees, quite cloudy day with weak northwesterly winds from Greenland.

During breakfast, we heard the first news: another polar bear visited our icecamp in the night and dug out one of the SIMBA buys that was buried in the snow, cut off the cable and then played around with the box while lying in the snow. It also visited met-alley and was quite fond of the red flags at the ROV site. After polar bear scouting with the helicopter, two groups of scientists went out on helicopter ice stations – one in the morning and one 5-h long in the afternoon.

Ice work on Monday 5 June. Michalis and Heather on the photo. We had to evacuate due to polar bear mum and cub.

After lunch me, Heather and Michalis went out on the ice to met-alley. The clouds had distinct wave structure and it was so beautiful (see photo above). These clouds could be topographically forced due to the winds coming to us from Greenland? We were almost done, downloading the last bit of data from our radiometers when we got a call: “polar bears”. Polar bear mum and her cub were spotted from the ship. We had to abandon the data download and run to the scooters so that we could return to Oden. This was the second time for me when we needed to be evacuated from the ice because of polar bears. The helicopter, that had just left for the 5-h long ice station, returned and chased away the polar bears. This gave us a window to return safely back to the ice – but only limited number of scientists (three), two guards and two snow scooters. 

 

We returned from our adventure on the ice and had a coffee when we got another call: the polar bear mum and her cub were out again! But this time closer to the ship. I grabbed my coffee and went to the helideck – and there they were, soo cute (see photos below). Oden had at this point started to move away from our ice floe because we intended to turn around the ship.

 

Today’s visitors interrupting ice work. (5 June). Photo at the bottom by Ian Brooks.

We got so many pictures and videos and could follow them closely from the ship. But then, we saw that they were headed towards our icecamp!! The red snow scooters and red flags were their first interest, after which they headed towards met-alley! OH noo our instruments!!! The cub was quite playful and played around with the gray box at the radiometers. On the photo below, the polar bear mum investigates our downward looking radiation sensors – I guess this is the first time someone has measured albedo and radiation from a polar bear nose :D They also checked our instruments at the mast (fortunately did not break any instruments or chew on cables) and then headed towards Theresa’s lift. Assumingly the noise from the lift interested the bears so much that the whole lift was pushed away by the bears and then they decided to lay down on it!

 

Instrument check at the met-alley. First time we obtain measurements of the albedo and radiation from the polar bears nose :D Photo by Åsa Lindgren.

 

The rescue operation of polar bear damaged instruments began after dinner. Fortunately, all equipment and instruments were working or could be fixed. Polar bear safe instruments! 

 

Tuesday 6 June – Swedish national day

Tuesday was a sunny day with calm westerly winds. Ice work was conducted as normal – with some interruptions due to another polar bear visiting us in the late morning. The Helikite was operating from Oden the whole day. In the afternoon, I again joined Theresa out on the ice to her instrument. It felt really warm outside (even though we still had below zero temperatures) and we could see melting of snow around black equipment when directed towards the sun. Traditional Swedish dish was served for dinner and a cake with a Swedish flag for dessert to celebrate the Swedish national day.

 

Wednesday - Thursday 7-8 June – approach of warmer and moister air!

Sunny weather was now about to change. Low-level clouds filled the sky early on Wednesday morning giving light snowfall, worsening the visibility and thus interfering ice work. The icefloe we had our ice camp on had gotten even smaller and cracks, open water and leads were more frequent to see. As a routine, me and Ian went out to Met-Alley for the regular battery swap and data download after lunch. The opaque cloud cover was quite beautiful, with dark bands among the whiter clouds. These darker bands actually show the location of leads (openings in the sea ice), as white surfaces (such as ice or snow) reflect more solar radiation upwards and make the clouds whiter compared to clouds above darker surfaces, such as leads. This was quite impressive. As we returned to Oden, there was again a polar bear wandering around!

Similar cloudy conditions continued on Thursday, with westerly winds that were about to turn southerly. The approach of warmer air from the south was obvious! Was this going to be the weather what we have been waiting for, that kicks-off the melting of snow and sea ice?

The visibility on Thursday (8 June) was quite Ok and ice work was conducted as usual. There was also a short helicopter flight in the morning where the polar bear eaten (but fixed) buoy were brought back out on another ice floe, a longer helicopter ice station in the afternoon and drone flights.

Apart from the two polar bears, it was quite quiet on the polar bear front – until Friday June 9^th!

 

 Friday-Sunday 9-11 June – even more polar bears and temperatures increasing to melting point

Morning scenery on Friday 9 June.

Friday (9 June) was still quite cloudy and it was snowing during my 6 UTC weather balloon launch. Several instruments were iced again. After the launch the weather changed and the sun came through the clouds (see photo above). Again, the Arctic is showing its beauty!

I was sitting on the bridge around 7:30 UTC finalizing my balloon data file upload as suddenly saw people with binoculars all looking towards our ice camp. It was again a polar bear mum but this time with two cubs! And these three fellows were not scared at all, as we tried to scare them away with the horn and flare guns. They were all three quite curious and headed straight to Theresa’s instrument. This time, the mum lied down next to the instruments while her cubs happily played around with different parts of her instrument. They especially liked to chew on one of the feet of the tripod (which was completely bended) and check (and destroy) some of the sensors on her lift. It was like a playground for the polar bear cubs. They also took down some of the marking sticks as well as chewed and tore apart one of the red flags from the ROV site (see photo below). After their damage, they proudly walked away (see photo below). 

 

Polar bear mum with her two cubs came to play with our instruments out on the ice. Again, Theresa’s lift with sensors was most interesting. They look so innocent after attacking (and playing) with the instruments. Photo by Martin Schiller.

 

Polar bear eaten red flags from the ROV site (9 June).

Bands of fog came in in the morning and knowing the polar bears to still be out there, lurking behind the ridges and slush ice, all ice work was postponed to the afternoon. The weather got better and the scouting for polar bears with the helicopter began after lunch. We went for a rescuing operation in the afternoon to check the damage caused by the fury visitors. Large and smaller polar bear tracks were found around Theresa’s instrument (see photo below). Despite the damage, we managed to fixed her instrument and we left it there running. So, after surviving five polar bears (of which 3 were cubs), her instrument is proven as polar bear safe! 

 

Polar bear tracks (mum and cubs) at Theresa’s instrument (9 June).

 

Friday afternoon was a normal ice work day, with an additional helicopter ice station and a Helipod operation. Ice work in the evening got interrupted twice due to two polar bears. In one day, we had four polar bears!

In the weekend we had a few more polar bears (3 on Saturday and a few on Sunday). The foggy weather on Saturday (10 June) disabled us from seeing any potential damage the polar bear did out on the ice while wondering around in our icecamp. Due to the bad visibility the whole Saturday, we had no ice work and we were sure that our batteries would die and thus stop the measurements out on the ice. Once there was a window in visibility on Sunday (11 June) early morning, two of us were allowed to go out on the ice for battery change at the met-alley. Fortunately, the warmer air increased our battery capacity and all our instruments were actually running! We also found that one of the polar bears we saw yesterday had gone straight to one of our temperature strings at the met alley (that were placed inside a tube placed into the snow and ice surface layer to measure the vertical temperature profile of the surface layer). Well, the polar bear did not like any of our instruments, neither the cables or boxes laying around – it only went for the wooden stick that holds the tube at the surface. We found this stick broken into 3 pieces with bite marks on it when we went for the battery change early Sunday (11 June) morning. A souvenir to bring home J

Polar bear visits our icecamp on Saturday (10 June) in the fog.

 

It is hard to know whether the same polar bear had returned to our ice camp several times. Approximately, we are now up to 30 polar bears, of which the majority were seen during our second ice camp.

End of the second ice camp

This weekend was not only interesting for the many polar bears, but also for the weather – a weather we were waiting for and air temperatures exceeding the melting point (zero degrees). More about the end of our second ice camp (and the end of the expedition) in the following postings. Did we get what we came for? Was this a successful expedition?