The volume of Arctic sea ice has dropped by 75% over the last 40 years. It is really sad to think that the ice habitat we saw last summer just won’t be there any more in 10-15 years. But it makes the work we are doing all the more important.
Dr Katrin Schmidt, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
In 2020, Dr Katrin Schmidt spent two months in the Arctic as part of the international expedition examining the effects of climate change. Stationed on board the research vessel Polarstern, along with 100 other scientists and crew, she collected a range of samples containing ice algae and zooplankton which will now be analysed in a joint Natural Environment Research Council-funded project between the Â鶹´«Ã½, Â鶹´«Ã½ Marine Laboratory and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (Germany). The aim of the expedition is to provide a process-level understanding of the Arctic climate system and how the ongoing changes are impacting species that live there and the planet as a whole.
Here is Katrin's story.
The one-year expedition had been 10 years in planning and started in September 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in February 2020, the organisers had to negotiate options to carry on or terminate early. It carried on and I was really happy it did. At the end of the day, climate change will be around a lot longer than COVID.
Before going on board we had two weeks of quarantine in a hotel in Bremerhaven, Germany, and three COVID tests. Some of my colleagues – for example, those from China or New Zealand – had to quarantine again when returning home, but I was lucky as there was a travel corridor from Germany to UK.
But on the ship, it was really easy because you know everyone on board is clear. And in all honesty, we tried to avoid talking about it as much as possible, and even not reading the news, because we had so much work to do. When I came back the news hadn’t really changed.
We left on the Russian icebreaker Tryoshnikov from Bremerhaven on the 3rd of August and had a few days of handover with the previous Polarstern scientists and crew on the north Greenland shelf.
By this time, the original ice floe that the MOSAiC expedition had been studying for the past 10 months had disintegrated. So we went further north in search of another multi-year ice floe to study the freeze-up, a process that was still missing from our annual cycle.
Arriving at the new floe, we had open melt ponds and leads that restricted our movements across the ice. Then temperatures dropped, we had a lot of wind and snow, and all was covered in white. It was really amazing to see this fast transition.
Life on board the ship is quite restricted. You have two people per cabin, with two bunk beds, a toilet and shower, a desk and somewhere to sit. Outside that, there are always places you can go, such as your lab space, quiet areas, a mini swimming pool and a sauna and gym.
If you want to chill you can go outside but we also had the red saloon, next to where you eat, and there are coffee machines and sofas. The blue saloon has tables where people sit and chat and a library where you can read.
But overall, you have to keep within the ship’s rules. There were 101 people on board – including 40 crew – and some people mix more than others but you all find ways to get along.
0715. Meeting on the bridge to decide what work can take place that day. This is based on predictions from weather forecasters on board, and will determine – for example – if helicopters are able to fly in that day’s conditions.
0830. General meeting for scientists to discuss who will be working on the ice. An important issue was always to ensure safety from polar bears. Therefore we needed trained polar bear guards on the ice and several look-outs from the ship’s bridge. Due to COVID, training courses on land had to be cancelled and there were fewer guards than we would have had normally, so the coordination of activities on the ice was sometimes tricky. If a polar bear arrived at the floe, everybody had to return to the ship immediately.
0900. Head out onto the ice and begin work.
1130-1230. Stop for lunch. If you were close to the ship you would return, but otherwise you would eat your packed lunch on the floe and spend the maximum amount of time at work. If you did go back to the ship you would have some time to unwind, perhaps playing table tennis, before getting back to work.
