Yesterday, we saw the sun set for the first time in 38 days. We are headed south. The sunset is a sign; the journey coming to an end.
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CanArctic
Icebreaking: Not so straight forwards
Sailing in a straight line through the open sea is easy. Sailing in a straight line in meters-thick ice is not so straight forwards.
Screenshot from one of the mapping software we use on Oden, showing planned track vs sailed track. The red triangle indicate the position of the vessel (actually here we were very close to the North Pole!)
Two ships meet: Oden and LSSL
Two bows and a sunset (Even though it’s morning!? More on that later.)
Local time: 2016-02-09 16:21
Position: 82° 23.40’N 141° 13.14’W
Heading: 65°
Speed: 0.7 knots
Water depth: 2858 m
Wind speed: 6.3 m/s
Air temperature: -2.3°C
Feels like (wind chill): -8.19°C
Sea temperature: -1.4°C
Today we met up with the other ship who is part of the expedition Arctic Ocean 2016, the Louis S. St-Laurent (LSSL). This was the last day where we would sail together, after the meeting we were heading different ways. Therefore, today’s plan was to load over rocks collected from dredging from Oden to LSSL and to visit each other’s ships. Continue reading
Arctic weather: 50 shades of white
If you have seen pictures from the Arctic, or try to google it, what will show up is most likely blue skies, sun and white ice (like the first picture). This is how I imagined it would be. However, I have learned and observed, this is not representative of the average weather up here.
Sunny skies
Halfway through!
The LSSL following in our wake
Local time: 2016-08-30 21:19
Position: 82° 34.80’N 138° 19.34’W
Heading: 160°
Speed: 2.5 knots
Water depth: 3337 m
Wind speed: 11.3 m/s
Air temperature: -0.75°C
Feels like (wind chill): -7.96°C
Sea temperature: -1.5°C
Monday was day 22 out of 44, so now we are over half way in the expedition. Time flies!
Why we are here: A brief introduction
The Louis S. St. Laurent following in the wake of Oden on Arctic Ocean 2016.
I wanted to do a brief post about the main reason behind the expedition Arctic Ocean 2016. My fellow shipmate Grace Shephard (geologist and post doc from the University of Oslo) have already written an excellent in-depth post about this.
The main purpose of the expedition Arctic Ocean 2016 is to collect data for supporting Canada’s claim for an extended continental shelf. So what does that mean? According to the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), every country with a coastline has an economic zone of 200 nautical miles (nm) extending from their coast. This means that the country’s border goes 200 nm, about 360 km, out in the sea from the coast. However, the UN says, you can extend your border further out in the sea if your seabed extends out beyond these 200 nm. This can be for example a subsea mountain ridge or the continental shelf that is continuing outwards. Many countries have claimed extra territory like this, like for example Norway on the Norwegian continental shelf.
