Conducting Marine Science in the Arctic - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 224

Amundsen when it was in port. It is capable of maintaining a speed of 3 knots in continu-
ous ice that is a metre thick. If the ice is thicker, it can back up and ram its way through.
Therefore, under most conditions, it is able to go wherever scientists want to be taken. It
carries a “resident” helicopter that further extends the working range of the ship and which
can carry equipment to temporary scientific camps. Larger helicopters can land on the heli-
copter pad if needed and assist, for example, with crew changes. There are comfortable
accommodations for more than 40 scientists. In addition to the plethora of onboard laborat-
ories, there is a cafeteria, dining room, lounges and plenty of hot showers! The ship is more
or less in constant communication with the outside world and you can even send e-mails.
GPS enables pinpoint navigation. On deck, there is a bewildering array of winches, cranes
and A-frames for handling heavy gear. There is a moon pool that enables sampling gear
to be lowered through a hole inside the ship, removing the need to be constantly pushing
ice aside when trying to lower or retrieve water samplers. There are launches, barges and
vehicles (to help move around on continuous ice).
With all this sophistication and apparent onboard comfort, it is easy to forget that any
oceanographic work in polar regions is hazardous. The Amundsen and the Polarstern have
endured fatal helicopter accidents in recent years. Excluding these two incidents, I have
personally known five scientists who were killed while working in the Canadian sector of
the Arctic.
Let us imagine repeating our 1977 winter cruises in Davis Strait using the Amundsen .
The standard physical and chemical oceanographic survey uses a CTD mounted inside a
rosette of sampling bottles. The lowering of the whole rosette assembly is managed in a
CTD control room. The operator has the option of real-time monitoring for temperature
and salinity as the rosette descends and can remotely control the depth at which each water
bottletakesitssample.Othersensorsmaybeincludedontherosette,enabling,forexample,
the measurement of dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll fluorescence. There is an onboard
salinometer that can be used for instant calibration of the CTD. While someone is taking
samples, there are no worries as to whether the ship had drifted off station because it is
fitted with a dynamic positioning system. The phytoplankton nutrient analyses can be com-