06.06.13

When the Arctic Science Partnership (ASP) held its first meeting in November, 2012 an ambitious plan was developed to send an international team of researchers to Nuuk to study sea ice. Why was it ambitious? We only had four months to organize it! With participants from three countries and four different institutions, it was going to be a big test for the new Partnership.

Fortunately, the initial organization of the project went quite smoothly. The administration and operations teams in Canada, Greenland, and Denmark were able to work effectively with the scientists to organize shipping, travel, accommodations and field logistics. Before we knew it, we were off to Nuuk, prepared (we thought) to start our research. As it turned out, we were not completely ready for the challenges of working in Greenland!

At first, unseasonably warm weather prevented sea ice formation in Kangerluarsunnguaq (Kobbefjord), the site we had initially targeted for sampling. After a couple of days of braving thin ice, we decided to find a new location to work. We spent one day exploring up and down the coast, and eventually found some stable sea ice in the fiord of Kanajorsuit, a small tributary of Nuup Kangerlua (Godthåbsfjord). That site was not without its challenges either – a constant flow of icebergs made access difficult at times (and actually trapped us in the fjord one afternoon), and persistent warm weather kept us guessing about how the sea ice conditions would develop at our site. Nevertheless, with the help of the experienced staff at GCRC, we were able to meet most of our research goals, and complete a successful field season.

The sea ice research team was composed of Brent Else, Karley Campbell, Odile Crabeck, Ryan Galley, Alex Hare, Marcos Lemes, Fei Wang, and Nicolas-Xavier Geilfus from the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) at the University of Manitoba; Jody Deming and Shelley Carpenter from the University of Washington; Heidi Sørensen from the Greenland Climate Research Centre (GCRC); and Søren Rysgaard, representing CEOS, the GCRC, and the Arctic Research Centre (ARC) at Aarhus University. Carl Isaksen and Ivali Lennert acted as program coordinates for the project, and were very important in its success. The research program covered a wide range of topics, including sea ice chemistry and biology, greenhouse gas transport in sea ice, and ice-ocean interactions. The campaign took place from early March to mid-April.

Brent Else
Centre for Earth Observation Science
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada