Hello again from the Geomar-Coring Team, or as we like to call ourselves, the Mud Team. We have good news: The sampling went well, and we collected many sediments in the first fjords! Now, we are on our way to the third fjord, and as we get slowly used to the waves, we want to […]
Refining our sample plan in real time
A key reason why we are in this remote region is that the coastal ocean here is very dynamic. Currents from the north bring sea ice and freezing cold polar water southwards along the coastline, a broad and productive shelf region hosts large mammal populations, and fjords cutting into the land from the ocean act […]
Measuring tiny amounts of metal in seawater… not so easy on a metal ship
Collecting seawater samples for trace metal analysis is different than sampling for other ocean parameters such as temperature, salinity, carbon and so on. Why? The concentration of metals in seawater is naturally very low (hence ‘trace’ metals) and it is important to avoid sample contamination from the ships environment which is full of possible contamination […]
There are many cameras onboard, but only one goes underwater every day
Hi, I am Emilia, marine ecologist. For me ocean is home. First of all, it is home for marine creatures, but temporarily also it is a home for us – visitors living on a ship for several weeks. We all feel that we are lucky ones to explore the realm of marine life in a […]
On a mission for mud
Aluu (Greenlandic for “Hello”) from the other coring team! We are three researchers from the Geological Survey of Denmark & Greenland and our work is all about mud. Not any mud though, only the finest and oldest from the seafloor of East Greenland’s fjords. You may wonder: why should one look at mud if we […]
First survey complete!
Thanks to an extremely favorable weather window with sunshine and little wind, and the skill of officers and crew in navigating around dense ice mélange, we have completed our first survey just ahead of schedule! After 4 days in Kangerlussuatsiaq (also known as Lindenow Fjord) we have completed transects into the two main fjord branches, […]
All about aluminum
Hello, I’m Yuping Guo, a PhD student from Zhejiang University now studying at GEOMAR. I participated in the GEOTRACES Pacific Ocean cruise last year, and I am now excited to join Polar Beast as my first Artctic research cruise. On this cruise we will go into 5 Arctic fjords and see a lots of glaciers […]
Song of the water mass sirens
Who transcends so late through night and sea? It’s the CTD to collect water for thee. It holds a SUNA, tight on its frame; SUNA reveals a nutrient, ‘nitrate’ is the name. ‘Altimeter, why do you hide your face in fear?’ ‘Watch out CTD, the ground will soon appear!’ ‘The fjord’s ground with its sediments […]
Polar bear at 61 degrees north!
This morning as we moved between stations we spotted a polar bear watching us pass! A sub-population of bears is known to live in SE Greenland so the bear presence here is not completely unexpected, but this is a very long way south of the Arctic Ocean where the larger polar bear populations live!
‘Moin’ from the hydroacoustic lab!
Moin! (“Hello” in Northern Germany) I am Anne and I study B.Sc. Marine Geosciences at the University of Bremen. On this cruise, I am working with Dr. Katharina Streuff from the MARUM institute, based in Bremen. As the cruise goes on, we scan the seafloor bathymetry (Multibeam Echosounder ME122 and ME712) and the sediments (Parasound) […]