We reached the sea ice edge over the Lomonosov Ridge at about 85°N 20 September. This location is only 15 nautical miles south from where we crossed the Lomonosov Ridge in 1996 during my first expedition to the Arctic Ocean.
The work in the area of the southern Lomonosov Ridge comprised the last part of the SWERUS-C3 Leg 2 cruise plan. The main idea with this working area, called Box 4, was to link all the research we had done on the shallow shelf to the deep Arctic Ocean setting.
We have now completed our shelf transects along the East Siberian Sea shelf following the Leg 2 cruise plan. Who could ever dream of that we would be able to complete all that we wrote into the cruise plan? But the fact is that we have! A big part of this success is due to the extremely light sea ice conditions we have experienced.
We reached the Arlis Plateau during the evening on September 1st. The planned multibeam survey could start directly.
Instead of sea ice, the wind became our main challenge. Near gale force every second day.
First days of surveys in the working area north of Wrangel Island is now over. Our Russian colleagues have completed some long successful survey lines using their electromagnetic system. We are very pleased how well this has worked and excited to eventually see the data over Herald Canyon when it has been processed.
We departed from Barrow according to plan, just after 09:00 local time. The remaining food supplies arrived by boat during the morning. During the entire night, our team responsible for the so called “mid-water sonar” had been busy with calibration procedures.
During the evening 19th August, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat had arranged so we could vote in the Swedish election, which will take place September 14 when Leg 2 of SWERUS-C3 is still ongoing.
The weather here in Barrow is very good with calm wind. The weather is in fact extremely important for the rotation. The weather could easily become our Achilles' heel!
