Polar expedition AeN JC3 – day 6: sailing through the ice
This article is part of the series “2022-02: Winter cruise KPH”.
Day 6 · 24 February 2022
We are on our way to P4, our first ice station. P4 lies at 79.75 °N 34.00 °N, round 50 km southeast of the island Kvitøya (white island) that belongs to the Svalbard archipelago. This station is more north than Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard. The estimated time of arrival is tomorrow round lunch time.
However it is not granted that the ice will be safe enough to work on. In addition to that it will become stormy tonight and maybe the whole next day according to windy.com . So even when the ice is safe the weather conditions could be too harsh. So there are several uncertainties. We plan for the station but more we cannot do yet.
Today is a cold day with temperatures maximum of -25.0 °C and minimum of -30.5 °C. I’ve experienced colder temperatures many times in my live in different parts of Lapland, but then the wind was always calm. With the ongoing wind the resulting windchill lies between -36 °C and -49 °C. And windy is right: it starts getting windier in the evening.
temperate in °C | wind speed relative to the ship in m/s | resulting windchill in °C.
I take photos of marine animals, I learn the basics of ice observation but I stand outside quite often today. Watching the icebreaking polar research vessel Kronprins Haakon breaking through the ice. It is a great experience and I’m happy that I may participate.
But now, let the photos speak. The first I made at 3:50 in the night, the last ones at 19:10.
2 comments to “Polar expedition AeN JC3 – day 6: sailing through the ice”
Johanna 2022-03-17 08:01
Was für ein Erlebnis!!! Das nimmt Dir niemand mehr….spannende und sehr schöne Fotos! Einfach nur grandios!!
way-up-north 2022-03-17 12:37
Ich hoffe ja darauf, dass das nicht das letzte Mal war. Aber wenn, dann gebe ich Dir völlig recht. Das werde ich als Erinnerung haben, solange die grauen Zellen funktionieren.