International Arctic Research Center researcher Robert Rember recently returned from a 23-day cruise on the research vessel Sikuliaq. The cruise included a group of scientists who were tasked with assessing the capabilities of the R/V Sikuliaq for future scientific research, specifically working in the sea ice environment.
The Sikuliaq, “young sea ice” in Inupiaq, is an 80m (261ft) oceanographic research vessel. Though not an icebreaker, Sikuliaq is considered an ice-capable vessel in the US academic research fleet. With its hardened hull, it can move through sea ice as thick as 0.8m (32in). This allows scientists to access icy areas in the Polar Regions during fall and spring seasons that other existing vessels generally avoid.
Experienced in research expeditions such as the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study and the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System research cruises, Rember worked with the captain and crew to help them to understand what scientists would need on a scientific expedition and to establish protocols and guidelines regarding how to safely deploy scientists to work on the ice.
The crew training with respect to science needs included how to best position the ship for an ice station, how to secure an area for research, how best to get the science party on the ice, how to set up the ship for an extended period of time and how to arrange a safe area for researchers without disturbing different pieces of ice to ensure that scientists can work on undisturbed ice.
It was also a good opportunity for Rember, a chemical and physical oceanographer, to test for the first time a new type of ice corer he had designed to collect uncontaminated samples for trace metal analysis. This new coring design will be used to collect Arctic sea ice samples during the GEOTRACES cruise in summer 2015.
Sikuliaq, which can accommodate up to 24 scientists and students, including those with disabilities, is owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Source and Image Credit: IARC
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