ICE-ARC – EU FP7 project website | BLOG: Buoy deployments in the Arctic on board the Korean icebreaker RV Araon

RV Araon Blog

ICE-ARC PI Jeremy Wilkinson (British Antarctic Survey) is currently on board a cruise operating by the Korean Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) on the Korean ice breaker RV Araon. During the cruise from Nome, Alaska to the Chukchi Sea a number or autonomous instruments will be deployed, the instruments are designed capture and communicate direct measurements from the ocean, sea-ice and atmosphere. The information captured will be sent directly back to the laboratory where it can be used by researchers to develop a better understanding of the current status of the Arctic marine environment. Jeremy Wilkinson is sending regular updates on their progress:

Day 1

SATICE buoy deployment from the RV Araon in 2014 (Photo: Phil Hwang)

We are still in Nome and expected to leave around midday today, Alaskan time.
Happy to say that all our equipment is now here and accounted for! We have all the associated kit needed for the ice stations on-board. We even fired up the engines yesterday, and they worked first time…so it is looking good…
We have two working wavebuoys, they have been booted up and you can see photos of the back of the Araon deck here…
http://frazil.nerc-bas.ac.uk/ice-arc/device.php?device=WB-3
and here
http://frazil.nerc-bas.ac.uk/ice-arc/device.php?device=WB-2
A few tasks today…will boot up the eight IMBs so you should be able to click on the greenlights on this webpage below to see photos, where they are, etc. They are very close together so hopefully they will not interfere with each other’s Iridium signal. See here:
http://frazil.nerc-bas.ac.uk/ice-arc/index.php
The idea is that we will leave some of these systems on so you then can use the map to see where we are. GPS locations come through every hour. The automatic weather station will be a few days behind as this is a bit more of an effort to set up. The CRREL IMB I will leave until a bit later, but they are here.
Colleagues Oriel Sanchez (CSIC) and Lovro Valcic (Bruncin) are testing the SATICE system communications today and the IAOOS kit is looking good.
Big thanks to Leif Toudal Pedersen (DMI) as the Satellite images are super and will be a great help for planning our ice station work.

Day 2

The sun just above the northern hemisphere and icebergs in the water, a photo taken from the webcam on the WB223 system before deployment.

We are very much underway. Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to the ice. The food is great and everyone very friendly and helpful!
Quick summary of where we are at:
– All IMBs (x8) and WBs (x2) have been fired up and are working, just the AWS (x1) to go.
– IAOOS: going well, but too warm to test the LIDAR
– SAT-ICE: comms test on-going.
– WSPR work has some timing issues that will hopefully be resolved today.
– Helo camera work: Made mounting bracket for time-lapse camera for helo work. Two helos on board.
At present we are scheduled to be at the ice station (79N 173E) on the 16 Aug (WB/IMB scheduled for between 8-9 Aug).
Weather has been calm, but cloudy, so all is well.