Ashley Arroyo

September 15, 2023

Dispatch 1: We made it!

Toot toot! Is that the sound of the beginning of the 2023 expedition? Hi, my name is Ashley Arroyo, and I am a PhD student from Yale University aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent for the 2023 Joint Ocean Ice Study/ Beaufort Gyre Observing System (JOIS/BGOS) cruise. This project is a long-term collaboration between Canadian and U.S. scientists which supports annual icebreaker expeditions up to the Arctic, specifically the Canada Basin region. On this year’s expedition, there are 26 scientific personnel and about 50 crew members. The Canada Basin, which is dominated by a large-scale ocean circulation system known as the Beaufort Gyre, is the region which has experienced the most dramatic sea ice decline in recent decades. We are here to take lots of ocean measurements which will ultimately help to better understand the Arctic Ocean system and how it is changing. Over the course of the next month, the science crew and I will be reporting on the status quo of the expedition – including science information, ship life, and expedition updates, so stay tuned!

After traveling from many different parts of the world, the entire science crew safely boarded the ship yesterday afternoon. We arrived at the airport in Cambridge Bay in Canada’s Nunavut Territory, and our sights were set on how we would all be getting onto the ship. Luckily for us, the weather cooperated, and we were able to board the ship following a quick but exciting helicopter ride. Today, Cambridge Bay experienced about 13.5 hours of daylight, but by the time we return here in October on our way home from the expedition, we’ll have only 9  daylight hours. After getting settled, our main tasks included unpacking and setting up equipment to prepare for all the science and data collecting that is to come.

This morning, we had our first science meeting where we briefly went through some logistics for the expedition. While the ship was fueling up for the upcoming journey, the science team and all new crew members went on the Walk of Life (a formal tour of the ship) to get acquainted with our home for the next month. After the ship finishes fueling up, we will begin to steam toward our first science station, which is in the Amundsen Gulf (at 123°W 71°N), and about 30 hours away.