Skip to content

Dispatch 20: more polar bears + an ice station!

Jennifer Kosty (Yale University)

October 7, 2025
17:00 local, 77.10◦N, 142.09◦W

Conditions:

  • Cloudy
  • 100% sea ice cover
  • -11◦C
  • Sunrise: 7-Oct-2025 10:45
  • Sunset: 7-Oct-2025 19:45
  • Day length: 9 hours, 0 minutes

Early this morning, the night watch completed a 3750 m CTD rosette cast at CB-16. We then continued our search for a large, multi-year ice floe in the areas near CB-13 and CB-15. We were once again disappointed to discover that most of the floes in this region consist primarily of thin, first-year ice, which is unsuitable for our planned ice station. We pivoted from our plans to complete the ice station today and, instead, decided to wrap up the last few science stations in this area.

After a quick lunch of hamburgers, fries, and veggies, the day watch completed a CTD rosette cast at CB-13. This was another deep cast (3780 m), so the rosette entered the water around 1 pm and was back on deck by 4 pm. We then spent the next hour sampling, before going to enjoy a dinner of roasted pork loin, potatoes, wild rice, and Thai chicken/cauliflower bites. Huge thanks to the cooks (Raymond Lockyer, Cory Simms, Allison Lodge, and Carter Guy) who prepare three amazing, diverse meals for us every day! The menu for each meal is always a big topic of conservation amongst the science team, especially during long CTD rosette casts.

We are currently headed towards CB-15, where the watches will complete another CTD rosette cast tonight. We remain hopeful that we will find a good ice floe in the next few days as we continue to transit towards the southeast, where there is a greater concentration of old ice.

 

Figure 1: The most recent sea ice concentration map for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas (Source: https://data.seaice.uni-bremen.de/databrowser/).
Figure 1: The most recent sea ice concentration map for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas (Source: https://data.seaice.uni-bremen.de/databrowser/).
Figure 2: Map showing our current location along the planned 2025 cruise track.
Figure 2: Map showing our current location along the planned 2025 cruise track.
Photo 1: A mother bear and her cub looking up at the Louis!
Photo 1: A mother bear and her cub looking up at the Louis!
Photo 2: Tim McDonough (left) and Jeff O’Brien (right) preparing TOP21’s surface instrument package prior to deployment.
Photo 2: Tim McDonough (left) and Jeff O’Brien (right) preparing TOP21’s surface instrument package prior to deployment.
Photo 3: (left to right) Jim Ryder, Cory Beatty, and Jeff O’Brien preparing the wire for TOP21’s deployment.
Photo 3: (left to right) Jim Ryder, Cory Beatty, and Jeff O’Brien preparing the wire for TOP21’s deployment.
Photo 4: Collette Leclerc drilling an ice core. Photo by Annabel Payne.
Photo 4: Collette Leclerc drilling an ice core. Photo by Annabel Payne.
Photo 5: Dominique Baker (left) and Annabel Payne (right) making snow angels. Photo by Tsukushi Komura.
Photo 5: Dominique Baker (left) and Annabel Payne (right) making snow angels. Photo by Tsukushi Komura.
Photo 6: Chris Clarke (left) and Paul Macoun (right) drilling a hole for the seasonal ice mass buoy while Sarah Zimmermann watches. Photo by Dominique Baker.
Photo 6: Chris Clarke (left) and Paul Macoun (right) drilling a hole for the seasonal ice mass buoy while Sarah Zimmermann watches. Photo by Dominique Baker.