ITP51 Deployment Operations

ITP 51 was the fourth and final ITP deployed from the Polarstern on the 2011 TransArc expedition and the last of the year. Weather conditions were good, so that the helicopter could be used to transport equipment to the ice, while the Polarstern maintained position against the floe and put the gangplank over the side. The ice thickness at the ITP deployment site was about 2 m, on a high point between well frozen, light blue melt ponds, and surrounded by ridges on all sides. There was a gentle slope of about 1 m / 20 m distance parallel to the closest ridge, which was about 20 to 30 m away (the other ridges were quite far off). The entire deployment operation took around 3 hours from the time that the first loads were delivered by the helicopter, until the last loads were hauled back onboard using the ship’s crane.

Photo Credits for this page: Sergey Pisarev, Ben Rabe, Hiroshi Sumata, Ian Waddington, Oliver Zenk.

The ship’s helicopter delivers the deployment apparatus and the flotation collar to the ice for the installation of ITP 51.

Unspooling the tether for ITP 51 during the deployment operation.

Bert Rudels, Andreas Wisotzki, and Sergey Pisarev secure the bale to the tether.

Buoy in place and awaiting the announcement that the inductive modem test was successful.

Pisarev removes the chainfall from the tripod.

The ship’s crane was used to haul the deployment gear back onboard the ship after the operations.