ITP 81 Deployment operations

ITP81 deployment was the first deployment of the 6th Chinese Arctic expedition abroad icebreaker Xue Long, Shanghai, China. Operations were conducted on short term ice station 5. Prior ice stations were not suitable as all were located over shallow waters of Chukchi Cap. Over 25 researchers in various fields conducted sampling and measurements on the same ice floe. As it is customary aboard Xue long, 40-ft ice boat was used to transfer gear and personnel to the ice. Our lighter gear was brought to the ice with the boat, while heavier pieces – winch with wire, depressor weight, foam surface float, and heaviest box were brought up by helicopter in two flights using long sling.

We quickly found suitable location on very large floe, ~50 m from both polynya edge and nearest ridge. Ice thickness was measured (2” auger hole) at 150 cm with no underlying ice layer in upper 10m. Weather was nearly perfect for ice work: temperature near 0°C, virtually no wind, high cloud cover.

Installation team consisted of two WHOI personnel and several colleagues from Physical Oceanography Laboratory of Ocean University of China, Qingdao. Installation work began promptly and, with minor glitches, was completed in about 4 hours. As only one team member (James Dunn) was previously involved in ITP installation and some language barriers were evident, overall success of the operation left everybody with very satisfying feeling.

All the gear left over after installation, including winch and empty wire reel were loaded to the ice boat by hand. Everyone on the ice was eager to help and lend a hand, just as it was during initial arrival of the ice boat to the station.

Upon departure from the station, two instruments were left behind beyond ITP81 – Automatic Meteorology Station to record air temperature, incoming and reflected solar radiation and Sea Ice Mass Balance buoy to record vertical profile of internal ice temperature.