December 9th

Today’s photo takes a bit of explanation, but I love it. 

It was taken by my friend Dr Mario Hoppmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Science in Germany.   Mario was one of my colleagues on the Oden expedition last year, and right now he’s on the ship Polarstern as part of the MOSAiC expedition in the High Arctic.    MOSAiC is a massive expedition to study the area inside the Arctic Circle for a full year by drifting right across the Arctic Ocean in the sea ice from September 2019 until September 2020.  More on that below.

This photo was taken on their journey north, way back in September.  The Federov accompanied Polarstern on her way to the ice station, around the time when it first started to get dark at night after a long summer of 24h daylight.   On one of those first evenings, the scientists on board noticed that the wake of the ship was bioluminescent: full of quite large flecks of light that were flashing on and off as the propellers disturbed the water.  This photo was taken from the level above the stern, looking down on the scientists who were leaning over the back of the ship to look at the light.   The bioluminescence surprised everyone, and no-one on board was sure about which organisms were making the light.  I associate bioluminescence with the tropics, because I’ve mostly seen it on tropical beaches or behind ships in warm water.  But apparently there are bioluminescent organisms in polar water too.  One of the memorable things about this occasion was apparently how large the creatures were – normally, you can see the glow but the creatures themselves are far too small to see.  In this case, individual large flashes were quite clear.

I know about all this because of something else that surprised us all.  Normally on these expeditions, you have no internet and the only contact with the outside world comes from a special ship’s e-mail address that can only send and receive text (no pictures).  I like that isolation, on most expeditions, because you actually spend time with the people you’re with.  Anyway, I sent my last messages to my friends on both ships before they left port, and then two days after they left, I got a whatsapp message.  They have access to whatsapp!  You can’t send pictures, and the connection is slow and fickle, but you can keep in touch.  This first leg is four months long by the time you include travel time, so being in touch with the outside world like this will make a huge difference to those on board.  But I think it also changes polar science expeditions forever, because even the isolation at the top of the world is being chipped away. 

Anyway, MOSAiC is a huge and awesome undertaking, 20 years in the planning.  While the Polarstern drifts across the top of the North Pole over the course of a year, 600 scientists will cycle on and off in two month stints.  The ship will drift right through the polar night and that’s really important – it’s so hard to get there at that time of year that we know very little about the High Arctic when it’s facing out to the cosmos.    You can find out more about the expedition and see where Polarstern has got to on the expedition website here:  https://www.mosaic-expedition.org/    

Lots of my friends/colleagues from last summer are on board or will be, so I’m definitely following along. 

See what lies behind all the windows of the Sea Shambles Advent here

Sea Shambles is a one night only live extravaganza celebrating the oceans. Hosted by Robin Ince and Helen Czerski with Steve Backshall, British Sea Power, Josie Long, Lemn Sissay and more it’s a night of science, comedy, music, lasers and more in which we’ll be turning the Royal Albert Hall into an underwater playground the likes of which you’ve never seen! May 17 2020. Tickets start at just £10! Book here.

Dr Helen Czerski is a physicist, first and foremost, but she’s acquired a few other labels along the way: oceanographer, presenter, author and bubble enthusiast. A regular on The Cosmic Shambles Network, she has also presented a number of acclaimed documentaries for the BBC and Fully Charged.  Recently she was awarded the prestigious William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics.

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