I was sitting on a plastic chair on the second floor of the Explorers Club in New York City when it happened.
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Durante los últimos días de la expedición 2014 de prueba de concepto para el equipo Sedna, esperamos que el hielo se esparciera un poco antes de intentar entrar a la Bahia de Disko en Groenlandia. Hicimos nuestras ultimas pruebas de snorkel entre islotes de hielo durante la espera partimos a enfrentar a los islotes mas grandes que se rompen del glaciar de Illulissat.
Los bloques de hielo son hipnóticos. Todos tienen características y figuras diferentes. Entre mas grandes son, mas es uno atraído a su enorme magnitud. En nuestra entrada a Ilulissat, nos encontramos con mucha niebla y enormes bloques de hielo. El barco tuvo que disminuir su velocidad a casi nada y seguir las señales del maquinista que desde la punta de la boa le gritaba al capitán, “a la izquierda” y “a la derecha.” Era una escena directamente tomada de la película Titanic (antes de que le pegaran al Tempano, por supuesto!).
Los bloques de hielo son hipnóticos. Todos tienen características y figuras diferentes. Entre mas grandes son, mas es uno atraído a su enorme magnitud. En nuestra entrada a Ilulissat, nos encontramos con mucha niebla y enormes bloques de hielo. El barco tuvo que disminuir su velocidad a casi nada y seguir las señales del maquinista que desde la punta de la boa le gritaba al capitán, “a la izquierda” y “a la derecha.” Era una escena directamente tomada de la película Titanic (antes de que le pegaran al Tempano, por supuesto!).
- September 5, 2014
It was the last day of our expedition. The 2014 proof-of-concept expedition had come to an end for Team Sedna. We conducted our final snorkeling sea trials while waiting for the ice to clear during before entering Disko Bay, Greenland.
I found icebergs to be just mesmerizing. They each have different characteristics and shapes. The bigger they are, the more drawn one is to their towering magnitude. During our approach to Ilulissat, we encountered thick fog and gigantic icebergs. Our ship, the MV Cape Race slowed her speed to almost nothing, and the skipper placed crew as lookouts on the bow. We moved forward slowly in the fog, and the crew called out the locations of the icebergs to the skipper: “to the right” and “to the left.” It was like a scene right out of Titanic (before the ship hit the iceberg, of course!).
I found icebergs to be just mesmerizing. They each have different characteristics and shapes. The bigger they are, the more drawn one is to their towering magnitude. During our approach to Ilulissat, we encountered thick fog and gigantic icebergs. Our ship, the MV Cape Race slowed her speed to almost nothing, and the skipper placed crew as lookouts on the bow. We moved forward slowly in the fog, and the crew called out the locations of the icebergs to the skipper: “to the right” and “to the left.” It was like a scene right out of Titanic (before the ship hit the iceberg, of course!).
- September 5, 2014
For hundreds of years, polar expeditions have marked the crossing the Arctic Circle with jovial festivities and costumes, and the imbibing of gut-wrenching spirits. On July 23, at 2100 hours, Team Sedna crossed the Arctic Circle, adding a twist to this maritime tradition…
- July 24, 2014
Our Arctic expedition may have officially launched a week ago but Team Sedna began for me a full year ago. When I was invited to join the Team, I wondered, How can I share my enthusiasm for ocean exploration with young women in the Arctic? The answer? Robots.
- July 24, 2014
El equipo Sedna esta a la mitad de la trayectoria de la expedición de prueba de concepto 2014. Pasamos un par de días en el pueblo de Nain, Labrador, haciendo entrevistas y conociendo a las comunidades de niños y mujeres en el poblado. Tuvimos la oportunidad de demostrarle a los niños que animales tienen en sus costas así como tener la oportunidad de tener encuentros cercanos y tocarlos.
- July 24, 2014
Les calculs mathématiques terminés, boussole, règle et jumelle à la main, nous avons enfin débuté nos travaux d’inventaire d’oiseaux pélagiques. Eider à duvet (Somateria mollissima), guillemot marmette (Uria aalge) guillemot à miroir (Cepphus grylle), macreuse à front blanc (Melanitta perspicillata) et goéland marin (Larus marinus) ont fait leur apparition à travers les glaces. Les guillemots à miroir avec leurs petites pattes rouge vif ont définitivement été les stars jusqu’à maintenant. Aujourd’hui, en route vers le Groenland, le fulmar boréal, une espèce qu’on observe plus fréquemment en haute-mer, a toutefois volé la première place. Nous avons vite réalisé à quel point l’identification des oiseaux en mer peut être parfois un véritable défi. Les oiseaux volent à de grande vitesse, le vent, le froid, les différentes conditions de luminosité, une mer houleuse sont tous des éléments auxquels nous devons faire face.
- July 24, 2014
A few of you might be wondering about the social dynamics of the Sedna Epic Expedition, which is comprised of a team of ten sea women on a three-week expedition. Two of these weeks will be spent aboard the 116-foot MV Cape Race.
- July 20, 2014
On July 18, we spent an exhausting (and successful) day of sea trials along the northern coast of Labrador. Team Sedna and its diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs or scooters) were put to the test in 1.2 degree C waters, navigating narrow routes between pack ice and bergy bits. After a few collisions with low hanging ice, we determined that scooter travel, at five kilometres per hour, is a contact sport... Lesson learned: During the 2016 snorkel relay of the Northwest Passage, we'll definitely need to wear helmets.
- July 19, 2014
Right now the permafrost is changing fast in the Arctic and will likely shrink more than 10% in the next 20 years with the permafrost borders shifting up to 200 km northward. Where permafrost is present, the ground is frozen up to 500 m deep with only the top meter thawing in summer. That means that lakes, rivers and wetlands in the Arctic do not generally connect with the groundwater. Surface water is abundant in summer offering breeding grounds for fish, birds and mammals. That paradigm is changing fast.
- July 17, 2014
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