Question:
What type of equipment are you using in the expedition and what do they do?
Also, have you decided to leave any equipment behind because of the smaller
plane? And just to add onto that, do you know Dave Hosom, my grandfather who
works at WHOI?
Matt R., Duxbury, Ma.
Answer:
Hi Matt,
At the North Pole Environmental Observatory, scientists use a variety of
instruments-- some anchored to the seafloor, others fixed in the sea ice, and
others dipped into the ocean and pulled back out-- to study the ocean, ice, and
atmosphere. To learn more about these instruments, be sure to visit the Tools
and Technology page or the Hot Topic on the Ice-Tethered Profiler. I have to
say that I haven't met your grandfather--Woods Hole Oceanographic is a big
place, did you know almost 1000 people work there?
Question:
Dear Crew,
Hello my name is Ian and I am part of the Purple Titans team in Duxbury Middle School. But right now I am in Massachusetts and I am sweating from the heat and how is there such a great difference in temp. from here to the North Pole and how does this happen so dramatically?
Ian in Duxbury
Answer:
Hi Ian,
I heard that it was hot in New England! Can you believe that the day it was in
the 80s Fahrenheit in New England, it was -10F here in Resolute Bay? There are
a number of reasons why the polar regions remain cold. Even though the sun is
above the horizon all day, it never rises high in the sky (this is because of
the Earth's tilt on its axis). This means that the energy from the sun needs to
pass through more atmosphere to get to the ground. Along the way, that energy
is reflected and absorbed, and by the time it reaches the ground, only a small
amount remains. In addition, the high reflectivity (albedo) of snow and ice
surfaces means that very little of the energy that reaches the ground (or
ocean, or ice) stays there. To learn more about weather and climate at the
poles, visit these pages on our Compare the Poles pages.
Question:
Hi, my name is Alyson and I am in the sixth grade. I have a question
regarding your expedition and would be happy if you could give me an
explanation. My question is: How do you think the pulse of the Arctic Ocean
this year will differ from the pulse of the Arctic Ocean you took 50 years ago,
during the last expedition you had? Why?
Alyson, Duxbury, MA
Answer:
- There is a large interannual variability (the change from year to year) of the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic atmosphere. Considering the observations in 2007 relative to my last expedition (2006), I would say that there are not big changes in the average, but rather in the details. For example, the 2007 weather in April is a bit more severe than it was in 2006. Rapid changes in the wind speed and direction lead to the changes in ice drift, strong sea ice deformations, and ice ridging and ice floe breaking. This makes our work challenging because it is really difficult to find a suitable size of ice floe for airplane landing.
- Comparing the current state of the Arctic to 50 years ago, I would say that in general the Arctic became warmer, sea ice extent decreased and sea level is higher now by approximately 10 cm. In addition, many glaciers have disappeared or significantly melted.
