The research mission completed, the icebreaker Oden is headed back toward the edge of Arctic Ocean ice pack. Perhaps as soon as tonight, it will be in ice-free waters in the Barents Sea and headed to Tromsø in northern Norway, a port with cranes large enough to transfer all the heavy equipment and gear used on this expedition from ship to dock. About 60,000 kilograms or 68 metric tons (150,000 pounds or 75 U.S. tons) of equipment, worth more than $5 million dollars, must be offloaded and then shipped back home. It will go into six shipping containers—big steel boxes, each as tall as a room, some 40 feet (12 meters) long and others 20 feet (6 meters) long. There’s still a lot of activity happening on board, but rather than gearing up, researchers are packing up.
Read on about our adventure in the slideshow below. Can't see the slideshow? Get the Flash plug in »
