May 28, 2008 

On May 15 I joined up with Chris on the Amundsen as part of a small crew change over. I and about 10 other newcomers were flown from Inuvik, in a fairly small plane, to a makeshift landing strip on the ice near the location of the Amundsen in Franklin Bay, NWT. Franklin Bay is located roughly 300km directly east of Inuvik, at the southeastern extreme of the mighty Beaufort Sea.

Stepping off the plane it immediately became apparent that things were melting earlier than normal, as it was with ease that I formed a snowball and jokingly threw it at my supervisor (Dr. John Yackel). Over the next six weeks (the duration of my time on the Amundsen), the sea ice cover will undergo its dramatic seasonal shift from a featureless, bright, uniform blanket over the ocean to a colourful mosaic of melting ice, melt ponds, and open water areas. We like to call this the sea ice “summer”, though it’s not of the barbeque and frisbee variety we’re used to at home.

During summer the sea ice will surrender its role as a reflective cover and will start to absorb the sun’s energy and transfer a large portion of it to the ocean where it is easily stored. This process is an important component of our climate, as less and less sea ice means more energy absorbed at the Earth’s surface each summer – meaning less ice is able to form the next year, promoting further warming, and so on. We’ve seen this general trend occurring over the last thirty years or so, where the sea ice minimum extent in summer has been getting smaller and smaller (including a record low last year – see the figure) as the Arctic has been getting warmer. Not only is a sea ice summer important in terms of science, it is also a spectacular time of year to be outdoors and in the Arctic!

- Randy

Arctic ice: Courtesy of NASA