Since yesterday afternoon we are anchored at 3 nautical mile distance from the Alaskan coast, with the little coastal village Barrow on the horizon. The first 'leg' of the expedition is now nearly over; this morning there suddenly were strange new faces at breakfast, scientists that will join leg 2 and are coming onboard today to join the 'handover'. It is strange to see inhabited land after all these weeks! With binoculars we hang out on the deck, amazed by cars in the distance, airplanes, fences, structures.
The most special thing, however, was to watch the lights on the horizon during the evening. The polar summer nights are slowly coming to an end, and it's darker during the nights. We also have switched back to Alaska time from UTC time, so the darker moments in the day now actually occur when our biological clock expects them to happen. The advantage of the time change was an extra breakfast and bonus 8h sleep after the end-of-cruise party!
The most special thing, however, was to watch the lights on the horizon during the evening. The polar summer nights are slowly coming to an end, and it's darker during the nights. We also have switched back to Alaska time from UTC time, so the darker moments in the day now actually occur when our biological clock expects them to happen. The advantage of the time change was an extra breakfast and bonus 8h sleep after the end-of-cruise party!
The last 10 days were more quiet than the intense weeks of sampling before but we have spent our time well. We have written a cruise report that sums up the tremendous loads of work that have been done and the data that have been collected. We have packed up our gear, cleaned up the containers, sorted through samples, have been securing lots of boxes in the freezer and fridge containers.
We have gotten lots of science done. The sediment work package alone has collected large amounts of mud! We calculated that we collected a total of 728 sediment cores with the multicorer, and sliced a total of 16 meters sediment into 0.5 and 1.0 cm slices; summing up to 1800 plastic, labeled bags that are now safely stored in a freezer onboard. Lots of good stuff for exciting research to come!
We have gotten lots of science done. The sediment work package alone has collected large amounts of mud! We calculated that we collected a total of 728 sediment cores with the multicorer, and sliced a total of 16 meters sediment into 0.5 and 1.0 cm slices; summing up to 1800 plastic, labeled bags that are now safely stored in a freezer onboard. Lots of good stuff for exciting research to come!