In Depth
Arctic Diary
Quirks goes to sea
Last Updated October 3, 2006
Jim Lebans, Producer, Quirks & Quarks
Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)
As a producer for Quirks & Quarks, I spend most of my time chained to a desk in front of a computer, with a phone grafted to my ear. Radio producers, by and large, are not roving reporters. On occasion, though, we do get a chance to get out of our offices, and I'm taking one of those opportunities now. It promises to be a real adventure. I'm off to join the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen for a week-long cruise in the western Arctic.
Bridge of the Amundsen
The Amundsen has an interesting mission. About half the time, it pursues its normal icebreaking duties, clearing ship channels and such, but the rest of the time, it's a scientific research vessel, cruising and studying Arctic waters. It's specially equipped with scientific instrumentation and on-board labs so that researchers can take long cruises, sampling the oceans, the ice, and the life of the Arctic. The cruises typically involve research out at sea, with occasional shore visits for exploration of the ice or landscape, depending on the season. The ship often spends extended periods frozen into the Arctic sea ice, a floating lab in the middle of the frozen ocean.
For scientists, the chance for a cruise on the Amundsen must be a prized opportunity. Research on the ship is co-ordinated through ArcticNet, a Canadian research consortium that has been organized to study the North, and particularly the impact of climate change in the Arctic. The researchers on board now are studying a wide range of topics, from microbial life in the Arctic Ocean, to the maturation of juvenile fish in changing conditions, to the way the Arctic Ocean absorbs carbon dioxide. They're studying the geography of the coastline and the ocean floor, at least in part because they're looking ahead to a warmer future in which the Northwest Passage is a reality, and rising sea levels may inundate coastal lowlands.
Retrieving a mooring
One of the most striking aspects of this research is that much of the work is not about looking ahead to the possibility of climate change. Instead, it's looking at the present reality of a warmer North, and how the landscape and life of the Arctic is currently responding to it. It's not about what will happen when global warming starts, it's about what is happening now.
While on the ship, I'll be interviewing scientists and the crew to get a better understanding of what it is they're doing, and you'll hear some of that on Quirks in the coming weeks. I'll also try to send some blog postings from the ship, to keep you updated on what's going on up there. We only get access to the satellite transmission once a day, so I hope I can type without getting seasick; icebreakers are not noted for their stability in bad seas. It will be a rare adventure indeed.
