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In Depth

High Arctic Research

Science on an icebreaker

Last Updated April 4, 2008

CBC News

In the flat, white landscape of the Amundsen Gulf, the bright red ship with the streaming smokestack stands out.

Around it, scientists in parkas drill through the ice to collect ice cores and haul nets full of plankton from the frozen water below. Inside, other researchers send bottles and probes deep into the sea through a hole in the hull called the moon pool. Some scurry between labs, sorting and preparing samples, peering down microscopes and teasing data from instruments and computers.

The scientific research icebreaker Amundsen, a Canadian Coast Guard ship, is spending 10 months hosting scientists and their research in the western Arctic. Their $40-million study is looking at areas of open water in the sea ice called flaw leads.

The scientists from around the world participating in the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System study are gathering biological, chemical and physical data between October 2007 and August 2008, information that they hope will help them understand what could happen as the Earth warms and more and more ice melts in the Arctic.

The study is part of the Amundsen's 15-month mission for the International Polar Year, which also includes two shorter projects: ArcticNet and the Inuit Health Survey.

CBCNews.ca reporter Emily Chung was aboard the Amundsen from March 6-14, 2008, and was one of 15 journalists sponsored by the World Federation of Science Journalists to report on the study, which is based out of the University of Manitoba.

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