Reports from SAS polar expedition 2021
North Pole celebrations for the SAS Polar expedition on icebreaker Oden summer 2021
Last Monday, 16 August 2021, John Prytherch and Sonja Murto from MISU reached the North Pole on the icebreaker Oden, halfway through the SAS Arctic expedition. After a month of hard work they enjoyed a BBQ and did the northermost ever Lindy Hop dance performance on the ice, courtesy of MISUs own dance choreographer Sonja Murto.
One of the best days of my life!
During the 57-day long SAS polar expedition 2021 with the Swedish Icebreaker Oden – with a transit from and to Helsingborg, steaming in the Arctic Ocean over the North pole and reaching to the Greenland Shelf where nobody has been before – we stop for CTD stations, ice coring stations and longer 24h-36h ice stations to collect samples and data in order to enlarge our understanding of processes involved in the Arctic ecosystem and climate. Today we have only five days left for research and a then the nine-day transit ahead of us before ending this inspiring and adventurous Arctic expedition. We have had 53 research stations until now, including eight of the planned ten longer ice stations.
Ice Station Q – 50 km from Greenland on Saturday 4 September
One of the goals for the SAS Polar expedition in the Arctic Ocean 2021 was to reach the Greenland Shelf – a region where no science expedition has been before. We had to adjust the plan multiple times and discard one of the pre-selected ice stations and add new ones and replace old ones. Finally, we reached station Q – question station, located at 84.3N in the early morning on Saturday 4 September.
Friday 10/9 – Last ice station and evening visitor(s)
Today was our last ice station during the SAS polar expedition in the Arctic. The weather was lovely: a high pressure gave rise to blue skies and sunshine, but also to cold northerly winds (up to 10 m/s in the late afternoon) and temperatures around –5 degrees. Ice coring teams and project specific groups were out on the ice in the afternoon, simultaneously as the beam net was operating in the back of the ship trying to catch some fish. The helicopter was out in the morning deploying traps and longlines. We saw lots of birds flying around – first ones in over a month!
Last updated: October 7, 2022
Source: Bolin Centre for Climate Research