Adventures on the sea ice!

Saturday Kyle and I had the adventure of a lifetime exploring the sea ice with our bear guard and scientist Dr. Tom Douglas (U.S. Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab), graduate student Ross Lieb-Lappen (Dartmouth College), graduate student Melinda Webster (Univ. of Washington), and graduate student Erin Gleason (Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks).  We took the snowmobiles ~1 mile out onto the sea ice to measure and collect brinecicles - salty icicles that form below uplifted chunks of deep blue sea ice.  Here are a collection of photos from our adventure!

Graduate students Kyle Custard (Purdue Univ.) and Erin Gleason (Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks) arriving at the sampling site

Exploring the sea ice! (photo courtesy of Kyle Custard)

Watching for polar bears - our bear guard Dr. Tom Douglas (U.S. Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab)

Graduate student Ross Lieb-Lappen (Dartmouth College) exploring the sea ice with clouds over the lead (open seawater) in the background (photo courtesy of Kyle Custard)

Graduate student Kyle Custard (Purdue Univ.) exploring the sea ice

Brinecicles! (photo courtesy of Kyle Custard)

Graduate student Ross Lieb-Lappen (Dartmouth College) collecting brinecicles

Graduate student Ross Lieb-Lappen (Dartmouth College) testing the salinity of the brinecicles!

Graduate students Kyle Custard (Purdue Univ.) and Ross Lieb-Lappen (Dartmouth College) drilling an ice core

Sun dog in the sky from the refraction of light off ice crystals aloft

Polar bear tracks!

Wandering polar bear tracks