20 July - 26 July 2008

On our way towards the west along the 78°50’ N transect the ice coverage increased more and more. The sediment loads on some ice floes show that this ice originates from the Siberian coast. Although the ice floes are already melting they are so solid that Polarstern needs all power to break through. Under these conditions two moorings were recovered. Therefore the large ice floes had to be broken into small pieces to open an ice-free area. With the experience of all and a bit of luck the last mooring was recovered and a new one redeployed on July 21st. Now we have completed the mooring work at the Fram Strait section. Although difficult due to tough ice conditions, all moorings have been successfully recovered and redeployed again to continue measurements until the next year. Even moorings, which had to stay in water for two years, were recovered and provide complete time series of measured data. Altogether we have exchanged 12 moorings and deployed two new ones. The data, collected by 74 different moored devices (like current meters, temperature and salinity sensors or pressure gauges) were read out from the instruments. In the next step they will be processed and analysed to investigate changes in the Fram Strait waters, both in the warm and salty inflow from the North Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean as well as the cold and fresh outflow from the Arctic. However, the hydrographic section through Fram Strait, consisting of CTD stations performed in parallel to the mooring work, provided the first insight into present conditions of water masses. A first look at the data shows that the Atlantic water passing through Fram Strait during the last year was colder and less saline than it was on average in previous years. In addition, we have also deployed the Seaglider, which will measure in the upper 1000 m layer of water, travelling across Fram Strait. Each time when the vehicle comes to the surface, it sends its position and collected data by satellite to the base station in Bremerhaven and can receive new orders. We know that the Seaglider is working correctly and sends already data.

During night on July 22nd we were steaming towards the Northeast Water Polynya, but it was difficult because of the close ice coverage. Close to the coast of Greenland we reached open water, which we have already recognized on the ice charts. The sea was calm, and the fog disappeared soon. These were the best conditions for helicopter flights to deploy the geodetic stations on Greenland by the group from Dresden. To install the instruments as far inland as possible (up to 180 km from the coast) we steamed close to the Greenland coast in an opening between the close ice coverage along the coast and a huge ice floe, which just broke off. The work was finished as planned during night.

On July 24th we started our research in the polynya region. The weather is still excellent. The first transect went from North to South. In parallel the other geodetic stations were deployed on Greenland without interrupting the work with Polarstern. Within two days all stations were build up on Greenland. A polynya is an area, which becomes ice free early in the year when the surrounding region is still ice covered. In this year, however, only a small part of the polynya is ice free, whereas an ice-free area has opened to the eastwards and to the South to the Greenland Sea. Thus, our main working area is still ice covered although two large ice floes are broken off during the last days drifting slowly to the East. Until the end of our expedition our research will focus on the polynya.

We send the best wishes from the Greenland coast with nice but cold weather to all at home,
Gerhard Kattner.