Mobilization

by Julia Schmale

Current position: Helsingborg, Sweden - 56° 3′ N, 12° 42′ O

What an intense week!

In the past few days, about 14 different projects installed themselves on the icebreaker Oden. Cranes were moving equipment from the quayside to all decks, the project teams fitted out their labs and containers, and equipment was mounted to the rims of the ship. We had a relatively easy job, because most of the container outfitting had been done at PSI, so we focused on starting up the instruments.

The field campaign will investigate how the Arctic microbiome and local meteorology modulate the atmospheric composition and cloud life cycles (https://www.aces.su.se/research/projects/microbiology-ocean-cloud-coupling-in-the-high-arctic-moccha/). Therefore the whole column, from several hundred meters below the ocean surface, up to several kilometers in the air, will be probed using CTD casts, catamarans, onboard measurements, tethered balloons, remote sensing and other platforms.

To prepare for the expedition not only the "science has to work", everybody on board also needs to know what to do in an emergency. For that reason, the mobilization time also included a safety training. We revised how to extinguish fires, how to board the lifeboats and how to behave in case we leave the ship and end up in the water. The images show a sequence of exercises we did in the water wearing life suites and life wests.

Mealtimes were the perfect occasions to get to know the fellow expedition members and the crew. All foreigners learned very quickly, that Fika, the coffee break in the morning and afternoon is an Swedish institution and cannot be missed. Now the instruments are up and running and we are looking forward to departure in two weeks. In the meantime, the ship will transit from Helsingborg, Sweden, to Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway, where we board.

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