After a month at sea, we finished our last set of observations along a transect that took us back to the shelf-break. It’s been quite the journey, and the final leg marked a special turning point as the last 2 days of the cruise were heading towards Iceland and the way home. It’s been quite […]

This week we have been busy surveying the waters of Sermilik, a large glacier fjord on the east coastline and one of the few sites hereabouts that has been surveyed before. Why are we re-visiting this fjord when our other fieldsites were previously un-surveyed? Well, visiting new areas is exciting and we can perhaps find […]

There are many creatures suspended in the ocean that build elaborative feeding houses that have a special mission in carbon pump. One spectacular example are Appendicularians – pelagic tunicates known also as Larvaceans. As mucus net feeders, they build huge and really beautiful ‘houses’ around their bodies that comprise two layers of filters. By beating […]

As scientists onboard we all have a schedule for what we would like to achieve at sea. Much of this work has been planned for years with months of preparation and training. Arctic field work in this region is challenging due to poor weather and ice conditions for much of the year, so there are […]

An unexpected Escort mission Every once in a while, as exciting as it is, research needs to give way to more pressing matters. After having gotten to the vicinity of our third study area, Sermilik, in the afternoon of 23 July, we were all ready to establish our mammal observation shifts and to dive into […]

Usually, when cruising on the ocean, the landscape doesn´t differ much: waves upon waves, that might vary in their hues of blue, accompanied by skies that either grey or also blue. And even though this view might be fascinating on the first few days, when spending several weeks aboard a research vessel, seeing nothing else […]

Imagine you are living in a city where it typically rains a lot, the skies tend to be grey, and a dry heaven combined with a single sunbeam breaking through is considered “good weather”. That´s Kiel for you. The city where I, Lisa, have been living since September, with the perfect timing to get a glimpse of how nice […]

Hello again from the Geomar-Coring Team, or as we like to call ourselves, the Mud Team. We have good news: The sampling went well, and we collected many sediments in the first fjords! Now, we are on our way to the third fjord, and as we get slowly used to the waves, we want to […]

A key reason why we are in this remote region is that the coastal ocean here is very dynamic. Currents from the north bring sea ice and freezing cold polar water southwards along the coastline, a broad and productive shelf region hosts large mammal populations, and fjords cutting into the land from the ocean act […]