Partners:
Focus On:
What is IPY
Popular Tags
IPY Search
News And Announcements
Friday, 11 August 2006 08:27
Tara enters the Kara Sea
The yacht Tara has now sailed through Russian waters and into the Kara Sea. Grant is captain of this expedition which is part of the larger, IPY endorsed, DAMOCLES programme. We are following their journey into the ice, where they will drift across the arctic by posting some of the captain's logs: Passing through the Karskiye Vorota Strait between Novaya Zemlya and Ostrov Vaygach Islands this morning we have now entered the south Kara Sea. The weather conditions have changed little since the last log, cold and grey. With little wind to speak of we are ...
Published in IPY Blogs
Saturday, 26 August 2006 07:52
Tara in Tiksi
Aug 16: Our last few days at sea since Cape Chelyuskin have passed much like the rest since Murmansk, albeit with heightened excitement for our arrival in Tiksi. Little wind and calm conditions allowed us to make a test of our new sounder. Capable of measuring to a depth of 4,000m, this instrument will be important during the drift to assess the depth before making a CTD sounding. However, for now our minds are turned to the coming few days in our last port of call before two years in the high Arctic Ocean. Early this afternoon, shortly after fastening the mooring lines, we had the pleasure of receiving an official welcome from the people of the Sakha Republic. Adorned in traditional robes, singing and offering food and drinks provided an unexpected but appreciated reception...
Published in IPY Blogs
Friday, 08 September 2006 07:46
Arctic diary: Aboard the Vagabond
Vagabond is at Ny Ålesund since 1st September. France and I are preparing the third winter and are using the facilities of the AWIPEV Research Base. Varnishing, painting, servicing and various maintenance, cleaning, packing, sorting out, supplying of food... activities are many and varied on board! Between 2 jobs, we are exploring the surroundings with mountain bikes pulled by our dogs, paddling at sunset between drifting ice in the great King's Bay, watching the reindeers or polar foxes coming right into the village, talking - and sharing a drink - with scientists or technicians... a talk about our 2 first winters in Spitsbergen is planned here on 12 September, and we will also jump into the jacuzzi! ...
Published in IPY Blogs
Saturday, 14 October 2006 07:19
Tara: Arctic vegetable garden
The days are rapidly becoming shorter and shorter as the polar night approaches. Our preparation continues for winter and today we began installing our hydroponics garden in one corner of the saloon. Kindly supplied to us by General Hydroponics Europe, this system promises to provide us with fresh veggies throughout the winter months. Not only giving us a good source of vitamins, it will also create a welcome winter activity. Gamet has already shown his green fingers by nurturing a variety of plants on board, including one rose that is about to flower, giving us a welcome burst of colour and life. We have also winterized our water maker this week as the temperature in ...
Published in IPY Blogs
Saturday, 30 September 2006 04:36
The lord of the Arctic
As we continue to organise our life on board for the long polar night ahead, a constant preoccupation is the production, use and discharge of water. Ensuring that we have a sufficient amount of good quality water for our basic needs is a big task for at least two people each day. Like most large boats, we have a watermaker onboard that makes freshwater from seawater through the process of osmosis. In temperate climates we can produce up to 200 liters per hour. However, in our current position close to 83 degrees north the water temperature is -1.5 degrees celsius and the temperature in the forward hold (the location of the watermaker) has descended to -7 degrees, below the minimum operating temperature of 0 degrees. Therefore, we now produce our water by melting ice and sno...
Published in IPY Blogs
Tuesday, 03 October 2006 04:31
Tara: Easing North
As we continue to organise our life on board for the long polar night ahead, a constant preoccupation is the production, use and discharge of water. Ensuring that we have a sufficient amount of good quality water for our basic needs is a big task for at least two people each day. Like most large boats, we have a watermaker onboard that makes freshwater from seawater through the process of osmosis. In temperate climates we can produce up to 200 liters per hour. However, in our current position close to 83 degrees north the water temperature is -1.5 degrees celsius and the temperature in the forward hold (the location of the watermaker) has descended to -7 degrees, below the minimum operating temperature of 0 degrees. Therefore, we now produce our water by melting ice and sno...
Published in IPY Blogs
Saturday, 28 October 2006 04:13
Tara: Water management up North
As we continue to organise our life on board for the long polar night ahead, a constant preoccupation is the production, use and discharge of water. Ensuring that we have a sufficient amount of good quality water for our basic needs is a big task for at least two people each day. Like most large boats, we have a watermaker onboard that makes freshwater from seawater through the process of osmosis. In temperate climates we can produce up to 200 liters per hour. However, in our current position close to 83 degrees north the water temperature is -1.5 degrees celsius and the temperature in the forward hold (the location of the watermaker) has descended to -7 degrees, below the minimum operating temperature of 0 degrees. Therefore, we now produce our water by melting ice and sno...
Published in IPY Blogs
Tuesday, 07 November 2006 05:01
Tara: Adrift on an ocean of ice
If there is one thing that we can be sure about during this expedition, it is that we can never really relax as we drift across an ocean of ice. Sunday night at 3am the sea ice came alive. Beginning with an innocuous grinding and tapping on the hull, the pressure and sound rapidly increased to a deafening noise inside the boat. At times a constant tapping as the ice squeezed and the pressure increased, then rising to a high pitched screeching like fingernails running over a blackboard as the blocks of ice slide by. Tara handled the onslaught well, being pushed in all directions we have now come to rest on a pressure ridge with a nine degree list to port, not huge but big enough to give us the impression of being at sea. After a very busy week spent reinstalling scientific...
Published in IPY Blogs
Tuesday, 25 July 2006 08:09
Polar Explorer: Jean-Baptiste August Charcot
Jean-Baptiste August Charcot (1867-1936) was the son of a well known and wealthy French neurologist. Although he completed his medical studies, he had no wish to to practice medicine and embarked on a career as a polar explorer. He built the Français for his first expedition (1903-05), and accurately surveyed the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Afterwards, he built the most modern polar ship known to that date, the Pourquoi-Pas? (Why Not?), and extended his work along the Peninsula during 1908-10. He explored 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) of unknown coastline. Between 1926-36, Charcot made regular oceanographic voyages to the Greenland Sea. In September 1936, the Pourquoi-Pas? wrecked along the Icelandic coast, where Charcot and most of his cr...
Published in IPY Blogs
Calendar of Events
NOEVENTS
News
-
Fri, 07 May 2010IPY Monthly Report: May 2010
-
Tue, 30 Mar 2010IPY Report: April 2010
-
Wed, 03 Mar 2010IPY Report: March 2010
-
Tue, 02 Feb 2010IPY Report: February 2010
-
Thu, 21 Jan 2010IPY Oslo Science Conference -...
Friends of IPY
-
Thu, 16 Dec 2010Missatge 10: Un cervell realment...
-
Wed, 15 Dec 2010Ice Core Goes on Display...
-
Tue, 14 Dec 2010Sun-Earth Day 2011 Will Be...
-
Tue, 14 Dec 2010Missatge 9: Les peculiaritats de...
-
Mon, 13 Dec 2010Another Use for Antarctic Icebergs?