A camp was set up on the ice-pack in order to regularly sample the water-column, beneath the sea ice. Despite the 1 meter-thick ice and snow coverage, light penetration is high enough to allow for phytoplankton growth, through photosynthesis, which supports the rest of the trophic network.
My contribution to the Greenedge project (Léo Lacour, PhD candidate at the LOV)
A typical day begins with an early meeting, together with all the scientists, in order to assign daily tasks. Every morning, a group of about 15 scientists and guides travel by snowmobile to the ice camp, situated 40 minutes away from the village. My work at the ice camp consisted in sampling sea water with Niskin bottles, at different depth levels beneath the ice-pack. At noon, I had to bring back the water samples to the laboratory, in the village. The sea water was then filtered for different types of measurements. More than 50 liters were filtered each day. Afterwards, the collected matter was frozen at -80°C until further analysis by different laboratories with appropriate tools. The day usually ended with an evening meeting for planning the following day.
Test of the PRO-ICE float
The Greenedge project also aims to test new prototypes, such as the PRO-ICE float, which was partly designed by the LOV. This profiling float is well adapted to the Arctic’s extreme conditions. It can resist very cold water temperatures (often below zero degrees Celsius), and is able to detect the presence of sea ice or icebergs above it so as to avoid collision. The testing of the float proved convincing and even provided striking new data.
Léo LACOUR, PhD candidate at Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer - Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche (OOV)
› Pour en savoir plus: Découvrez le site internet GREENEDGE - Ice Camp 2015
