Hello Coronation Gulf & Goodbye Geoteam

These last few days we have made our journey from the Beaufort Sea into the shallow marine channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. This waterway is a major link between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, transporting huge amounts of water, sea ice and sediment towards Baffin Bay. Because the Arctic Ocean also connects to the Pacific Ocean via Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, water masses found in the archipelago can be of Pacific or Atlantic origin.

Theoretically, any route that links Baffin Bay to the Beaufort Sea and beyond into the Pacific via Bering Strait is a “Northwest Passage”. Practically, a straight east-west route has historically been blocked by thick, old sea ice, though this is changing now with decreasing ice cover. The most common Northwest Passage is a seasonally ice-free west-south-southwest route from Lancaster Sound towards Coronation Gulf and via Amundsen Gulf into the Beaufort Sea. We are currently in Coronation Gulf in the southwest of the archipelago and making our way east towards Queen Maud Gulf, near where the HMS Terror, one of the ships of the 1845 Franklin expedition, was found earlier this month.

The Canadian Arctic Archipelago nestled between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans (above) and a closer look at the marine channels (below) and the Northwest Passage (yellow line). [Source: Google Earth]

The day before yesterday was busy for the geoteam with sampling the seabed - more on coring soon – and it was not until the evening that things settled down. Additionally, many of the scientists onboard were busy with packing up their things, in preparation for a science rotation. That is, many scientists (though none of the crew) that had been on the ship since the end of August were flying back south while a new cohort was coming on board. In addition to new scientists coming onto the CCGS Amundsen, there is also a group of high school students that are participating in science activities as part of the ArcticNet Schools on Board program. For this rotation, many members of the geoteam from the Geological Survey of Canada, Dalhousie University, the Norway Geological Survey and Université du Québec à Rimouski have left so that the geoteam has shrunk somewhat to only four people! Nevertheless, our now small but still mighty team will continue to take geological samples, as we make our way towards Lancaster Sound. Onwards and upwards!

Science rotation by helicopter and a saying 'So Long, Farewell, Auf Widersehen, Goodbye!' to most of the geoteam.