Canada's Arctic 2007:
On the Louis S. St-Laurent

9 Visitors Online

In July 2007 I boarded the Louis S. St-Laurent in Halifax and traveled between Labrador and Greenland into the Northwest Passage. This trip lasted three weeks and ended in Kugluktuk (Coppermine), NT. These photos give an idea of what happens on board an ice breaker during oceanographic research in the Arctic.
01.jpg
Welcome Aboard
02.jpg
2007 is International Polar Year, so lots of funding for polar research
03.jpg
View of the LSSL, the largest ship in the Canadian Coast Guard fleet
04.jpg
Here we go leaving the dock and overlooking Halifax
05.jpg
Melissa and Sarah watch our departure
06.jpg
My cabin for the next three weeks
07.jpg
The ship's bar, complete with piano and stuffed fox
08.jpg
Decent-sized gym
09.jpg
My workspace with ocean view
10.jpg
We all had to put on immersion suits and be inspected
11.jpg
There was usually a morning rosette cast where everyone came to see me to pick their depths for water samples
12.jpg
Here's the profile as the CTD/Rosette instrument is deployed
13.jpg
Connie and Karen discuss possible samples by looking at the CTD profile
14.jpg
The rosette (aka "Rosey") is back on board for sampling. We move her from outside into her "Milking Shed"
15.jpg
There's 24 bottles on the rosette, each holding 10L of water sampled from various depths. Water is extracted (or "milked") for various chemical analysis
16.jpg
Close-up of the pylon at the top of the rosette. This is how we trip bottles closed at depth
17.jpg
Ian extracts some water
18.jpg
Here's the water sampling team around the rosette
19.jpg
Melissa hides in the "Oxy Bar; two sample minimum" shack, running oxygen samples
20.jpg
Used sample labels are growing on the ledge
21.jpg
Iceberg!
22.jpg
Pack ice on the east side of Baffin Island
23.jpg
Baffin Island
24.jpg
Devon Island
25.jpg
26.jpg
Ian and Dianna check their phytoplankton incubation tanks
27.jpg
Getting ready for the engine room tour
28.jpg
Hope you brought your earplugs
29.jpg
Despite the noise, the phone booth is really quiet
30.jpg
Enforced cable
31.jpg
Inside the engine control room
32.jpg
Ohhh... lots of buttons that we're not allowed to push
33.jpg
One of the propeller shafts in motion
34.jpg
Duck!
35.jpg
Corrine celebrates a birthday on board
36.jpg
Diane watches DVDs between stations
37.jpg
Paul downloads another day's worth of photos
38.jpg
When it wasn't icy, I would run around the helicopter deck. About 165-170 loops was 10K.
39.jpg
Now we see what an icebreaker really does. Motion on a ship breaking ice is very similar to turbulence during a flight, except that it can go on for hours or days.
40.jpg
Up on the bow in the ice looking for polar bears, seals, or just about anything else
41.jpg
42.jpg
Corrine checks her photos
43.jpg
44.jpg
Melissa
45.jpg
Chief Scientist, John
46.jpg
Diane
47.jpg
Me
48.jpg
Dianna attempts a serious photo... nope!
49.jpg
Polar Bear!!
50.jpg
51.jpg
52.jpg
Another Polar Bear
53.jpg
Mom and Baby Bear (the red on their faces is from a recent seal kill)
54.jpg
Sarah is happy
57.jpg
Grab sample from the bottom of the ocean
55.jpg
Ed points to the spot where the sample was taken
56.jpg
Diane and Ed wash the sample to extract the animals
58.jpg
Some of the things that live at the bottom of the ocean
59.jpg
Corrine warms in the sun while awaiting her plankton station
60.jpg
Here come the bongo nets
61.jpg
62.jpg
63.jpg
Corrine investigates the bongo samples
64.jpg
Some of the planktonic animals captured in the bongo net
65.jpg
Karen's sexy sampling pose
66.jpg
A tradition at sea occurs when one passes over one of three important lines of latitude (Arctic, Antarctic circles, and the equator). Those that have not passed over the line before must answer to King Neptune and go through an initiation ceremony. I also had to go through this during my Antarctica trip in 2003
67.jpg
The official Neptune barber that shaved your hair (well gave the impression that he shaved your hair)
68.jpg
You are blindfolded for the entire ceremony, but you can hear what is going on
69.jpg
Don't ask what is in the bucket, but let's just say that most of it will be on your face or down your back while you are clamped in the stockcade

The blindfold is removed after you are hosed down with extremely cold sea water

Chloe (CBS producer) and Melissa following the ceremony

Myself, Mark (CBS cameraman), Chloe, and Melissa

Melissa receives her crossing certificate while offering the captain candy

Here's my certificate. I must always carry this when crossing the Arctic circle by ship in the future to avoid going through the ceremony again

Diane and Corrine sit patently during one of our daily science meetings

I think Karen finds this room cold

Daniel (CBS reporter) and myself have a little friendly challenge one night

Louisa, Myself, Diane, and Ian

Sometimes it is nice to sit back and watch the evening entertainment

Diane and Lousia

Guitar and singing?


Paul lets me borrow his flash equipment for some fun photos

Diane and me at the BBQ in the helicopter hanger

Louisa makes interesting faces

This is my "I've been in a helicopter" shot. But it doesn't count until the helicopter leaves the ground!

Louisa gets ready for her helicopter ride

Refueling the helicopter

Okay, here we go!



Christian is happy that he finally got his ride

Ice flows overlooking Devon Island


There's the ship in the distance

Liferafts

The CBS crew: Daniel, Chloe, and Mark

Melissa

Me

An airplane arrives in Resolute, NU

Ian in Bellot Strait

Myself in Bellot Strait

Dianna once again cannot do a serious photo

One of the two moorings is prepared for deployment

Sarah waits patiently


Here goes the mooring. They will retrieve it in about a year, although the train wheel will be left behind

At every station we threw out six bottles with messages inside of them. About 4% of the bottles will be found by people. It is for a drifting and current experiment

Bottles on the ocean

Corrine and Diane wait patiently on the heli deck for photos

John waits while Melissa is once again making silly faces

Here's the science crew with Resolute in the background

Here's the ship's crew in Kugluktuk

Diane does cartwheels on the heli deck since she is going home

Kugluktuk, our jumping off point


And a couple of nice sunsets!
Once I left the ship, I travelled around the Arctic for another week. These photos, including Inuvik and Victoria Island are found here.

Travel Pages | Return to GeckoBeach