MOSAiC PI Blog, Part 3: Science in Polar Night

Published: 10 March 2020

Editor’s note: In the central Arctic, the sun will soon rise above the horizon, ending the monthslong “polar night” over the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition. Matthew Shupe, MOSAiC co-coordinator from the University of Colorado, Boulder, shares some of his MOSAiC photos taken during polar night.

ARM technician Juarez Viegas during MOSAiC — ARM technician Juarez Viegas works on a power distribution and data logging system installed out on the sea ice.

ARM radars during MOSAiC — The Ka- and X-band scanning ARM cloud radars are on the icebreaker *R/V Polarstern*. While the Ka-band radar is running well during MOSAiC, the X-band radar has experienced some technical difficulties. In the sky beyond the radars is the green laser beam of a partner lidar.

Spotlights on the ice during MOSAiC — Without the sun, spotlights from the *Polarstern* help researchers and technicians work on the ice.

ARM swing set of instrumentation during MOSAiC — A new pressure ridge of ice forms near ARM’s “swing set” of ground thermometers and radiometers at Met City, the research station where ARM meteorological instruments are operating on the ice.

Crossing over cracked ice during MOSAiC — MOSAiC team members must be resourceful in the remote central Arctic. Here they put down a sled to use as a footbridge for crossing over a crack in the ice.

Coming up next: Shupe gives us more images from the ice.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of Shupe’s blog series.

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MOSAiC is an international arctic research expedition led by the Alfred Wegener Institute with U.S. contributions from the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.

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ARM is a DOE Office of Science user facility operated by nine DOE national laboratories.