Position: 76°43’N, 11°43’W

Around 01.00 in the morning we entered the ice for the first time on this expedition. At the moment it’s mostly random ice sheets in various sizes that are drifting by. We’re still on our way to the first mooring line deployment site and our estimated arrival time is around 17.00.

It’s pretty foggy today and hard to see anything besides the ice right next to Oden. The temperature is around 0°C. Researchers on the fore deck are preparing the mounting frame for the video system that will record the interaction between the ice and the ship hull. On the aft deck, the first mooring line has been prepared for deployment early this evening.

Setting up the video system. Photo: Jan-Ola Olofsson

Part of the mooring line. Photo: Jan-Ola Olofsson

A lot of researchers are hanging around, waiting for the first opportunity to get down on the ice and start their work. Once we’ve deployed the mooring line there might be a chance to do an ice station, but we’ll probably have to wait for tomorrow.

Jan-Ola Olofsson, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat