Lomonosov Ridge in the Arctic Ocean, 20 August (N89°08.6, W151°31.6)

We lie still in the ice and fish with the big net, "the Beam". From the bridge, you can see the helicopter in the distance where Frank and Serdar are with the pilot Ted and the technician Mats and pick up fishing lines, traps and cameras that were hung out during the night for studies of fish occurrence.

Yesterday was one of the more exciting days when the giant box corer was to be launched for the first time during the expedition. The depth was around 1 300 meters, we were on the Lomonosov ridge. The bottom conditions must be investigated beforehand so that it is suitable for taking sediment samples and this is done with the so-called multibeam, a sonar that maps the seabed in three dimensions.

When Carlos found that the bottom was soft and smooth enough, the chopper was lowered into the depths. It is big and heavy and you never know if you will get back what you launch, but after a wait of 1.5 hours, the box corer finally came back. The joy was great when the researchers were able to see that they had received a fine cut, with a beautiful, untouched sediment surface. Already during the evening, the researchers were able to establish that the sediment contained a lot of otoliths (hearing stones) from polar cod, which pleased the fish researchers on board.

Tonight we continue the journey towards station D, with only one stop on the way for CTD sampling.

Text by: Maria Samuelsson, expedition coordinator