Farewell to Louis S. St-Laurent – Oden continues on its own

Arctic Ocean, 4 September 2026

We have now spent a few days at the Alpha Ridge, where the ice is very thick, multi-year ice and difficult to break through. The other day, we experienced a so-called “sundog”, or “parhelion”, an optical atmospheric phenomenon that appears as bright spots on one or both sides of the Sun. At the Alpha Ridge, we carried out the final joint work between I/B Oden and the Canadian Coast Guard’s CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. We collected bathymetric data and conducted seismic surveys.

On 3 September, our joint operations were completed and Louis S. St-Laurent (LSSL) departed to begin its journey towards Cambridge Bay in Canada. I/B Oden will continue on its own back to Longyearbyen in Svalbard. At the Alpha Ridge, we carried out a major sampling station where we collected a range of water samples, sampled plankton with nets, and retrieved sediment from the seafloor. We will now collect bathymetric data along the route that the Polar Connect project has proposed as a suitable alignment for the fibre-optic cable infrastructure planned between Japan/South Korea and Europe.

On board, we try to live according to UTC, but outside the ship it is clear that we are in Alaska’s time zone. It slowly begins to get dark around the time we have breakfast on board, while in the evenings we experience spectacular sunrises. The closer we get to Svalbard, the more the natural day–night cycle will align with our time on board. It is also becoming clear that autumn is arriving in the Arctic. New ice is forming on the pools of water between the ice floes.

Text: Åsa Lindgren, Expedition Coordinator