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Early Career Scientist program

Early Career Scientist program onboard I/B Oden at the Canada-Sweden Arctic Ocean Expedition 2025. Applicants affiliated with Swedish or Canadian Universities will be prioritised. 

The Early Career Scientists program will be running in parallel to the Canadian activities on board. The program consists of the course "The Arctic Ocean Climate System" with a study load of 10 ECTS. The course combines practical work with observations and measurements in defined work packages with a curriculum of lectures covering the coupled Arctic climate system, and it will also allow for the enhancement of the participant's own research projects. As an Early Career Scientist (ECS), you will participate in the data acquisition and ideally use the collected material and data in your research.

All students are expected to participate in all lectures, and a course certificate will be issued for those who want to obtain course credits; this will, however, require an individual examination. The opportunity to participate will be connected to one of five identified work packages, each with a senior researcher as a mentor. The mentors will also be responsible for the lecture curriculum.

The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat will evaluate the applications and make the final decisions, using the mentors as an expert panel. The Secretariat strives for balance between gender, disciplines and affiliations. All prospective participants must do a medical screening at their own expense before final selection.

The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat will cover travel costs to/from Oslo or Stockholm to Longyearbyen and berth fee onboard I/B Oden. No salary or per diem will be covered.

• Geological Oceanography (coring + RFI module 5)
• Geophysical mapping (multibeam, SBP, ADCP, EK80, Seismic)
• Meteorology (Eddy Covariance, Cloud remote sensing and Atmospheric soundings)
• Oceanography and marine chemistry (including microplastics)
• Primary productivity and biogeochemical cycles.
• Water isotopes
• Sea ice properties (drones + drift buoys)

Geological Oceanography

The marine geology work package broadly aims to investigate modern and Quaternary sediments' chemical, physical and biological properties from across the central and western Arctic Ocean. A multi corer will be available for collecting pristine near-surface sediments, while Stockholm University's large diameter (110 mm outer diameter) piston and gravity core will be used to collect up to 12 m long sediment cores.  Temperature loggers will be mounted on the core barrels to acquire sub-bottom temperature information for heat flow estimation. The exact coring stations will be selected while at sea, and they will fit into the cruise schedule and will be informed by geophysical mapping data on the seafloor and sub-bottom stratigraphy. The research objectives of the successful ECS will be a key factor in selecting coring sites. Two coring technicians with experience handling the large piston/gravity corer will conduct the practical operations. The ECS will assist in the coring operations on the deck if required, handle the cores on the aft deck, and carry out core splitting, sampling, and curation. They may also assist with other shipboard measurements, including automated core logging and imaging, pore-water extraction and analysis etc. All cores will be available for post-cruise sampling and analyses.

Geophysical Mapping & Water Column Imaging

The geophysical mapping program onboard IB Oden aims to continuously map the seafloor and uppermost ca 50-100 m sediment stratigraphy as well as acoustically image the water column along the entire expedition track. IB Oden's is equipped with a Kongsberg EM124 (12 kHz) hull-mounted multibeam echo sounder and integrated SBP29 (3-7 kHz) chirp sub-bottom profiler. Acoustic information of the water column is acquired with the EM122 as well as with a hull-mounted Kongsberg EK80 (18, 38, 70 kHz) split-beam sonar. In addition, an Acoustic Current Doppler Profiler (ADCP) is installed to measure the speed and direction of currents underneath the icebreaker. You are expected to be a part of the multibeam/sub-bottom/midwater/ADCP operation team that operates all sonars 24 hours a day, from start to end of the expedition following a watch schedule. There will be at least two experienced multibeam operators onboard for technical support. These experienced operators will take part in the watch schedule and have a supervising role onboard. The seafloor and sub-bottom information will serve as input for evaluation of suitable coring sites along the cruise track. This implies that the Early Career Scientist will be engaged in the geophysical mapping and water column imaging work package and are expected to collaborate with the coring team. The multibeam echo sounder requires corrections for sound speed changes in the water column. This will be provided from data generated at oceanographic stations using a standard CTD, requiring collaboration with the physical oceanography work package. In addition, XBTs (eXpendable BathyThermographs) will be used when necessary. Quality check and initial post-processing of all the acquired data will be carried out onboard using the software Qimera by QPS. Project proposals that make use of data from any, or all, of the acoustics systems are welcome.

Meteorology (Eddy Covariance, Weather soundings)

The observations aim to determine the surface energy budget over ice and open water and to study the processes controlling it, i.e., how heat energy, water, and momentum are exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean and sea ice. The energy budget can be linked with the general meteorological context by measurements of the vertical structure of the lower atmosphere and the occurrence and characteristics of clouds.

The observations making this possible will consist of:

• turbulent fluxes measured by eddy covariance from a mast erected at the front of Oden
• near-surface meteorological parameters, including temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and down-welling radiative fluxes, all measured on the 7th deck.

These observations are continuous; they will be performed and logged automatically. The instruments for most of the parts work independently but need to be monitored and cleaned of ice. Data must also be checked regularly to ensure instruments are all working correctly. There may also be radio soundings from the helicopter deck 2-4 times per day.

The turbulent flux measurements will be performed by eddy correlation. The temperature, moisture and three-dimensional air motion are measured at 20 Hz, and the results are correlated with each other. The turbulent air motions must be corrected for ship motion and flow distortion over the ship. Clouds and visibility will be observed by using a range of remote sensing instruments: a laser ceilometer/lidar, Doppler cloud radar, and scanning microwave radiometer. Cloud properties are derived from a multi-instrument synthesis algorithm, Cloudnet. Some other instruments may also be deployed at the 7th deck, for example, infrared thermometers to observe the ocean's surface temperature or ice and webcams to document the characteristics of the surface.

The surface heat flux and wind stress provide links to both the physical oceanography and sea ice work packages, influencing ice melt/freeze, ice dynamics, the upper ocean heat budget and wind-driven surface currents. Similarly, the sea ice's properties significantly influence turbulent exchange and the solar radiation budget via the surface roughness and albedo.

Participants in the expedition will gain experience with all the installed instrumentation, analysing data during the expedition to try and understand the influence of different environmental conditions on the surface energy budget.

Oceanography and marine chemistry

The oceanography work package will focus on ocean circulation, water mass modification, and transports of freshwater, heat, gases and substances (including those of anthropogenic origin). The main methods used in this work package will be hydrographic investigations along transects that will be determined together with the cruise leaders. For the transects, Oden's CTD will be the main instrument alongside the ship ADCP, an acoustic sensor for ocean current speed. Historical data from previous expeditions, as well as from drifting platforms such as Argo buoys or ice-tethered profilers, can be used to put the obtained data in context. In addition to the hydrographic work, this work package has access to instrumentation (a VMP250 microstructure profiler and a hull-mounted Kongsberg EK80 (18 kHz) split-beam sonar) for investigating small-scale processes such as double-diffusive convection, a prominent feature in the Arctic. Suitable projects can focus on heat transport, the origin of water masses, double-diffusion, ocean mixing, geostrophic currents, or topographic steering. It is also possible to combine with marine chemistry projects, for example studying the carbon cycle, microplastics, or tracer dynamics, using water sampled with the CTD and preferably in collaboration with oceanography projects.

Primary productivity and biogeochemical cycles.

The work package will investigate the phytoplankton community, biomass, primary production, and links to biogeochemical cycles in the Arctic Ocean. Phytoplankton are essential for the transport of carbon from the air to the deep sea, a process called the biological pump, which is important in all climate models. They also provide food for higher trophic levels forming the base of the marine food web. Knowledge of the diversity, controls and distribution patterns of phytoplankton, in addition to nutrients and organic species dissolved in the water, is therefore important for increasing our understanding of largely understudied Arctic ecosystems and predicting climate change effects. 

The sampling program will be developed together with the ECRs and will include both pelagic and sympagic (ice-associated) habitats. Seawater samples will be collected from the photic zone to 100 m depth using a CTD. Ice cores and samples from ice habitats (melt ponds, brackish brine, ice/seawater) will be collected from ice stations. The sampling will include both basic sampling of standard parameters such as nutrients, chlorophyll a, phytoplankton enumeration (flow cytometry and microscopy), diversity, community composition and activity (DNA and RNA sampling and sequencing), and concentration and carbon stable isotope of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, and methane. The fluorescence in the surface water will be analysed continuously with a fluorometer in the main lab. In addition, experiments including, e.g., experimental manipulations of abiotic factors, mortality factors (grazing and viral lysis), as well as rate measurements related to primary production (13C incubations), nitrogen fixation and/or nutrient uptake will be conducted using on-deck incubators. These will be using larger volumes of water sampled from the subsurface chlorophyll at a maximum depth and processed onboard. 

The work package will also contribute with knowledge on the global marine microbiome of unexplored areas using OMCS techniques. Whole community metagenomes will provide insights into the ecophysiology of dominating cold-adapted species. Using gene expression analysis, both from field and incubation experiments, phytoplankton activity will be related to sensor data and biogeochemical cycling. 

Water isotopes

This work package will study the Arctic’s Water cycle focused on the processes of evaporation and moisture transport into, within and out of the Arctic, along with ocean water mass distribution and vertical structure, along with freshwater injections into the Arctic seas from land and sea ice. These studies will complement other WP’s aboard the RV Oden including meteorology, oceanography, primary productivity and biogeochemical cycles and the properties of sea ice.   These studies will use in-situ water vapor and sea water isotope (¹⁸O and ²H) measurements continuously from the Oden as well as collecting grab samples from CTD casts during the expedition.

Mast water vapour isotope measurements will be taken continuously over the expedition using a vacuum pump to pull air into the Picarro from the bow of the ship into the water isotope analyser.  This will be coordinated with the meteorological team. Sea water isotopes will be measured continuously from one of the seawater sinks located in the main lab. Sea water grab samples from CTD casts will be collected during the expedition and analysed in the lab for water isotopes.  In collaboration with the sea ice WP, water isotopes will also be measured in subsamples of ice samples collected during the expedition and precipitation samples will be collected on an event basis and measured for 18O and 2H in the lab after the expedition.  

Simultaneously, our Arctic Water Isotope Network (AWIN) will be collecting in-situ water vapour at a suite of land-based stations (e.g. Nord, NE Greenland, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Barrow, Alaska) in the western and eastern Arctic that will be complementing measurements aboard the RV Oden.  These collective measurements will be especially useful in moisture source determinations and water vapour transport processes within, into and out of the Arctic.    

Sea ice properties

This work package focuses on the properties of sea ice, including snow on the ice and on the dynamics of the sea ice. Sea ice greatly influences the exchange of energy and gas between the ocean and the atmosphere, and the exchange of salt between sea ice and the ocean affects ocean circulation. Most of the sea ice is floating free and is moved by winds and ocean currents. With climate change and warmer temperatures, the average thickness and age of the sea ice is reduced, which leads to increased sea ice mobility. Converging ice fields can create areas with crushed ice, ice ridges or increased internal stress, while diverging ice fields generate cracks, leads or larger areas of open water. Ocean waves break up the sea ice in the marginal ice zone, and with a thinner sea ice cover, waves propagate further into the sea ice.

Sea ice properties that will be sampled locally include thickness, salinity and surface roughness. The thickness can be measured by drilling holes or with an electromagnetic sounder if available. Salinity measurement requires that pieces of ice cores are analysed in the lab onboard the ice breaker. The surface roughness is preferably measured with a laser scanner or laser profiler but can be estimated from photos.

Distributed sea ice properties include fraction of leads and open water, surface temperature and distribution of melt ponds, ridges and snow. These properties will be mapped with cameras on a drone or helicopter. For the surface temperature, infrared cameras are needed. Satellite images will be collected to get an overview of ice and water for a larger area.

The motion of the ice will be monitored with drift buoys that are deployed on the ice. These buoys send their position via satellite link and can be tracked after the ice breaker has left the location. With three or more drift buoys on the same ice floe it is possible to observe rotation, deformation and disintegration of the floe. To allow monitoring of waves in the ice, buoys with integrated accelerometer and gyro should be used. Information from the drift buoys will be used to validate drift and deformation retrieved from satellite images.

In addition to distribution of snow on the ice, local snow properties that should be sampled include thickness, temperature, grain size and snow water equivalent (SWE). Temperature, grain size and SWE should be sampled at different snow depths in a number of snow pits.  

The motion of the sea ice is connected to wind and currents through drag coefficients at the ice-atmosphere and ice-ocean interfaces. Collaboration with the meteorology and oceanography work packages is foreseen to allow analyses of these connections and effects of the ice dynamics.