From the Canadian Arctic to data crunching in Germany

We have been back in Germany for 3 weeks now. It takes a while to adapt again to the daily routine here. Of course there is the jet lag.  but then it is also a big contrast between living and working in the still and vast Arctic landscapes to doing office work and managing city life. For me, this requires a lot of readjusting and adapting.

Collecting data by air, boat, and car

During our expedition, we covered a large area – traveling by air, boats and car. You can see the coverage of your expedition on the map below: stretching from Inuvik in the South all the way to the Arctic Ocean to Tuktoyaktuk (Tuk) in the North and from the Mackenzie River in the West to almost the Husky Lake regions in the East.

Map shows our research area in the Mackenzie Delta and the locations of the diverse measurements. Source: Stephan Lange

Going with the flow

As is normal in the Arctic, weather conditions forced us to be flexible on a day to day basis. The originally chartered ship for the marine work had to be cancelled because it could not get through sea ice that blocked the passage from Alaska to Tuk.  Instead, smaller boats were used from Tuk (see our story “A day with Capt’n Charles”). Flying with the Polar 5 was successful because the pilot’s were open to flying “after working hours”. Good weather windows opened up often in the later afternoon!

Data is online!

Looking back at our expedition, we can proudly say that most of the work went well. We collected lots of experience working in a new team, impressions of the Arctic and of course – DATA! Some of these data are already archived; more will follow.

Click on the image below to see our data displayed in full detail!

Data of radiation sensors over permafrost landscape and of methane and CO2 concentrations over thermokarst lake water. Source: Stephan Lange

We are also planning a post-expedition workshop on Helgoland to exchange data, prepare manuscripts or simply share photos and memories of our experience.

This is the last of our blog entries. We hope you enjoyed the tour of our travels, adventures, and science in the Canadian Arctic!

Edited by: Sina Muster