So how does one become "expedition cruise guide"?

So it's been a while since I lasted posted anything - or since I even last touched my website and blogs. But from time to time, writing in "long form" is more attractive than facebook or twitter, so here is another post, jam-packed with my distilled wisdom!

From time to time passengers have asked me during our time together on an expedition cruise vessel, and more recently, a few people have approached me to learn about how they could qualify and apply for such a job. So I sat down and wrote some of them a humorous e-mail which I have now decided to elaborate on, and post here.

YOUR BACKGROUND

From what I have seen most expedition staff fall into one of the following categories:

A) the adventurers - preferably with some customer-service related background, like restaurant/hotel/travel industry...

B) the (former) science guys - biologists, geologists, geophysicists, who have pursued some interest in polar topics; mind you not all of them are actually "polar scientists"!

C) the naturalist/birder - usually not scientists, but people who have a lot of field experience and dedication to their subject

D) the history buff/former staffer at a polar installation - some of them true "armchair historians" or Shackleton fans, others with some "ice time" in a science support role

E)  the professional "outdoors guys" - kayak/dive guides, ice climbers, ski bums, etc.

F)  the "where the f*** did they find this guy?" people...

Combinations of one or several types occur, but are relatively few and far between.

WHAT YOU WILL HAVE TO DO

Before you try to figure out which category you (would like to) fit into, it is important to realize that there are a range of different job descriptions to fill on most expedition cruise vessels. They fall roughly into three categories:

1. the expedition staff (Expedition leaders, their assistants, guides, zodiac drivers, logistics support staff)

2. the hotel/hospitality staff (hotel managers, barkeepers, general assistants, chefs, sous chefs, kitchen hands, stewards)

3. the presenting staff (science lecturers/artists-in-residence/celebrity speakers...)

Now, depending on the size of the vessel, staff members might be expected to appear in at least two out of the three categories, most commonly is the combination of expedition+presenting functions, but also hospitality+expedition jobs. Sometimes, especially on the smaller vessels, you will be asked to "help out" in one of the other sectors, p.e. guides helping in serving drinks, helping in the galley, or barkeepers helping out in zodiac operations are quite common. So unless you are a "senior scientist/celebrity speaker" onboard, refusal to help out somewhere else than in your appointed specialty will reflect badly upon you. You are literally "in the same boat" with your shipmates, so when it's all hands on deck that's exactly where you should be.

Just to clarify, most people in the industry are actually not "type B" or even "type C" but even if you come from a background in, let's say corporate law & finance, you might find your niche in any of the other categories (let's just hope it is not in "type F"...). Also, if you have higher aspirations, it might be interesting to know that expedition leaders are recruited from all 6 types (yep, also from "type F" - deal with it...).

HOW TO APPLY

So here is what I recommend you do for your application:

• check out the websites and relevant literature of your prospective employer. Get an idea whether you are looking at a more "luxury-style" operator or a more "expedition-style" or even "budget" operator. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

• if you can, contact somebody "on the inside" and get the details on how the respective ships are operated, whether management seems to be knowing what they are doing, and what they are typically paying...

• find out who to contact and write a short CV outlining your relevant qualifications and experience. Be aware that these companies usually get a load of job applications and have a large staff file (or if they don't, maybe you should stay away from them...!).

• If you are willing to present something - which will maximise your chances of landing a job! - choose and shortly describe 3 (or more?) topics on which you could give a decent, public interest presentation (does not have to be "hardcore" polar science or polar history, some "human interest" stories with a polar twist - "my first polar bear"/"my time as student/guide/research diver... on Svalbard/in the Antarctic"/life at xyz scientific base" or something like that might do the trick).

HOW TO PRESENT ONBOARD

When planning and building those presentations (Powerpoint!) think pictures are better than text, simple words are better than scientific terms, funny is better than boring, and shorter is better than longer. 

Rule of thumb: not more than 30 minutes of slides, mix it up and change formats once or twice (i.e. mix still photos/video/sound bites/whiteboard/just talk...) and most important of all, allow plenty of time for interaction, questions, and debate. 

If you are confident, encourage questions during the presentation (but keep debate to the end), if you rather want to "coast through", make sure to mention that there will be time for questions at the end.

Relevant skills expected from you as guide

- happy to be with tourists all day, in a guide/leadership role

- public speaking, some polar exposure and field competence

- VHF radio and GPS skills, zodiac and outboard experience

- some wildlife spotting and interaction experience

- being able to create and support a "good vibe" within your team and on your ship

Some of this stuff can be learnt (and should be part of the operator's staff training program) while other things are just crucial skills you should bring to the table. As a rule, let's say you should check on at least three of the five points mentioned.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few things you should avoid

(based on real life, believe it or not)

- complain about the cold...

- narrate how the last voyage was "so much cooler"

- disappear into one's cabin whenever possible (dude, you are working!)

- express the view that penguins/reindeer are "boring"

- excessively drink and party (dude, you are still working!)

- openly f*** around with passengers...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course you should have fun onboard, and you should have the right to some privacy some times, but f***ing around or constantly "disappearing" are the two sure-fire ways to get yourself fired.

The other things will at least earn you some "quality time" with senior staff or the expedition leader (EL), which in this case would not be a good thing.

Having said all that that, I would like to conclude with some words of wisdom from my buddy Mike Murphy, a polar expedition cruise pioneer - he started working as zodiac driver in the 70's, about 5 minutes after expedition cruises were invented:

"It's not about being a polar explorer hero, or a brilliant naturalist, or a super communicator, or any of that old crap people tell you in the hiring interviews..."

...

"All of the above can be faked --- and boy you will see a lot of that being done out there all the time.... "(true enough!).

"But there is one thing, and one thing only, that cannot be faked, and it is the decisive quality for a good staffer:


...



It's all about Looking Good!"

Welcome to my new blog - port of longyear

Since I start in my new job as port agent in a few days, I thought it might be cool to set up a little topical blog for this.

So here it is: Port of Longyear.

Check it out, I will try to post some nicer pics than the PortCam can provide them, and also some news and info on the boats we are currently handling.

Hooded Seals get SatNav, too

Southern Elephant seals have been known for a while to be perfect "vessels of opportunity" for oceanographic as well as biological research. More recently, narwhals were also discovered as suitable carriers of oceanographic data loggers, which communicate their collected data through the ARGOS satellite system, and were aptly titled oceanographic unicorns.

Now hooded seals join the club, as they now also get to carry loggers and sat transponders on their heads:



According to the researchers in charge, these SRDLs (Satellite-Relay Data Loggers) weigh about 400 g, and have negligible impact on the seals. They represent a maximum of 2% of the body weight of the animal carrying them, which range in size from 30 kg – 1.5 tonnes.

Historical whaling tools retrieved and dated

As I blogged already last autumn, some whaling tools recently retrieved from bowhead whales witness both historical hunting techniques and the amazing life spans of these whales. Now an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here:

"The age of bowhead whales captured by Native Alaskan hunters in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas has been estimated via chemical analyses of the eye lenses, and other techniques. The racemization-age estimates indicate that bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a lifespan of more than a century. Stone and ivory weapon fragments recovered from bowhead whales hunted in Wainwright and Barrow (Alaska) in 1981, 1992, 1993 and 1997, provided rough but independent assessments of the whales’ longevity; however, their date of manufacture was unknown. Adding further confirmation of these age estimates, this note describes bomb lance fragments recovered recently (2007) and about 30 years ago (1980) from bowhead whales harvested by Eskimo hunters that were “dateable” and likely manufactured between 1879 and 1885. (Source: Polar Biology's website).

What really sank the Titanic (apart from the iceberg...)

"Crime Scene Investigations" and "Forensic Evidence" seem to be ubiquitous and irresistible these days, and some people have decided to apply these techniques to another irresistibe and iconic desaster topic: the "Titanic".

So what good can come from applying modern-day material science to an old wreck? It turns out that the rivets might be part of the explanation. For those of us not familiar with historical ship-building, riveting was to early 20th century metal workers what welding is today, i.e. the most common technique to join pieces of metal together.




Apparently, there were approximately three million rivets used to in the Titanic's hull to connect all its metal plates. According to the authors of "What Really Sank the Titanic: New Forensic Discoveries", Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Tim Foecke, substandard rivet material and possibly also "riveter" craftsmanship may be to blame for the Titanic's fate.



Indeed, when inspecting the wreck, these researchers claim to have found several narrow slits rather than a huge gash, pointing to multiple hull breaches (due to failing rivets) instead of the big hole assumedly ripped open by the contact with the iceberg.

So although this is of course highly speculative, let's venture back into the past and have a look how "riveting" actually was done:

"At a central location near the areas being riveted, a furnace was set up. Rivets were placed in the furnace and heated to a glowing hot temperature, at which time the furnace operator would use tongs to individually remove and throw them to catchers stationed near the joints to be riveted. The catcher would place the glowing hot rivet into the hole to be riveted, and quickly turn around to await the next rivet. One worker would then hold a heavy rivet set against the round head of the rivet, while the hammerer would apply a pneumatic rivet hammer to the unformed head, causing it to mushroom tightly against the joint in its final domed shape. Upon cooling, the rivet would contract and exert further force tightening the joint. This process was repeated for each rivet." (from Wikipedia's post on rivets).

So for all of us making a living on ice-filled oceans: get decent welders to put your ship together!

Of course, you could also try to avoid hitting icebergs...

National Geographic Explorer (ex. Lyngen) takes shape

As mentioned in an earlier post, Lindblad Expeditions, the pioneer in polar expedition cruising, is currently finishing a major conversion of the former "Hurtigruten" vessel Lyngen.



You can follow the progress of their work on their website, just follow this link.

They are already planning their season, spanning from the Baltic, Norway, Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland all the way down to Patagonia. You can see their itineraries here.

This should be the most up-to-date expedition cruise vessel on the market!

Maybe I should apply for a job there some time...

Polar Bear Knut - the sibling sequel (cont.)

In November I predicted a sequel to the marketing success story of Polar Bear ""Knut" - here it is: Polar Bear "Flocke" of the Nuremberg Zoo!

-------------------------------------------

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A fluffy white polar bear cub that has captured German hearts is making her first public appearance Tuesday at the Nuremberg City Zoo.

Flocke (FLOCK-uh), whose name means "snowflake" in German, was born at the zoo in December. She gained international attention in January after zookeepers said they had taken Flocke away from her mother because of concerns she would eat her.

The zoo's other female polar bear had recently eaten her two offspring, and the zoo was concerned that Flocke's mother would do the same.

Zookeepers bottle-fed Flocke and kept her warm with blankets and heatlamps.

Sweet pictures of the young bear being cuddled by her keepers or sleeping with her tongue sticking out boosted Flocke's popularity, and she quickly eclipsed Knut (knoot), the polar bear at the Berlin Zoo.

Knut was a sensation when he was born in December 2006, but at 16 months old he's no longer considered as cute as his Nuremberg counterpart.

Flocke has grown into a bouncy young cub who is learning how to use her large paws. The zoo's latest pictures of Flocke, from early last week, show her frolicking in her enclosure and paddling in a pool of shallow water.

The first chance to see Flocke up close is Tuesday, when the zoo is holding a media event with about 50 members of the public. Starting Wednesday, people visiting the zoo will be able to see Flocke in her enclosure from 9-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. daily -- "if Flocke plays along" and decides to step outside, the zoo said.

R & R in Buenos Aires

After having finished this season´s contract with Peregrine Shipping, I am taking a few days in Buenos Aires to recharge before I return to Ushuaia and to the Antarctic Peninsula for the final month of cruising. Yes, another full month! Believe it or not, my last trip is leaving on March 21 and due back in port April 1.

The next two trips will be with scuba diving customers, one on "Grigoriy Mikheev" and the next on its sister ship "Aleksey Maryshev", then the final trip will be on "Professor Multanovskiy" which is currently still operating for Quark Expeditions.

The last trip on Peregrine´s vessel "Akademik Ioffe" went to the Falklands, South Georgia and the northern Peninsula region. It was my first trip on the Ioffe and it took me a few days to get used to its slightly different setup. But the trip itself went great and the rest of the staff team were really great to work with again.

On the previous Falklands-South Georgia-AntPen (with Akad. Sergey Vavilov) trip we had made a landing on the South Orkneys, on this one we managed to zodiac cruise around Point Wild - what else can one wish for! As per usual, we got blown out of a few sites in South Georgia, but we always managed to make up for that by visiting some other places. And the Falklands impressed me yet again: incredible wildlife experiences, fantastic people, great atmosphere...

We were also briefed by several of the Quark management staff on the ongoing and future changes to the company and to our operations, now that Quark has assumed control of the former "Adventurefleet" ships, including Vavilov and Ioffe. The Quark Fleet will certainly be the biggest player on the market from now on, both in terms of ships and in terms of passenger capacity, with Hurtigruten as no.2 on the Antarctic market and Oceanwide as no. 2 on the Arctic (counting the current Arctic charter of "Antarctic Dream" as a part of the Oceanwide fleet).

On all occasions have Quark management confirmed that they will not resume scuba diving operations as part of their programme, so Oceanwide (and Waterproof Exp.) will remain the only players on that field.

Additionally, Quark is expanding its commitment in the Svalbard-East Greenland area by one ship. The Akademik Shokalsky will be joining the Akademik Sergey Vavilov in that area, so one can expect more encounters and more need for careful scheduling in the Svalbard area as well.

Interesting times!

Statements following the "Explorer" sinking

Fellow blogger and cruise ship specialist Doug Newman has been following the "Explorer" shipping disaster closely, and has also gathered statements from both GAP Adventures, the operating company of the ship at the time of the sinking, as well as from Lindblad Expeditions, the original operator of the ship, which put her into service in 1969.

Doug puts the prominent place of the "Explorer" into perspective like this:

"The “little red ship” was one of the most important cruise ships in history; the seminal expedition cruise ship, she was to expedition cruising what Royal Caribbean’s Song of Norway was to the rest of the cruising world, or maybe even more."

Sven-Olof Lindblad, the son of company founder Lars-Erik Lindblad, has posted an article titled Remembering the 'Little Red Ship' which recounts some of the dramatic history of the ship while it was still in operation for Lindblad Expeditions. You can download the full article here.

GAP Adventures’ CEO Bruce Poon Tip also issued a statement regarding the loss of the ship, finishing with the words:

"The Explorer left us in very dramatic fashion. She couldn't just go quietly in the night but instead, was hanging on and danced her way out of commission. She made everyone watch for just a minute to remember her history as she hung on long enough to allow all of her passengers to disembark to safety. I would expect nothing less from her. The Explorer has been a big part of our history as a company and represented the true spirit of what makes our company special. We thank everyone who has been part of making it happen over the years."

Some ramblings about the climate change debate

Reading up for my previous post about the Amazon rainforest and climate change, I was again reminded of the fact that the global climate change debate seems to evolve into a battle with two fronts. Let there be no doubt about it: global climate change is a fact. A vast majority of scientists - people who are trained to disagree, you could say ;-) have arrived at the conclusion that there is substantial evidence for dramatic changes going on in our climate. So why would there be a two-fronted battle?

Of course, on the one side you have your nay-sayers, sceptics and those who would rather believe in global conspiracies than in scientifically documented reports. These people will always be present in some number and typically also with some sort of agenda. Apart from the "conspiracy theorists", these people would say "it is only natural" or "there have always been ups and downs, nothing to worry". The more interesting fraction will claim that there is some degree of change in our environment, but that it is due to some hitherto unknown phenomenon, or due to some factors which have been downplayed so far.

Depending on the level of their conviction, on their underlying motivation and their agenda, it will be hard if not impossible to argue with some of these nay-sayers and come to some consensus. As in every argument where the stakes are high, you have to expect that you simply cannot reach a consensus with some part of your opposition.

So what about the other front of the battle? That is the truly surprising and truly frustrating element of the ongoing debate, as I see it: everybody and their dog seem to have become "global climate experts", and they appear with bold statements in the media and in the public debate. Unfortunately, many of these self-proclaimed or media-acclaimed "experts" and "scientific writers" and "environmental activists" do not have more than the most basic training in natural sciences, let alone ecology, geophysics or climatology.

It does not take long to select a few examples:

• the "polar ice cap" - so many statements about the status of the "polar ice" do not bother to discriminate between sea ice and glacial ice. Melting sea ice is linked with rising sea levels (hello, Archimedes!), retreating glaciers are linked to retreating pack ice distribution, the link between the "global conveyor belt" i.e. the oceans' deep-water circulation, and sea ice formation and distribution is strangely under-represented. Surprisingly many people do not even mention the fundamental differences between the "Arctic ice cap" - an ice-covered ocean - and the "Antarctic ice cap" - an ice-covered continent. Nor do they realize that even Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are affected by very different dynamics, and the "ice shelves" are by many believed to consist of sea ice, simply because shelf ice floats on the sea.

• "save the rainforest" - true, rainforests perform vital tasks in filtering water, releasing oxygen, and storing carbon. In fact, all forests on Earth perform these services to some degree. But tropical rainforests are not such great "carbon sinks" as many claim: they do not store any more carbon than is contained in their biomass, and they deposit almost nothing. That is the great tragedy of tropical deforestation: the soil that is converted into agricultural use is often so poor that it does not even serve as proper pasture. The one point where tropical rainforests do excel above temperate forests (which are much more important as carbon sinks, in that they deposit much more in their soil) is biological diversity. And unfortunately, the preservation of biological diversity is still regarded as a luxury rather than as a necessity.

• "glaciers as climate change thermometers" - how many examples of collapsing glacier fronts have been in the press, on Greenpeace campaigns, or on television programs? Common for all of them is a profound misunderstanding of glaciers acting as thermometers. True, glaciers are affected by air temperature, and they are also retreating in many locations all over the world. But to claim that air temperature alone is the driving factor of glacier extent is ignoring all the other factors that together make up the specific mass balance and dynamics of a glacier, like size, precipitation received, altitude, proximity to the sea, underlying bedrock etc. pp.

Also, in many cases reports claim that the status "before" the onset of climate change was "natural", while the current status "after" climate change is not. But where is the original extent, the reference line against which we should compare current levels? And how would such a reference be meaningful?

There are a number of other examples where some "experts" among the "supporters" as well as the "sceptics" are mixing up facts, misunderstanding or misinterpreting them. And this is the truly puzzling part of this: if somebody without proper medical training makes a bold diagnosis on a patient, very few people would be inclined to take this very seriously. But in ecology, geophysics, or oceanography, there seems to be a much lower threshold. Why?

So this is where I see the second "front" in the "battle" over climate change: the so-called "experts" (of both parties) who got it wrong. In between these two fronts, between the sceptics and the unqualified "experts" are the scientists and campaigners who actually know what they are talking about. The doctors who actually know how to diagnose a patient, if you like.

To stick with this metaphor, these doctors now have to deal with some opponents who claim that the patient is not sick at all (or that the patient is going to be all right, not to worry) while some other "doctors" enter the scene stating false diagnoses with great conviction.

Unfortunately, many of the unqualified "experts" are found among the supporters of climate change and in the conservation movement. Not only will many of these well-meaning but ill-informed "experts" react with hostility when challenged by scientists, they also play in the hands of the sceptics in a formidable way.

The great tragedy of this debate is that the ones to blame for all this confusion and especially for the existence of "experts" who got it wrong, are the scientists themselves. If the natural science education in the schools as well as the public outreach and communication of science to the public had been more thorough and more serious, I doubt that we would have this problem. Scientists will have to become and train better teachers, and they will have to become and train better science communicators.

Compulsory Pilots for Svalbard Cruise Operators?

As the local newspaper Svalbardposten reports, "Kystverket"/The Norwegian Coastal Administration has proposed to introduce compulsory pilot services for cruise ships operating in Svalbard waters, effective from next summer. This article is unfortunately only available in Norwegian.

Click here to access the Kystverket post about it or click here to download the full report. For the moment, these two items are also available in Nowegian only.

International Polar Tourism Research Network now online

As polar tourism increases, so does the body of research that studies it. This newly launched website offers a comprehensive overview of literature on the subject of polar tourism (though mostly from a geographic viewpoint, as it seems) and is according to the website's own statement meant to "...foster increased connections between the many researchers studying polar tourism. In addition, the International Polar Tourism Research Network welcomes not only researchers, but also polar tourism operators, consultants, students and community leaders shaping the industry and phenomenon of polar tourism."



The creation of the International Polar Tourism Research Network is the idea of a group of polar tourism researchers who met in 2006 at the Annual conference of the Canadian Association of Geographer held that year at Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay.



The International Polar Tourism Research Network website is supported by the Université du Québec A Montréal (UQAM) and the Centre international de formation et de recherche en tourisme (CIFORT).

Unfortunately, that makes it a bit cumbersome to search, as this function is currently only available in French.

Stricter regulations on Svalbard cruise traffic

Quote from the Governor of Svalbard's website:

"The Governor of Svalbard hereby notifies that changes are being proposed to ”The Regulations concerning the establishment of bird reserves and large nature conservation areas in Svalbard” of 1st July 1973, last amended on 1st June 2007. The process will follow the standard case procedure regulations as determined in the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act §13.

In short, the topics for the revisions mentioned above are:

1) For North-west Spitsbergen, Forlandet and South Spitsbergen national parks, it has been proposed to amend the conservation regulations such that fuel quality carried and brought on board ships and other vessels sailing within the boundaries of the above named national parks will be subject to regulation. We refer to the introduction of the regulations from 1st June 2007 for vessels sailing within North-east Svalbard and South-east Svalbard nature reserves.

2) Introduction of travel restrictions at three automatically protected cultural heritage sites in North-west Spitsbergen and one automatically protected cultural heritage site in South-Spitsbergen national park is being considered.

3) For North-east Svalbard and South-east Svalbard nature reserves, amendments may be proposed to the conservation regulations so that going ashore from cruise ships/cruise vessels will be allowed on specific locations or in specific areas only
(fixed disembarkation areas/locations).








4) It is being considered to introduce travel restrictions at Midterhuken, Bellsund, an automatically protected cultural heritage site. Such regulations will be made pursuant to the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act §42 and Public Administration Act §37.

The deadline for receipt of comments and observations relative to the above proposals is decemver 20th 2007.

On the basis of comments received and the subsequent process, the Governor will draft formal discussion documents. The discussion documents will be presented at a hearing in the spring of 2008.

Svalbard Feltlogg - Field log

Beginning this November, the Svalbard Feltlogg (Field Log) will publish new warnings, messages etc. in both Norwegian and English. This log is a service supported by the Governor of Svalbard and Svalbard Reiseliv a/s (Svalbard Tourism), with contributions from local tour operators and the University Center in Svalbard, UNIS.

You can log in, subscribe and receive notification emails.

Polar Bear Knut - the sibling sequel?

Knut, the Berlin Zoo's well-known polar bear, may soon have as many as three little siblings before Christmas, the zoo's veterinarian said Friday.

Knut's mother, Tosca, and the zoo's two other female polar bears, Katjuscha and Nancy, may all be pregnant after mating earlier this year with Knut's father, Lars, and could give birth before the end of December, according to veterinarian Andre Schuele.

But polar bear pregnancies are hard to detect and to track. Tests like those humans use do not work, and polar bear embryos are so small the mothers do not grow big tummies.

The zoo is hopeful enough, however, to have built three special caves for the female polar bears to use to give birth.

First allocation of fundings from Svalbard's environmental protection fund

(republished after Svalbard Science Forum homepage - news)

At 1 October 2007, the deadline for the first announcement of Svalbard's environmental protection fund, 26 different applicants had submitted 42 proposals for diverse projects and initiatives related to environmental protection in Svalbard. The total sum applied for was 11.2 Mio NOK and 46.4 % of the applications were research related.

The board of the fund has now allocated in total 1.7 Mio NOK to 15 projects and initiatives. Of these 15 projects 38% were research projects with a total sum of 640.000 NOK.

The Svalbard's environmental protection fund is pursuant to the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act. The fund's resources are used for projects and initiatives with the purpose of protecting the environment. The fund is financed by dues and funding allocation is dependant upon the income. The sources of income are the environment fee, fees fro hunting and fishing cards, the value of the flora and fauna which is handled in violation of the Svalbard environmental law and environmental compensations and enforced penalties set by The Governor of Svalbard.

The fund announces twice a year a call of proposals.

Click here to download the full list of accepted and denied proposals, with the respective sums applied for and granted. You can also find the file on my download pages.

Proceedings of the 2007 International Polar Diving Workshop available

The Smithsonian Institute's Scientific Diving Program has recently held an international workshop on Polar Diving in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The proceedings are now available here and I have also uploaded them on my own website's download section.

Here is an overview of the contents of this proceedings issue:




Interestingly, the workshop also covered the "USCGC Healy Diving Mishap" where two US coast guard divers died during an under-ice dive. According to the report, there were several serious and hair-raising issues with the divers' qualifications, the site and dive supervision, inadequate training of dive tenders (who apparently were also consuming alcohol), extraordinary amounts of lead weights used by divers ("... in excess of 60 pounds...") and the list just goes on.
As I had blogged a while after the incident, this had also some serious consequences for the commanding officer of the USCGC Healy (see original posting here).

But the proceedings also specify the national requirements for ice diving for the various polar research programs:





Although it is a pretty thick volume to read through, it definitely contains lots of valuable information on polar diving, and not only for scientific diving applications but also for the recreational diver or even underwater photographers.

DEMA show 2007 - Orlando

Last week, the "Diving Equipment & Marketing Association" (DEMA) held their annual trade fair at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. This event is the industry's only international trade-only event and regularly features new product showcases, new destinations, and new companies.



Oceanwide Expeditions has traditionally been one of the exhibitors at the show, and this year I was invited to join the US staff at the booth and to give the seminar presentations on Oceanwide's polar diving activities.



To give you a feeling for the size of the event, here is a floorplan (Oceanwide's booth is marked with a red circle).



Apart from the two seminar presentations, we had to man the booth during opening hours, meet with long-time clients as well as potential future business partners and offer information, brochures and in-depth information (no pun intended ;-) about our diving operations.



Here you can see Marina (Oceanwide's US office) and Michel (Oceanwide's executive director) at our booth.

We had a quite successful show, all things considered, and have been able to establish some very interesting contacts as well as renewed some previous contacts with tour operators and agents. This was not a customer event and there were almost no items on display or for purchase. Such trade-only events seem mostly about number-crunching and hand-shaking and not so much about buying or selling, but I was able to check out some new products and make some contacts with equipment manufacturers in between presentations.

One of the most interesting things to see during the show were the new Poseidon Cis-Lunar Mk VI rebreather which is a remarkably compact and lightweight unit.



It also bears strange resemblance to the Seaway CORA II rebreather which I was able to test dive last year in prototype version. Unfortunately this unit never really made it into full production and sales, the company seems to have disappeared or at least its internet presence is suspended (site under construction).

Another interesting bit of news is the Poseidon Flexisuit which is hoped to appeal to the advanced rebreather and technical diver community. I tried it, it is extremely soft and flexible, but for my taset even TOO soft and TOO flexible.

But a front-entry zip has of course always en vogue in the tech/rb community so I guess this suit is going to be a hit (just not with me). Here is a picture:



Another exciting new product which unfortunately was not quite ready yet for the market is the OTS full-face mask. Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture but it resembles pretty much the Interspiro (AGA) mask that everybody knows as the "gold standard" for lightweight FFM's.



Interspiro Divator

But the guys at OTS had the ambition to make an even better FFM so they pulled up a list of issues that users have had with the IS Divator mask:

• bad fit for small/narrow faces
• regulator is permanently attached to FFM body
• regulator comes from the left (as is usual in rescue/recovery, professional and firefighter masks, but not in sports diving)
• mask body has quite large volume above the oral/nasal cavity (thus often requires counterweights attached to the sides)
• quite highly priced

So they tried to fix it, and here is what they came up with (so sorry, still only text):

• double latex seal for improved fit
• detacheable regulator (p-connector with release button inside)
• regulator can be mounted from left or right
• mask body with smaller volume (only slightly, but they say it makes a difference...)
• roughly 50% of the retail price of the IS Divator (but shipping will start approx. in 6 months, so who knows...)

On top of that they have decided to offer it in a range of attractive color combinations... ;-)






I ended up not buying (or rather, ordering) a mask from them yet, as they admitted that it would still need a couple of rounds of serious tests and "some small adjustments and improvements".

But it looks like as if I will be going to the DEMA 2008 as well, next year it will be in Las Vegas, and by then they promised to have the mask ready and shipping!

Images of OTS FFM prototypes by remi, Hareid Sub Sea, originally posted at www.dykkesiden.no.

Is funding of polar bear research by Exxon questionable?

In a world where scientists and university officials are discussing "profitability" of their departments, technology transfers and industry cooperations, industry-funded research has increasingly been subject of ethical debates. Now it even seems to have sparked a political debate as well. The US House Committee on Science and Technology is currently investigating ExxonMobil's motives for funding research by an astrophysicist into the impact of climate change on the polar bear population of western Hudson Bay in Canada.

Now anyone familiar with the matter at hand will pause for a moment and raise an eyebrow over the fact that Exxon has chosen an astrophysicist to study the potential fate of a polar marine mammal population, but we will let that one pass for now.

These Exxon-paid researchers, including Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, published their findings as a "viewpoint", which is not peer-reviewed. They conclude that the polar bears are not threatened by climate change (link).

Here is an excerpt of their abstract:

"We found that spring air temperatures around the Hudson Bay basin for the past 70 years (1932–2002) show no significant warming trend and are more likely identified with the large-amplitude, natural climatic variability that is characteristic of the Arctic. Any role of external forcing by anthropogenic greenhouse gases remains difficult to identify. We argue, therefore, that the extrapolation of polar bear disappearance is highly premature. Climate models are simply not skilful for the projection of regional sea-ice changes in Hudson Bay or the whole Arctic."

Now two things about that publication raise some more eyebrows: first of all, it is published as a "viewpoint" and thereby excempt from the usual procedure of peer review. It is noting "no significant warming trend...around Hudson Bay", a finding that stands in stark contrast to other studies published in peer-reviewed journals, p.e.

• Comiso, J. C. 2002a. Correlation and trend studies of the sea-ice cover and surface temperatures in the Arctic. Ann. Glaciol, 34:420-428. (link)

• Comiso, J. C. 2002b. A rapidly declining perennial sea ice cover in the Arctic. Geophys. Res. Lett. 29:1956 (link)

• Comiso, J. C. 2003. Warming trends in the Arctic from clear-sky satellite observations. J. Clim, 16:3498-3510. (link)

Also, the abstract ends with the following statement:

"Both scientific papers and public discussion that continue to fail to recognize the inherent complexity in the adaptive interaction of polar bears with both human and nature will not likely offer any useful, science-based, preservation and management strategies for the species."

This sounds more like a political statement (read: scientists have an agenda, and so do the media) than the conclusions of a scientific study that - especially in peere-reviewed publications - would try to be as concise and focussed on the data as possible, while avoiding opining and bold statements at all costs.

"It's hard to see this article as rigorous, sound science," writes chair Brad Miller (D) of the subcommittee on investigations and oversight in an open letter to the oil giant.

Coast Guard to establish Arctic Base

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A Coast Guard reconnaissance team is heading to the far north this week to scope out a new frontier that the warming Arctic climate is opening to ship traffic.

The Coast Guard could set up an operations base in Barrow as early as next spring to monitor waters that are now free of ice for longer periods of the year. Weather permitting, a scouting crew will fly 1,183 miles Thursday from Barrow, the northernmost U.S. town, to the North Pole.




"This is a new area for us to do surveillance," said Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, commander of the Coast Guard's Alaska district. "We're going primarily to see what's there, what ships, if any, are up there."

Thinning ice has made travel along the northern coast increasingly attractive, said Brooks, who plans to accompany the crew in the C-130 flight. Tankers and even cruise ships are beginning to venture into the domain once traveled only by indigenous hunters and research vessels, such as the Coast Guard ice-cutter Healy.



The ice cap is believed to be warming faster than the rest of the world, and recent studies suggest shipping routes could open in the Arctic in as little as a decade. Just a few years ago, scientists predicted it would take a century for the ice to melt.

The melting could also open up oil and gas exploration - a prospect that has nations in the circumpolar north racing to declare their sovereignty in the region.

"This all points to increased traffic," Brooks said. "I've got to get ready for this increased traffic."

Brooks hopes to start with a seasonal base that would rely on existing infrastructure in Barrow, a town of 4,000. Plans are "totally in the beginning stages," but Brooks said the Coast Guard could use a helicopter, small response boats and possibly a fixed-wing plane to assist ships in distress, conduct surveillance, and run search and rescue missions.

By RACHEL D'ORO
Associated Press Writer

September 07: Arctic sea ice shrinks to record low

Arctic sea ice shrank this year to its smallest area of coverage since satellite measurements began some 30 years ago. The record low is a result of long-term climate change combined with particular weather conditions during 2007, say US scientists.

The remarkable decline made international headlines in September when European and US space agencies announced that the ice-clogged North-West Passage had completely opened for the first time, allowing vessels to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) have revealed satellite measurements showing the full extent of summer melt during 2007. Ice is now starting to reform in the Arctic as winter approaches.



"We've got the final numbers now for this September, and it's a really dramatic record low," says Walt Meier, a member of the team studying the ice. "It didn't just break the record, it shattered the record. This year just obliterated everything else."

The average sea-ice coverage for September, when it was lowest, slipped to 4.28 million square kilometres. This is 23% less than the previous record low, set in 2005, and 39% less than the annual average between 1979 and 2000.

For the full article, click this link by Catherine Brahic and Reuters, hosted by the The New Scientist.

Bowhead Whale contained 1890's projectile

Another news item that I missed while at sea (from msnbc.com):

"A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago.

Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.



The whale had a bomb lance fragment lodged a bone between its neck and shoulder blade. The fragment was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The small metal cylinder was filled with explosives fitted with a time-delay fuse so it would explode seconds after it was shot into the whale. The bomb lance was meant to kill the whale immediately and prevent it from escaping.



“It probably hurt the whale, or annoyed him, but it hit him in a non-lethal place,” he said. “He couldn’t have been that bothered if he lived for another 100 years.”

The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month, and the older device was found buried beneath its blubber as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.

UPDATE: an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has now appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here.

Arctic expedition cruise season finished

After 2.5 months of cruising the waters of Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland, I am finally back onshore - although still not home but on Svalbard ;-)

My "new" ship, the Vavilov, and the operator Peregrine proved to be a great success and a very enjoyable experience indeed. Many thanks to all who have sailed with me in this July and August!



I will shortly make the trip logs of the Vavilov reports available on my own download pages but some of them are currently also available on the operator's web pages at adventurefleet.com/files.

I am looking forward to a more relaxed autumn with some more teaching at the university center on Svalbard and some desk time at my new home office. And by the way, I am also getting married... ;-)

Another harbour day in Longyearbyen

Back from another week-long trip around Northern Spitsbergen. We had a lot of good weather, but still too much ice in Hinlopen and around Sjuøyane, so some landings had to be cancelled and the ship had to be rerouted several times.



But nobody seemed to mind, least of all the captain who is remarkably "ice-happy" and cooperative. The group, a mix of Irish, British and Dutch with a couple of other nationalities (Russian, Australian, South African, Swiss, Belgian... forgot any?) were a happy bunch and the only remarkable problem we encountered was another ship that had taken our spot on Fuglesangen - not exactly a first, but definitvely strange to see how Svalbard logistics starts to resemble the Antarctic IAATO bureaucracy more and more, the forms, the "all-ship schedule e-mails" etc.

We finally received the compressor and brand-new scuba tanks (although I will not get too excited until they are actually loaded and stored onboard the vessel). So in fact I will need to rush back to the ship and install and check everything...

Next post in approx. one week.

First Arctic Diving Trip 2007 - some pics and comments

You can find a recently updated selection of Arctic Summer pictures here. The trip started with a minor logistical hickup - the diving bottles and the compressor had not been transferred from the other vessel as planned, and the new equipment that had been bought and shipped as replacements did never arrive in Longyearbyen -but thanks to several helpful contacts in Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund, we managed to get everything necessary together within a hectic few hours. Thanks again to the Longyearbyen Dykkerklubb, University Center (logistics department), Norwegian Polar Institute, and Kings Bay a/s.

We had a great trip with 14 divers from the Netherlands, Ireland, and Great Britain, and we managed to get two really good iceberg dives as well as one dive north of 80° N (off Lågøya).

Brilliant weather and plentiful wildlife, experienced divers and a good team of expedition guides (thanks to Martin, Monika, Mick, and Mike) made sure that this trip turned out just great!

In a few hours, Monika, Mick and myself will be off for another seven days of cruising (this time without diving) and I am already looking forward to that. The next posting and fresh pictures will come on the 27.06.

The oceanographic unicorn

About a year ago I blogged about elephant seals which had been turned into "oceanographic vessels of opportunity" - researchers interested in the South Atlantic circulation were taking advantage of elephant seals' impressive range and diving behaviour by attaching oceanographic sensors to their heads.

Now their Arctic colleagues follow this approach by attaching similar sensor systems to narwhals, a small Arctic tooth whale species mostly known for their long tusks, which had in earlier times inspired unicorn myths.

"We've converted these animals into oceanographers," says Kristin Laidre of the Polar Science Center at the University of Washington.



The whales, which dive up to one mile deep to feed on bottom fish, already have provided the first winter temperature measurements in Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland.



The region is part of the global "conveyor belt" of currents that brings warmer waters north, moderating the weather in northern Europe. An international science panel recently predicted global warming will slow those currents.

"Any weakening of the Gulf Stream because of climate change will immediately show up in this area," says Laidre's collaborator, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.



Global climate models have basically been "faking it" when it comes to the ocean west of Greenland, said Michael Steele, a senior oceanographer at the Polar Science Center.

"There's just a huge data hole in this part of the world ocean in the winter," he said.

More about the narwhal project here on the NOAA pages.