Survey to Collect Sea Water beneath Arcic Sea Ice Completed
18.05.2010 - Atmosphere & Space, Water & Oceans, Flora & Fauna, Arctic
British explorers Ann Daniels, Charlie Paton and Martin Hartley from the Catlin Arctic Survey reached the Geographic North Pole at on 12th May after a 60-day trek across the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice. During their challenging trek they collected water and marine life samples from underneath the sea ice as part of a science programme assessing the impact of carbon dioxide on the ocean and its marine life.
Starting from northern Canada on March 14th, they researchers travelled 777 km to the North Pole, taking samples all along the way, taking their final sample right at the geographic North Pole hours before being picked up by a twin otter aircraft.
Tim Cullingford, the survey's scientific director, stated that taking samples over such a large swath of the Arctic Ocean during the spring is a "fantastic achievement" as it will fill a significant gap in the global record of CO2 concentrations in the world's oceans and provide “a unique baseline that will enable a better understanding of what is going on at a crucial time of year.”
While ocean acidification is a global problem, scientists suspect that the Arctic Ocean may see greater acidification since colder waters are more prone to absorbing CO2 emissions. Once dissolved in water, CO2 creates carbonic acid (H2CO3) once dissolved in sea water and is corrosive to the shells of marine animals with calciferous shells.
The survey now enters a second phase which will see the samples the team have collected analyzed at participating institutes along with the data collected at a Scientific Ice Base.
