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Nuclear Ninety North
Eclipse of the Midnight Sun
August 1st, 2008 |
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Approaching Franz Josef Land from the South
2008-07-22 13:49 UTC |
Click images for reduced size. |
79°20.17'N 50°38.93'E |
Our course to the North Pole passed through Franz Josef Land,
which we'd stop to visit on the return journey. The weather
was reasonably clear by the standards of the High Arctic, and
we got some tantalising glimpses of various islands as we passed
them northward bound on the afternoon of July 22nd.
2008-07-22 14:40 UTC |
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79°33.81'N 51°22.78'E |
2008-07-22 14:00 UTC |
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79°22.92'N 50°47.53'E |
2008-07-22 14:41 UTC |
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79°33.92'N 51°23.12'E |
2008-07-22 15:43 UTC |
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79°51.57'N 52°0.36'E |
Most of the islands of Franz Josef Land are largely covered by
glaciers which flow down to the ocean and “calve”
icebergs into the sea. Here are two icebergs, one in the foreground,
another in the distance, passing one another from our perspective.
Connoisseurs of marine ice would probably prefer to designate
modest sized chunks such as these as “bergy bits”, but
when they're the first ones you've seen, they're impressive
enough.
2008-07-22 15:53 UTC |
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79°54.89'N 52°0.51'E |
Bergy bits can take on fanciful shapes: here's one that reminded
me of a rubber ducky. The beautiful pale blue colour is characteristic
of compacted ice in which the salt has been forced out, leaving
fresh water.
2008-07-22 16:12 UTC |
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80°0.85'N 52°0.55'E |
And here we have a bergy bit that looks like Nessie!
2008-07-22 16:20 UTC |
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80°3.35'N 52°0.57'E |
2008-07-22 16:39 UTC |
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80°9.53'N 52°0.77'E |
Franz Josef Land is home to many species of marine birds. These
are
Brünnich's Guillemot
(Cepphus grille) which, on
land, look somewhat like penguins. Unlike penguins, they
fly, and shadowed the ship on our passage through the islands
where they nest in the Arctic summer.
2008-07-22 18:11 UTC |
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80°34.58'N 52°17.44'E |
From Murmansk to Franz Josef Land, we'd been in open ocean, but
during the passage through the islands we encountered our
first sea ice. Except for leads (gaps between ice sheets)
and isolated patches of open water, we'd be in the ice all the
way from here to the Pole.
This document is in the public domain.