And a warmer Arctic could slow the transport of warmer waters north from the equatorial region, thus influencing weather over a huge area. Morison says sometimes they wake up in the morning to find that a lead has formed between them and the research ship, and a small boat has to be launched to ferry them back to safety. Although it may be getting a tad warmer, that doesn't mean the weather is balmy. Many days the temperature drops to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Oceanographer Miles G. McPhee of the McPhee Research Co. in Naches, Wash., said via e-mail from the ship this week that workers were experiencing blizzard conditions.
Hands get numb very quickly.
At the moment, the Des Groseilliers is about 280 miles north of Barrow, Alaska, drifting with the ice through the summer. The goal of the project, ultimately, is to tie all the research together to better understand the dynamics of polar weather. It's turning out to be a complex story indeed.