Hello, my name is Jackson Osborn, I am an Associate Scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in Boulder, Colorado. My background is in electrical engineering. I participated as an engineer for Team Atmosphere on Leg 4 of the MOSAiC Expedition. My job was to set up, troubleshoot, and maintain different atmospheric measuring systems and installations on the ice.
There were many challenges associated with Leg 4 of the MOSAiC Expedition, but there is one that still sticks out in my mind. The COVID-19 pandemic created many difficulties with personnel exchange and resupply. With no other icebreakers available to meet RV Polarstern in the ice, they were forced to come to us. The exchange would happen in the fjords of Svalbard. Polarstern would leave the ice floe and travel south for the scientist and crew exchange. That would mean that the ice camp would have to be packed up, except for some buoys and instruments in the ice that would remain there while Polarstern traveled south. There was also an Atmospheric Surface Flux Station (ASFS) still at the Central Observatory recording atmospheric measurements and reporting the location of the ice floe.
