By this time, some of the research sites were quite distinguishable, and many instruments could be seen out on the ice. The "Met City" meteorological tower was raised on June 26th, 2020. It took approximately 10 days from arriving at the ice floe to standing the Met Tower up for collecting atmospheric measurements. You can see the Met Tower in pictures with a fog bow. It is incredible to think how much the ice had changed and how much it melted while we were out there.
The ice edge was always a concern for the integrity of the ice floe, and the closer it came, the sooner we would have to break down the ice camp and pack everything back onto Polarstern. On July 29th, 2020, the ice camp was dismantled and everything was brought back onboard Polarstern. I will say one thing: the equipment comes down a lot faster than it takes to set up! The following day, the ice floe broke into pieces. The timing was impeccable! On July 31st, 2020, we formally said our goodbyes. Overall, we managed to collect data and samples for just over a month. This experience was truly amazing and life changing. I have even more respect for the Arctic sea ice now that I have gotten to experience it up close.
