The icebergs drift around Baffin Bay and have been our constant companions this expedition. This was expected, and we have been very fortunate that their presence only caused us to move a couple of times. One iceberg, which we named Fred, stayed with us for at least a week. It was absolutely spectacular to observe this iceberg from multiple angles as it very slowly twirled and drifted past us. At its closest point, it came about three miles from the JOIDES Resolution.
Unique Polar Skies: Though polar environments can be challenging to live in, they also have unique beauty. On this expedition, we saw sundogs and auroras.
Sundogs are seen during the daytime and it creates a rainbow effect around the sun. It’s like when you pass light through a prism and can see the rainbow colors. The sun’s rays reflect through ice crystals found in the upper atmosphere and cast a rainbow-type halo about 22 degrees away from the sun. This doesn’t happen every day, but we were lucky enough to see it a handful of times on this expedition.
The Aurora Borealis can only be seen at night and it appears like dancing ribbons of light in the sky. Because I’ve lived in the far north most of my life, I’ve seen them many times, but I was especially excited to see them from the ship. The Auroras actually begin from storms occurring on the sun. When the sun’s storms are active, they eject charged particles through space and towards the earth. As those particles get closer to Earth, they are drawn towards the Earth’s magnetic poles in the north and south. When they enter our atmosphere, they bump into gasses in our atmosphere such as oxygen and nitrogen. This phenomenon makes these ribbons of light appear to dance in the sky.
