Each week is a little different in the ice pack. The speed of the ice drift is determined by the wind speed and direction, along with a few other factors like the ocean currents. Over the past week we drifted about 40 kilometers (25 miles) in a meandering path, which is pretty typical.
During the whole MOSAiC year so far, that is starting in early October of last year up until now, the ship has drifted a total distance of about 1,000 miles. Though, the actual path is much longer!
“Getting around” is an interesting concept out here on the sea ice. The easiest way to move across the ice near the ship is walking, but there are a few others. When I have a large load to carry, which does happen every couple of days, I take a snowmobile. It usually pulls a sled behind where we can load on some boxes, equipment and people. Also, this week I needed to visit one of our remote stations that is 10 miles away from the ship. To get there, we took a helicopter! We put our equipment and supplies in the back and then fly over to land on the ice. With the rotors still moving, we got ourselves and our equipment out, heads ducking low, and then the helicopter flew away back to the ship. What a fun way to get to work!
