WHAT IS IT LIKE TO LIVE ON AN ICE FLOE?
Describing her time on an ice floe, Vicky says, “The Federov dropped us off and left after we’d set up camp. Ice Station Weddell I was set up in four to five days, with 32 people ‘camping’ on the floe as it drifted generally northward. The ice floe varied from one to four meters thick, and was four to five kilometers, roughly three miles, in diameter.” Vicky was part of the sea ice group in the drifting camp. She helped to collect ice cores to measure their salinity, installed thermistor strings to measure temperatures vertically through the ice and snow, and measured changes in snow accumulation, surface flooding, and ice growth on the floe. The group also established a 100-meter and 200-meter transect where they periodically drilled through the ice at every meter to measure the ice thickness. Using the helicopters that were left with them, group members established five other sites up to 70 miles away with similar measurements. Vicky also worked with a biologist who was measuring the
