When Your Backup Plans Need Backup Plans

“Let’s make a plan, so we can change it.” This was a mantra we learned during our first season, and it was even more relevant this season! The sea ice was a challenge this year, because a late winter storm caused the ice to break up and drift out to sea, and it did not re-form with the thickness of previous years. This led to some logistical hurdles, including a longer commute to our field sites to safely navigate over or around cracks, as well as the need to come up with contingency plans for when large structures would no longer be supported on the ice.

To properly perform our metabolic measurements, we need to run the gas analyzers (machines that measure oxygen and carbon dioxide) in a heated structure. In our first season and during the first part of this second season, that was our trusty Fish Hut, a cozy wooden structure with a propane heater (top photo). But the instability of the ice meant that the staff had to remove Fish Huts from the ice earlier than usual. So we moved on to our backup plan: a Polar Haven, which was essentially a large, domed tent with a wooden floor and a propane heater (middle photo). We grew to appreciate our Haven, and it was serving us well, until… the sea ice cracks grew so large that we could no longer bring the seals to our equipment. The Field Safety and Training staff had graciously built us an eight-foot-long foot bridge to help us cross the large sea ice crack that had formed south of Turtle Rock. But, by the end of the season, that crack was more than eight feet across!

So, if we wanted to complete our metabolic measurements, we had to bring the equipment to the seals, who decided to hang out on the wrong side of the cracks. To get it done, the crew came together, and we successfully assembled a mobile metabolics station using our Pisten Bully (bottom photo)! This was not our first or even our fifth choice for how to collect the data, but we managed to pull it off. Creativity, flexibility, and a healthy dose of determination got us across the finish line this season.

Thank you for following us on our journey. We will post updates about what we discover about these amazing seals as we take a look at the data…

Written by: Heather Liwanag