Fairwell to the Ice

05/13/2009

Story by Helen Fields and photos by Chris Linder

Bering Sea, May 7, 2009 -- Healy’s nose is pointed toward home. We’re stopping every 10 nautical miles to drop the CTD overboard, and sometimes a plankton net, but the rest of the science is winding down and people are starting to talk about packing up their instruments.

From the satellite images showing ice cover in the last few days, it looks like we’ll be in open water by breakfast. Not only are we heading south, back to port in Dutch Harbor, but the ice is heading north. As spring progresses in the Bering Sea, the ice recedes both by melting and with the help of the winds.

The ship has gone in and out of the ice several times over the last five weeks, but this time we’re leaving for good. We on the media team never get tired of looking at ice. We're sorry to leave it behind.

Read on about our adventure in the slideshow.