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From August 22 to September 21, 2013, the first expedition to the Laptev Sea within the framework of the project took place: TRANSDRIFT XXI. 22 participants (see photograph and list below) boarded RV Viktor Buynitskiy in Arkhangelsk on August 22 and sailed on August 25 along the Northern Sea Route toward the Laptev Sea.

During the very successful expedition, about 20 stations were carried out and four seafloor observatories were deployed in the Laptev Sea. They are equipped – among other devices – with state-of-the-art automatic water samplers. These will take one sample every week during one year. Thus, the physical changes of the water masses can be observed through all seasons. One seafloor observatory was recovered. It had been deployed in 2011 and took measurements for two whole years.

The daily expedition reports of TRANSDRIFT XXI are to be found here.

Special feature: Daily reports written by the participants including a personal "mood barometer": click here.

 

The participants of the expedition:

Ekaterina Abramova, biologist, Lena Delta Reserve
Research focus: Ecology of the Siberian Arctic
Tasks on board: Zooplankton sampling

Ekaterina Chernyavskaya, PhD student, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI)
Research focus: Thermohaline structure of the Arctic near-surface water column
Task on board: Water sampling and hydrochemistry

Elena Dobrotina, chemist, AARI
Research focus: Hydrochemistry
Task on board: Water sampling and hydrochemistry

Jens Hölemann, marine geologist, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Research focus: Shelf processes in the Siberian Arctic
Task on board: Seafloor observatories as well as oceanographic measurements and water sampling

Alexandr Ipatov, oceanographer, AARI
Research focus: Currents in the Laptev Sea
Task on board: Expedition leader

Markus Janout, oceanographer, AWI
Research focus: Oceanography of shelf seas and the Arctic
Task on board: Seafloor observatories and oceanographic measurements, GPS, Software

Bennet Juhls, M.Sc. student in marine geosciences, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel
Research interests: Particulate matter in the water column
Task on board: Water sampling, communication, logistics

Heidemarie Kassens, marine geologist, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Research focus: Paleoceanography of the Arctic
Task on board: Expedition leader

Sergey Korsun, marine biologist, P.P. Shirshov Institute of Ozeanography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)
Research focus: Distribution of foraminifera at the seafloor
Task on board: Surface sediments

Irina Kryukova, PhD Student, Institute of Water Problems RAS / Moscow State University
Research focus: Phytoplankton distribution, seasonal dynamics
Task on board: Water samples and net hauls

Georgi Laukert, PhD  student, GEOMAR
Research focus: Isotope ratios of neodymium and rare-earth-element distribution in the water column and at the seafloor
Task on board: Water sampling and surface sediments, logistics

Yuri S. Lukyanov, head of the hydrochemical laboratory, N.N. Zubov State Institute of Oceanography (GOIN)
Research focus: Development of standard methods in hydrochemistry
Main research areas: Barents, Kara and Caspian Sea as well as the Volga River
Task on board: Expedition leader

Fedor Martynov, PhD Student, Otto Schmidt Laboratory for Polar and Marine Research / St. Petersburg State University
Research focus: Chlorophyll a distribution
Task on board: Water and zooplankton sampling

Matthias Monsees, technician for moorings, AWI
Task on board: Deployment and recovery of the seafloor observatories

Felix Müller, M.Sc. student in biological oceanography, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel
Research interests: Benthic fauna
Task on board: Surface sediments and biogeochemical measurements

Yaroslav Ovsepyan, PhD student, Moscow State University / Geological Institute RAS
Research focus: Arctic foraminifera, paleoceanography
Task on board: Surface sediments

Dieter Piepenburg, professor in marine biology, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel / Institute of Polar Ecology
Research focus: Benthic fauna of the polar seas
Task on board: Koordination of the biological works, surface sediments and biogeochemical measurements

Nadezhda Pravdina, M.Sc. student in geography, St. Petersburg State University
Task on board: Hydrochemical measurements

Tim Sandmann, constructing engineer, K.U.M. Environmental and Marine Technology
Schwerpunkte: Marine Technologe and deep-sea instrumentation
Task on board: Seafloor observatories, electronics, software, communication

Dmitry Selitrenikov, student apprentice
Task on board: Looking around to get a taste of the various kinds of tasks

Benoit Thibodeau, geologist, Mainz Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literarure
Research focus: Stabil isotopes
Task on board: Water sampling and surface sediments

Natalia Tikhonova, oceanographer, GOIN
Task on board: Oceanography of the Kara Sea