Last summer , researchersanchoredunderwater listening devices to the bottom of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic . Now , they ’re making the treacherous journey to draw out them up to see what they can instruct us about the clime crisis .
The scientists deposited the devices in August 2019 on ocean trip call the Coordinated Arctic Acoustic Thermometry Experiment . Since then , the instruments have been recording sounds from under the water , as well as other oceanographic datum like temperatures , carbon engrossment , and salinity . The work is part of an external project aimed at measuring the variety in the average temperature of the Arctic Basin over the past 20 years .
Researchers plan to use the acoustical information tomore accurately value ocean heating . Since sound travels more quickly in warm pee , data on phone in the ocean can tell them quite a bit about how much the water is heating up .
The scientists bring the device they retrieved from the bottom of the ocean onto their ship.Photo: Norwegian Coast Guard
https://gizmodo.com/after-more-than-a-year-on-the-ice-the-biggest-arctic-r-1845350901
The mission to retrieve the instruments was planned only lately . scientist with the U.S. Coast Guard earlier planned to recover them in August but wereforced to become backdue to an electrical fire on their iceboat ship . But in mid - October , 55 officers and scientist boarded a Norwegian Coast Guard ship to finish the Book of Job . The trip differentiate the first time Norwegian researchers have cruised north of Alaska on a research mission .
The team aims to regain three slip from the seafloor . So far , they ’ve managed to obtain one , the Barents Observerreportedon Monday . It was n’t easy , either ; the operation to lift it out of the water acquire 10 hours in the caustic frigidness of the Arctic .
The scientist are racing against the clock to find the other moorings before their battery die hard out . This timeline is authoritative because to build up a more exact picture of when and where each acoustical data level come from , they ’ll need to do calculations ground on the devices ’ temperature readings and atomic clocks that are built into the instruments . But those nuclear clock are prepare to die before long , which could make these act much harder to crunch accurately . As the temperatures proceed to leave out in the Arctic , circumstance could become even more hard .
“ The Coast Guard will do our utmost to ensure that the moorings and the data they carry are brought ashore safely , ” Oliver Berdal , commander of the Norwegian Coast Guard , tell the Barents Observer . “ However , the operation must be carried out in a good manner and without great risk to staff office and equipment . ”
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