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Out of the Cold

For several weeks each spring, Canadian researchers and logisticians from the Polar Continental Shelf Project (Canadian Energy, Mines, and Resources Department) open up their warehouse to American colleagues from the North Pole Environmental Observatory. In April 2007, WHOI researchers spent most of a week unpacking crates, testing instruments, assembling pieces, and getting rid of extraneous parts all while staying out of the -20 to -25 C in Resolute Bay, Canada and waiting for delayed flights to the North Pole. Every pound of equipment, plus the weight of people, was counted to ensure that planes were not overloaded when they headed out for a landing on the floating Arctic ice cap. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)