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A First Time for Everything

The R/V Lance is an old sealing vessel that was converted by the Norwegian Polar Institute to support oceanographic research. Its design requires moorings to be deployed off the ship’s bow, anchor-first. This is fine in calm, ice-covered waters, but this summer a team of six international research institutions, including WHOI oceanographer Robert Pickart, had to deploy an array of moorings anchor-last in rough open water. It was the first time it’s been done on the vessel, and was also a new experience for John Kemp, WHOI’s lead mooring technician with 35 years of experience. The array is the first high-resolution set of moorings across the Atlantic Water boundary current in the Arctic Ocean.(Photo by Lena Schulze, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)