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Breaking Up is Hard to Do

The Swedish icebreaking ship Oden steams across a break in the Arctic ice during an engineering test cruise in June 2007, while WHOI engineer Hanumant Singh and colleagues flew in a helicopter to scout for an efficient way forward. “When you are driving the icebreaker, you can only see so far from the bridge,” said Singh. “We used the helicopter to scout for a possible path. Sometimes it makes sense to zig-zag through leads in the ice; other times it makes more sense to break ice.” Singh and fellow researchers will depart on July 1 for six-week expedition on Oden to study the seafloor Gakkel Ridge. (Photo by Hanumant Singh, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)