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Northern Lights

Work went on round-the-clock in the winter of 2011 during a 43-day cruise to the Chukchi, Beaufort, and Bering Seas. Bad weather, frigid temperatures, and nearly perpetual darkness can make moods foul, so to keep up morale, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy staged a rave party in the ship’s helicopter hangar, complete with fog machines, throbbing music, twirling glow sticks, and an indoor cookout. WHOI biologist Carin Ashjian was chief scientist of the multi-institutional expedition to learn more about how the complex Arctic Ocean ecosystem works and how it may be affected by climate change.(Photo by Carin Ashjian, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)