Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project home

Welcome to the Beaufort Gyre Expedition Project website. On these pages you will find a wealth of information about oceanography on top of the world. The site contains the following sections:
Overview learn about the experiment and the scientists
Methods examine the tools scientists use to study the Arctic
Cruise read dispatches and view photos from the research cruises
Data access buoy and model data
History discover the history of Arctic exploration and science

Ice, ocean, atmosphere. These three components constitute the health of the Arctic climate. At the heart of this system is one of the least studied bodies of water on the planet: the Beaufort Gyre, a slowly swirling bowl of icy water north of Alaska ten times the size of Lake Michigan.

Recent observations suggest that because of global warming, the natural rhythms of the Beaufort Gyre have been tipped out of balance. To find out what this means for the future of the Arctic climate, scientists from the United States, Canada, and Japan will set out every summer from 2003 to 2008 for month-long expeditions aboard the Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent. They are using an array of newly-developed instruments to measure the environment above, below, and within the floating icepack.

Join the research team on the ice and aboard the icebreaker through realtime dispatches and photos posted to the Cruise pages.