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A Swell Time on Healy

February 29, 2012

Icy Arctic swells rocked the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy during a six-week science expedition in 2011. WHOI biologist Carin Ashjian and colleagues Sam Laney and Krista Longnecker visited the Arctic to learn more about the region’s biology and physical oceanography in early winter, when storms are frequent. “We have little idea what happens in the winter,” Ashjian said. “This is one of the least understood regions of the world, and right now, with climate change, it’s vulnerable.” When storms hit, people were safe on Healy, but the swells rolling the ship would occasionally knock over computers and chairs.(Photo courtesy of Carin Ashjian, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)