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Ice Capades

Tired of this winter’s ice and snow? They are nothing compared to the conditions encountered by WHOI researchers on an expedition in March 2010 off Barrow, Alaska. Physical oceanographer Al Plueddemann led this snowmobiling caravan onto the sea ice extending into the Chukchi Sea. They experimented with using an autonomous underwater vehicle and recovering it from beneath the ice. The researchers camped on the ice, where they said the wind chill factor exceeded 50 degrees below zero. We forgot to ask whether that was Celsius or Fahrenheit, but, really, when the temperature is that low, does it matter?

(Photo by Amy Kukulya, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)