Ice-covered stairs makes for a tricky ascent—and a necessary detour—aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy on a 2011 cruise to the Western Arctic Shelfbreak. The temperature this far north can dip as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures at which salt water spray freezes on contact with the ship. Photographer Donglai Gong, a WHOI postdoctoral…