by Matthew Shupe, CIRES/NOAA scientist and co-coordinator of MOSAiC

After 5.5 weeks in transit, we are finally onboard of Polarstern. What a long journey it has been just to get to this point…. And our journey is really just beginning as we still must complete this turnover and then cruise up north into the ice pack in search of our remaining ice floe. That process will easily take another couple of weeks. But for now, getting settled. Out the window of my cabin I see the Merian below, and deckhands diligently working to move cargo between the ships. Scientists are engaging in turnover activities. Leg3 people are showing their Leg4 counterparts the ropes. Giving them tours of the ship. Talking them through the intricacies of the work that is to come. For many of us the turnover is a bit strange: Describing equipment that would have been on the ice, that we will hopefully put back on the ice. Now it is mostly conceptual. Our new installations may or may not be similar to those from past legs. In many ways we will simply be starting over with our activities. So the turnover is not like previous ones, where people would go through daily operations together, with hands on demonstrations. Moreso now it is a matter of identifying all of the equipment. It was pulled off the ice so quickly and brought onboard. Put into available spaces. So we have been touring around to find it all in hopes of putting the pieces all back together once we return to our floe.