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

We have lakes. These are no simple melt ponds but are more like lakes. With some wind there is even a bit of chop out there on the water. They are so nice and blue, especially at those times when the sun is shining. In the last days we’ve been hauling our things out onto the ice. Powerlines, instruments, flags, more. Skidoos pulling Nansen sleds is the option of choice, but one that will be short lived. The “roads” out to Met City and the ROV area have been degrading so quickly. With each trip the water gets a little deeper. Ponds are encroaching.  Today there were places where the water was one-foot deep over the “road.” You’ve got to keep the skidoo moving forward but can’t go too fast or you get all splashed. But it is a race now to get our installations in before it is no longer possible to move things via the surface. We did a couple helicopter sling-loads last night to get little huts out to the primary cities. Pretty amazing to see a building flying through the air and then coming to rest right on top of an ice ridge. We carved out a little shelf in the ice, and now our hut stands proud up on its ridge. We just have to be sure to add ablation shielding to help slow the melt process. Otherwise our installations will simply melt out and fall over. The melt is so rapid now that snow grains are very large and slippery. Most steps are slushy at the bottom. The ice has reached an isothermal state at 0 degrees C in the top 50 cm.  Below that point the temperature steadily decreases down to about -1.8C, the melting point of saltwater. This ice is now in its full melt state. And that is unfolding all around us each day.