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

Our flux sleds have turned out to be great scientific tools. The measurements themselves have been super reliable. Consistent and steady. No icing. The primary issues have been mitigation of icing on the exhaust for the fuel cell…. And ice dynamics. We can work to improve the systems to address the former. But there is not much to be done about the latter. If the ice decides to come together, it will simply destroy anything in its way. That’s what happened to our so-called ASFS50 station. A 1000-pound station flipped upside down by the ice back during Leg 2. Since that time the station has been fixed and operated at times. And we brought out some new parts with us on this leg. So now the system is in prime condition. Today we pushed it out to its new home out in the First Year Ice domain of our floe, to provide a nice contrast with the met tower, which is set up on the thicker, second year ice. With no skidoo tracks, we opted to instead push the sled into position, about 400m along a windy track through the ice, over small ridges, through melt ponds. In many ways it was like pushing a bobsled through a track. And the sled did awesome! It’s a rigid structure, because we need it to be very stable. Thus, I had some concern with how it would handle the bumps and curves. But this lack of flexibility actually worked out well…. And the skids themselves worked so well. The bottom surface is covered with this special plastic that slides very easily over icy surfaces (thanks to Polarfield Services for the recommendation on that!). Overall Jesse and Tom did an amazing job of designing and building the structure of these sled systems. They’ve been so easy to manage in the field, to push around even with just two people, and support a successful operation out here.