We Came For the Dark

This year we came early to try and study the ocean without much light on it. Not only is it still night for much of the day here, but there is a lot (around 30cm) of snow on top of the sea ice making it very dark - Which makes this trip great!

The challenge with darkness, is that it is... well...dark. Like really pretty dark. In the above shot you can see the faint color of sun poking through a snow covered crack. Everywhere else has almost no light hitting it. While this is well within what we are used to diving in, it still adds some additional challenges to the day (and the photography!)

But what makes this all so interesting is the TONS of life everywhere, even after no light - no sunlight fueled energy for almost half a year. Anything that something can settle on, they do turning even a stake that was part of an experiment decades ago into a cornicopia of life.

Today was the first dive day for science. We are all checked out, making progress and happy to be here in the dark. Sometimes the little bit of light is what makes it all the more special.