AUG 5, 06.13 UTC – NANUQ2020 has successfully completed its first 3 days of activity in Greenland and should be moving today towards another research site. As observed locally by the crew and as charted by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, ice formation in the area where the boat currently is, indicate a trend to higher ice density. Conditions, which had been between “very open drift ice” or “open drift ice” in the past 72 hours, have changed to the status of “close drift ice” and there is some degree of uncertainty about the trend of this phenomenon. Although research operations were conducted so far with no significant inconvenience, coastal navigation proved quite challenging and, particularly yesterday, the boat got repeatedly stuck in thick pack ice, requiring long stops. According to a series of messages sent yesterday via Iridium, Prof. Peter Gallinelli is considering to re-plan the sequence of activities and head towards alternative sites for data acquisition, among the quite many available.

Map https://cryo.met.no/ edited by Polarquest.

headline picture: Archive image by Polarquest (2018), image by Michael Struik.

AUG 1 – 23.30 UTC. NANUQ has successfully reached Nansen fjord in Greenland, after the 2 day rough  journey from Iceland. Skipper Gallinelli had sent an Iridium message early in the afternoon: “Now in sight of of Blosseville Coast at a distance of 50 miles. Calm sea and steady winds from SW, cruising at 8 knots speed. Couldn’t be better. We are recovering from the stormy night and catching up on food. Looking forward to dropping our anchor in an estimated 8h time. Nevertheless, keeping in mind that especially in the Arctic nothing is 100% for sure.” As the boat got closer to Greenland’s coast, she found progressively denser ice on her way,  and had to slow her speed down.  Navigation continued safely and at 22.02 UTC NANUQ reached coordinates 68°5’N, 29°59’W. At that time the Skipper sent another update: “Just entering Nansen fjord after pushing our way through 20 miles of pack ice. Fortunately with sufficient open water to make our way through. The steep cliffs of the barren coastline are impressive, very wild place! We will search for a safe mooring for a rest in the still uncharted fjord after 380 mile crossing from Iceland.” With the arrival in Greenland, another phase in the expedition activity begins, and the crew will set up the planned series of activities that will be documented in the next days.

UPDATE (AUG 2): Early this morning, Peter Gallinelli sent via e.mail through the Iridium satellite connection a low-res image taken onboard NANUQ during arrival in Greenland. It gives a feeling of the cold and cloudy approach to the wild and beautiful island.

NANUQ’s arrival to Greenland on August 1st, 2020.

Frontpage arcticle image: archive photo NANUQ in Greenland (2015)

AUG 1 – 4.42 UTC. As she approaches Greenland, NANUQ is about to cross an area of open water with occasional floating ice and areas of “very open drift ice” and “open drift ice”. Ice density is reported acceptable for navigation where the boat is heading for, but situation may change fast and require quick adjustments by the crew. Ice conditions are published and updated daily by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (NMI) at: <https://cryo.met.no/sites/cryo.met.no/files/latest/denmark_strait_latest.png> . Thanks to her rugged and widely redundant design, NANUQ can safely sail and manoeuvre at low speed in “very open drift ice” (marked in green on the NMI map) and “open drift ice” (yellow). Thicker conditions or even a complete block in ice would not pose an immediate threat to the boat – that was designed for, and has successfully stood, months of complete blocking during her initial trial voyages-, but that would hamper the planned development of the expedition. Therefore, areas of “close drift ice” (orange) and “very close drift ice” (red) will be avoided.  Based on the latest ice bulletin (below), it is possible to observe that in the last 24 hours, NANUQ has cruised on a westerly course, apparently with the intention of keeping closer to the open water areas (blue), before approaching the southern margin of the Blosseville Coast. Now very far from usual data connection lines, the crew can only communicate via Iridium (satellite) channel, and messages will be relayed as they are received.

12.54 UTC – NANUQ is heading towards Grimsey island, 150 nautical miles from Seyðisfjörður. Wind and sea are calm at the moment, the sky is overcast, visibility is very good. Due to the lack of wind, the boat is cruising on engine at 6.5 knots. While the expedition is periodically sending automated position updates and other information via Iridium satellite connection, the boat is still relatively close to land; at this time it appears to be still within reach of Iceland’s cell-phone network and the crew could send the following image via Telegram. Crewmembers Claudio Limacher and Tamara Strasser are on watch; she is at the helm, he is in position to keep an eye on the cockpit instrument panel. Both are visually scanning the horizon ahead. Co-skipper Dr. Thierry Selz is in the background. All persons onboard, when operating outside the cabin, are required to be attached to a safety line connecting them to a structural element of the boat; this is a basic measure to prevent anyone from falling overboard, a most critical situation in such freezing waters. Also mandatory is the life-jacket, designed to automatically inflate and keep the person afloat, in the proper head-up attitude, in case of accidental fall.