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arcticfloatboat

Colourful Wooden Boats Deployed on the High-Arctic Sea Ice

Far north in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean, three ice drifter buoys and 364 colourful wooden boats were deployed during the 2024 HiAOOS cruise onboard KV Svalbard. The deployments were part of the outreach project “Float Your Boat” of the International Arctic Buoy Programme. The project aims engage the public and share knowledge about the Arctic Ocean circulation and sea ice.

Figure 1: Map showing the locations of the three deployments of ice drifter buoys and wooden boats in the Eurasian Basin.

The project supplies scientists with ice drifter buoys and wooden boats decorated by students. The ice drifter buoy measure and transmit real-time sea level pressure, surface temperature and position data. The sea ice drift can be inferred from the GPS positions over time. These are key parameters to understand more about the circulation and sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and how it is changing. The students can track their own wooden boat and follow its drifts across the Arctic.


During the HiAOOS 2024 cruise onboard KV Svalbard, we conducted three separate deployments in the Eurasian Basin, east in the Arctic Ocean. The map shows the locations of the three deployments (Figure 1).

Figure 2 Photo of the signed ice drifter buoy surrounded by decorated wooden boats deployed near the North Pole.

Ahead of the cruise, we received over 350 wooden boats and three ice drifter buoys from the Float Your Boat project. Of these, more than 300 of the wooden boats had been decorated by young pupils from various primary and art schools in the US. The remaining boats, including additional boats made by the crew and recruits onboard KV Svalbard, were undecorated. We organized therefore two events during the cruise, and invited the recruits to decorate their own wooden boat (Figure 4). One of these events included a friendly competition, with prizes from the boat's kiosk, “Slappen”.


Figure 3: Prior to the decoration we labelled the wooden boat made by the crew and recruits with the website (www.floatboat.org) and a unique number for tracing.


Figure 4: The recruits and master student Jens decorating their own small boats (left) and the result (right).


Deployments

The first deployment was at the easternmost point on our journey during the first leg. Master students Jens Didrik Berg and Veronica Haugen deployed the ice drifter buoy along with 60 wooden boats on the 27th of August at 84.9376 °N and 128.1114° E. 

Boats from these schools were deployed there:

  • Arlington Middle School, Arlington Tennessee

  • Academy of Environmental Science, St. Johns, Florida

KV Svalbard and Float Your Boat 2024
Figure 5: Master students Jens Didrik Berg and Veronica Haugen deploying the ice drifter buoy and wooden boats at the easternmost point during the first leg of the HiAOOS 2024 cruise with KV Svalbard.

Our second deployment was near the North Pole, where we found the nearest accessible ice floe to park the ship. The proximity to the top of the world inspired our design of a compass pointing to the south in all directions (Fig 6). The ice drifter buoy was signed by the scientists, crew members  and recruits aboard the KV Svalbard.

Boats from these schools were deployed there:

  • Cedar Falls Community Schools, Cedar Falls, Iowa

  • Fusion Academy Boulder County, Louisville, Colorado

  • NERSC, KV Svalbard crew, Norway


Figure 6: The second deployment near the North Pole.


The third and final deployment occurred as we returned southwards to retrieve our previously deployed weather station and ice buoy. Some of the wooden boats were decorated by the Florence Fine Art Academy (ABAFI).

Boats from these schools were deployed there:

  • Richardson High School, Richardson, Texas

  • Washington STEAM Magnet Elementary School, San Diego, California

  • Seton Catholic School, Hudon, Ohio

  • Smithville High School, Smithville, Missouri

  • Florence Fine Art Academy, Pisa, Italy

Figure 7: Third and last deployment where we retrieved our weather station and ice buoy.
Figure: 8 Boats deployed during third and last deployment

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