Video: Canada-Sweden Arctic Expedition 2016

Transcript

On July 22, 2016, the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Louis S. St-Laurent left port in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia to make its way to the Arctic Ocean to embark on a six-week scientific survey. The Louis S. St-Laurent was joined on the survey by the Swedish icebreaker Oden.

The 2016 Canada-Sweden Polar Expedition was Canada’s final UNCLOS survey in the Arctic Ocean.

Less than 5% of the world’s oceans have been mapped to the resolution we have for the entire surface of Mars and Venus.

The mission was 47 days long.

There were 24 scientists on the Canadian Coast Guard Ship, the Louis S. St-Laurent and 4 Canadian scientists on the IB Oden.

The Arctic Ocean is our world’s least explored ocean.

The coastline around the Arctic Ocean is 45,390 kilometres long.

The Arctic Ocean is the world’s smallest ocean. It is virtually landlocked and bordered by Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and the United States.

In 2016, the Louis S. St-Laurent and the Oden each surveyed more than 8000 KM during the expedition, most in areas never before mapped.

Canada recovered rocks from Alpha Ridge for the first time in 2016. These are the first bedrock samples from the area.

Almost five times more geophysical data were collected in 2016 than in 2015.

In their off time, scientific staff and crew hand decorated hundreds of styrofoam cups which were then dipped deep into the ocean at the North Pole to create compressed mementos to share with those back at home.

The survey included a brief stop at the North Pole after which work resumed 24/7.

The Arctic Ocean is home to two North Poles, the Magnetic North Pole, which travels a path and the Geographic North Pole, which is a static point at the top of the world.

The 2016 Canada-Sweden Polar Expedition was carried out jointly by the Government of Canada and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat. Photos and videos by Walta-Anne Rainey, Gary Morgan, Émilie Hébert-Houle, Lars Lehnert and Asa Lindgren.