2024 Expedition
On June 14th, the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen will leave Québec City for its annual expedition to the Arctic Ocean. Numerous scientists from national and international research teams will board the ship to study the marine and coastal environments of the Canadian and Greenlandic Arctic.
Leg 1 – Opportunistic science and Canadian Coast Guard duties
June 14 (Québec City) to July 10 (St. John’s)
This year, the first Leg of the Amundsen Expedition will be dedicated to CCG duties in the Labrador Sea. Some scientists and members of the Amundsen Science team will be onboard to maintain the pool of scientific equipment and to conduct opportunistic science operations such as sampling seawater. This Leg will end on July 10th in St. John’s for a short day of scientific mobilization.
Leg 2 – Imappivut, DFO Benthic Refuges, KEBABB and TCA
July 11 (St. John’s) to July 29 (Qikiqtarjuaq) – July 29 (Qikiqtarjuaq) to August 8 (Iqaluit)
Scientists of the second Leg will board the Amundsen on July 11th in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. This Leg will be divided in two as we will be doing a science rotation in Qikiqtarjuaq on July 29th.
The first part of the Leg (a) will include the programs Imappivut and DFO Benthic Refuges. Building on last year’s Amundsen expedition and on previous research and findings, the Imappivut program was built to survey benthic biodiversity in Canada’s northern oceans, sensitive habitats, from coastal environment to deep ocean waters, and the characterization of demersal and pelagic faunal communities. Gathering scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Nunatsiavut Government, and other government and academic partners, the Imappivut program aims to understand the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Labrador Sea and adjacent areas. The DFO Benthic Refuges program will also take place in Leg 2a and it focuses on monitoring sensitive benthic areas within the Eastern Arctic Marine Refuges.
The second part of the Leg (b) comprises operations within KEBABB program and Transforming Climate Action (TCA) Research program. These scientific operations will mostly take place around Qikiqtarjuaq, in fjords of the region and in Davis Strait. The KEBABB (Knowledge and ecosystem-based approach in Baffin Bay) program, established in 2019, is focused on the development and implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management in Baffin Bay. This research will fulfill key knowledge gaps for sustainable harvest and fisheries management in the eastern Arctic. Leg 2 of 2024 Amundsen Expedition will then end on August 8th in Iqaluit.
Leg 3 – ArcticCORE and Refuge-Arctic
August 8 (Iqaluit) to September 5 (Pittufik Space Base)
The third Leg of this year’s field season will start on August 8th in Iqaluit and will end on September 5th in Pittufik Space Base, Greenland. The 28-day cruise will encompass the Refuge-Arctic program, ArcticCORE program and the recovery of moorings deployed by the Red-AO program in 2023. From the first day of this Leg, the CCGS Amundsen will sail north to visit multiple fjords of Ellesmere Island and shallow waters within the Nares Strait. Refuge-Arctic program aims to better understand ongoing environmental changes in Arctic “refuges” regions, where ice will remain the longest, preserving biodiversity and biogeochemistry of ice-covered regions. The scientists from the Refuge-Arctic program on this Leg will revisit Archer Fiord and study glaciers from both sides of the Nares Strait including Petermann Glacier.
The ArcticCORE (Conservation, Observation, Research & Engagement) program studies the atmosphere-ice-ocean connected system in northern waters of Devon Island and different stations in Nares Strait and focuses on how ongoing changes impact marine ecosystems, informing sustainable management and conservation initiatives in Tuvaijuittuq and the eastern Arctic.
Leg 4 – Refuge-Arctic, CEOS-CERC Moorings, TCA, KEBABS and ArcticCORE
September 5 (Pittufik Space Base) to October 3 (Resolute Bay)
Boarding at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on September 5th, scientists of the fourth Leg will start with a sampling stations in the Lincoln Sea if the ice conditions allow it. A new group of scientists in the Refuge-Arctic program will be part of this Leg with scientists from the KEBABS, TCA, ArcticCORE and CEOS-CERC moorings programs. This multidisciplinary team of international scientists will focus on understanding the physical, chemical and biological functioning of the multiyear sea ice refuge in the Arctic Ocean and will study key processes related to past, present and future climate-induced changes in the Lincoln Sea and in Nares Strait. The teams will also study important transects across Barrow Strait and in the North Water Polynya. The Amundsen’s course for this fourth Leg will end in Resolute on October 3rd.
Leg 5 – TCA, KEBABB and SN-WAGE Grad School
October 3 (Resolute Bay) to October 20 (Kuujjuaq) to October 30 (Québec City)
Scientists of the fifth and last Leg of the expedition will board the Amundsen on October 3rd in Resolute Bay. This Leg will be divided in two as we will be doing a science rotation in Kuujjuaq on October 20th.
The first part of the Leg (a) will include transects encompassed in the TCA and the KEBABB programs. Nets, rosettes and other instruments will be used to study the marine ecosystems of Lancaster Sound, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. The second part of the Leg (b) will be dedicated to the Sentinel North and Wage Grad School. As part of this international doctoral school, international students and researchers will work in a cross-sectoral approach combining social and natural sciences, and will meet with several stakeholders and organizations in Kuujjuaq before embarking on the Amundsen. On board, participants will sample three of Ungava Bay’s main tributaries to acquire ecological data given that very little environmental data currently exists. This new knowledge could be useful in supporting innovation and community resilience. Leg 5 of 2024 Amundsen Expedition will then end on October 30th in Québec City and will be followed by the scientific demobilization.
