Cool jobs, and all for science
Scuba divers gather samples under ice
Play key role in study of Arctic ecology
PETER CALAMAI
SCIENCE REPORTER
ABOARD CCGS AMUNDSEN—Tethered by a lifeline and carrying a second air tank for safety, diver Jeremy Stewart skims through the freezing waters of the Beaufort Sea under almost two metres of ice, his gloved hand waving a plastic dip net from a home aquarium.The 27-year-old scuba diver plays a vital role in a $66 million, multi-year research program — the Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study — to investigate the ecology of the region and forecast the impact of climate change in the Canadian Arctic. The mission runs until 2007. Stewart was catching small shrimp-like creatures, amphipods, sought by scientists on the research icebreaker Amundsen to help decipher the complex food chain of ice-covered waters.But the two-centimetre-long Themisto libellula had largely evaded capture in nets lowered through a "moon pool" opening at the bow end of the ship's hull; three weeks work yielded fewer than two dozen and researchers needed hundreds of the creatures.Wielding a dollar-store net, Stewart bagged 10 of the reddish squirmers after just five minutes, a result that prompted marine biologist Anna Prokopowicz to clap her hands in delight.This success is just one way Stewart and fellow diver Wayne Smith are advancing the ambitious mission that has attracted a changing cast of 45 researchers from Canada and abroad to this floating laboratory, frozen into the ice of Franklin Bay five months ago."Using divers is a bit of an experiment for some of these scientists and I'm hoping that the underwater science pays off," says Stewart.Carrying out experiments under Arctic ice is far removed from the divers' regular daily routine. Smith, 45, is a letter carrier in Winnipeg, where he also runs a home business as a "scuba suit seamstress," repairing and altering suits for divers.Entering his final year of commerce studies at the University of Manitoba, Stewart is a part-time employee of the federal fisheries department, co-ordinating the agency's diving program in central Canada and the north.Both began diving in their teens, are qualified recreational instructors and find diving under ice challenging and exhilarating in equal parts, including the curious ring seals that often nibble at their fins."When you see a seal chewing away at a two-by-four that we've frozen through the ice, you know that they like to give their teeth a workout," says Smith.
Arctic scuba divers share workspace under ice with curious ring seals
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The seals would only present a real danger if several decided to frolic in the diving hole — like they regularly do in the ship's moon pool — when the divers were trying to come out, chilled and spent after 50 to 55 minutes in the minus 1.5 C water. The divers are prepared to go as deep as 30 metres if science demands, but so far they haven't needed to go deeper than 12 metres."We stay fairly close to the under-surface of the ice. That's where the beauty is as far as photography is concerned and that's mostly where the scientists want us to work," says Stewart.The work has been eased by the enthusiastic support of Amundsen's crew, who built a wooden floor on the ice around the diving hole and erected a heated tent for protection against howling polar winds. For the past two weeks, the divers have been:
 Filling dozens of small syringes with water from just below the ice surface. The water is then analyzed for contaminants like mercury, nutrient content and chemical fingerprints that reveal its origin.
Catching ice cores pushed through from above in plastic bags. Researchers hope this backward approach will clear up puzzling shifts in the brine content of ice cores extracted by a more conventional pull-up method.
Positioning an ultra-sensitive light meter to measure how much of the sun's rays warm the ice rather than passthrough to trigger photosynthesis in algae and plankton.These readings are vital to Jens Ehns, a Finnish ice researcher working on his PhD at the University of Manitoba.Without the divers, his work "wouldn't have been as accurate ... and nowhere near as fast," said Ehns.Smith and Stewart have a second goal under the Arctic ice — taking photographs and video to show others the research and the crucial role of the high-tech modifications to the icebreaker, originally launched 25 years ago as the Sir John Franklin.The Amundsen will be used, starting in August, to support ArcticNet, a consortium of northern researchers from universities and government agencies in eight provinces and the four territories investigating climate change.
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