Sunday, July 22, 2012

SAC: The colour of water

Before the Olympics takes over another quick post about the sail to the Arctic Circle.

I've been asked about whether the water changed colour at all, and the answer was dramatically yes it did, as can be seen in the figures above.

The left hand side shows typical dark stone gray of the North Atlantic, which is what we saw most of the time.

However when we sailed round the NW tip of Iceland the water changed colour into a creamy light blue, as can be seen on the right hand side above.

This we assumed was the East Greenland Current, which comes from the north and is fed by melting glaciers. Therefore its salinity is much lower than normal.

The encourages micro organisms to flourish and that's the colour we see (or at least that's how I understand it - if wrong please add your comments).

Sometimes you could clearly see the line in the water, like two rivers joining.

The air felt colder too, making it a more physical experience than actually crossing the Arctic Circle itself.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Fantastic images and thank you Captain JP for responding to my request for more info.
I would also like more info on:
1. Birds and bird logs
2. What its like when it is rough
3. Treats and high points
4. Weather patterns in the high arctic as opposed to South Yorkshire
and ofcourse
5. Climate change

JP said...

All good ideas which will aim to answer, though the Olympics is coming so might have to wait until after that