The “Arctic Arc” Beacon Has Ceased to Emit !
The argos beacon
© International Polar Foundation
Last March, just after the beginning of the " Arctic Arc " adventure, Alain Hubert placed an Argos beacon on the sea ice off the Siberian coast, to allow classes working on the "Arctic Arc" educational project to follow the ice drift "live" and discover one of the most important phenomena of the arctic region. Last week, after more than four months, this rugged beacon ceased to emit.
The "Arctic Arc" beacon had been lent to the IPF by the french National Center of Spatial Studies (CNES), a partner for this part of the project. This represented a major first: they had never before used this type of beacon in the arctic environment! Even though the beacon had already ceased to emit for four days after only one week of having been placed on the ice, it fulfilled its task far better than anyone could have hoped. Indeed, for four months now, the beacon equipped with an Argos system emitted non-stop, allowing us to follow with great precision the drift of the ice on which it was placed: using satellites, we were able to know the beacon's precise position more than 20 times a day !
The map showing the beacon's route clearly demonstrates that the ice drift is far from being constant. Nevertheless, the general direction followed by the beacon does correspond with the "Transpolar Drift", the dominant current of the region (see the fact sheet on "the ice drift").
Under normal conditions, this type of beacon has a 3-month autonomy. The "Arctic Arc" beacon therefore held an astonishingly long time, given the freezing cold and the bitter winds it underwent. This incredible adventure has thus come to an end!
