The ICEALOT campaign departed Woods Hole, Massachusetts on the 19th of March and headed west into the Long Island Sound for a few days of 'sea trials' and to conduct what now is known as LILAQS, the Long Island Local Air Quality Study.

On the 23 of March, the R/V Knorr departed the east coast of the US to begin a ENE transit toward the Arctic.  Being fortunate initially to avoid a series of low pressure systems driving severe weather in the Gulf of Maine, a speed over ground of 13 knots enabled transit to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland by the 25th of March, where we changed to a more NE course.

Weather in the North Atlantic has been less fortunate, bringing several episodes of gale force winds, high seas, and otherwise challenging conditions reducing our forward progress at times to 3 knots. Still, all is well aboard the ship; measurements are going well and now thoroughly tested! We anticipated crossing the Arctic Circle within 48 hours of this post, and reaching Svalbard a few days after that.