SCICEX

Deploying a Niskin bottle during SCICEX/96

SCICEX, standing for Scientific Ice Expeditions, was a five-year (1995–1999) scientific research program involving a collaboration between the U.S. Navy and academic researchers from a variety of different universities. The object of study was geophysical and oceanological conditions in the Arctic Ocean. The Navy made available a nuclear submarine for each research cruise.

Margo Edwards was the chief scientist for the 1999 expedition[1] and spent thirteen days on the USS Hawkbill, thereby becoming the first women to live aboard a Navy nuclear submarine during under-ice operations.[2] Edwards' research found evidence of climate change in the Arctic, including thinning sea ice,[3] volcanoes on the seafloor,[4] and warm water moving into the Arctic from the Atlantic Ocean.[2] These data are available for anyone to view.[5]


Navy patch for 96 expedition and logo for 97 expedition
  1. ^ "SCICEX-99". 2011-05-22. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  2. ^ a b Colwell, Rita R. (2020). A lab of one's own : one woman's personal journey through sexism in science. New York. pp. 111–113. ISBN 9781797108902.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Polyak, Leonid; Edwards, Margo H.; Coakley, Bernard J.; Jakobsson, Martin (2001). "Ice shelves in the Pleistocene Arctic Ocean inferred from glaciogenic deep-sea bedforms". Nature. 410 (6827): 453–457. Bibcode:2001Natur.410..453P. doi:10.1038/35068536. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 11260709. S2CID 4429415.
  4. ^ Cochran, James R.; Kurras, Gregory J.; Edwards, Margo H.; Coakley, Bernard J. (2003). "The Gakkel Ridge: Bathymetry, gravity anomalies, and crustal accretion at extremely slow spreading rates". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 108 (B2): 2116. Bibcode:2003JGRB..108.2116C. doi:10.1029/2002JB001830. ISSN 2156-2202. S2CID 129039240.
  5. ^ Edwards, M.H.; Johnson, P.D.; Appelgate, T.B.; Kurras, G.J. (2001). "On-line access to new Arctic bathymetry and sidescan data". MTS/IEEE Oceans 2001. An Ocean Odyssey. Conference Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.01CH37295). Vol. 3. pp. 1492–1495 vol.3. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.2001.968054. ISBN 0-933957-28-9. S2CID 109622366.