Preface The expedition ARK XIX/3 with the German icebreaking RV ...

On Friday morning the 20 th of June we arrived in Galway and the first part of this cruise
leg was finished. To present the preliminary results of this European expedition a press
conference was held onboard "Polarstern" followed by a reception for invited guests some
of them representing institutes having participants onboard.
Weather conditions over the last few weeks would have seriously curtailed the dive
programme on a smaller ship. However, the "Polarstern" permitted a series of dives to
take place. More than 100 hours of high-resolution video imagery have been shot on the
seafloor and many samples collected over more than 100 km 2 of seafloor. Between dives
systematic surveys have been conducted by means of grabs, multicorer (precision
sediment sampler), CTD (water profiler) and ship borne sonar systems mounted on the
"Polarstern".
Shortly after the last participants of the first cruise leg did leave "Polarstern" the work
onboard went on and the first containers with the equipment of the new scientists
expected to embark in Tromsø were opened after leaving Galway in the afternoon of 20 th
of June. The material was stored in various laboratories to ensure that the new scientific
party can start to install its equipment soon after arrival.
In the early morning of Thursday 26 th of June "Polarstern" reached the port of Tromsø
(Norway). First action was the unloading of material of the French Polar Research
Institute Emile Victor (IPEV) to be transferred further by a company to the IPEV Arctic
station on Svålbard. The Norwegian research vessel "Lance" was also in Tromsø and
preparation for a new expedition took place while we were about 100 m behind her at the
pier. The first scientists of the cruise leg ARK XIX/3b arrived before lunch but the majority
embarked around 5 pm in the afternoon. Just after dinner all new participants were
introduced into the safety rules onboard. After customs clearance we left Tromsø for this
short stop over in the early evening. Before midnight the last mountains along the
Norwegian fjords disappeared behind the horizon and we headed directly to the Håkon
Mosby Mud Volcano. Scheduled time of arrival was Friday afternoon which caused that
many people worked until late in the night to get their laboratories and instruments ready.
The HMMV at about 72° N 14° E was first investigated during an international cruise with
the Russian RV "Logachev" in 1996, and most recently by a joint AWI / IFREMER cruise
with RV "L’Atalante" and the ROV "Victor 6000" in September 2001. It is the only mud
volcano in a polar region that has been studied in greater detail by photo and video
camera observation. The HMMV is situated on the continental slope northwest of Norway
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