CIRES and NOAA scientist Matthew Shupe is blogging during Leg 1 of MOSAiC, an international research expedition to study the physical, chemical, and biological processes that couple the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, and ecosystem. In September 2019, the German research icebreaker RV Polarstern departed from Tromsø, Norway and parked next to a chunk of sea ice, where it is now frozen in and will drift with the Arctic ice for a full year, allowing scientists to collect data in every season.