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Members of Scripps Oceanography's Multiscale Ocean Dynamics group pose in festive shirts on the deck of research vessel Sikuliaq last week as they prepared to leave Nome, Alaska to head north into the Arctic Ocean for a month-long cruise.

"We have been gifted with unusually warm sunny weather, and are celebrating with Aloha Friday," the group posted on its website. "We set sail tomorrow morning for points further north, wish us luck!"

The expedition is part of the Stratified Ocean Dynamics of the Arctic (SODA) departmental research initiative sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to better understanding the stratification and circulation, sea ice evolution, and changing acoustic characteristics of the warming Arctic. Researchers hope their observations could guide predictions of the fate of rapidly shrinking and thinning Arctic sea ice.

To read more about what the scientists from Scripps, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Washington, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the British Antarctic Survey are discovering, follow their blog through this link.

Pictured from left to right are physical oceanographer Jennifer MacKinnon, graduate student Giulio Meille, honorary member Ben Barton (Bangor University), graduate student Effie Fine, engineers Jonny Ladner and Sara Goheen, postdoctoral scholar Nicole Couto, and engineers San Nguyen and Mike Goldin. Photo by San Nguyen.