from East Anglia University, Susanne Kadner and Martin Johnson, who are attached to the ERI.
Danish-born Mona, who lives in Keiss, returned to her day job exhausted but exhilarated by her experience.
Mona, who has spent most of her life in arts and crafts, switched to science when she did a chemistry course at the college in the 1987. Based at the ERI since it opened two years ago, her previous fieldwork has involved collecting seawater from the Pentland Firth and seaweed and other specimens from north coast beaches.
She jumped at the chance to go on the Arctic mission.
Mona was surprised at the calm seas the vessel encountered, with the only slightly unsettling moments being when they ran into ice fields.
”It was really calm and quiet so when the boat hit ice it seemed an almighty crash,” she said. “It was quite spectacular.”
The vessel, which is strengthened to deal with such conditions, was making its first trip to the Arctic zone.
Mona’s job was to gather samples of phytoplankton – tiny, single-celled plants form the basis of the food chain in the oceans.
Data gathered from them can be used to improve our understanding of many issues, from fisheries to climate change. They are viewed by scientists as a key regulator of global warming.
Mona reckons she has taken back from the edge of the ice floes between 450 and 500 samples, which are preserved in liquid nitrogen.
Others on the trip took other samples from the sea as well as from the seabed and the air.
The vessel stopped off for a spell at Spitsbergen, which has been used as a starting point for many famous Arctic expeditions. Though just 1231km from the North Pole, the island is in the Gulf Stream and so the temperature during the visit seldom fell below five degrees Celsius while they enjoyed endless hours of daylight.
None of the team was allowed to venture out of the research base on Spitsbergen without an armed escort because of the island’s less-than-friendly population of polar bears.
Apart from the constant presence of puffins and other sea birds, there were occasional sightings of whales while the vessel at one point bisected a school of 500 or so dolphins.
Mona’s sleep patterns were disturbed through her work demands and the lack of darkness.
She said: “It was a strange environment to live in. We were very much on our own and we seldom saw another boat during the trip. It was quite tiring but exhilarating at the same time”
Dr Stuart Gibb, head of the ERI, said its involvement in the expedition is another example of the fruits of the tie-ups it has established with UHI Millennium partners such as SAMS.
The trip is part of SAMS’ Northern Seas research programme to establish how marine life is responding to environmental and man-made change.
Dr. Gibb said: “This was a great chance for Mona to become involved in a piece of world-class science and she has certainly grasped the opportunity.
”Mona’s work is quite pivotal and she has returned with an excellent set of samples.”
The mother of two teenagers is now hard at work in her lab at the ERI analysing the results – a task which will take her several months.