The beautiful sea ice aka the world's largest heat sink.

Two weeks ago I went to Monbetsu, Hokkaido. That's the northern tip of Japan. One of the things I adore about my research is that it takes me to most amazing places. My research is on numerically modeling the sea ice in Arctic. Therefore most of the symposiums and research conferences are happening in the coldest places. This is the 29th symposium of Okhotsk sea. The Okhotsk sea is the sea between northern Japan and Russia. My laboratory is an active participant of the symposium. This is my first time to attend the symposium. It was freezing there but I really enjoy all the views, good food in Hokkaido as well as the interesting research done by the fellow researchers.

Here goes some of the pictures I took there.

I took this right after landing at the Monbetsu airport. That was one of the scariest landings I've been through. I almost thought we wouldn't be able to break.

This is the frozen Okhotsk sea. It was my first time to see the sea ice. It's really nice to see and feel what you are modeling numerically for real.

This is the frozen sea near the beach. The man in the picture is looking for the small little sea creatures. I can't imagine doing this.

These are the cleons. They can also be seen in Disney animations

It's freezing out there but it's beautiful

If everything in the world is one color, I'll go for white. Not only It includes all the colors, but also it's really pretty.

The ship I was on board. Garinko the ice breaker ship. 

 These circular pieces of ice are called "pan-cake ice" This is the formation stage of ice.

The boarder between sea ice and the sea. 

There was a nice blue color within the sea ice. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

On board Garinko, the ice breaker with the beautiful sea ice I model.

The ice in the ocean is one of the most beautiful things in the world. More than the beauty it also serves as a heat sink to the world. Hopefully the politicians would at least acknowledge that global warming exists and take some measures to save them before it's too late.

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