ArcticNet, the Canadian university consortium organising the voyage, believes the interwoven effects of global warming may be revealed as shipmates discuss their work. The vast Arctic out the portholes is a constant reminder of the stakes. “It’s huge. It’s all about saving the world,’’ says Stephane Thanassekos, 26, a French researcher pursuing his doctoral degree at Laval University in Quebec.

A scientist with infectious enthusiasm, Thanassekos operates a contraption that looks like an automatic milker from a dairy barn. His work calculates the survival prospects of Arctic cod. ``which are right in the middle of the food chain’’ of the Arctic.

Jody Deming, 54, a professor at the University of Washington, studies “hot spots’’ in the ocean that are now being overtaken by a gradual warming, and microbes in ice that may help reveal life in space.

Stern, 47, is trying to figure out how mercury and other chemicals are making their way into animals of the Arctic.

Doug Struck