Picture of the Day -- August 30, 2002 Another
winter day in the Antarctic. Today started out with the search
for Penguins, however, by mid-morning the wind had picked
up and the visibility dropped such that we could see only
a few feet in front of the ship. Since noon time the ship
has been parked in the ice. Parked, but still moving, as the
ice pack has been drifting at 1.3 knots (nautical miles per
hour), blown by 40 to 50 knot winds all afternoon. As night
fell, the winds continued howling. Pictured today is the blowing
snow in the R/V LM Gould spotlights. Notice that the snow
is not falling, but being blown horizontally by the high winds.
Pictures by Kerry Claffey.
Sept 1 Greetings from the Scientists
and Crew of LMG 02-05 operating in the Western Antarctic Peninsula.
We are currently steaming around the northern sector of the
survey grid looking for a location to establish our 3rd and
final process station. Unfortunately, the last storm has generated
a sizeable ocean swell that has broken up most of the ice
in this region. So we are having a hard time locating a good
floe to work with. Ingenuity is always an important component
of a long cruise. In today's picture we see a game of 9 pin
Hall Bowling. One of the advantages of being in the ice is
that there is little if any boat movement. This makes it possible
to use the hall as a bowling lane. We made pins out of nalgene
bottles filled with just enough water and the bowling ball
was our multi-functional ball that just a few days earlier
was used for soccer on the ice. These evening activity gives
a nice close to a day of hard work in the labs analyzing samples.
(Photo by Dan Costa).
Today we traveled in search of the elusive "perfect"
ice floe for our last long term processes station. What we
found was a swell traveling through the ice pack. This swell
had broken apart the ice pack into small floes. In the morning
we said goodbye to the NBP as they headed off shore to continue
their survey grid. We turned inshore to look for larger floes
but never found them. By mid-morning we gave up looking for
larger floes and worked on a typical floe for the area of
40 meters diameter. Beneath the ice the divers found krill
in association with the ice. It is the first time since the
beginning of the cruise that this has been observed. The ice
team drilled 20 ice thickness holes and sampled 10 ice cores.
Two CTD's were performed to understand the oceanographic aspects
of the area.
Sept 2 Greetings from the Scientists
and Crew of LMG 02-05 operating in the Western Antarctic Peninsula.
The last storm and associated ocean swell broke up the ice
in this region, so after looking for a floe to locate our
third and final process station we decided to work on a series
of small floes. Today we spent the day quite productively
working on a flow that allowed us to establish a mini process
station. Divers were able to collect krill and water samples,
the ice team cored the floe and took snow samples. The floe
was big enough to allow us to remain here for at least one
more day and we will continue to work here through 3 Sept.
The photo of the day shows the ice teams working to the left
and right of the divers. The divers deployed off of the Zodiac
that was craned onto the ice. Photo by Dan Costa
Greetings from the Scientists and Crew of the
Southern Ocean GLOBEC Cruise LMG 02-05 operating in the Western
Antarctic Peninsula. Pic of the Day September 3. The Emperor
takes a bow. On Tuesday morning, we were greeted by a lone
Emperor penguin that was curious enough to pay us a visit.
It was quite a spectacle for the scientists and crew because
this was the first Emperor penguin of this cruise to venture
close enough to be photographed. Photo by Scott A. Shaffer.
September 5, 2002 Sunset over the last
buoy Greetings from the Scientists and Crew of the Southern
Ocean GLOBEC cruise. Today was another beautiful Antarctic
day. Temperatures around -15C with only light breezes. A new
snow fall overnight and through out the day there was a continuous
fall of "diamond dust" (fine grained ice crystals floating
through the air). It was another busy day at ice station Neptune:
2 sets of dives, ice coring, ice optics and one last look
at the drifting ice buoy that was deployed yesterday. The
photo is of the last drifting ice buoy just before the LMG
drove off into the sunset to perform a CTD cast. (Photo by
Kerry Claffey)
For your info, we just entered the data for
today and here are the results: Each of the 2 lines consisted
of 25 holes. Line 1 Averages Snow = 0.73m Ice = 2.13 meters
> Totals Snow 18.95m Ice = 55.60 meters > Line 2 Averages
Snow = 0.91m Ice = 3.05 meters > Totals Snow = 23.49m Ice
= 76.47 meters
Grand Total 42.44 meters snow depth shoveled
out
132.07 meters of ice drilled by hands
Greetings from the Scientists and Crew of LMG
02-05 operating in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Picture
of the Day - Sept. 5, 2002 -- Deep Drilling Today was a busy
work day for all of the groups. The morning started early
with a CTD cast down 300m (1000 feet) into the ocean. We then
pulled up to a new ice floe. This new floe is older and thicker
with lots of snow cover. While the divers performed 2 dives
(in search of Krill), the ice team enlisted seal team members
to help with two 25 meter transects across the ice floe. On
each transect we shoveled a hole in the snow at 1 meter increments
to determine snow depth, then drilled through the ice at each
shoveled hole to determine ice thickness. Snow depth along
the lines averaged 82cm ( 33 inches) of snow. Our greatest
snow depth was 140cm ( 55 inches). Ice thickness along the
lines averaged 2.59m (8.5 feet), with the greatest ice thickness
measured being 5.65m (18.5 feet). Today's picture shows Pete
Hartsough lowering the 2 inch drill to finish drilling an
ice hole that is over 5 meters (16 feet) deep. (Notice how
the drill towers over Pete's head.) While the ice and seal
teams were working on the transect, three seals hauled out
on a nearby ice floe. When diving and ice transecting were
finished, the ship maneuvered so that the seal team could
reach this floe. The seal team then caught and worked on (studied)
one of the seals. Cheers, LMG
Sept 6 Greetings from the scientists
and crew of the Southern Ocean GLOBEC Cruise operating in
the Western Antarctic Peninsula. September 6. The LMG continues
to operate in the same general area, though on a different
floe from yesterday. The Seal Team was finally able to work
on another crabeater last evening. Although all their satellite
tags were deployed early in the cruise, they are still able
to make physiological studies. The Ice Team recruited help
from others on a beautifully clear day and collected many
meters of core, and the divers completed two dives. Everyone
is pleased with the amount of work we're accomplishing, but
we're starting to think about port calls and heading home.
Today's picture of the day shows the dive team collecting
krill and diving to characterize the under ice habitat of
krill. Photo by Carey Kuhn.
Sept 7 Greetings from the scientists
and crew of the R/V LM Gould operating in the Western Antarctic
Peninsula. One of the advantages of getting up for a 6:30
CTD is that you can see the sunrise if there is one. This
morning we started the day with a gorgeous sunrise that took
almost a hour to complete. At these high latitudes the sun
rises and falls very slowly. Later in the morning the ice
dynamics team got out and completed a whole series of ice
optics measurements, the ice biologist took core samples and
the krill team, made a series of dives. Today the seal biologists
also has some excitement as two crabeater seals hauled out
just in front of the ship. They were able to successfully
complete a set of measurements on one of them. Although, we
all feel the end of the cruise is near, we are certainly making
good use of our last few days of science. Photo by Dan Costa
Picture of the day for the 8th of September.
Greetings from the scientists and crew of the R/V LM Gould
operating in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. We were not
able to maintain position against the floe we worked on the
past two days, but we quickly found another location in the
immediate vicinity in the morning. After lunch the Ice Team
went out to make optics measurements and the Dive team made
two dives. There are lots of seals in the area, one hauled
out relatively close to the ship so the Seal team completed
measurements on their 15th seal. Given the ice conditions
both the Ice and the Seal teams were left on separate floes.
In both cases when the ship came alongside to pick them up
the pressure of the ship caused their respective floes to
crack. The picture of the day taken by Peter Hartsough shows
the Ice Team as they are being picked up by the ship. Notice
the large crack in their ice floe.
