Katabatic Winds

Katabatic Winds blowing snow off the land at up to and sometimes over 70knots (~mph). All decks are closed. Spray flies into the air off the cresting waves.

(3 photos by Rob Dunbar)

Rachel is a tiny girl, but seeing her whip around on deck gives a good visual of the power of the wind coming off the continent!

Cape Washington. You can see the winds driving the snow off the mountain tops. Icebergs drift in the background. Slush ice (grease ice) freezes on the top most layer of the sea. Photo by Allison Lee

LAND HO .... The end

The Icebreaker went through the Straights of Magellan and landed in Punta Arenas on April 5th, 2013.

 

Rachel is super happy to be near land

Rob Dunbar, Dave Mucceroni, and Dave Koweek admire the trees

Hello Punta Arenas. Hello civilization. Hello internet. Hello culture shock.

 We were so happy to see land.

 

We still had to package up and offload all of our sea water samples in the warehouse. I met a cat to help me do the job. In all I have THOUSANDS of samples I get to analyze back in Seattle. It will take me MONTHS to put it all  together. This trip was amazing and will only help fuel my progress in the lab back at home =)

Then we all got gussied up and promptly went out for drinks and food. LOTS OF DRINKS (we couldn't drink the entire 53 days on board)...and LOTS of good food.

PENGUINS

PENGUINS! At 5 a.m., the lone Emperor was spotted. The penguin team quickly assembled and set off in the Zodiak. They were able to tag their first Emperor penguin of the cruise. The transmitter is attached to the feathers on the wing and sends a signal every 40 seconds. If a satellite picks up the signal, the penguin’s location and diving behavior (depth, speed, duration, etc.) is recorded for the scientists to view on a computer. Once the penguins enter molting season, the tags fall off and are lost. Forever.

After a successful tagging of an Emperor penguin. Photo credit: Andrew Margolin.

Scientists reach the ice flow that the emperor penguin is resting on. They managed to approach the penguin without it moving. It just stood and stared at them. They have no concept of being afraid of humans. Photo credit: Andrew Margolin.

 Most of the time while we were breaking ice we saw Adelie Penguins waddling along the ice with a goofy cadence. On the rarer occasion we would see a lone Emperor by the ice edge:

ONE day when we tracked down a colony of Emperor Penguins so the penguin team could tag the juveniles we got to get up close and personal with the fearless birds. They waddle up to you like old catholic cardinals. They look at you out of one of their eyes and they talk amongst themselves with their trumpeted song.

Penguins have shark hooks on the end of their beak they use as ice picks to climb out of the water.

We built an igloo for fun. The penguins seemed to enjoy it as well. I think this igloo will stay there for years and years to come considering the environment doesn't really change much in the deserts of Antarctica.

Penguin art work. mmm guano.

Penguins loved the boat. Our engines stirred up plankton and fish for them to eat.

To read more about the penguin team click here. Their posts will have MUCH more information than I can capture in my blog.

WILD LIFE

Today was a wildlife smorgasbord. We saw Weddell seals, three Emperor penguins, a molting Adelie penguin (they don’t go swimming when they’re molting), snow petrels, and a pod of seven Orca whales. Fossils of penguins indicate they used to be six feet tall!

<INSERT WEDDELL SEAL VIDEO HERE>

<OR CLICK ON LINK HERE TO SEE ON FACEBOOK>

Probably the COOLEST day was the ONE day we got to get off the boat. We took snowmobile rides around the ice while the Penguin team caught penguins to tag. We approached a seal and out of the middle of the ice blubbered up another! Two Emperor Penguins came waddling on scene and we sat in rapt attention watching this Weddell Seal....unbelievable (its blurry for the 1st 30 seconds.

see more photos HERE

Pancake Ice & Algae Snot

Christina reaches down to grab the golden pancakes. Where's the maple syrup?!

 (R. Dunbar photo)

Pancake Ice sits upon grease ice. To read the difference see post ICE 101

Nathaniel B Palmer in the thick of the phytoplankton bloom. The brown is the algae surrounding the circular disc shaped ice (pancake ice)...is this the pancake and syrup combo we've been looking for?! (photo cred Rob Dunbar)

FaceBook Status Posts in McMurdo

Feb. 8, 7:11 a.m.
I will run a 5k in a banana costume in Antarctica tomorrow.
I will run a 26.2 Marathon in Antarctica on Sunday.
Feb. 8, 7:35 a.m.
We have a National Geographic blogger on board ship with us! Check out her posts at http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/06/new-expedition-explores-fate-of-antarcticas-ross-sea/
Feb. 8, 8:54 p.m.
Hanging out in McMurdo for 6 days before loading on to the icebreaker. It’s gorgeous here. Surrounded by mountain ranges covered in snow. Mt Erebus, the active volcano, looms above the station. The wind is bitter cold. There is NO humidity so you’re constantly feeling thirsty. They have “urine color charts” on the bathrooms so you can tell if you’re dehydrated. The sun burns the skin easily so there are sunscreen stations everywhere. There are 3 bars in town and EVERYONE was at the same bar last night for trivia. The martinis were POTENT.
Feb. 9, 7:19 a.m.
8 p.m. at McMurdo station it is 14F (-10 Celcius). With the wind chill it is 0.4F (-17.5C). Walking between buildings I wear my snow pants, snow parka, gloves and hat. I’ve pretty much been living in this outfit for the past 2 days at station.
Feb. 9., 8:02 p.m.
I have 1 hour till the marathon. Its 15.8F outside. I’m wearing a banana costume in addition to at least 12 layers of clothing.
Feb. 11, 9:42 p.m.
(After the half marathon.) One aid station had a grill going and grilled cups of water and protein bars since they froze otherwise. I ran with two waterbottles which froze into blocks of ice.
Feb. 12, 1:34 a.m.
For Lent, I’m giving up Gmail! HAHA Kidding. I’m heading off to sea for the next 53 days so please email me at…
Feb. 12, 1:42 a.m.
…with the wind chill (which I ran into the wind on the return route) it was -7.8F…
Feb. 12, 3:37 a.m.
BTW, this vessel (Nathaniel B. Palmer) takes 430,000 gallons of fuel. Pumped to us at $4/gallon…$1.7 million dollars in fuel. And the fuel tanker accidentally gave 55,000 gallons extra to the Russian Icebreaker. That amount of lack of fuel would cost us 10 days ship-time, Luckily McMurdo had some extra for their “winter” that our ship used. The Russians could at least repay us in vodka ;P



Some randoms from me…..
1. Last night a couple of us did the INSANITY workout in the gym. Try doing plyometrics on a rocking ship. Extra calories staying balanced!
2. Today I begin a 24 hour shift. Every 3 hours for 24 hours, I will be collecting sea water and measuring the algae SNOT (aka algae microgels). Mmmm.
3. We brought a couple espresso machines. Gotta have those cappuccinos!
4. Our chef is actually a professional chef and has owned 5 restaurants. We are spoiled.
5. Our fun before-bed routine is to sit in the sauna for 30 minutes then run outside on-deck in the -30 C air and stand there until we get cold then run back into the sauna.

ICEBERG snowblinks and water skies

My eyes behold a feast of pleasant views. Today I learned the difference between “snow blink” and “water sky.” When it is overcast, some parts of the sky look black and stormy. In Seattle, we would say, “Looks like a storm is a brewing.” Here in Antarctica, they call that “water sky.” That is sky that is reflecting the blackness of the sea. Sailors know that open water lies just yonder and they head towards it. “Snow blink” is when the overcast sky looks very white. It is reflecting the ice. If you head that direction, you only get more and more into the ice. Currently, our boat is ice-locked and we are floating along with the ice flow. It’s bizarre, because, while the ship is physically drifting northward, the scenery doesn’t change at all.

The above 11 photos I BELIEVE were taken from Thomas Purcell's camera on vivid setting. He's not one for taking credit and I'm not one for stealing photos =) Good job Tom. The below photos are mine.

5am sunrise

I managed to stay awake for 5am serene sunrise