A slightly delayed post from the activities on the 23rd, mainly
because I was too busy playing on the Wii into the late afternoon (my
bed time). I was playing mario with a fellow expeditioner and we were
both absolutely shite, it was so funny. We were being pretty rowdy,
so a few people came into the room to see what was going on.
It was basically another day off for me yesterday, YAY! After one CTD
in the morning, it was time for the moorings to be deployed. I was
actually pretty excited to see this...turns out that I shouldn't have
been. Thinking this would be a 30 minute job at most after everything
was prepared, I was very mistaken. In all I was probably watching for
3 hours!! The mooring consists of a heavy metal anchor (train
wheels), with various instruments at various depths attached by a
long wire, including an ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) to
measure the ocean currents, various temperature and salinity
measuring devices, and floats. They deploy the instruments closer to
the surface first, and due to the floats, they lie on the surface,
until the anchor is dropped, and the mooring ends up perpendicular to
the sea floor. I was expecting that the floats would go whizzing by
once the anchor was dropped (it is close to a tonne after all), but
again I was mistaken. Once the anchor was deployed, the floats just
casually moved closer, and eventually plopped below the surface.
Pretty disappointing, but at least I can now say that I have seen a
mooring deployment. Getting them back in 2 years time will be the
most interesting aspect, especially as they have taken a fairly big
risk with the location due to large icebergs sitting pretty close
by...
That was actually all that happened during my shift. We spent much
time moving about from the CTDs stations to the mooring sites which
took a fair chunk of time. It did, however, mean that I could go up
to the deck and just watch the world go by. There is definitely much
more ice now, and quite often I hear a big bang, followed by a
shaking of the ship, as we break through the ice that is in our way.
The weather remains shite though, reducing visibility in what would
be amazing scenery. I woke up to heavy fog, and overcast skies with
light snowfalls, the scenario which didn't really change for the
entire day. The forecast predicts much the same for the next few
days, with the wind picking up once more. When am I going to get my
clear skies so I can take amazing photos??
I have rambled enough.
Current Latitude: -66.2383
Current Longitude: 143.4688
Current Air Temp: -0.5C (wind chill of -6.4C) - Frost bite is now
unlikely again
Current Ocean temp: -1.06C
Wildlife: Adelies and a few fulmars (pretty difficult to see in the
fog)
Sea Sickness: None
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