winds. It feels like I am seeing the world in grey-scale - everything
around me essentially grey, or a derivative of - the dark grey clouds
spewing snow upon the aurora australis, the bluey-grey ocean, the
white icebergs and ice floes. Although I am very happy to have
experienced this proper Antarctic weather, it would be nice if Mother
Nature could throw some nice weather our way, even just an afternoon
of sunshine. It would be even better if this nice weather came right
about now - we are only about 3 nautical miles from the Antarctic
continent itself; it's so close that I could nearly touch it, yet a
permanent cloud bank blocks the view. Apparently people did see
Antarctica in a 20 second break in the cloud - I was looking the
other way so missed this. I subsequently spent a long time hoping
upon hope that another break came, to no avail. I thought I may have
seen something, but as with my whale-stalking earlier in the year, it
may have been my eyes playing tricks on me.
We have now reached the destination of the cruise, iceberg B-9B and
the Mertz Glacier. Today we have cruised between land and the
iceberg, stopping at various places to do some CTDs. Around
lunchtime, our path was blocked by a massive accumulation of sea ice,
marking the end of our short-lived journey between ice and land (more
ice). I was hoping that we would finally get some proper sea-ice
breaking at this point and perhaps break through to the other side,
but the ice ahead was probably over 2m thick, so it would be no
competition between the ice and the aurora. We have now turned
around, and are following the coast back to the start of B-9B,
heading the long way round to the other side of the iceberg I
believe. I would love to stay awake in the hope I see land, but sleep
is necessary.
I mentioned that we reached B-9B, the iceberg that knocked off the
Mertz glacier tongue in February. This iceberg is the biggest iceberg
EVER! I'm not sure if that is scientifically correct, but it is
absolutely bloody massive, occupying line of sight from left to
right. In total, it is 108km long, 30km wide, and ~300m deep! I am
told this is the size of ACT (Australia Capital Territory - the home
of Canberra) so it really is huge. B-9B was originally much larger
(there must be a B-9A!!) when, in the 1970s, it broke of the Ross
Iceshelf, travelling around the Antarctic to come to it's present
location ~40 years later. This is pretty mind-boggling. The next most
exciting thing I saw today was some Grease Ice - the second stage of
sea ice formation I believe, which can now form because the sea
surface temperature dropped below -1.8C; it essentially looks like a
layer of slimy ice on the sea surface, very thin, with a few larger
accumulations. It sounds sad, but it was very exciting.
Current Latitude: -66.9448 (I think we have now officially crossed
the Antarctic Circle...?)
Current Longitude: 144.0808
Current Air Temp: 0C (wind chill of -8.7C)
Frostbite: Unlikely
Ocean Surface Temp: -1.22C
Wildlife: Adelies, Emperors, Snow Petrels
Sea Sickness: none
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