I was sorting through my photos. To make up for it, I will be sure to
post lots more penguin photos tomorrow.
Once again, I don't really have much to report from the past two
days. We had a brief nice weather window yesterday so flight
operations began to Commonwealth Bay so some VIPs and scientists
could visit Mawsons Hut. Now one of my dear friends asked if Mawsons
Hut was the same as a research station. The answer is no. Mawsons Hut
is the hut that Sir Douglas Mawson, the most famous Australian
Antarctic explorer, constructed basically 100 years ago to the date,
when he (along with his team) sailed to Antarctica in 1911 onboard
the S. Y. Aurora, marking the begining of Australian Antarctic
Expeditions. This centenary is half the reason why we are here - so
fancy politicians and other governmental people can celebrate the
centenary at this hut, which is now preserved under some Antarctic
cultural treaty. Now, there is an Australian research station called
Mawson (one of three Australia have on the mainland: Casey, Davis,
Mawson) but this is not the same the same place as Mawsons Hut - they
lie at least 60 degrees of longitude apart (I would guess), and
Mawson research station is a place where scientists and others live
year round for scientific purposes, and Mawsons Hut, is literally a
hut where people don't live. I may have confused you even more...my
bad if I did.
Anyway, a few people managed the short 20nm ride to the mainland
before the weather turned, and within the space of 10 minutes, the
Aurora was once again engulfed by fog. This didn't really bother me,
but those who were a third of the way to the mainland, and then had
to turn back because of the looming fog, were mightely pissed off
that's for sure. Operations were halted today too because of bad
weather, but there are plans to begin again tomorrow (weather
permitting, of course).
My time has been spent frolicking with the penguins, trying to get
some awesome snaps for you lovely people. I'm doing my very best, and
have taken at least a few hundred photos of the Adelies alone...I do
love my new lens! The penguins were not a happy bunch today though. I
was just relaxing on the sea ice when one killer penguins got within
50cm of me and squaked really loudly, and performed their threatening
dance. Crazy as it sounds, it was actually quite intimidating as I
wasn't expecting such behaviour. The penguins friend then came and
did the same thing. Needless to say, I didn't hang around for further
attacks. I did bear witness to two further attacks, once that
actually included physical contact from the penguin. I think they're
trying to get us to bugger off!
A game of cricket was also played on the ice today. I injured myself
straight away and have been suffering ever since. Literally just as
the game started, I did an awesome dive for the "ball" and landed
strangely on my knee. On the way back up, it made some horrible
clicking sounds. You will all be happy to know I continued to play,
and represented the English pretty well.
Now to answer a few other questions I had.
1) Who is King Neptune? - King Neptune is the keeper of the Southern
Ocean (or the Ocean in general, I'm not too sure). When people cross
the Antarctic Circle for the first time, King Neptune initiates and
welcomes those to his domain. It's basically a good excuse for the
crew to dress up in funny clothes and cover the expeditioners in shit
(not literally).
2) The Russian tourist ship - if you remember, a few days ago we
passed the Russian ship that brings a few tourists who are willing to
pay tens of thousands of dollars to travel to Antarctica. Tourism is
now a pretty big deal in Antarctica, and something that those who
help govern the Antarctic Treaty have to consider. Unlike us onboard
the Aurora, however, the tourists got to have some fun in zodiacs
(basically small open-air boats).
3) What is sea-ice and how does it differ to ice-bergs? - sea-ice is
literally frozen ocean. When the sea gets to approximately -1.8C, ice
begins to form as what is called frazil ice, which then accumulates
to form larger and larger pieces, until eventually, floes hundreds of
kilometres large (or bigger) are formed. These floes are typically a
few metres thick, so sea-ice can basically can be thought of as
floating ice on the ocean. Glaciers are accumulations of snow onland
which eventually compress to form ice and flow under their own weight
and gravity. As Antarctica is essentially two massive ice sheets
(made up of smaller glaciers), these flow towards the ocean, and
break off in pieces which are ice-bergs. Ice-bergs = continental ice,
sea-ice = marine ice. That's a very simplified explanation but
hopefully it cleared that up a bit.
If you have anymore questions, feel free to e-mail them to me at
graham_sim@aurora.aad.gov.au and I will do my best to answer them. I
forget not everyone knows about polar science so I do probably gloss
over things that make no sense to anyone.
Keep an eye out for photos tomorrow!
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