A Questing Day

Today we headed north to our new temporary camp on the ice - Cape Evans. The weather was calm but hazy - not the best driving conditions since we can't see all the bumps in the snow making it take a lot of attention for the driver to not annoy the passengers. There is NO suspension no the Piston Bully so every bump is noticed by all (but least of all the driver who has a nice seat).

We have to actively measure the sea ice cracks as we go along. This year the ice is dynamic so we have to have "Constant Vigilance!" This is the most important safety concern for us so we measure each of the crossing stations and record any changes. This informs everyone who crosses the state of the ice.

At the end of the day we ended up at our remote field camp which is a historic spot called Cape Evans. We met up with our colleagues from New Zealand and they had already found some exciting new seeps. Part of our work involved flagging the sites that we were guided to by a Remote Operated Vehicle underwater.

I'll talk more about the diving tomorrow, and we jumped right in. But one of the highlights of the day was an evening walk over to the Barn Glacier during one of the last sunset.

The light and experience was truly amazing. And it wasn't even that cold :) - like at least -20 C or so. Maybe even -15!

Just some photos

It has been a whirl wind (literally) couple of days here. Lots of great samples. But today I am just going to post some images.

This is a predatory comb jelly (Beroe) that are about 20cm or so long. They have large mounths to gulp down prey.

There is a ton of sponge predation going on! Here we see a very full sponge getting munched on by the giant flat worm (nemertean) that is soo common down here. Don't feel bad for these sponges, they are fast growing and often boom and bust in population size.

There is also a big bloom of the sponges as you can se on the seafloor here.

That is in contrast to these sponges which live for centuries.

An expedition North!

Yesterday we quested up to our main research site - Cape Evans. We loaded up our "plucky" Piston Bully and headed north. It was a slightly slow start as we are the first team this season working on the sea ice and they "opened" it (approved travel" just for us after weeks of Field Safety and Training (FS&T) finding us a nice and safe route along the sea ice.

En route we found some friends. These emperor penguins were a ways a way and (like often happens) we stopped and they came right over to say Hi. We are not allowed to approach wildlife here, but thankfully the wildlife does not have that same rule and so we plop down in the snow and they seem to always just wander over and say Hi.

The ice along the way was really spectacular. This is the Erebus Glacier Tongue that floats out into the sound and is right next to our route.

Along the way we ran into our collaborators - the New Zealand team! You can tell by their different vehicles so wonderfully painted Green where they are from. This year we are benefiting from amazing international collaboration.

Here is their Lead Scientist (Principal Investigator) - Dr. Sarah Seabrook (NIWA Wellington).

This is an example of the cracks in the sea ice that we have to constantly monitor to make sure our travel north and return south are safe. You can see Mt. Erebus in the background - the most southerly active volcano.

At the end is our new home sweet home. We will be traveling back and forth to dive here. You can see Robert Falcon Scott's Cape Evans hut in the back ground. My tent is on the sea ice and one need special permission to enter the hut so we stay away until we get that permission. Nice to be next to a epicenter of exploration for our own exploration to uncover how the Southern Ocean works!

The weather was amazing throughout the day and this is the view from my tent. We headed back to McMurdo to regroup for our first science dives here in the next couple days. It was a long day, getting back way after dinner, but we are all excited for the prospects of the days to come.