soiTuesday, January 3, 2012
http://www.studentsonice.com/antarctic2011/day8.html
Expedition Update - 12:00pm EST
The team has been busy this morning and we just received the update below of yesterday's activities. Keep in mind that the satellite system continues to be temperamental, which means the ship media team continues to use the ship's communications system. It's slow and makes it challenging to send large photo and video files.
From Expedition Leader Geoff:
Yesterday morning we sailed past enormous tabular icebergs through the Erebus and Terror Gulf en route to our first expedition landing at Heroina Island in the Danger Islands. The massive Adelie penguin colony will not be soon forgotten, along with our close encounters with feeding Leopard seals, skuas, petrels, Snowy Sheathbills and Kelp gulls. We also observed Weddell seals and Antarctic terns.
After lunch Olle Carlsson's mesmerizing presentation about Nordenskiöld (and his Swedish Antarctic expedition 1901-1903) was interrupted by 35+ Antarctic killer whales swimming alongside the ship! In the late afternoon we continued our workshop program during a second landing, this time at Paulet Island facilitated by Olle (history at the Swedish stone hut, Norwegian grave and site cairn), Elin Kelsey and Pablo Gamenara (ice-coloured painting & chilly writing in personal journals), Tony Dekker (songwriting & storytelling), Santiago Imberti and Sonja Heinrich (penguin behaviour & adaptations), Jeff Kavanaugh (geology & glaciology), Alex Taylor, Eggert Hilmarsson, Arnold Witzig, Garry Donaldson, Terry Brennan and Tim Straka (a large group hike up to the summit of the volcanic cone), and Grant Redvers (oceanography in a Zodiac with plankton tows and a remote operated vehicle).
Overnight we made our way from Paulet Island, further south into the Weddell Sea to prepare for a possible landing at Snow Hill Island this morning. We awoke to a beautiful seascape around us. Pack ice stretches out as far as the eye can see and our ship is making its way slowly but surely through the single and multi-year sea ice. The temperature is cool (36F, 3C), the wind a bit brisk and the soft lighting this morning illuminates the ice beautifully. Unfortunately, the ice was too thick to proceed to Snow Hill Island so we have turned and are continuing up Antarctic Sound, where we will attempt another landing this afternoon. In the meantime, students are out on deck taking in the beauty of the ice around us, journaling, playing music in the lounge and just about ready to begin workshops.
Here is the Education Program schedule for today:
0700 – Wake-up/Yoga (Clare and Daniele)
0730 – Breakfast
0900 – Potential Landing on Snow Hill Island
Workshops on shore:
1. Nordensklold's hut (Olle)
2. Music and person journal keeping circle (Elin and Tony)
3. Wldlife observation (Santiago and Sonja)
4. Geology and glaciology (Jeff)
5. Oceanography in a Zodiac; plankton tows and using an ROV
6. Hike (staff)
1230 – Lunch
1430 – Presentation: Introduction to Antarctic Ice (Jeff)
1700 – Possible afternoon landing: Antarctic Sound
2000 – Dinner
2130 – Evening Recap & Briefing: The Antarctic Treaty Jeopardy Game (Garry & Howie)
Expedition Update - 3:00pm EST
Here's the latest update from Geoff, just received at SOI headquarters:
Well, as per usual our plans changed a bit today...but as they usually do, they changed for the better! While we planned to land at Snow Hill Island this morning, we found the ice to be too thick and difficult to get the ship through. Instead, we turned 180 degrees and headed towards a giant ice floe we had seen earlier in the day! We arrived at the 2-mile long, 7-metre thick floe of multiyear ice, donned our Canada Goose jackets, sunscreen, rubber boots, toques and sunglasses and headed for a landing on this impressive piece of sea ice. All students and staff landed on the ice floe, where we had pod sessions discussing the importance of sea ice and climate change, a moment of silence, group photos and even a soccer game, in the footsteps of Shackleton and his men!
To share an ice floe with 88 other people in complete silence and deep reflection is special and extremely rare. I can safely say that most members of our team will never have that opportunity again.
We are now back on board, just finished lunch and are heading into Antarctic Sound to make an evening landing at Brown Bluff! This will be our first landing on the Antarctic continent proper (as opposed to the several surrounding islands)! Here we expect to see penguins and seals and will enjoy a leisurely walk on the beach, with marine mammal, oceanography, geology and ornithology interpretation by our staff members.
So, that´s it for now! We are all heading out on deck to take in some sun and the extraordinary scenery around us.
In the expedition spirit,
Geoff
Expedition Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment