9-Feb Heavy pack Ice
We are trudging though the huge amounts of broken pack ice and it’s snowing again. But we are very nearly through to the open Ross Sea that we are trying to get to. To get into this open stretch of water in the Ross Sea, we had to punch through a huge ice dam on the inner edge of the pack ice barrier. This is where storms in the inner Ross Sea have packed up pack ice on top of each other. Apparently it has never been so big, it took us three days to work our way through.
Bob, the ice pilot, mentions that he has never known it to be so bad as it is this year. He also mentioned that the current is opposite to what it should be - maybe due to do with global warming. Well, that's partly what we are here doing a study for anyway - not “us” actually, but rather the scientists on board. We are just the “bus drivers”.
It’s hard to believe that it’s summer, except that night never seems to come. On top of it all, we had an eclipse this afternoon. One could just make it out when there was a break in the clouds. I missed most of it though as I was in the engine room at the time.
The days are actually so very long that you actually have to force yourself to turn in at night. Last night when the sun was out, it just seemed to duck below the horizon and then bob back up again, a few kilometers to the east from where it ducked down, and then another long day began. Fortunately the part of my cabin where my bunk is has no porthole so I can still get a decent sleep.
SQ got lost overboard today, well we presumed she was. I searched everywhere for her and thought she fell overboard from out of my back pocket whilst I was working on the aft deck incubator units. I am sure some of the crew thought it was a conspiracy so that I wouldn’t have to continue with the “SQ sails home” story.
Bob, the ice pilot, mentions that he has never known it to be so bad as it is this year. He also mentioned that the current is opposite to what it should be - maybe due to do with global warming. Well, that's partly what we are here doing a study for anyway - not “us” actually, but rather the scientists on board. We are just the “bus drivers”.
It’s hard to believe that it’s summer, except that night never seems to come. On top of it all, we had an eclipse this afternoon. One could just make it out when there was a break in the clouds. I missed most of it though as I was in the engine room at the time.
The days are actually so very long that you actually have to force yourself to turn in at night. Last night when the sun was out, it just seemed to duck below the horizon and then bob back up again, a few kilometers to the east from where it ducked down, and then another long day began. Fortunately the part of my cabin where my bunk is has no porthole so I can still get a decent sleep.
SQ got lost overboard today, well we presumed she was. I searched everywhere for her and thought she fell overboard from out of my back pocket whilst I was working on the aft deck incubator units. I am sure some of the crew thought it was a conspiracy so that I wouldn’t have to continue with the “SQ sails home” story.
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