17-Feb Sea Refreezing - Near Ross Ice Shelf

17-Feb Sea Refreezing - Near Ross Ice Shelf

It is bitterly cold down here, so close to the South Pole as we are and near to the edge of the Ross ice Shelf. And no wonder - any wind that blows across an ice shelf as big as France will certainly pick up a mighty chilling bite from it before it hits us. It has been a full on few days here with systems freezing over, jamming because of the bone chilling temperatures, what a busy few days we have had. Machinery that normally enjoys operating in normal sane temperatures, like us, get temperamental and don’t like to function in the cold. Over the last few days we have been slushing through the snow-covered decks trying to jury rig systems to get things going again so that the scientists can carry on with their experiments. Three pairs of socks, double gloved with hand warmers and earmuffs to keep the listening devices warm - all good fun – and of course my long johns on.

After our coffee toolbox meeting this morning we had to take to some deck equipment with sledge hammers and big crowbars in order to try and break off the heavy ice that had built up on them overnight.

The sea around us is starting to freeze and has turned to a sort of porridge. The term they call this is Frazzle and grease ice. The atmosphere is amazing, the sea is a grey colour and a swell travels under the layer in an amazing magical smooth unbroken motion. Because of the thick top layer, the wind is unable to make little wavelets or cause any waves to crest. It is like the whole sea has been covered with a white blanket. In some areas the surface becomes broken and patterns of world maps appear. The ship is actually mapping the sea floor at this stage and this involves a bit of backtracking on a grid pattern. When we turn on our own wake, we see whale patterns appear where we have broken the porridge surface.

Later the Frazzle and grease ice turned to ‘Shuga’ and I head to the bow to watch the bow silently slushing through it – the sensation is amazing.
The good news is that we are now heading away from the cold south pole and ‘north to Alaska’ once again again. We have a 200-mile steam right up to the top of the open section of the Ross Sea and closer to the expected track, where we have to get out through the big pack ice barrier again. Satellite images show that it is building up fast but hopefully we will be in time to get through before it all starts gluing together again for the winter. We do have a backstop though in the unlikely case if we might get stuck on the inside - There is an American Icebreaker at McMurdo Sound due to leave on February 22nd. We might always be able to follow her out then if need be.