12/14 Around 1330 hrs.
64 28 south
56 26 west
Clear and windy with 30 knot winds
Warm @ 4.0 C
We left the Larsen B area yesterday afternoon after we returned from Robertson Island. While I slept the ship skirted Robertson Island and the Seal Nunataks bringing us back into the Larsen A area where we worked in May 2000. Water sampling work was completed around 2 a.m. and the ship turned due east and then north to begin a long transit back past Seymour Island, across Erebus and Terror Gulf, through the Antarctic Sound and then southwest along the Antarctic Peninsula to Hughes Bay near 64 18 south, 61 00 west. This is where the next major phase of detailed studies will begin. Enroute, seabeam mapping will fill in additional bottom topography. Which means lots more ping editing, something alumni of theses trips remember fondly.
We will touch base with the shore party on Seymour Island by radio as we go by and reassure them that we will be back next year to pick them up.
Large tabular icebergs, smaller irregular bergs and clearing snow squalls on the nearby points, capes and islands have provided some spectacular scenery this morning. Currently the seas are slightly choppy due to the winds, but the large amount of ice in the water damps the wave generation so the ride is quite smooth. Wave development and growth is dependent on three factors, wind strength, duration, and fetch, the distance of open water over which the wind blows. Icebergs and chunks in the water limit the fetch, limiting the size of the waves that can develop.
Lots of interesting science and great scenery to come.
Thanks to all for the nice comments about the site.
Please feel free to send any questions you have to myself or Eugene Domack and we will do our best to get you the answers. Remember we cannot see the web site.
Cheers,
Dave
