Brialmont Cove

12/16/01

64 15 S

61 00 W

-1 C,light winds

dense fog, low clouds and snowing

Good Sunday morning,

What a difference 12 hours and many nautical miles away from yesterday's storm makes. When I came on watch at midnight seas were calm, winds light and a light snow was falling. Visibility was zero in dense fog or low clouds. During Saturday afternoon and evening the ship moved southwest through the Bransfield Strait, into the Orleans Strait and entered the head of the Gerlache Strait. Currently we are entering Hughes Bay headed for Brialmont Cove.

Brialmont Cove is the next area for intensive investigation with bottom topography mapping, sea floor sampling, water chemistry measurements and sea floor photography. As we enter the cove the dense fog and clouds limit visibility. Radar shows numerous icebergs in the cove and the sea is full of floating ice.

As mapping progresses it becomes apparent that travel in the cove will be very difficult. As morning progresses and the sun begins to warm the air, fog and clouds start to breakup. We now see that the lower reaches of Brailmont are covered with a large amount of snow from last winter. At the head of Brialmont Cove sits the Cayley glacier which feeds significant sediment into the cove as well as ice. The large amount of ice at the head of the cove stops any progress towards our planned sampling sites. These large icebergs may be the result of the breakup of last winters advance of the Cayley  by yesterday's storm. With our plans to sample near the head of Brialmont    thwarted we are progressing further south in  the Gerlache to sample and area of interest located during a previous voyage. Plans are to come back to the Brialmont in hopes that winds may move the ice around and allow better access.

As we were leaving the sky began to clear allowing us a glimpse at the spectacular scenery around Brialmont Cove.

Cheers,

Dave

caption for photo: Early morning in Brialmont Cove as the  fog and clouds begin to lift