University of New England

Antarctic Blog: 11/14-11/28
Stacey Keith and Kerra Gearinger

The entries are listed with the most recent at the top.

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Monday, November 28th - from Stacey
Only two days until we head back to port. Everyone is trying to get in as much science as possible before we leave. It will take about 12 days or so to get back to New Zealand. Today was a slow day of filtering. Kerra and I learned how to write our names in Japanese and Hindi. The lab is starting to look more festive.

There are now Christmas decorations up along with the Thanksgiving and Halloween decorations. There are snowflakes and crape paper strands on the ceiling. It makes things a little more fun. There has been a crossword craze these past few days. We get the New York Digest and the crosswords everyday.  Everyone sits around and discusses the clues and trys to get the answers before the others.
 
Sunday, November 27th - from Stacey
Today was a full day of filtering. We retrieved our sediment traps with ease and filtered them. Kerra and I were asked to help deploy the PUV.  PUV is an profiling underwater radiometer. It measures the quality of light that penetrates through water.  The PUV is on the end of a 50m cord. The PUV is released off the back of the ship and goes down 50m at an steady pace. When it reaches 50m it is pulled back out. Kerra and I had the pleasure of being able to pull it out of the water. It is not a heavy piece of equipment but pulling in 50m of cord takes a toll on your arms. It was a great work-out. 

 

Saturday, November 26th - from Stacey
It was really wavy today and extremely windy. We weren't able to go out in the zodiac to collect water because it was too unsafe. We were able to put our sediment traps in the water. This will be our last time because we are heading back to port in four days. It is hard to believe that it is almost over. We have had so much fun and met so many great people. It will be weird not to see these people everyday.  However, it will be nice to sleep later than 6:15 a.m. With our sediment traps in the water, it left the afternoon pretty much open so we watched a movie and headed off to the gym.
 
Friday, November 25th - from Kerra
Today we awaken with sadness. Unfortunately, we will be missing the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Stacey and I both have made it a tradition to wake up on Thanksgiving morning and watch the parade, usually with our younger sisters. I suppose we will have to just wait and enjoy the parade next year.

Still full from eating so much the day before, we have a light breakfast and get busy filtering. Luckily today we will be relocating and a majority of the day is spent in transit. Therefore, we are unable to collect any water samples and our day is spent organizing photos and searching for wildlife outside. We have moved to open water and the chances of spotting wildlife are slim. The water is choppy and weakens our hopes of seeing any whales or penguins.

Later at night, Stacey and I decide to work out at the gym and again find ourselves watching a movie afterwards. I suppose we enjoy watching movies later at night because it is a good way to wind down from our day and relax before we fall asleep. Tonight, we happen to do just that and eventually both of us are awakened by our roommate and told to go to bed. Without hesitation, the two of us mosey to our room and fall asleep.

Thursday, November 24th - from Kerra
Happy Thanksgiving! This morning Stacey and I are able to take advantage of the holiday and have some quality time to sleep-in. We awaken to hand-made turkeys posted on our lab shelves and the smell of dinner cooking in the galley. Before we are able to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, we must filter a few samples. The sampling goes quickly and at 11:30 a.m., everyone rushes to the galley.

We are delighted to find turkey, ham, potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, and fresh baked bread. As we sit down to eat, Stacey and I recall previous Thanksgiving meals back home and share with Dr. Goes and Dr. Gomes, what our families prepare. Stacey and I both admit that even though the chef did well, our mothers meals are much tastier. Dessert includes a large variety of pies, cakes and cookies. It seems as though there is never a shortage of dessert aboard the ship.

After dinner, we decide to work on our foosball skills, and Stacey and I go one-on-one for many games. Later at night, everyone gathers in the entertainment room to watch "A Christmas Story." I know in our household, watching "A Christmas Story" on TV has become a yearly tradition. I am told that the boy in the movie has similar childhood features to my uncle back home, so I giggle to myself every now and then during the show. At the completion of the film, Stacey and I are exhausted from a busy day and crawl into our warm beds, content and stuffed with food.

Wednesday, November 23rd - from Kerra
Ring. Ring. Ring. At 6 a.m. on the dot, that faithful alarm clock of mine goes off. After only three hours of sleep, I'm not feeling too refreshed. I drag myself downstairs and find Dr. Gomes waiting to filter the next set of bags for our diel experiment. I put on my neck gator, ear warmer and winter jacket and head upstairs to the helo deck where our incubators are kept. As soon as I walk through the door, I am hit with a bitter cold gust of wind and my face goes numb.

The sun brightly shines in the sky, and Adele penguins huddle near the stern of the vessel. I quickly grab our samples, and Dr. Gomes and I begin our sampling for the day. The filtrations continue throughout the morning. Our frozen sample collection is growing and soon we will have to put our samples on wands in order to free our sample boxes. Finally, after lunch, we complete the last sample of our diel and take time to go drink tea. In the afternoon we filter our long-term experiments and relax by watching a movie. After a visit to the gym, Stacey and I are off to bed. I know I'll be sleeping well tonight!x

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - from Kerra

Rise and shine! Stacey and I are definitely rising, but I'm not quite sure we were shining. Today we begin our diel experiment. It consists of a series of collections and filtrations according to the time of day. Early in the morning we collect samples and place them in whirlpack bags. They are then taken to our incubators and throughout the day removed in increments and filtered. At the same time, we continue to collect water from the CTD and also filter and store those samples. Therefore, the entire day is jam packed with collecting and filtering water.

A diel allows us to study how the phytoplankton and zooplankton move throughout the water column over the period of one day. Since the study monitors the amount of sunlight, we must collect water at least every four hours, starting around 7 a.m. and ending around 7 a.m. the next morning.

The Goes team is well aware that we have a long day and night ahead of us. As the day progresses, we become more weary from our efforts and decide on a schedule for the night filtrations. Dr. Goes offers to wake up around 3:30 a.m. to filter, and Stacey and I will take the midnight filtration. We keep busy for a majority of the night and at midnight we are anxiously waiting for our cast to come out of the water. However, when the CTD finally emerges, we find out that the operator was not informed to collect water samples and must send the equipment back down into the water.

Eager for sleep, Stacey and I patiently await for the cast to be brought back and in the mean time discover it is an ideal time to surprise our mothers with a good morning phone call. Due to the time change, we are often in bed when everyone back in the States is waking up and heading to work. Therefore, most of our phone calls are placed midday before our family and friends go to bed. Stacey and I find that our mothers are very surprised with our calls and I believe it most likely made their day.

Eventually, the CTD surfaces and we begin our collection and filtration. The sun shines brightly through our port hole in the lab, and Stacey and I laugh at the thought that it is almost 2 a.m. What will we do when we get back to New Zealand and the sky turns dark? I do miss the moon and the stars. Overall, our filtrations go very well and within twenty minutes, we are cleaned up and ready for bed.

However, Stacey and I need a way to decide who will wake up early tomorrow morning to help Dr. Gomes with the 7 a.m. filtration. After asking around and finding out that no one in the labs has a coin on them, we decide to toss a packet of filters marked with an X. Unfortunately, I lose the toss and tomorrow I will be waking early to continue our filtrations.

Monday, November 21, 2005 - from Kerra

Time to filter!! Stacey and I awake and go downstairs to filter our first samples of water for the day. We have become experts at filtering, and I believe that when we return from the trip, I might miss our daily task.

Today most of our previous experiments are wrapping up, so we must complete them and put them in freezer storage. Due to the fact that we have moved to a new location in the Ross Sea, it is time to begin new experiments and proceed with the same order until we begin to head back to port.

In the afternoon, our team again attempts to lower sediment traps into the water in hopes that this time our efforts will be more worthwhile and the buoys will not disappear under the ice. Although the actual release of the traps went well, Dr. Goes lost a glove thanks to the wind and Stacey watched as her hard hat blew off her head and into the water. Luckily, the only items blown into the water were supplies that can be easily replaced.

After filtering a majority of the day, Stacey and I take time to work out at the gym and afterwards feel refreshed and ready to go. Considering we need to venture back downstairs for our last filtration of the night, I suppose it was a good idea to get a "second wind." All goes well in water world and after a tedious day of filtrations we climb the stairs to bed.

Friday, November 18 - Sunday, November 20, 2005 - from Stacey

We have been doing the same old, same old the past few days. We collect water and then filter. There has been some free time in the afternoons, and we have been able to watch some movies. One day we watched "Super Troopers".  It is a very funny movie. It's nice to just sit and relax for awhile.

There hasn't been too much wildlife around. We are still seeing a few penguins but nothing else. Our goal still remains to see an Orca up close in the wild. That would be awesome.

People around the labs have been putting up decorations to make things a little more lively. In two of the labs, including ours, people are making hand turkeys to hang up. There are some really creative ideas. My favorite is the Hawaiian turkey. Only four more days until Thanksgiving. It will be hard to be away from home on the holidays but we still get a big meal. However, we'll miss the big family gatherings and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Thursday November 17th - from Stacey
Today we started a new experiment.  We are going to look to see if salinity affects the growth of algae. The algae attach to the ice. When the ice starts to melt it releases the algae into the water column. Ice is freshwater and freshwater is less dense than seawater. So when the ice melts it allows the algae to stay in the top layer where the algae can receive light.  This top layer has a lower salinity than deeper layers. We are looking to see if the salinity levels have an effect on the algae's growth. We have taken samples of algae from the water and are incubating them in different four different levels of salinity. We are incubating them in 100% seawater, 75%, 50%, and 25%. So hopefully within the next few days we will see some results.

Wednesday November 16th - from Stacey
It was a great day today. Everyone one got to sleep because of the Ice Party the night before.  After we got up we did some filtering like usual. Everybody on the ship was anticipating the arrival of the helicopter all day. It finally arrived at 7:30 p.m.

The helicopter came bearing gifts from McMurdo station on Antarctica. It brought all the stuff that people had forgotten to bring for their experiments and even some letters for some people on the ship. It was cool. Around 7 everyone went outside and watched for the helicopter. It circled the ship and landed on the ice near the gangway. Everybody formed an assembly line and passed the packages up to the ship. Then we were all able to go out on the ice and take pictures of the helicopter. It was a very interesting day. However, there was a little sadness in the air because this was our last day to go out on the ice. Tonight we are leaving to go to a different spot.

Tuesday, November 15th - from Kerra
With excitement, we roll out of bed and look forward to our first chance to set foot on the ice!! Stacey and I rush through breakfast and beg Dr. Goes to let us go outside. He is thrilled with the idea and is anxious for some help in collecting sea slush to collect and filter. Quickly, Stacey and I put on our extreme weather gear and head for the exit. There is a sign-out sheet, and we must wear float coats whenever leaving the ship.

It is such an incredible feeling to actually step down on the ice of Antarctica. The whole experience seems so unreal. As soon as we walk on the ice, we are greeted by curious penguins. This time they come closer then I would have ever imagined. I can not believe that they are not frightened by our presence. However, we are all able to get some wonderful pictures!

After our slush collection, we come back to the lab to filter our samples and place them in the freezer or incubators. As we return to the lab, we are informed that there will be a party on the ice tonight. Everyone is anxious to get off the ship for a bit and socialize.

Around 1900 (7 p.m.) we all bundle up and venture outside. People are everywhere and so are the penguins. Stacey and I pose for pictures beside our Antarctic friends. It seems as though the penguins are posing for pictures also and enjoy our attention. While Stacey and I are busy taking video and pictures, others play a soccer game on the ice and dance to the karaoke machine that has been brought outside. It is so strange to think that we are on Antarctica playing soccer, dancing and posing beside penguins. This place never fails to amaze me! After a busy day and eventful night, Stacey and I head back inside to warm up with some hot chocolate and get some much needed sleep.

Monday, November 14th - from Kerra
Today we woke up to the sunshine in our window and penguins starring at the ship. It's so strange to look out the windows and see penguins, but I love every minute of it. We have reached the Ross Ice Shelf and have decided to stay here for a few days in order to be in the proper location for the helicopter visit we are all looking forward to.

The US McMurdo station is just over the mountains and the helicopter is suppose to fly out of there sometime on Wednesday. It will be carrying supplies for many of the researchers and I'm looking forward to getting some great pictures. Due to our present location, we are unable to collect much water. Today we can relax and rest up for the work that will soon greet us.

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