29 Nov - From the Drake to Palmer Station and More

[Editor's note: The first leg of our sampling has stations every 3 to 4 hours which means there's little downtime for the field team so the Chief Scientist is the reason for this post showing up a few days late.]

On November 29^th, the LMG Gould passed from the Drake Passage and into the straits leading to Anvers Island and Palmer Station, one of three major United States research stations on the Antarctic continent. Stepping out onto the deck, I was taken with the scenery, and I mean mouth-open eyes-wide, taken! The land surrounding the narrow strip of water on which we traveled was sincerely different from anything I had ever seen before. Rock, ice and snow dominated the landscape. Darkened by deep grey skies, parts of the landscape were highlighted by bold dashes of sunlight breaking through the clouds.

The landscape on our way through the Gerlache Strait.

Not only were we greeted with a new landscape, accompanying fauna including penguins and whales, but also by sea ice! There are many classifications of sea ice including pancake ice, bergie bits, growlers, ice bergs, and many more.

A flow chart of the different types of ice.

These floating pieces of ice are considered growlers!

Docking the LMG at Palmer station is like parking a whale; it is a feat of precision. We met the Palmer folks with some friendly snowball fire. 

Ammunition awaits.

Palmer Station, Anvers Island. 

We had a great time at Palmer, and enjoyed their hospitality immensely.

-Karen