Before leaving Punta Arenas, Chile, we all ventured to the statue in the town square of the great explorer Magellan. Legend has it, if you rub the statue’s toe you will have good luck on the crossing.
 |
| Magellans_toe.jpg. caption: Melissa P. imitating the great explorer Magellan as he navigated the waters later known as the Straits of Magellan. Note the gold tip on his toe from being rubbed for good luck on the crossing of the Drake Passage by so many sailors before us. |
Well, it must have worked, because we are having a VERY nice crossing (compared to what I was expecting). But even with “nice” conditions, the winds are a sustained 20 knots and we have been experiencing 8-15’ swells. There have been a few casualties of equipment and chairs (I TOLD you to tie that down!) but so far, all science party members have walked away with nothing more than a few bruises (although the swells do make working at your computer or moving around the ship rather treacherous).
 |
| Melissa M. holds on tight (and fights back laughter) as a 15’ swell rocks the boat and knocks her chair right out from under her. |
And most people appear to have medicated well because everyone was at dinner last night, even if for only a short period. I would call this a successful crossing indeed!
During our downtime from our own science mission, we have been helping fellow scientists collect data on our crossing of the Drake Passage. We have been doing XBTs (eXpendable BathyThermographs), XCTDs (eXpendable Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensors) and collecting water in order to make measurements about the temperature and salinity of the water we are traveling through.
During our downtime from our own science mission, we have been helping fellow scientists collect data on our crossing of the Drake Passage. We have been doing XBTs (eXpendable BathyThermographs), XCTDs (eXpendable Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensors) and collecting water in order to make measurements about the temperature and salinity of the water we are traveling through.
 |
| Katie demonstrates how fun it can be to deploy the XBTs (this picture was taken after her 3rd chocolate chip cookie of the day…more on these in a later blog). |
This information gets sent to various scientists around the world and also gets posted on an international database, to be shared by all. We are a part of something big by helping others collect data in the passage!
If all goes as planned, we will complete our crossing of the Drake Passage sometime this morning and arrive at Cape Shirreff around noon (local time). Once there, we will offload the crew that will be doing fieldwork on penguins and seals on the island for the next four months, along with all their supplies. It will take several hours to offload all their equipment and “freshies” (fresh fruit, vegetables, milk and other perishables) and they will need everyone’s help to get through the task as quickly and efficiently as possible. I have been tasked as a “Sherpa,” which apparently means they will drop me off on the island and I will be lugging cargo from the zodiacs (small inflatable boats) to the field camp on large sleds across the snow…I am picturing something like the Iditarod, but with me as the sled dog!
Well, it’s time for our All Hands meeting about our busy day at Cape Shirreff, so I’ll wrap this up for now. Wish me luck in my Sherpa adventures!
Melissa P.
No comments:
Post a Comment