Back to the grind...

We are officially back in the US and most of us are back to work (I think!). At least, I am. In getting a little slideshow ready for my coworkers to see what I've been doing lately, I had a chance to reminisce and evaluate my experiences. I'm not sure there are words to express my appreciation for my colleagues on the boat (scientists and boat staff included). The experience gained over the last 6 weeks has been priceless. Not only did I see wondrous things, I have a no-small-amount-of-CV-booster to add.

(Photo credit Selina Vaage)

Specifically, I'd like to thank Dr. Meng Zhou. Being a late addition to the UMass crew set to embark, I find myself incredibly lucky to have been working on something only slightly tangential to the missions of the cruise. Meng is a fantastic mentor, giving career advice willingly, life advice frequently, and being a good friend throughout. If any of the readers have a chance to sail with Meng, do not hesitate - agree to it immediately!

(Photo credit Dr. Alison Stimpert)

I'd also like to thank Dr. Doug Nowacek. Without the efforts of this awesome project Chief Scientist, the cruise simply would not have been such a great success. His dedication to the job of Chief Scientist allowed great coordination between working groups and ship time. It was a fantastic experience to be able to work with such a great scientist and person. I hope to sail with you again soon!

I'd also like to thank my night shifters (or Midnight Marauders)! Without you guys, I surely would have gone crazy. At the very least, embarrassing story time would not have devolved into hilarious embarrassing excrement stories without you all.

Thanks to everyone on the boat for a safe, fun, and productive cruise. You all are great!

Thank you Antarctica - for being there, mostly, but also for housing some of the greatest wonders of the world.

And now that I have gone off the deep-end and thanked a non-sentient continent for being a continent, I will sign off. Perhaps in the near future, I will have another adventure to report. One can only hope (and apply for grants!)

Cold now, hot later!

June 5, 2010

Yesterday was just another breathtaking day…

I began my day at 7:45 AM, when Eric came in the room and told me I'd
have a chance to go out on a Zodiac today. Needless to say, I was quite
excited, but that didn't stop me from catching 15 more minutes of sleep.

Anyway, after getting up, showering, eating breakfast and putting many
layers of clothes on and signing a waiver, I was ready to go. Our Zodiac
was lifted off of the deck, placed in the water and our group (Me, Selina,
Andy (the birthday boy himself!), Maria and Driver Kelley) began to descend
to the tiny boat. I was last to approach the ladder and right before I
began to climb downward, our outboard motor decided not to start. After
trying every combination of gas tanks, primer pumps, throttle positions,
etc. Kelley couldn't get it started. We had to call over another boat to
have Jeremy have a whack at it. No luck.

Then MT Dan Powers came to the rescue, starting the engine (after we had
been trying for a good 10 minutes) in a few pulls. We honored him by naming
our boat "Powerhouse" for the day.

We left the Palmer and went hunting for a good place for Maria to get great
shots of whales. It didn't take long, as the whales were just as eager to
see us as we were to see them. A pair of whales swam around us for awhile
while Maria got some great underwater pictures and I got plenty of video.

After one pair finished checking us out, we found another pair and took
more pictures and video of them. It was quite a fortunate day for
whale-sighting and whale-tagging, as the taggers got two tags on.

The whales the tag boat were following decided to split up, so the boat
called us in to track one of them. So, with daylight disappearing quickly
(it was around 2:30-3:00), we grabbed an antenna and tried to find the
other tagged whale.

We weren't very fortunate, however, as our antenna was misbehaving. After
15 minutes of fussing with it, Andy determined the wine just had a bad
connection and fixed it, somewhat. But even with the fixed antenna, we had
trouble following the whale, as it was taking short dives, disrupting our
tracking efforts.

After a little bit of tracking, it began to snow. Just lightly at first,
but soon very large flakes were falling. The wind was only around 4 knots,
so it was quite peaceful. However, the larger flakes dropped visibility
greatly, so the Palmer had to call us in. As we headed back, the beacon
from the Palmer grew fainter and fainter as the snow got thicker and
thicker. We had a GPS, so we knew where it was, but it was still very
strange to be so close to the only thing lit up and not be able to see it
clearly.

After getting safely onboard the Palmer and eating a dinner of buffalo
chicken pizza, it was time for the mostly-nightly science meeting. Upon
everyone arriving, our Chief Scientist Doug told us we all had to sign a
safety form or waiver of some sort. I thought for a second and remembered
we had planned a soccer match for Andy in the Helo Hangar. Not letting the
surprise slip, we all headed there and gathered for planning of the games.
We figured that it would be best to have teams of three, games to one
point, winners stay. Some music was put on, we stood around the impromptu
field and watched as two teams would try to kick is between two ping-pong
paddles placed on the ground.

Competition was fierce! The field had a distance of only about 30 feet, but
trying to advance a ball past three other people proved quite difficult. We
played for about an hour and were all a little sweaty. My team had a streak
of four games, so we were especially tired.

But that didn't stop me and sever others from playing a couple games of
basketball afterwards. A little half-court 3-on-3 with substitutions really
burned the last of our energy. Tired and sweaty, we decided two games was
enough and headed either to our rooms to shower, or back to the lab to
complete their shift (me).

Like I said, it was just another breathtaking day (in more ways that one)!

Palmer Station + Rock and Roll

It's been about a week since the last post! Oops, sorry about that all.
The weather has been generally terrible. The nights have been a little
better than the days, however. Winds tend to die down at night and we have
a nice pleasant snow. We've had several snowball fights in the night,
assisted in shoveling the helicopter pad and refueling the Zodiacs. But
all in all, there isn't much new. Lots of unpublished data, however! ;)

Well – we were supposed to go to Palmer Station last night, and we did!
For about 20 minutes. Unfortunately for us, the weather turned bad in a
matter of minutes after landing the final boat. That meant that we had a
few perilous moments fighting the mob to buy souvenirs for friends at home.
I'm afraid I might not have bought enough... bahhh! We'll see, I
suppose. This is one of the only trips I've wanted a large amount of
souvenir collection. I ended up buying several clothing items, several
small pins, a magnet, and several stickers. AND, the ability to state,
"I've been on the Antarctic continent"! Pretty cool.

After leaving the station, the night crew had a few hours to sleep thanks
to the day crew agreeing to stay up until 2am. Shortly after 2am, however,
we approached the French Channel. The approach was rough – 5 degree
roll/pitch was not uncommon. As the ship turned to make the Channel, the
swells increased, rolling our ship with might. Winds were up to 45-50
knots. Seasickness. Identifying my odd stomach feeling was a little late
for the drugs to start up. It was a long night. Currently, the winds are
back down to 20-30 knots and we're getting ready to tow for plankton. I
may go take a quick nap before dinner to make sure I've got my sea legs
back.