January 12

Weather conditions in the Ross Sea continue to be very mild, with light winds (less than 5 kt) and almost no waves.

We have suspended science operations to respond to a distress call by a boat fishing in the northern Ross Sea. The boat was on fire and seven of the crew of the boat suffered burns. The injured were transferred to the Palmer and carried to McMurdo Station, where there is a doctor and other medical staff. There is also transportation from McMurdo to New Zealand to get these patients to better medical facilities.

The heavy red line is the ship track.

The southern part of McMurdo Sound, the location of McMurdo Station, is covered by fast ice (sea ice that is frozen to land). It is only a couple of feet thick so we were able to move into the ice a kilometer or so. We stopped about 16 miles from McMurdo Station to wait for helicopters to move the patients.

While in the area, we were able see part of the Transantarctic Mountains that stretch along the western side of McMurdo Sound.

Transantarctic Mountains near McMurdo Station.

There were spectacular views of Mount Erebus which is an active volcano (I think the only active volcano in Antarctica). As you see, the skies are clear making it easy to see the details of the cone shaped mountain.

Mount Erebus

On the way into the sound, we saw lots of penguins (mostly Adelie penguins, which are small - about 2 to 3 ft tall) as well as a few Emperor penguins (the largest penguins at 4 to 5 ft tall). The photos below (taken by Bettina Sohst, a scientist with the iron chemistry group) show a group of Adelie penguins walking away and a single Adelie an ice floe watching us go by. 

A penguin near the ship was startled and ran away as fast a possible by sliding on its chest and pushing with its feet.

I also saw spouts from whales, but I could not tell what kind it was because the whale did not come out of the water at all.