January 16

We are about halfway through the cruise. Everyone is in a routine making measurements. Sometimes we drag instruments behind the ship for 10 to 20 hours which causes work for some groups but lets other groups catch up (or relax). Sometimes we make measurements close together which makes everyone work. For these close stations, it takes the boat about 30 minutes to get from one sampling location to the next. It takes longer than that to take samples from the CTD and process water.  So things get going pretty fast.

We are in the southwestern Ross Sea sampling in an area that is northeast of McMurdo Station. Satellite measurements indicated that there is abundant phytoplankton in this area. Our measurements confirm the satellite observations. We are finding eddies (swirls of water) with higher levels of chlorophyll (the pigment associated with plants) in the eddies than out. We are driving around in criss-cross patterns to see the shape and size of these eddies.

The heavy red line is the cruise track.

The red blob in the cruise track is the area where we are doing a process study.  We do many closely spaced sampling stations for a process study.  The long straight cruise track is when we are doing a survey. 

Weather conditions have been very nice. Air temperatures have been around freezing (or a few degrees below) and the winds have been light (5 to 15 kt). The ocean has been very flat. This makes for very comfortable working conditions. Very different from the conditions we experienced in the first week or so of the cruise.

When it is sunny, the ocean looks positively tropical. The picture below could be from the Sargasso Sea (the subtropical north Atlantic Ocean around Bermuda).

The picture below is taken looking over the stern of the ship and shows the boat wake. It is very odd to see such a distinct boat wake in the open ocean.

At times the winds are out of the south. We are not too far north of the Ross Ice Shelf, so the air coming from the south has been over the continent and is cold (-10C about 10 F). Wind chill during this time can be -10 F. I don't go out on deck much because I can do what I need to do from inside the ship or in enclosed areas like the Baltic Room.  So, the temperature/wind chill does not matter much. Others do work outside, and they bundle up if they are going to be out for any time.

We have run out of lettuce and other fresh foods. There are a few tomatoes left. The cook used the last of the fresh spinach in a beans and spinach concoction. Salad is now shreadded cabbage and carrots (aka slaw, without the mayonnaise). As salads go, it is not bad with a little salad dressing. We are still getting frozen vegetables along with beans, rice and various meats and pastas.

I bought some candy at the market in Punta Arenas, Chile before we sailed as a mid-cruise treat. I will start putting some out in a bowl during the coming weekend. Most of the candy supply on the boat has disappeared, so this will be a treat. A few on board really like chocolate, so I am curious to see their reaction to new candy.