January 8

Today conditions continue to be very mild. It is cold (around freezing) and the wind chill is uncomfortable (-10C +10F). Winds are low (5 to 10 kt) and seas are very flat.

                   (The heavy red line is the cruise track.)

We continue towards the Ross Sea sampling area. On Friday we made some measurements before getting to a wide band of sea ice. Then yesterday we pushed through some scattered sea ice that became thick and covered most of the ocean where we were. Most of this ice is a couple of feet thick and it is covered with 1/2 to 1 feet of snow. We sometimes see bigger icebergs. I estimated that the one in the picture below is about 1/2 mile wide and 100 feet tall.

We stopped yesterday to make some measurements in the middle of this sea ice band, although the place we stopped was mainly open water. As we continued on our way, we had to cross the thicker ice mentioned above.

The scene above has the ocean surface mostly covered sea ice. Notice the iceberg in the background.

Eventually the ice was thick enough to stop the ship. That is, the ship could not push continuously through the ice. Instead we had to "back and ram" which means that the boat pushed through the ice at full throttle until it stops. Then it backs up and does it again. Eventually we made it through the thickest ice. Notice the crushed ice in the picture above. We are backing up to take another run at the ice. The brown color of the sea ice in the above picture is from phytoplankton (algae) that grow in the sea ice.

We all got to experience the noise of going through ice. The Mess area (galley) is forward and starboard (right side of the ship looking towards the front end, for those who are nautically challenged) and on the main deck. When driving through ice, the Mess is too noisy for conversation. There is a good bit of banging and crashing as the ship hits harder pieces of ice.

Today we are out of the ice and on our way. We stopped to make some more measurements this morning.

We have been changing time zones every two days. We are now seven hours behind Eastern Standard time in the time zone of New Zealand, but I am not really sure. Time has very little meaning to us, partly because of the constant changes in time zone, but also because the sun is always up. There are no real clues to what time it is. The only time marker we have is meals on the ship, which are set by local time.

The sun makes a big circle in the sky during the day. At noon, the sun is north of the ship and high in the sky. At midnight, the sun is lower and south of the ship. It gets lighter and darker as clouds come and go.

We are working 12 hour shifts. I work from midnight to noon. I have supper (actually mid-rats) when I get up and breakfast in the middle of my "day". I sometimes have "lunch" before going to bed. Very confusing.