15 January 2019 Lots of Bubbles in Lake Bonney

Here is a short, fun little timewarp video of me setting up my tent here at Bonney Camp.

Yesterday was kind of a cloudy day, so when I woke up to clear skies I was amazed by the views in every direction, I just could not stop looking. It was like I was inside of a National Geographic magazine!

My view out my tent door when I woke up this morning. That is Lake Bonney out there. The view from behind my tent at the Lake Bonney camp. Those are huge glaciers on those rugged peaks behind me.

This is our dive team. James is standing on the left, Shawn is in the middle, and Ian seated at the right. These ambitious divers set a pretty lofty goal for today. They want to get six dives done today collecting samples and photographing their study area.

The Dive Adventure Begins

The trip out to our dive spot requires a trip across the moat in our "moat boat" to reach solid ice we can walk on. A 30-minute hike across this very rugged lake ice is our next challenge to reach our dive site. Watch for a future video telling more about this journey. This is Shawn. He is one of our diver / scientists here at Lake Bonney. This is James preparing for his turn to go through the ice. James preparing his collection containers he will fill while under the ice. Ian preparing to go for a dip in the lake. Notice the "umbilical" dropping into the hole. This attaches to the divers. One tube is their air and the other is for communication. It takes several support people to assure the safety of our diver under the ice. Here are some samples the divers brought up from the sediment below. It seems to be rich in cyanobacteria. This is a bacteria that uses the sun to get it's energy (photosynthesizes). This seemingly lifeless place is loaded with living things. You just have to know where to look. These two scientists, Shasten and Esha are researching the water column. It is so cool to see all the science teams working together to find answers to questions about this magical place. These two are studying the water, the divers look at the floor of the lake, and the "wormherders" will look at the animals that live in the soil at the edge of the lake. Collaboration at it's finest!

It is now after 1am. There is so much more to tell you about this diver operation. I have video I am working on and will post when better internet becomes available. We are starting more diving early tomorrow. I need to go to bed to get a few hours of sleep. This story will continue tomorrow. Stay tuned.