We are on our way to Rasshua Island, hoping to set up a 7- or 8-day camp, with 27 people. I put in the "hoping" part because we are unsure if we will be able to find a spot that has a good source of water for that many people. We were originally scheduled to set camp on August 2nd, but have been forced to change our plans because of the weather. Now, normally, if we're out in the field and the weather gets kind of snotty (45 degrees, windy, raining), we will often work through it. If it's a total downpour, maybe we'll take a break. But for the most part, when you work in the Kuril Islands, you can't really afford to stop work every time the weather is less than ideal. If you did, you would hardly ever get any work done!
But this week was definitely an exception to the rule. A very large low pressure system camped out over the central Sea of Okhotsk for 3 days. For better or for worse, the timing of its arrival was such that all of our field team were on board. With the large storm generated by the low pressure system (lots of rain, strong winds, and large waves), it was unsafe for us to make the crossing from Matua Island down to Rasshua. And, furthermore, it would have been extremely unsafe to try to offload all of our equipment and supplies for the field camp.
Soooo, Iskatel spent 3 days "hiding" from the various storm fronts that passed through. For most of the time, we were comfortably anchored on the NE side of Matua, protected from the worst of the wind and rain. But as the low pressure system spun its way across the Sea of Okhotsk, we would occasional experience pretty dramatic shifts in wind direction, and Iskatel would move to a more protected anchorage.
Most of the time we were "pinned down" by the weather, team members passed the time getting caught up on paperwork or consulting with colleagues on the ship on interpretations of the data we've generated to this point. We have also had two informal PowerPoint presentations summarizing our field work. But, as with the original crossing from Korsakov to Chirinkotan, there was more than enough down-time for catching up on reading, napping, and movies.
After the storm passed through, the captain had us wait one more day at Matua. A storm this large generates some pretty substantial ocean swell (I never heard how this storm rated on the Russian "ball" scale). So he decided we would wait one more day to let the swell reduce before moving on to Rasshua. Meanwhile, the weather up at Matua was quite nice. So yesterday several small teams of scientists went to shore again to fill in any data gaps they still had. For the archaeology team, that meant returning to Ainu Bay, which is where the 2006 tsunami caused so much damage via erosion. There is a large archaeological site there, that we've known about since 2006, that has been heavily eroded. There are many deposits of bone, charcoal, and stone tools lying exposed on the surface. So, even though we have a fairly large sample of artifacts from this site, we decided to go collect some more before they are destroyed through their exposure on the ground's surface.
So far, all of my postings have been sent either from town (beginning of the trip), or from the SAT phone connection on the ship. But if all goes as planned, my next posting will be made from our field camp on Rasshua. Not that anyone will notice any difference-it's just that I'll be working on my computer in my tent, rather than in my cabin!
I'll send an update as soon as I get the chance.
---Dr. E