After a very early morning meeting with the US research vessel, the Nathanial B. Palmer, the Oden moved through the ice to a large, thick ice floe - the site of our first 24 hour ice station. Our Sea Ice Team had 3 different work tasks we wanted to complete at this station - all new projects we had not done before. It turned out to be more work than any of us realized it would be.
Last night and today at the the 24 hour station was a test of mental and physical fortitude. I was challenged - and I gained some self confidence and strength after completing some very long work hours in a challenging environment.
Anne Marie Wotkyns helps bring equipment out onto the ice floe using a sled.
We started working yesterday at 2:00-7:30pm on our first project - building and installing a different type of ice mass balance buoy than the SAMS buoy we installed a few days ago. This Ice Mass Balance Buoy (IMB) was a larger, more complicated instrument that was set up on a table with legs and in addition to the regular, hand drilled holes in the ice, it also required a 10" motor powered auger drilled hole through the ice. David and I hauled 2 sleds of equipment out to the work site on the ice floe while Blake and Brent finished the work site survey for the other scientists. We all worked together to follow the steps to assemble and activate the IMB. It would send back measurements of snow depth around the IMB (using a sonic pinger), water depth (sonic pinger), under ice light levels ( radiometer), air, water and snow temperature, atmospheric and underwater pressure, conductivity (using salinity to measure),and GPS geolocation.
David Prado and the large ice mass balance buoy we built and installed on the ice floe.
Pascy the Penguin sits on the control box of the IMB we installed.
A very exciting moment occurred when we had two Adelie penguins come visit us while we were working. They seemed very interested in what we were doing to their icy home. They came within about 3 meters of us, looked at our backpacks and supplies, watched for a few minutes, then walked and "tobogganed" away. Penguins move in a very unique way, Beside walking (and swimming in the water,) they also"toboggan." They flop onto their bellies and push themselves along with their flipper-like wings and their feet. They can move surprisingly fast, and after struggling myself to walk through the soft, deep snow on the ice floe, "tobogganing" seems a very efficient way for them to travel in their ice habitats.
We we visited by several Adelie penguins who seemed intrigued by our equipment.
The Adelie penguins often belly-flop onto the snow and glide on their stomachs, pushing themselves with their wings and feet.
We were hungry and a little tired when we came in for a late dinner, which the kitchen staff had kindly wrapped up on plates for us because we missed the regular meal. Except, it was salmon, and I don't eat fish! I couldn't even eat the vegetables because they'd been wrapped up on the same plate and all smelled like fish! So I had salad and toast with cheese for dinner. But, I was very thankful that "Messman" Kristel made that extra effort for us, and I certainly am not going to starve on board the Oden! After 45 minutes we were dressed in our snow clothes and went back out onto the ice. The time was about 8:15 pm, but we could work as late as we needed to because the sun never sets during this time of year.
Task #2 was measuring out and mapping 2 - 200' long transects ( a measured distance in a straight line). Blake and David measured the ice thickness with the EM Profiler and Brent and I measured the snow depth by hand with a meter stick every 2 meters (100 measurements per transect!) The hard part was for 10 steps the snow could be 50-60 cm, then the next step you'd sink, or fall, in over 1 meter of snow because there were hidden pockets or ridges in the ice below. It was exhausting! We did have a great experience when a juvenile emperor penguin decided to come over and watch us while we worked. We identified him a juvenile because he had not grown the yellow facial and neck feathers that the adults have. He followed us right down our transect line, keeping up with us step by step. And when he "tobogganed" away on his belly, he left a great set of tracks clearly in the snow.
A juvenile emperor penguin followed as us we took snow and ice depth measurements.
This juvenile emperor penguin was very interested in us as we took the snow and ice measurements.
The ice floe was crisscrossed with these penguin tracks. It is easy to see where they slide on their bellies and push themselves forward using their wings and feet.
We worked from 8:15pm until 11:00pm and we felt great when we finished our work for the night. Two tasks successfully completed!
Anne Marie Wotkyns working on the ice - assisting the sea ice team taking measurements of snow depth and ice thickness.
When I finished my computer work and finally went to bed, it was about midnight, but just as I was climbing in to my bunk, I looked out the cabin window. I have to learn not to do that right before bed because there were 7 Adelie penguins playing on the ice, right off the ship! So, I couldn't resist slipping on my shoes and a jacket, and hurrying out on deck to watch them. They were hilarious! They are truly the clowns of the animal world. They almost seemed to be daring each other to move closer and closer to the ship. A few more feet and they could have been walking up the ship's gangway. For a minute, I wondered if we needed a crew member on penguin watch?
There were up to 7 Adelie penguins milling around the Oden's gangway. Do we have anyone on 'penguin watch?'
This morning I was up at 6:05 am to get dressed and have a cup of coffee before meeting the team at 6:30 to carry gear out onto the ice for task #3. That was not much sleep after a very long day yesterday, starting with the NB Palmer's early morning wake-up and our long work day. Part of what is challenging about this ice work is the dressing and undressing every time we go out on the ice - the coveralls are heavy and bulky, and you get very overheated if you put them on too early before heading outside and the boots are awkward,heavy, and hard to pull on and lace up. I wore 2 pairs of gloves and carried a 3rd pair because my fingers got very cold yesterday. I switched to wearing goggles instead of sunglasses to better shade my eyes and they also fog less than the sunglasses when I get warm from walking and carrying equipment. As we were leaving the ship with our equipment, our Adelie penguin friends came back. We stood very still and they came close to us again, within about 2-3 meters. We are not allowed to approach or follow any wildlife here, but its OK if they come up to us. But, we couldn't watch them for long - we had work to do.
Adelies are small, social penguins who usually appear in pairs, triads, or sometimes larger groups.
Adelie penguins are very curious. They appear to be watching everything we do, and seem very interested in our tools, equipment, and backpacks,
Our work site was over 250 meters from the ship, so we had a pretty good walk through the uneven snow with all of our needed equipment. We set up for our first LiDAR (laser imaging and ranging) survey. We had 8 large surveyors tripods with wooden bases to stand them on and we had to set them up spread out over 400 square meters. The tripods hold reflectors which the LiDAr camera uses to scan the landscape and create a 3-D image of the ice floe topography. We walked back to the Oden for a quick breakfast, then hurried back out onto the ice floe to begin the LiDAR scanning We were right on schedule to complete our third and final task.
The LiDAR reflectors are spread out over the area to be scanned.
But, then we were confronted with the " A- Factor" - the idea that whatever can go wrong in the Antarctic will go wrong, and to a much greater degree than it would back in the more northerly world. The computer and Lidar imaging camera stopped working properly, data from the first scan disappeared, the sensors and computers had issues with the cold (it's been about -4C for the last 2 days), big battery packs that should last all day weren't supplying enough power so we had to locate a generator to use, the power converter/battery backup between the generator and computer didn't work right, and it went on and on. Blake dealt with the computer and camera issues, Brent helped with the power situation, David and I helped out any way we could. That alternated between waiting to do something and going back to ship many times for supplies and equipment.
We worked straight through until 3:00 pm. Blake had to ask the captain to delay departure for an hour. He needed a minimum of 3 LiDAR scans for the image to work (we originally were trying to 5) so stopping at 2 scans would have wasted the whole day's work, so we powered on. It was only supposed to take 5 hours or less for 5 scans, but it took 7 hours for 3 scans! No one was to blame for these crazy complications - it was clearly just the "A-Factor."
The LiDAR camera takes multiple scans ( up to 360 degrees of a study area ) and can provide a detailed 3-D representation of the ice floe topography.
This was a challenging 25 hours. My legs are tired from slogging through the deep snow and falling down about a thousand times! My fingers are just a little sore now - not the freezing cold and burning pins and needles they were out on the ice. My body feels like it just ran a marathon! But I didn't complain, I didn't whine, I kept up with the men, I took great penguin pics, I learned a lot about the science and technology, and, I had a lot of fun!
Pascy the Penguin, Room 14 mascot, watches a long lost cousin playing in the snow.
Lesson Learned: Sometimes it takes a challenging situation to show you what you are capable of.