"And breathe...just breathe" -Anna Nalickr
It's 7:20am and I take a moment to sit and breathe as I gaze out the window of the Crary Lab at the sea ice. This is one of my favorite places to write and I came here to feel the calm. My brain shifts between excitement and nervousness. Both are causing my stomach to feel like butterflies are having a party in there.
Amy Osborne looking out the window of the Crary Lab library
I am very excited to be joining the research team for the first time out on the ice today! This morning, at breakfast, Jean Pennycook a former PolarTREC teacher who is now down here supporting penguin research, said to me, "This is really day one and it will be a beautiful and amazing day." I felt my smile grow and grow as I ate my oatmeal with apricots and raisins.
"I am excited and I'm a bit nervous, too," I replied.
"Why are your nervous?" she asked.
I searched my thoughts to figure out exactly where the nervous feeling was coming from. This feeling of anxiousness around new situations isn't totally new for me but as I get older, for some reason, it's been bubbling up more and more.
"I want to be helpful, I want to learn, but make sure I'm not in the way or mess up anything. And I hope I have the right clothes!"
In my mind, I was thinking my desire to do things perfectly sometimes paralyzes me. Jean assured me my clothes would be adequate and reminded me to enjoy the day.
These are the clothes I wear under my Extreme Cold Weather gear. 2 long underwear bottoms, one pair of fleece pants, 2 pairs of socks, 2 longsleeved long underwear shirts, 1 short sleeved wool shirt, a fleece jacket, a down jacket-until I can get to my red parka, 1 pair liner gloves, 1 pair mittens, two neck gaiters, goggles, and two hats.
I passed the rest of the research team, smiling in the dining hall and in the hallway of the lab as they finished up final details like packing a lunch, filling thermoses with hot water, and gathering gear. Their smiles made me feel less nervous and made space for excitement to overtake me...
I'm in Antarctica!
I'm going out on the sea ice!
I'm going to get to watch and support the incredible and important research going on here!
I am fortunate to be with an amazing group of researchers!
Ok...I'm ready!
Time to put on my extreme cold weather gear and get to the dive locker.
Dr. Anne Todgham, Denise Hardoy, and Dr. Amy Moran (left to right) stand in front of the dive locker preparing to head out on the ice.
Hours pass....
It's 5:00 and I just had one of the best days ever! From the pisten bully ride with incredible views, to watching the divers get ready to head under the ice, to enjoying the beautiful weather and unbelievable silence out on the ice, to seeing what we collected, this day was packed with new experiences. Here's a glimpse into some highlights. Stay tuned for a longer more immersive video experience and to find out why we are out there studying life under the ice!
The views:
Mt. Erebus, Antarctica viewed from McMurdo Sound sea ice.
We traveled along some very slick looking sea ice. The amazing thing is it's not slippery.
Navigating a pisten bully through rafted ice…this is ice that has been split apart and then come back together in a jumble.
A view of islands, Tent Island and Inaccessible Island, that are surrounded by sea ice.
Arriving at the dive hut:
Pisten bully pulling up to the dive hut at Evans Wall near Cape Evans, Antarctica.
Amy Osborne entering the dive hut at at Evans Wall near Cape Evans, Antarctica
Karla Heidelberg walking past the spot where the rock meets the ice. Apparently this spot where the rock meets the ice looks amazingly eery in the ocean
What an amazing and knowledgeable group of people. They dive into negative temperatures with dry suits on near the rocky and icy shore edge. And the do this while also collecting specimens to be studied back in the labs. The divers astound me and I am humbled in their presence:
The divers Mandy Frazier, Rob Robbins, Steve Rupp, Amy Moran, and Aaron Toh prepare to dive into the borehole that will take them into the ocean below the sea ice.
As the divers prepare to head down into the depths of the sea they dangle their colorful fins over the edge of the hole.
Gathering data:
Graham Lobert reads off the dissolved oxygen at different depths as Amy Osborne records the information.
While the divers were collecting things and Graham was dive tending, some of us took a moment to enjoy the remarkably warm sunny day on the ice. At our dive site there was almost no wind so we basked in the -9°C/16°F temperatures. The most surprising thing on the ice is the absolute silence. Since there was no wind everything around me was still and I didn't hear a sound:
The day was beautiful. A perfect day for Amy Osborne to eat lunch in a lawn chair on the sea ice. Evans Wall, Near Cape Evans, Antarctica
Headstands are hard...especially in bunny boots!
Amy Osborne's second failed attempt at a headstand on the ice. One of these days…
Back home:
Heading home. The Pisten Bully heads back to McMurdo town.
The sea spiders and nudibranch egg cases, they are the white spirals, that were collected on our diving journey are placed into this tank.
In the end I had plenty of clothes and learned a lot. What a great day!
Amy Osborne on the sea ice
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