Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 08:14
Forums
Ask Ms. Davenport

Michael Siano- Has anyone had frost bite?

 Turney-Does sewage freeze when it gets dumped?

Malia, Brittney, Laura- Can you take more pictures of yourself?

Ricky-Have you seen any sea lions?

Thomas- How close did you get to a walrus?

Christian P-Has anyone fell into the ice?

Christian R-Do the people on polar bear watch have shot guns?

Mrs. Vigre- When do you analyze your core samples?

Thu, 04/26/2007 - 07:29

Emily Davenport

Hi everyone! 
No frost bite yet on the ship- everyone stays bundled up when they go outside!  We try and wear our mustang suits when we go outside- which is like wearing a sleeping bag...nice and toasty warm!!
 
I don't know if sewage freezes when it gets dumped...it's getting dumped into the water, and I'm pretty sure it sinks to the bottom before it has a chance to turn into ice- so I don't think it does, but I'm not sure!
 
I will try and post more pictures of myself doing things!!  I need to get better at doing that- asking other people to take pictures of me...thanks for reminding me!!
 
No sea lions- they don't come this far north actually.  The best place to see sea lions is on the coast of Oregon or California...there is even a sea lion cave down in Oregon where there are TONS of them to see!!  None up here however...
 
We were about 1500 feet or so away from the walrus- so not super close up, but close enough to get a picture!!  We try and stay as far away from them as we can, because they are skittish animals and will leave the ice (where they are vulnerable) to go into the water (where they can swim away from anything dangerous).  We don't want to disturb them, so we try and stay pretty far away.
 
No one has fallen through the ice- thank goodness!  That's what the rescue diver is for, he makes sure we all stay safe when we go out onto the ice.  As long as we're all careful, no one will fall through!
 
The people on polar bear watch carry rifles- though I don't know what kind of rifle they carry- something large enough to take down a polar bear, should one come close enough.
 
We are in the middle of analyzing a piece of our core samples- the water part.  There is water trapped between the grains of sediment.  We put the sediment into tubes and spin them very quickly to get the sediment and the water separated...then analyze the water here on the ship.  The sediment will get analyzed once we're back in Bellingham.  Pretty much anything having to do with the water in the cores gets analyzed on the ship, and all the sediment itself will get analyzed on shore.
 
Thanks for the questions everyone...is there anything about the science that you are wondering about?  
 
Be sure to check out Ms. Staup's journal- each journal entry is about a different group of scientists and what they are studying.  And, if you want to know more about the animals we're seeing- check Ms. Prevena's "creature features"!!
 
 
 

Thu, 04/26/2007 - 15:15

Emily Davenport

I should check my facts before I reply to your questions- there ARE actually sea lions here in the Bering Sea- Stellar Sea lions live around here.  We have not seen any however, or at least I have not seen any.  Sorry for the miscommunication of facts...however, there are lots of sea lions all along the coast from Washington to California that you can see too...you don't need to travel to the Bering Sea to see them :)