Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:46
Forums
Drake Passage Opening

Hi my names Derek Miller I live in Flagstaff, Arizona I go to New Sart Middle School. I was looking at some of your photos and they were realy interseting.I noticed the igneas rocks are you a Volcanoligist?? I also injoyed looking at the picture of the pinguins how cold is it in Antartica?? My favorite picture was the Whales ear bone that was cool there ear bone is realy big. How does the siesmie gear work? Well thanks for listining Katie Pena and don't be afraid to write back thank you.

Fri, 05/02/2008 - 09:11

Katie Pena

Hi Derek,
Thanks for your questions. We are not volcanologist, the scientists studying the igneous rocks are geochemists. We actually have many different scientists onboard-- biologists, geophyscists, physical oceanographers, and geologists. It is so interesting having many different experts to consult during our journey.
We are currently only in Antarctic waters and still in the northern area, so our temperature has been about -5 C. It does get much colder on the continent of Antarctica! The whale ear bone was really cool-- we were all amazed that it came up in a trawl.
The seismic gear is a little hard to understand-- so here is a simple explanation-- a huge boom is produced that penetrates the seafloor that bounces back to the "hydrophone," which then creates an image of the sediment on the seafloor.
Thanks, Mrs. Pena