Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 12/09/2008 - 06:49
Forums
Oden Antarctic Expedition 08

Hello Mr. Peneston.

 

Wow, we are all shocked by the video of the Oden "Playing in the Waves" in Drake's Passage.  We are following your expedition and excited to learn more about your research.  We have a few questions for you:

 

1- How does the Oden refuel when out at sea?

 

2- Did you go into the sauna after getting that cold 5 degree ocean shower?

 

3- Can you describe what the waves felt like when they hit you?

 

4- Can you explain more about how you move around tied to the boat?

 

5- We are wondering what type of technology you use to communicate back to us?  Why does it take 24 hours?

 

6-Have you put any cameras underwater yet?

 

7-Is it difficult to sleep at night with the wild waters?

 

We look forward to your response.

 

Cool

Sincerely,

 

Mr. Mell's Fifth Grade Class 

Tue, 12/09/2008 - 10:57

Jeff Peneston

Mr. Mell’s class,It is great to know you had fun watching my little video.  I will be sending more each week.  Your questions are great so I will try to take them one at a time.
1- How does the Oden refuel when out at sea?    A: Generally it doesn’t.  The Oden took on fuel and filled its tanks with over 3000 cubic meters of heavy fuel oil in Montevideo on Nov 28.  It will not need to refuel until it gets back to Montevideo at the end of Feb
2- Did you go into the sauna after getting that cold 5 degree ocean shower?    A:  I have not tried the sauna yet.
3- Can you describe what the waves felt like when they hit you?    A: Mostly the wall of water fell on me like a huge bucket.  It didn’t hurt but it was the coldest water I had ever been covered in.  Honestly, I was so excited and focused on getting the video, I didn’t mind the cold.
4- Can you explain more about how you move around tied to the boat?    A: I wore a safety belt buckled to my waist and then a metal clip attached me to the rail of the ship.  I was only tied on for the 2-3 minutes that I was at the rail shooting the video.  The day after I made the video, the Captain closed the decks for safety because the wind and waves were much worse.   5- We are wondering what type of technology you use to communicate back to us? Â Why does it take 24 hours?    A:  The only way for me to communicate is through email that is sent over the satellite phone system.  When you send in your questions, they are read and conveted into an email to me by the PolarTREC Webmaster in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Each email is then sent to me and I respond by sending an email back to PolarTREC.  The Webmaster then posts it on the PolarTREC Virtual Base Camp portion of the web page.  That is a lot of steps, plus remember there is a big range of time zones.  If you send an email to me at 9am Eastern Time, it goes to Alaska where it is 5 am and the Webmaster is still asleep.  When he gets to work and sends your message to me (perhaps 4 hours later) it is now 1pm for you and 3pm for me on the ship.  YIKES! 6-Have you put any cameras underwater yet?    A: The little handheld Flip video camera I used to make the video has a waterproof case and it worked very well.  I hope to launch my other underwater video system when we are at our first sea ice station on Wed or Thur. 7-Is it difficult to sleep at night with the wild waters?    A: Yes. The rolling of the ship makes it feel like I am on a slow motion roller coaster when I am in bed.  I slide down about 6 inches toward the foot of the bed and then in a few seconds I slide back up until my head hits the extra pillow I have at the head of the bed.  Worse, is the sound of every little object in the room and closets sliding back and forth all night.  We all are looking forward to being out of the Drake and into the calm sea ice.
Take care, and keep those great questions coming!
Jeff  Peneston