Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 03/29/2011 - 19:03

Hello Mr. Botella, my name is William and I'm from Mr. Wood's 6th period science class at Talbert Middle School. I wanted to know what's been going on in your expedition so I have a few questions. Has it been hard or troubling to live on a boat traveling in super cold temperatures? Also, have you been able to keep in touch with your family and your students well by doing things like skyping and emailing? Also, today in class Mr. Wood was telling us about how when pieces of ice hit each other they make them rounder until they become perfect circles of ice called pancake ice. Have you seen some pieces of pancake ice or pieces of ice getting more round as they hit each other? I hope you reply soon, thank you for reading this! -William =)

Juan Botella

Hi William, thanks for writing. It has not been hard to live on the ship, as I have
been very busy with lots of projects. It is cold out there, but not on the
ship, so I dress warmly when I go out and do not stay for too long. We
cannot skype on the ship since there is no live internet. I send all this
text to Alaska through e-mail and people there will post it. We have
internet contact a few times a day. so our e-mail gets stored on the ship
unitl we get that contact. I have been able to keep in touch through the
phone.
I have seen pancake ice. I posted a picture on the March 18 journal. You
can see that they do look like pancakes. I have seen them smaller than in
the picture and bigger. I will soon post an entry on how ice is formed. I
just need to finish a couple other project before writing that one.
Thanks for writing,
Juan.

Anonymous

Dear Mr. Botella Thank you very much for being able to take your time and answering my question. I have now looked at the picture of pancake ice and it does look like a lot of pancakes! Again, thank you very much for replying and I hope you have a nice, safe trip home.
-William

Juan Botella

Thank you William, we will be back on the ice in a day or two, so you will be able to see
more pancake ice on the pictures. I will try to find the maple syrup this
time.
Thanks for writing,
Juan.