Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/05/2007 - 07:09
Forums
SIMBA Antarctic Sea Ice

Hi,

We are exited to be following your expedition!

Homeroom:  What has the weather been like?  Have the seas been calm?

Block 3:  How big is the icebreaker?  Are you having fun?

Fri, 09/07/2007 - 09:49

S. Anderson

I'm so glad to hear from a school in Vermont - I hope you'll stay in touch.The weather has been quite good. We are currently at Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula - the sun is shining and its not windy, so its quite comfortable. We were given a lot of gear to protect us, so I don't think the weather will be a problem. We had an amazing ride across the Drake Passage. Very calm seas, no one was noticibly sea sick. Hope the passage back at the end of October is as smooth.
The icebreaker RVIB Palmer is approximately 300 feet long. I've been told it can cut through 3 meters of ice at 3 knots. (A knot is one nautical mile/hour and a nautical mile is pretty comparable to a "land" mile.) It will move faster through thinner ice. If you walked on the ice next to the ship at 3 knots you'd be moving at a pretty normal "walking" pace.
I'm having a great time. The scientists and crew are all lots of fun. People on board from Canada, Belgium, and the US, so its a bit of an international venture. Since I'm from Texas people might say that's a "whole nuther country" so we could say 4 countries involved!!
Time to get back on the boar - glad to hear from you, please keep in touch, and keep sending questions. If I don't know the answer I'm sure one of the scientists will.
Mrs. Anderson