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Today we did a whole lot of digging!! With the help of Brian and Jamie from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, we have five out of six piles done! And the weather has been so cooperative these last three days. With a little luck from the weather we should be able to clear the last half of Site C

As we prepared to start our first fishing expedition it was quickly discovered that the winch that is used to haul up the trawling nets was broken. After many hours of troubleshooting it was discovered that a ball bearing had been shredded due to a faulty oil pump. This was definitely cause

What a way to finish the science component of the cruise! We did our last station this morning, station 140. We did not have any major equipment failure int he whole cruise. Here is the map for the cruise with all the stations we did. I can not believe the cruise is almost over. After so many hours

Today was all about snow. Measuring snow, digging snow, moving snow, looking at snow, feeling snow, eating snow, (not the yellow stuff!), and basically becoming one with, well you know. This first week of work is really all about moving equipment to the study site and then dealing with the snow on

As promised - a tour of the engine room. The engine room is a sight to behold. What strikes you immediately is how clean and organized it is down there. Mike, the chief engineer gave us a great tour of this critical area of the ship. This first picture is the control center. The first set of lights

Today's equation is: Styrofoam plus pressure equals fun!! We are almost done with the cruise; we will be done with collecting samples by early morning tomorrow. This means it is time for the long held tradition of sending decorated Styrofoam items to the bottom of the sea along the rosette. Here are

It was a beautiful morning as we rode out to the study site on our snowmobile. On the way we passed a snowshoe hare, in its white fur, crossing the trail. A little further on we were visited by three of Alaska's state birds. They were Willow Ptarmigans (Lagopus lagopu), and they still had their

The beauty in the ice down here is striking. The pictures here cannot begin to capture this but I have picked out some of my favorite pictures I took this morning. The difference in colors, the varying shades of blue are a result of how tightly the ice and snow is compressed. I didn't alter the

Yesterday we received the visit of six Chinstrap penguins while we were at a station. The remained next to the boat for a long time, apparently feeding. These are the first penguins I have seen that I can say with certainty are Chinstrap. You will see in one of the pictures below why they are named