Tuesday, March 13, 2007

quick update

I think my last update of position was at least 3 days ago, when we
were embarking on a shelf transect across ~30 degrees of longitude
(which are shorter down here but still not negligible). For the
first few days we were making very tedious progress through thick
ice, doubling back and missing one station because we couldn't make
it through. Since then though, the winds have been steady out of the
east and we've been in open water and bagging stations in quick
succession. We're now at 71S, 105E with only a few left to go. It now
looks like we may have some time for a little extra work in the
Amundsen before we have to turn left towards PA (punta arenas).

Though it's great that we've left the ice as far as productivity is
concerned, I'm missing it. No matter how grey the weather is or how
devoid of wildlife, there is really never an unexciting view when
you're breaking through ice. There are so many varieties of color,
form, thickness, etc, that it never gets boring. Plus it's never
rough, and it's really very rarely devoid of wildlife.

Regardless of how rough the transit home is, I'm incredibly spoiled
to have gone on a cruise like this, around a huge section of
coastline in this foreign place. There are a lot worse oceanographic
cruises I could have ended up on. I'd like to think I had the
foresight to know this when I chose this area for research, but I'll
take good luck.

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