SCIENCING Has Begun!!!
This is Holly Bik here (lead researcher in Antarctica) taking over today's WhatsApp post to let you know that THE SCIENCE HAS BEGUN!! Our ship has finally arrived in East Anarctica and we are surrounded by icebergs of all shapes and sizes. I got so carried away taking pictures of ice chunks yesterday that my face got sunburned - I completely forgot that there is no ozone layer down here (or a very thin layer?) and even 30 minutes outside gives your face a LOT of UV rays. We're busy getting into a new routine right now, learning how all the science equipment works and in what order things usually happen (among the things we are doing: sending video cameras to the seafloor, collecting water samples in bottles, and of course collecting tubes of mud for my own research).
Things that I've learned in the last 48 hours:
1. The ship decks get ICY and you have to be very careful where you step outside (think unsalted sidewaks frozen over during a slushy snow storm- no more running workouts on deck!)
2. Big chunks of ice hit the ship's hull all the time as we're moving, and this sounds just like ice clinking in a wine glass (except much louder, and the ship shudders in response... and this can definitely can wake you up at night)
3. There are lots of minke whales down here, and they will only come up for air in glassy, ice-free patches of water (so that's where you have to look for their blowholes)
4. Penguin sightings remain elusive. Give me a penguin in the ocean please!
👩🔬 Holly
(but you can email Virginia while I'm covered in mud...for SCIENCE)
Myself and Virginia on the ship's bow- it was SNOWING outside as we neared our first sample site, and it felt magical in a Disney princess sort of way
View from outside our room this morning - we're in an area with lots of "pancake ice" on the surface, which is the actual name for these flat slushy patches of ice. Stay tuned for a LOT more fun facts about how we name different kinds of ice... it will blow your mind and make you laugh