tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69501416820450842292024-02-19T08:28:40.860-03:00Antarctica 2009-2010Welcome to Cédric's diary during his scientific cruises to the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, from January to March 2009 and 2010, as part of the <a href="http://roughy.tamu.edu/sassi/sassi.html">Synoptic Antarctic Shelf-Slope Interactions (SASSI) study</a>.Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-77315550952686400762010-03-14T19:50:00.006-03:002010-03-15T03:20:34.820-03:00Sunday 14 March, Day 59Today was the last day of the cruise! We arrived near Montevideo yesterday afternoon, but couldn't get a place along a dock until this morning, so the ship anchored outside of the harbour for the night. Today, after lunch on the ship, John and I walked through the streets of Montevideo and along a seashore walk. It was sunny and 22 degrees, it felt great. But we walked for 4 hours, and at the endCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-4778315759190262992010-03-12T23:36:00.002-03:002010-03-13T00:15:51.132-03:00Friday 12 March, Day 57After having recovered the deepest mooring, we turned back to go and retrieve the shallowest mooring that we had redeployed for a short 24-hour time-series. The idea was to check whether tides or higher frequency signals had a significant impact on the water sample properties, since the latter were only taken weekly during the whole year, and any strong signal at frequencies higher than weekly, Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-16550644515329798742010-03-11T21:41:00.005-03:002010-03-11T22:27:13.457-03:00Thursday 11 March, Day 56Back to the mooring recovery.At and between each mooring, we lowered some instruments attached on a metallic frame with 24 Niskin bottles (to take in situ water samples) to the bottom of the ocean. The instruments measure the conductivity, pressure and depth (CTD) of the water (salinity can be inferred from these), and the currents (using lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers, or LADCPs). Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-18403844834520593052010-03-09T23:51:00.002-03:002010-03-10T00:13:51.114-03:00Tuesday 9 March, Day 54To change a bit from landscape and instrument pictures, let's show a glimpse of what life is sometimes onboard! Last Saturday night, Alex organized another quiz night, with lots of difficult questions to answer, and a funny physical challenge in between two question sessions. The goal was to form teams of 2 people, and while keeping our feet behind a line on the ground, try to put a napkin ring Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-66809304168946743052010-03-07T16:27:00.002-03:002010-03-07T17:03:29.034-03:00Sunday 7 March, Day 52As promised, let's get back in time to show some pictures.As we headed south after the geological survey of the South Sandwich Islands was completed, we finally reached the ice covered parts of the Weddell Sea, and I could enjoy again the beauty of this landscape and the stillness of the sea surface undisturbed by waves:I could also enjoy again the presence of my favorite animal in his natural Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-13638005835258390322010-03-06T00:11:00.004-03:002010-03-06T00:27:11.330-03:00Friday 5 March, Day 50Even longer silence, but not due to a lack of events to report, this time. We have indeed successfully recovered all our instruments, including a short redeployment of one of them. I have been too busy with the subsequent water samples analysis to update this blog. Then, 25 people from the Halley research base on the Brunt Ice Shelf came onboard, and the only two computers with an internet Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-83988195934905230522010-02-19T21:01:00.003-03:002010-02-19T22:06:20.067-03:00Friday 19 February, Day 36Long silence: not much to report as the geological survey of the South Sandwich Islands was progressing, and I was working hard on another paper! Nothing like being isolated at sea from everyday life tribulations, with meals prepared for you, to write those papers I have kept in the back of my head but never found the time to write yet. This one is about a new derivation of the Coriolis force (Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-54061741011630558562010-02-08T15:46:00.009-03:002010-02-08T17:13:08.205-03:00Monday 8 February, Day 25I did not had anything to report this past week, mostly open water cruising over the Protector Shoal, a submarine volcano that our geologists studied in details, and heavy fog when we were close to Zavodovski Island, the northernmost island of the South Sandwich island chain. By the way, these islands were named by Captain James Cook, when he discovered them in 1775, after the 4th Earl of Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-85921305881577749992010-01-31T20:37:00.008-03:002010-01-31T21:15:10.792-03:00Sunday 31 January, Day 17I forgot to show the first iceberg of this cruise, when we were near South Georgia Island (in the background), before coming back to Stanley:And while in Stanley, during the refueling, I wanted to take a shot of a sign post which I had noticed when running at the beginning of this trip. It reminds me of the sign post Marion and I had made for our wedding to symbolize our project to travel around Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-47322131487971880292010-01-26T10:59:00.005-03:002010-01-26T11:27:41.065-03:00Tuesday 26 January, Day 12Retour case départ!Back to where we started from!During our survey of the sea floor around South Georgia, one of the crew members got ill, abdominal pain I heard, maybe appendicitis, so we headed back to Stanley to transfer him ashore. We encountered strong winds and heavy seas on the way, with a nasty swell coming from sideways which awoke me at 5 am. I couldn't close my eyes again for Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-78557165705583344122010-01-22T22:30:00.005-03:002010-01-22T23:06:15.781-03:00Friday 22 January, Day 8One week already I have started this trip!I have worked hard on my papers and made good progress, so tonight I am taking a bit of time off to upload some pictures on this blog.This is my cabin, with a perfect view of the sea (although you can't see it because it is too bright)!This is the ship, the RRS (Royal Research Ship) James Clark Ross.On Saturday, prior to the ship's departure, four of us Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-30362042505655477582010-01-18T22:50:00.002-03:002010-01-18T23:02:09.498-03:00Monday 18 January 2010 - Day 4C'est parti!The JCR left the dock at 11 am. We had our safety drill just after lunch.We are now heading South, but the sea is rather calm for now. However, contrary to last year, we are going to spend most of the cruise in the latitudes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, so it is bound to become rough at some point!Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-88641700678907769162010-01-15T23:06:00.002-03:002010-01-15T23:13:32.801-03:00Friday 15 January 2010 - Day 1Back to Antarctica, to retrieve the instruments I had deployed last year and get the data and water samples back. This year the ship is the RRS James Clark Ross, or JCR, a 100-m long research vessel, bigger than the Ernest Shackleton I was on last year, and better equiped for scientific work. The main purpose of the cruise is to map the sea floor near South Georgia Island and the South Sandwich Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-4343724820316198192009-03-11T19:04:00.003-03:002009-03-11T19:56:59.808-03:00Days 42-45After two days of mildly rough seas (but not as rough as I had hoped to witness) across the Drake Passage, we arrived in Stanley, Falklands, on the morning of March 7, 43 days after we had set sails. To stretch our sea legs, four of us decided to walk to Cape Pembroke lighthouse, which took us 6 hours back and forth.The next day, we visited a remote penguins colony, accessible only by Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-49433143412009630002009-03-06T20:15:00.003-03:002009-03-06T20:36:17.122-03:00Le flocLes paroles de cette blague me sont venues en français.Sorry for the non-french-speaking people !Hep-la, M'sieur !Papiers, si'ou plaît ?OK, circulez !Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-59071192889022207122009-03-05T23:28:00.004-03:002009-03-11T19:09:38.165-03:00Days 40-41We arrived in the South Orkney Islands on March 3rd. Despite the bad weather, the landscape was breathtaking, with mountains and icebergs competing for majesty.The ship anchored near the Signy Island research station, and the next day the crew took us onshore aboard a zodiac. We were greated by a group of elephant seals peacefully sleeping together. They are not the most graceful animals on earthCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-63197461792656882282009-03-02T22:59:00.002-03:002009-03-02T23:17:40.878-03:00Day 39We have finally deployed the PIES today.Mission accomplie !Although it was not accomplished perfectly, since we did not deploy it where we had intended to, this is often what happens in field work... And we may even find amazing results where we deployed it, who knows ?Below, John is rigging the PIES once again :Then I programmed it to set up the sampling scheme and other parameters, while the Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-12333443649520919342009-03-01T23:09:00.003-03:002009-03-02T00:03:51.291-03:00Days 34-38On February 27th, I did a CTD watch from 11 pm to 3 am. When waking up for lunch on the 28th, I got a first surprise on the white board near the mess :En français s'il vous plaît !Then at the end of the dinner, I got a second surprise : a birthday cake, made by the Halley cook !Since reaching 30 years old is like a new birth, I got only 2 candles, like my daughter Margot.I also got aCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-59587628321922368032009-02-25T13:00:00.004-03:002009-02-25T13:56:12.151-03:00Days 31-33The next day after our visit to Halley, the ship left the ice shelf to head back to the SASSI moorings line. We left the "winterers" behind, the Halley staff who are going to spend the winter there, who were waving goodbye......to their friends on the ship, the Halley staff who are coming back with us to civilization.Even the Emperor penguins came to say goodbye ! I wish them to survive the harshCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-48335647348936815162009-02-21T22:29:00.004-03:002009-02-21T23:28:50.525-03:00Day 30Today we visited the English antarctic base Halley. Our shuttle consisted of a platform mounted on skis and pulled by a snowcat. The base was only 15 km away, but it took our shuttle about 50 minutes to complete the journey. With -16 degrees Celcius and a bit of wind, I was pretty cold when reaching the base !The first sight we got of the base was a row of multi-colored containers. As the wind Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-23571974228379611222009-02-20T22:38:00.004-03:002009-02-20T23:10:14.124-03:00Days 27-29Finally, our work had to be stopped momentarily to dock the ship along the ice shelf (see picture below) near the Halley base for three days, in order to bring them supplies, take their wastes and the people that will not stay there for the austral winter. There are not enough cabins to have our own now, so I had to move into a new cabin which I am sharing with John. We took the opportunity to Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-57622931729377634662009-02-18T20:54:00.002-03:002009-02-18T21:47:36.132-03:00Days 24-26The past few days, we have broken a bit the monotony of the CTD casts by alternating them with VMP casts.VMP stands for Vertical Microstructure Profiler : it is an instrument designed to measure the dissipation of energy in the ocean, which occurs on centimeter scale. Therefore, it must sample very fast water properties such as temperature, salinity and velocity shear. It must also not be Cedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-81691857778532692452009-02-14T15:45:00.003-03:002009-02-14T16:23:06.655-03:00Day 23Whales !After breakfast, I went outside on the ship deck to take pictures of the rising sun, and suddenly I saw two whales swimming ahead of the ship. Unfortunately, I had my normal lense on, so the whales where barely visible on the shots I took. I was thinking : "do I change my lense and risk missing them, or do I watch and get only disappointing pictures ?" I decided to switch to my zoom lenseCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-81356944220980898032009-02-14T05:09:00.003-03:002009-02-14T05:32:59.307-03:00Days 21-22On Thursday, the 21st day of the cruise, the Second Chief Officer got injured or fell ill, I don't know, and Hannah, the ship's doctor, could not figure out how to cure him, so he had to get transferred to Halley to be flown from there to the nearest hospital on the Southern American continent I guess. We therefore stopped our work and headed to the ice shelf "dock" where people and equipment areCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6950141682045084229.post-80611969205825440282009-02-12T09:52:00.005-03:002009-02-12T11:02:59.702-03:00Day 20Yesterday, the Norwegian team started deploying their moorings. These moorings are more difficult to deploy than the SASSI moorings, because they are "anchor-first", which means the 500-600 kg anchor is deployed first so the line is always under high tension. The first mooring went well. But during the second mooring deployment, the line suddenly broke, sending the instruments already attached toCedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13066363389837957323noreply@blogger.com1