Journals 2007/2008

Jason Pavlich
Red Hook Central High School, Red Hook, New York

"Investigation of Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCHs) in abiotic and biotic systems of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead" Canadian Icebreaker, Amundsen December 18, 2007 - January 10, 2008

Journal Index: December 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24                 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 January 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 Additional Resources

January 5, 2007

Position 71° 30.701' N 125° 24.933' W
Temperature -22.8°C (-9.0°F)

Last night I went to bed later than expected. I struck up a conversation with Jacques Claveau, the boatswain of the Amundsen. Jacques works longer hours and ship rotations than most crew members in order to bank vacation time. Then, every three years, he and his wife pull their camper all over North America for 3 months. We shared road trip stories and favorite cities for almost 2 hours before we decided to turn in. He was even familiar with I-87 and the Kingston exit that would bring him to my hometown of Red Hook.

Today was a pretty slow day. I helped to translate a dispatch for the CFL website for the Chinese contingent on board, wrote another about spending the holidays in the Arctic, and assisted Amanda scraping and bagging her ice cores in the -20°C cold room. The US lost to Russia today in hockey but I have not heard anything from the Russians yet. Maybe they are not hockey fans. The Canadians were still rubbing it in though.

Plans change often up here. At this evening's science meeting, it was announced that we will be staying put on this flow. As the winds have died down and the blowing snow settled to the ice, more of the ice sheet became visible. It is bigger than originally thought, about 800 meters east to west in length and just a slight bit wider north to south. The thick ice and smooth surface will allow for the easy creation of a runway for the Twin Otter planes to use on Thursday.

Since we are staying put, sampling must resume. Tomorrow I am scheduled to hit the ice twice for coring, first at 8:30 am, then twelve hours later at 8:30 pm. Monika will be conducting an experiment in an attempt to prove that there is no daily variation in HCH content in the ice. Ice cores will be taken, melted, and filtered for HCH content twice a day for the next five days. There will be a lot of work to do tomorrow so tonight, no long conversations.