25 October, 2003

Last Recovery

Today we headed out to the Ross Ice Shelf again. This time our balloon was only a few miles from the sea, adjacent to where B15 broke off the shelf. We could easily see B15 in the distance and the true blue color of the Ross Sea. We had a GPS fix on this balloon so we knew exactly where it was. Even so, we did not see the balloon so we decided to land at the GPS coordinates, when we were ten feet off the ground we spotted it directly under us. It made me appreciate how difficult it must be to find people lost in the woods! We spent the day cleaning the lab, and took a quick sojourn out to an open fishing hole. The bulldozers have plowed the snow off the sea ice in places and large holes have been drilled. They ice over quickly so the fish group is constantly chipping the hole away to set their traps.

The instrument had relayed its GPS location to the French Argos satellite which then emailed us its location.

Recovering the instrument, it is very cold with the wind blowing. The wind blows off the shelf to the sea, it creates a depressed region in the sea, which makes it difficult for the ice berg to escape.

My last ride in the helicopter. On the way back to McMurdo, it is a one and quarter hour flight.

Removing ice with a net. Observation hill is in the background together with the Pisten Bully.

Later in the day we went to an open fish hole and pulled traps. They are constantly freezing over so you have to chip the ice away.

The trap was covered with large sea worms.

This is a Dissoctichus Mawsoni, it was caught just recently beneath the ice. It can live 40yrs and get to 200 pounds. Seals enjoy eating them, and they are eaten in the dining hall on occasion.