26 September, 1994

9/26/94

I am up on the bridge at 1110 hrs in hopes of spotting a few more penguins before lunch. We saw 4 Emperors alongside the ship earlier. We were able to watch them for a while because the ship had stopped for a few quick samples.

The past two days have been very cold and windy (-20 to -25 C with 25 knot winds) Yesterday we took 4 pairs of cores. That was a lot more fun than the day before, when the ice turned out to be 4.39 m thick in the spot we chose. What is interesting is that it was only 8cm thick just a few steps away! In that spot, I was afrid that we would fall through. Martin says that sea ice is much more elastic that is freshwater ice. (Thank Heavens!)

Our position is now Lat: 70 18' 58" Long: 127 01' 09"

The current temp. Is -24 C

The wind speed is 15 knots

We will go out onto the ice at 1300 hrs today. I like the routine and the people with whom I am working. My hands really ache from coring, though. At night they fall asleep quite often and I have to wake up and reposition myself.

The floes through which we are now progressing are quite thick. The ship is backing up to ram the ice. There is a haze above the ice now, but I cannot see any leads or open water. Just ice, as far as the eye can see!

Last night I got a break from "freezer duty" Shawn took my place and Martin gave me the night off. We have been seeing mostly frazil and congelation ice in our thin sections, but there is also a lot of "possible" snow ice (depending upon what the O18 values turn out to be) and we did see some platelet ice one night.

Possible Ways To Look At Snow/Ice data:

1. Relate ice thickness to snow thickness

2. Relate temperature to ice thickness

3. Relate temperature to snow thickness

4. Compare "bouncing ball" data to transect data

5. Look at variations with longitude