In the Middle

Weather report for this morning at 3:40 a.m. -
Precipitation: Snow
Air Temperature: 0.4C
Wind Chill: -7.5C
Wind: 9.9 knots out of south
Water Temperature: 0.67C on surface, 1.7C at 700 meters
Dissolved O2 at surface: 97.9%
Water Salinity: 33.800 psu
Location: Latitude -059 58.396 Longitude -061 14.001

Today we woke to snow falling on our decks as we continue to deploy the
XBTs off of the port side of the level 1 deck. We will continue to
deploy Expendable Bathometry and Temperature instruments (XBT)s every 20
– 30 minutes depending on ship speed, for the remainder of our trip
through the Drake Passage. A picture above shows the variations in
temperature we were collecting yesterday. Expendable Conductivity,
Temperature and Depth instruments (XCTD)s will continue to be deployed
at longer intervals, and we will also continue to collect four sample
bottles of sea water for later analysis.

We are steadily working our way across the Drake Passage (picture
above). Our cruise has been truly lucky to have great sea conditions
thus far. After speaking with a few of the crew it seems very rare to
have seas this good for the crossing. Calm seas and a comfortable ride
have allowed us to continue preparing the labs and sampling areas for
data collection once we arrive. We continue to work to make our
sampling as efficient as possible, because we will only have 5 days to
complete our work. Dr. Corbett and 3 other members of our team will be
staying on station for another 6 weeks, but they will be sampling in
other areas and are confined to stay within 2 miles of shore in the
smaller zodiacs.

Wildlife Update: We have seen seals, albatross, cormorants
(pictured) petrels, dolphins, and we have an unconfirmed report of a
whale (it was dark and he wasn't sure). According to one of the ship
mates, we will begin to see a lot of marine life once we reach the south
side of Drake Passage. Penguins, whales, dolphins and many species of
birds are common in the waters around the Western Antarctic Peninsula.
Anyone know why there are many species of animals found around the
Antarctic Continent?

- David Sybert