Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 17:51:30 -0400
Subject: I walked on the sea!
Pictures: Ship Ice, Buoy Crane

Wow!.. What a day! I said yesterday we were still looking for thick ice: we found it! We could tell last night from the sound of the ship crushing through that it was getting serious! I was trying to think of how to describe that sound: imagine the WORST thunderstorm you've ever heard, from inside of a building with a corrugated iron roof, while twenty kids are dragging their fingernails on a blackboard, and you've just about got it... Add to that the fact that the ship, from time to time, jumps up and down like a bounced rubber ball, and you'll understand (maybe!) if I say the night was short and sleep not that deep!

Last night, one neat thing that happened was that they needed to put some ice buoys out: these are instruments which send a signal...for some German researchers in this case... and gives them some data about ice movement. Since the ice was not very thick, they used what's called a person basket: it consists of a round base with thick netting all around, attached to a crane. They put the buoy in the middle, and three people hung on to the net, were lifted off the ship and dropped on the ice at a certain distance. There, they set the buoy and were airborne back. It looked like a lot of fun!

This morning we got to our "ice station" around six in the morning. By seven, the gangway had been extended onto the ice, and it was possible to go out of the ship. The first people who did so went to check the ice thickness and safety, before anyone else was allowed off. They returned and gave the okay, so two groups went out. One was composed of Ray, Sharon and Tim, Michael and Jinro, accompanied by a "radio contact" person: even though the weather is beautiful, it apparently can change drastically very fast and leave people stranded in a white out, so radios are carried by each separate group which goes out. Ray's group's job was to measure out a one hundred meter line, then drill holes every meter and record the ice's thickness. When they were finished, it turned out to be between 14 centimeters and ninety (almost a yard). The surface is very interesting, it has swirls and patterns, different colors and structures, but the most beautiful feature are the incredible crystals which seem to grow like flowers out of the ice surface. They are very intricate and varied in their dimensions and shapes, but you almost feel guilty stepping on them and crushing them!

The other group out were the divers: their job was to drill (with a mammoth motor powered corkscrew) several holes through the ice, then saw between them in order to create an opening large enough for them to dive under the ice. Once they had drilled one, and surrounded it with blocks of ice, they drilled a second one for safety: sometimes, seals will spot a hole and come breathe and play around it, in which case the divers come out the other one. By the way, this morning, three minky whales took advantage of the hole left open in the ice right behind the ship, and came spurting out!

This afternoon, I accompanied Ray's group as they went back to take more measurements, including taking ice cores, checking temperatures at different depths of the ice, and other operations which I don't understand! I helped carry instruments back and forth, pull one of the sleds, and took several pictures. The temperature is around minus fifteen degrees centigrade, so getting dressed for the outing is a job: several layers of thermal underwear, fleece garments, and over it all, a mustang suit, a one-piece jumpsuit of heavily padded material, with reflector strips. Feet get "bunny boots", and those are great: I was really anxious about my feet, which tend to be cold very easily, but they remained warm and comfortable throughout. Bunny boots have a layer of air built into them, and that is great insulation. Hands are what tend to get the coldest, despite three separate layers of gloves, including thin ones of fabric used by astronauts, wool ones and heavy rubber ones.

The whole experience was a mind bender! First, your common sense tells you that you should not be walking on the ocean... but of course it's solid... or at least, you think it is, until you start looking carefully, and you bacame aware that it is slowly undulating under you: that's the swell of the sea, which manages to persist despite the layer of ice. It feels so weird! Then, in the distance, you see a whale spurting, where it has found a hole in the ice, and finally, as the day turns into night (it is now 3pm) you see a big bright moon rising right above the infinity of ice. Too much!... I don't think I need to go to the moon after this, I know what it must have felt like!

Well, we'll be here for another couple of days, while different groups get ice and run their experiments. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!... I'm ready for anything! Before I send this, I'm going to try to download today's pictures, and add them to this message (to tell the truth, I can't wait to see them myself!). Happy summer/winter Solstice to all! Domi