Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 03:13:30 +0000 From: "Coronesi, Stephanie" Subject: Message 17 Cc: "Iannuzzi, Richard" 23:32 (2002.01.26) 64 Degrees 52.927' South Latitude 64 Degrees 03.861' West Longitude (Palmer Basin) Air Temp: 4.3 Degrees C SST (Sea Surface Temperature): 1.471 C Wind Speed: 4 knots 270 Degrees Air Pressure: 991.1 mBar Hey Guys! The past couple of days have been CRAZY! I was informed that I cannot divulge details of the crossing ceremony, lest King Neptune have a major hissy fit, so I will leave it at this: I had one of the most appreciated showers of my life yesterday and I might never eat baked beans again. I can tell you about the skit though! There were twelve of us, and we did a version of The Weakest Link, with Paul our British shipmate as Ann Robinson. He talked with this high-pitched squeaky voice and did a fine job being cranky and rude to the rest of us. The other eleven of us had each chosen someone on the ship who had already crossed to dress up as and imitate as contestants on the show. Everyone worked really hard and had fabulous ideas and the end result was worth the effort! It was well-received and a lot of fun. So the picture that I sent before as "Message 17... Text to follow" was of me and the CTD and rosette, taken by Rich from the floor above. I hope you can get a proper sense of the height of the machine, and just how big those bottles are. There's one open bottle towards the front that wasn't used to collect any water on that cast. When the CTD and rosette are dropped ALL of the bottles are open, then on the way back up a signal is sent by the CTD operator (who is sitting in the electronic lab in front of a monitor, checking out all the data being fed back by the CTD) to close the bottles at the desired depths. The trigger (you can see the circle of black triggers at the top of the rosette) releases and the top of the bottle snaps shut, trapping the water inside. Once the whole contraption is safely back on board, those white knobs you see at the top of each of the bottles have to be twisted open to let air in before any water will come out of the bottom nozzles. You can see those nozzles pretty clearly on the three bottles towards the front as well as the bottle that I'm sampling from. Once all the desired water samples are collected, one of our two fabulous Marine Technicians opens the bottles to dump the remaining water and readies the CTD and rosette for the next drop. That's pretty much it! We're actually done collecting water samples from the CTD now. We'll be pulling into Palmer Station tomorrow and off-loading our equipment and half of our group, who are staying on station. We have a day or so at Palmer before moving on, and there are a couple of places that I didn't get to explore last time. I'm hoping to get to them tomorrow if we finish transporting early enough. There's a lot of moving to be done though! It amazes me that I've been privileged enough to visit TWO Antarctic research stations. The Palmer stops have been directly related to the U.S. research program; allowing the movement of people and equipment to and from Punta Arenas as well as out to sea to conduct necessary experiments. The Rothera stop was made for several reasons; some simply scientifically practical (helping them calibrate their CTD and discussing and comparing certain common research pursuits), and some diplomatic, which might be seen as less immediately necessary, but are crucial as part of the greater picture. Paying a call when you're in "the neighborhood" always makes for better friends. :) So, off to rest up as we're getting an early start tomorrow, but I have some really cool stuff to report about our time spent up on the bridge today! I'll give you a much more detailed report in my next email. Think HUMPBACKS!!!! I'll leave you with that... until Message 18! -Steph Miss C! :)