South Orkney Island Bound
No comments STRAITS OF MAGELLAN– June is here and it almost felt like a summer day, the sun was shining so brightly. Then the sun set at 4:30 PM and we were reminded that we are in the Southern Hemisphere and winter is approaching quickly.
We have a large group of scientists and engineers on board that left the Northern Hemisphere summer to come down to the Antarctic to conduct their research, but before we can begin we have to unpack all of our equipment.
Science crew from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) setting up in the Dry Lab.
We are currently headed toward the South Orkney Islands which are located in a Southeasterly direction from the Straits of Magellan. This destination was chosen based on satellite imagery. We receive the images twice a day from Dr. David Long at Brigham Young University. These images give us an idea of where to look for a free floating iceberg that is also free of sea ice so that we can study the effect of icebergs on the surrounding water column.
Satellite image of the Weddell Sea and surrounding area. The white is ice and the smaller spots of ice are potential icebergs that are circled and named with numbers and letters, the letters ‘UK’ standing for unknown. Courtesy of John Helly and Dr. David Long.
