Field Work

Antarctic Voyage: The discovery of the Mertz Region

Guest Author • Feb 26, 2013

Written by Dr Helen Bostock (Marine Geologist, NIWA). Date: 25/2/2013 Location: 65.507326°E, 143.982206°S Weather: Cloudy and foggy, gentle wind (<20 knots) Sea State: 2-3 m swell Given the issues we are having with accessing the coast due to the sea ice this year, it seems incredible that just over 100 years ago an Australian expedition landed … Read More

Antarctic Voyage: Hump day – half way through the trip

Guest Author • Feb 25, 2013

Written by Dr Helen Bostock (Marine Geologist, NIWA). Date: 22/2/2013 Location: 64.838758°S, 142.310661°E Weather: 20 knots, cloudy Sea state: 2-3 m swell Humpback whales We are now half way through the voyage…. it seems to be going by quickly. While most people were at lunch today, we were visited by 5 or 6 large humpback whales … Read More

Antarctic Voyage: Could the past be the key to the present?

Guest Author • Feb 25, 2013

Written by Molly Paterson (PhD student, Antarctic Research Centre, VUW). Date:21/2/2013 Location: 65.17903°S, 141.413812°E Weather: Cloudy with winds up to 30 knots Sea state: 3-4 m swell Molly logging a sediment core. [Helen Bostock]Over the last week, while the oceanographers have been studying the hydrology of the slope, the geologists have recovered two cores. We … Read More

Antarctic voyage: The formation of the Antarctic bottom water

Guest Author • Feb 22, 2013

Written by Emmanuelle Sultan and Helen Bostock (NIWA) Date: 20/2/2013 Location: 65.114305°S, 142.304997°E Weather: Cloudy and calm Sea state: Calm One of the primary aims of this voyage has been to monitor the formation of High Salinity Shelf Water at the Wilkes/Adelie Land shelf and its end product, the Antarctic bottom water. The Antarctic … Read More

Antarctic voyage: What is a polynya?

Guest Author • Feb 21, 2013

Written by Dr Beatriz Pena-Molino (ACE CRC) Date: 19/2/2013 Location: 65.395795°S, 142.682921°E Weather: Sunny Sea State: Calm If you have been following this voyage for the last fortnight then you may well be wondering “what is a polynya?” Polynya is a Russian word used to describe areas of open water surrounded by ice. They occur … Read More

Antarctic voyage: Sea ice

Guest Author • Feb 20, 2013

Written by NIWA oceanographer and voyage leader Dr Mike Williams. Date: 18/02/2013 Location: 65.225487°S, 143.020138°E Weather: Small storm clearing Sea state: 3-4 m swell improving to 1-2 m Over the last few days the sea ice has given us some of the highs and lows of the voyage. RV Tangaroa in the … Read More

Antarctic voyage: Sailing through thin ice

Guest Author • Feb 19, 2013

Written by Helen Bostock (marine geologist, NIWA) Date: 17/02/2013 Location: 65.627268°S, 144.277825°E Weather: Cloudy, calm and very cold Sea State: Calm Over the last few days we have seen a lot of icebergs and have been skirting along the edge of the sea ice. ‘Patience….’ is the main advice of our Danish ice pilot, … Read More

Antarctic Voyage: The South Pole

Guest Author • Feb 18, 2013

Written by Helen Bostock (marine geologist, NIWA) Date: 15/02/2013 Location: 64.807561°S, 139.86694°E Weather: Snowing and breezy – 20 knots Sea state: 2 m swell Today we passed over the South Pole. Well, not quite, but very, very close by. How is this possible when we are on board a ship and haven’t set foot on … Read More

Antarctic Voyage: Icebergs

Guest Author • Feb 15, 2013

Written by NIWA oceanographer and voyage leader Dr Mike Williams. Date: 14/02/2013 Location: 63.191514˚S, 139.837747˚E Weather: Fine and sunny, very little wind Sea State: Calm Yesterday was the day the iceberg sweepstake came off the wall. First iceberg. [Evan Solly]Shortly after we left Wellington a list went up on the wall in the mess … Read More

Antarctic Voyage: My first experience of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica

Guest Author • Feb 14, 2013

Written by Eva Cougnon (PhD student at ACE CRC) Date: 13/02/2013 Location: 61.360933˚S, 139.828564˚E Weather: Cloudy, light breeze – 20 knots (37 km/hour) Sea State: Calming down – 2-3 m swell only Eva Cougnon sampling the CTD for oxygen analyses. [Helen Bostock]This is my first trip down to Antarctica; in fact, it is my … Read More

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