I did make it back to Austin, Texas safe and sound. I had 3 excellent flights back to Austin that were all on time and ran smoothly. My students were very anxious to see me again after being gone for over a month and a half, so I went back to teach the very next day. That first morning back I was greeted with a huge banner, flowers, and many posters welcoming me back to Zilker Elementary. It was very sweet and I was very grateful! The local news came to my classroom later that day for interviews with both the kids and me. We were all very excited to share our experience with the Austin community. School just finished yesterday, so I finally found some time to sit down and write my final journal. I have really enjoyed this awesome experience and am truly grateful to everyone...
I started my day a little later than most because I slept until 11:30 a.m.! I was in bed for close to 11 hours, but that is good because for the past couple of nights I had only gotten maybe a total of 5 hours of sleep. The boat was swaying more than normal due to higher waves, which had made sleeping more difficult. Although, we have had unusually excellent weather and seas, and the Palmer is very steady-so I am grateful. At 1:00 in the afternoon we had our final fire/ safety drill. So, for the last time I took my lifejacket and immersion suit to the conference room on the 03 deck for the drill. Jenny, the Marine Project Coordinator, used this time for a small meeting where we all filled out our customs paperwork that is needed before returning to Chile.
10 minutes after the drill...
Today we had an opportunity to take a tour of the engine room. The tour was led by 3 of the 4 engineers, Dave (chief engineer), Richard (2nd assistant engineer), and Jerry (3rd assistant engineer).
The engine room is located in the very bottom of the ship. We were first taken down the stairs and into their office where we had a quick overview of the equipment and safety. Then we all put on protective headphones and headed into the very loud and colorful engine room.
Check out all of these cool photos of the different equipment!
Engines
Gauges
More Gauges and Pipes
Richard shared some really interesting facts about the engine room.
4 Engine Room WOW Facts:
• It has 14 miles of pipe, 500 miles of wire, 3,200 light bulbs, and 1,200 circuit breakers!
• It has a total of 4...
The webinar was a great success! I really enjoyed presenting my experiences to many students all over the US. The scientists were also very impressed with the level of questions that were asked by the students. I hope that everyone that participated enjoyed it as much as we did here on the ship.
I must express my gratitude--
I want to thank everyone onboard the NBPalmer for a great experience. Especially all of the geo team, Ian, Larry, Julian, Peter, Marcy, Alan, Matt, Kevin, and Lauren for allowing me on this awesome learning experience, making me feel welcome, and for sharing their passion and enthusiasm for science! It has been a true pleasure and really given me a new spark and excitement for both doing science and teaching science! Thank you to all the teachers and students...
I asked Marcy, the UTIG cartographer this question.
"How do we start making maps of the seafloor?"
She started by telling me about multibeam swath bathymetry sonar maps. Bathymetry maps are topography maps of the land underwater. We are all used to seeing topography maps of landforms above sea level like mountains and plateaus, and these maps are very similar but they show the formations on the seafloor. The data for these maps is collected through sound or sonar. It works much the same way as your voice would echo if you yelled down a canyon. Sound is sent out at a certain frequency from instruments installed across the bottom of the ship. The sound travels through the water, hits the seafloor then bounces back to the ship. We record the time it takes for the echo to...
Finally, YES-we got permission this afternoon for dredging and recording data in Chilean waters! Everybody is so excited and relieved by the news of our official Chilean permit. We now have until about lunchtime on Thursday to complete our science before starting our transit back into Punta Arenas. The Corals group got to work immediately with collecting multibeam sonar data for mapping the seafloor and a Towcam was put down for collecting images. The dredging will begin quickly after Laura and Rhian analyze the maps and images. Part of my day was spent getting to know 2 members of our cruise a little better. I would like to introduce our 2 Argentine Observers, Laura and Carlos. They are both scientists that were asked to join our cruise as observers for the Argentine government...
I am afraid that it is getting easier and easier for me to sleep in until 11 in the morning. I don't know how I will adjust to my normal teaching schedule, which has me waking up at 5:45 in the morning; it will be a big and sleepy adjustment. The news from the night shift was that 2 rock dredges were completed using the new net and 1 box dredge. The 3 dredges collected a variety of fossilized corals that were mixed in with the sediment from the seafloor. Dredged Sediment
The coral parts were picked out of this sediment.
Coral skeletons were picked out of this sediment.
These are the various corals that were picked out of the sediment for dredge #30.
Rhian and Laura decided that their work was completed on this seamount and it was time for one more deep CTD. The multibeam sonar...
Time was short on the seamount so Rhian worked hard to ensure that every minute was spent sampling as many habitats as possible. During the 12 hour shift 4 dredges were brought up on deck with mixed results. Corals, rocks, bryozoa and hydroids. After the dredging sites the scientists on the next shift decided to send down the towcam for a second look at the seafloor. The images were again spectacular allowing the next few dredges to target the best sites. Now we have to hope that the weather holds so that we can keep sampling.
Bryozoa grow in all different types of shapes. Some of them encrust onto rocks, but these ones are just attached at the base.
Many corals grow and live in the holes of the basalt rocks
All of the small white spots on the basalt are corals or coral stems....
We are using the Towcam to check out the seamounts that are located between the Antarctic and South American Continents. This seamount, that we are calling "Interim Seamount” because we do not know if it has a name, is south of 60 degrees. Our mapping has shown that it has a distinctive elongate shape. The Towcam took pictures for about 4 hours during the afternoon to reveal a very rocky and uneven seafloor. Some biology was seen in the form of crabs, corals and sponges. So, it was decided to use the box dredge in a reasonably flat area. The dredge collected basalt rocks and pebbles many of which had small fossilized corals attached to them, as well as shrimp, an isopod, sponges, and a few living corals.
Most of the fossilized corals that were collected looked like these.
The basalt...
The new and improved box dredge did find and collect many fossilized corals! Laura and Rhian (with lots of help from the marine technicians) were excited to have made the box dredge work so well for collecting fossil corals.
The fossilized corals were a great reason for a hug between Laura and Rhian.
Photo By: Dann Blackwood
These fossilized corals were darker in color.
The fossilized corals had to be all laid out to dry.
The success of the new box dredge motivated Laura and Rhian to attempt 2 more dredges a little further along the Shackleton Fracture Zone. After that, it was decided to begin our transit to a couple of small seamounts about 20 hours to our northwest.
We are now into the single digits until getting back to port in Punta Arenas, Chile. I am really missing my...
The Otter trawl did successful bring up a variety of marine life, including a lot of fish, shrimp, and starfish, but very little coral.
These fish were photographed by Dann Blackwood, and then returned back to their home in the sea.
A CTD was planned for immediately after the Otter trawl, but it was having some electronic problems, so it was postponed until those were fixed. The two Electronics Techs, Kevin and Victor, worked quickly to exchange parts and had the CTD working a couple of hours later. Tina was very excited because she was going to get her opportunity for a deep, over 4,000 meters, CTD. If you remember from the beginning of the trip, a CTD was done in about 2,000 meters of water, but Tina's main goal was to do one in over 4,000 meters of water. A CTD collects 12...
The Towcam has had 2 successful journeys to the seafloor today. The first Towcam was early in the morning in about 400 meters of water. It is lowered about 5 meters from the seafloor and then slowly towed forward by the ship. The camera then takes 1 photo every 10 seconds, which produces about 1,000 to 2,000 photos of the seafloor.
The Towcam is being lowered into the water.
The photos that were captured reveled a variety of sea life in its natural habitat, which has never been observed before. The seafloor was muddy sediment with various drop stones scattered about. Many rocks were covered in marine life, like urchins, sea stars, sponges, and corals. The seafloor also had a wide variety of life on it; there were so many sea urchins and starfish. It was very exciting to know...
The basket dredge that was completed early this morning, about 1:00 a.m., only brought up pebbles that were identified as drop stones. The corals group was still searching for a good way to collect the corals that they knew were on the seafloor. Next, they again tried the Towcam, but unfortunately a problem occurred once placed into the cold Antarctic water. Later the in afternoon, the otter trawl was used in shallower water, at about 400 meters.
The otter trawl looks much different than any other equipment, it is basically a huge net with 2 weights on the side that act as a mouth for collecting marine life.
The otter trawl was quite successful! It collected a wide variety of marine life, starfish, sea cucumbers, fish, sea spiders, sea urchins, sponges, and CORALS! It did not...
I arrived for my watch shift to find a Blake trawl in the process of being dragged along the bottom of the seafloor.
This is the Blake trawl lying on the back deck before being connected to the A-frame wire.
I was told that just minutes before the wire tension had spiked to over 18,000 and everyone feared that another trawl had broken off the wire. Finally, all the wire was pulled back on the boat, and the Blake trawl was not on the end. The second and last Blake trawl had been pulled off and left on the seafloor. The mood and confidence on the boat took a decline.
Look at the end of the wire; the trawl broke off there.
We still had other equipment to use, 1 otter trawl and 2 basket dredges. These final pieces of equipment are not usually as effective as a Blake trawl for collecting...
Today was basically a transit day to Elephant Island. On our way to Elephant Island, we did finally travel beyond the latitude of 60 degrees south, which means we are now in Antarctic waters! We should be arriving at Elephant Island at about 9:00 in the morning, and the corals group plans on getting straight to work with a Blake trawl. My shift will start during the middle of their trawl, so I am excited about sharing that news with you tomorrow.
This afternoon another presentation was given, this time by the chief scientist, Ian. His talk was titled, Rocks, Ice, and Water, The Antarctic Ice Sheet and its Future. He focused on the differences between west and east Antarctica, the formation of Gondwanaland, the changes, if any in the mass of the ice sheet of west Antarctica, and the...
Look, we spend our day decorating Styrofoam cups!
I decorated my cup with all of the big landmarks in Austin, TX. I am feeling a little homesick today, so it was nice to at least draw about home for a while!
Well, not really the whole day, maybe just 30 minutes after all the important research was done. It was fun to zone out and color for a while. We will put all the cups on the CTD, which goes to the seafloor and takes in water samples at different depths, and as the CTD and cups go deeper they will encounter more pressure.
What do you think will happen to the cups, and why?
Will they look the same or different, and why?
Please feel free to submit your answers to me in the Ask Mrs. Pena section.
The science that was collected today was all about seismic data. We conducted...
Check it out!!
This whale loved showing off its tail, which is actually called its flanks!
Again, during my marine mammal watch, 2 humpback whales came by the port (left) side of the ship and then looped around to follow us. These 2 whales stayed a safe enough distance away that we did not need to shut down the seismic equipment, which was great for everybody. The geophysics group only has until tomorrow at midnight to finish all their research before they turn the command over to the corals group. We did our last dredge this morning in an area Ian called skinny seamount. Our final dredge did produce great results. It was a very full dredge that collected many andesites and dacties. The scientists were very satisfied with their final collection of rocks. We are currently...
I did see a real whale during my marine mammal watch today at 2:00 in the afternoon. I believe it was a humpback whale because of its humped dorsal fin and fluke shaped body. It was first spotted by one of the mates in front of the boat, and then I saw it when it swam past the starboard (right) side of the ship. I got a really good view because the whale came up for air and showed his entire back, it was so cool! The whale then came around the back of the boat and followed us for a while. We were collecting seismic data during this time, so we shut down the data collecting instruments until the whale got bored with us and moved on. Everybody on board the ship was very excited to see our first whale-so AWESOME!
About 40 minutes after our last whale sighting, we put the seismic equipment...
Oh yes, scientists love Twister!
John, an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh, created an awesome bracket for our Twister Tournament.
The Twister Tournament was voluntary, but 23 people signed up, including 2 out of the 4 Principle Investigators and the Chief Scientist. We started playing this afternoon; it was very fun and funny! Sad to say but I did lose my game to Laura, one of the Principle Investigators for the corals group.
Laura and I were forced into some crazy positions!
Our game was fun and competitive. Laura is really good! A loser’s bracket is scheduled for tomorrow. I am looking forward to redeeming myself.
The science news for the day started off very good. The dredge that started very early in the morning collected many rocks. They decided to keep 2...
Last night I did go to sleep during a trawl that was occurring in about the same location as the previous dredge. Although, this trawl had a very tragic ending, it actually broke off the wire and was left on the seafloor. The wire that was dragging the trawl along the seafloor did show a quick spike in tension and that is when the trawl broke off. It was very sad news to everybody to loss such a vital piece of equipment. Thank goodness that Rhian and Laura are so intelligent and organized because they did bring a back-up Blake trawl. The marine techs did replace the missing parts and tested the wire and winch for future trawls and dredges.
This is the A-frame that holds the wire that is used to lower, drag, and raises both the trawl and dredge.
Many people monitor the amount of...
Today was a very busy day! We actually completed 2 dredges during my watch shift and we started a trawl just about 30 minutes before the end of my watch. We are currently at the top of a seamount that is about 75 miles off the coast of South Georgia. That is correct, South Georgia is an island. We all were very excited to see land off in the distance. At the top of the seamount the depth is only 852 meters. It is almost strange to see the water depth so shallow after being in deeper waters for about a week. The 8th dredge was done this afternoon, 3 more igneous rocks were kept for Alan and Matt to sledgehammer and saw.
Taryn and I are watching Kevin send off a temperature probe to the seafloor. The probe measures the water temperature as it descends to the very bottom of the...
Dredge #6 was back on deck early this morning, at about 8:00. Unfortunately, the dredge did not bring many rocks up with it. So, the few rocks were cleaned and set aside for further observation and Kate found a few small sponges clinging to rocks that she kept for her research. We then started traveling back to the north to gather more data on the sea floor in hopes of finding an excellent dredge site. One of the forms of data we are collecting involves using a magnetometer, which measures the magnetic direction of the volcanic rocks in the seafloor. Peter Barker had observed magnetic anomalies in this area during his previous research in the late 1970s, and our data is confirming his findings. We did have some added entertainment today by celebrating the birthday of Kevin; he is...
