Shelly and Stephanie peering down the observation tube.
In thirty minutes we will catch a ride to the airfield for our flight back to McMurdo. It’s a good day to fly home, warm with a clear sunny sky. It’s hard to believe how nice it is after yesterday, when the storm that had been blowing for three days reached its peak. The winds were pretty incredible, at the height of the storm it was easy to imagine that it would be days before everything calmed down enough for flights to resume.
A cloud of invertebrates hovers below the sea ice, feeding on ice algae and phytoplankton. In a couple more weeks there will be even more life feeding on the algal bloom.
Despite the good weather today our flight was still delayed by the severe drifts that had built up on the runway. For the first time in nine weeks we enjoyed not having any work to do. To pass the time Shelly, Stephanie, and I went down to check out the observation tube, a metal and plexiglass tube installed into the sea ice a short distance from the station. Crawling down into the tube puts you several feet below the bottom of the sea ice and opens up a view otherwise available only to the research divers.
An inch tall sea butterly drifts close to the observation tube window.
A substantial amount of snow covers the sea ice near the observation tube so it’s quite dark below the ice (compared to the sea ice near Tent Island, where we have been sampling). As a result the spring algal bloom hasn’t really gotten going yet. Despite this lack of algal growth there was an abundance of invertebrate life, mostly delicate little organisms called sea butterflies. It was mesmerizing to sit in the cool blue and green light and watch the cloud of butterflies drifting by. A great last mental image of Antarctica!
Thanks to everyone who followed along on our adventure by reading this blog. Although this is the last entry we will still answer questions posted to the Q&A page. The blog itself will remain accessible and searchable. The best of luck in all of your adventures!
-Jeff
