Just some photos

It has been a whirl wind (literally) couple of days here. Lots of great samples. But today I am just going to post some images.

This is a predatory comb jelly (Beroe) that are about 20cm or so long. They have large mounths to gulp down prey.

There is a ton of sponge predation going on! Here we see a very full sponge getting munched on by the giant flat worm (nemertean) that is soo common down here. Don't feel bad for these sponges, they are fast growing and often boom and bust in population size.

There is also a big bloom of the sponges as you can se on the seafloor here.

That is in contrast to these sponges which live for centuries.

An expedition North!

Yesterday we quested up to our main research site - Cape Evans. We loaded up our "plucky" Piston Bully and headed north. It was a slightly slow start as we are the first team this season working on the sea ice and they "opened" it (approved travel" just for us after weeks of Field Safety and Training (FS&T) finding us a nice and safe route along the sea ice.

En route we found some friends. These emperor penguins were a ways a way and (like often happens) we stopped and they came right over to say Hi. We are not allowed to approach wildlife here, but thankfully the wildlife does not have that same rule and so we plop down in the snow and they seem to always just wander over and say Hi.

The ice along the way was really spectacular. This is the Erebus Glacier Tongue that floats out into the sound and is right next to our route.

Along the way we ran into our collaborators - the New Zealand team! You can tell by their different vehicles so wonderfully painted Green where they are from. This year we are benefiting from amazing international collaboration.

Here is their Lead Scientist (Principal Investigator) - Dr. Sarah Seabrook (NIWA Wellington).

This is an example of the cracks in the sea ice that we have to constantly monitor to make sure our travel north and return south are safe. You can see Mt. Erebus in the background - the most southerly active volcano.

At the end is our new home sweet home. We will be traveling back and forth to dive here. You can see Robert Falcon Scott's Cape Evans hut in the back ground. My tent is on the sea ice and one need special permission to enter the hut so we stay away until we get that permission. Nice to be next to a epicenter of exploration for our own exploration to uncover how the Southern Ocean works!

The weather was amazing throughout the day and this is the view from my tent. We headed back to McMurdo to regroup for our first science dives here in the next couple days. It was a long day, getting back way after dinner, but we are all excited for the prospects of the days to come.

Increasing tasks underwater

Many of the skills in science are honed over years and years. Diving is one of those, however ever time we get to a new location we have to slowly ramp up our comfort and add tasks. Today, we went on another dive to make sure our gear and comfort levels were good prior to adding specific tasks. This involved taking cameras and revisiting some particular sites of interest. Above is Steve saying Hi.

Alex was up in the shallows looking at the abundant plankton (Pteropods) within the shallow ice with brash ice on the surface and anchor ice on the seafloor.

When we called it a day, a seal decided to hang out in our hole for a while. We waited for about 10 minutes and it swam away to another breathing hole. A nice way to end the dive!