Ski Sunday.

Anna and I decided that we couldn't have another lazy Sunday, so we had our brunch (an incredible fry up) which gave us the energy to grab some Nordic Skis and head up the flag line away from Base. Again we are spoilt by having all of this to use as we wish! So much cheaper than a resort.

This was us before...

Not in a negative way, but it was great to get off base away from the chaos of lots of people, we are currently have over 80 people at the base with people coming in from the field. So it was amazing to have all of this to ourselves today....

Our mission was to make it to the caboose for hot chocolate!

 WE had to melt snow to make it!! haha

WE had what would seem like a WI meeting in the caboose at the top of the ridge which is called Vals.

Such a mission going downhill on Nordic skis!!!!!

Us at the end still smiling :D 

Visitors

I have the time to write this evening as there is snow flying in every direction, even a step outside will get you soaked head to foot. The theme of this blog is visitors... Penguins are always the most friendly and funny visitors to Rothera.



We have had lots of visitors this week, including one of the most amazing experiences that not many people can have, but I feel so honored to have witnessed...Orca orca, one of the most incredible predatory species, especially in Antarctica. Whilst, we were out water sampling, the panda like whales were out hunting. I radioed the dive boat to tell them that they were hunting in the bay, this resulted in the divers having to get out of the water as we cannot dive when Orca are around. We paused our water sampling to watch the Orca who were very close to our boat, the Orca were spy hopping the icesheets for seals; such an incredible sight !!




My second favorite was an american taildragger; a Basler BT - 67 !



We have been blessed with amazing weather the past week which was great as we had a vising American ship called the Gould.



The reason that they come to Rothera for a visit is actually for Sam and I, as the Marine Assistants we collect DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon) samples for a scientist on board, in return we go on the ship for the day and travel out to Marguerite bay where we attach our two CTD's to their rosette for calibration to ensure that our data is consistent.

The rosette is behind Sam & I. The silver bottles are called Niskin bottles which we can fire at the depth of water for which we would like to sample from, the two CTD's that we were calibrating are next to us.

As a small winter dive team we have lots of training that extends from diver medic, chamber tender but also operating the dive chamber. We use the dive chamber for if someone gets decompression illness from diving under pressure; we practiced some scenarios.

Happy divers!  

 The wildlife is incredible here, I have borrowed my parents long range lens which helped me capture this skewer in flight. The skewers are currently building their nests and laying eggs. 

There is an ASPA around Rothera Point which protects this species and their breeding habits.

#iceberg#mountains#sungettinglower#clouds#antarctica


p.s

 People know me too well...they've stopped counting now as apparently I snort too many times to count...!

The last of our visitors in the past week is our 'distinguished guests' which include our director Jane Francis. 

Time to reflect.

Time to reflect....

Saturday nights are usually a formal dinner, this weekend there was a theme. The theme was 50's Americana! I obviously went so Grease, but unfortunately left my Pink Ladies jacket in Wales!! IT was a great night-  we even had a dance off between the men and woman to ''you're the one that I want.''

On the weekend I had the opportunity to go mountaineering up Stork ridge, I was glad that I had a lie in because it was an epic hike, that was worth it for the view of Sheldon glacier. Looking back at the photos I didn't realise at the time how dramatic the situation was. We were all attached to each other by a line, then we were walking along the peak of the mountain to the summit where either side of us was a very steep drop off. Having a field guide around means we can always do fun things like this!

Looking out over the Sheldon Glacier.

 The week started off with water sampling, so lots of lab work. In-between that we have fitted in lots of dives, even to some epic places further afield from Rothera...here is me coming back from a rather chilly dive!

The plankton bloom is fully in swing now, the water is green - it's like diving in pea soup. It's still epic.

So green!

YAY -  for the first time in two months I've rigged a glider, however, it is not my usual type of glider. This is a seaglider that records oceanographic data. We deploy it manually, whilst Alex is in the office and logging the glider, for instance telling it when to dive and what coordinates to go to. To receive the data, the glider resurfaces (usually every 6 hours) and transmits the data to satellites which we then download, the glider then dives back down to collect more data around Ryder Bay. 

A mushroom iceberg.

IT was Sam's birthday today, fittingly on Penguin awareness day....

HAPPY PENGUIN AWARENESS DAY <3

There's always time to reflect - especially after a long day at work.

Voldemort.

How many Leopard seals can you spot?

 

 

The past few days we have had incredible dingle weather where the sun is shinning and there is hardly any wind.

We have, however, not been able to dive due to voldemort like seals called Leopard seals. They have big mouths that are intimidating and a very visual hump behind their head. They can also get absolutely massive. They are usually solitary animals, which is why we were so surprised to see so many floating on an ice flow in the above photo. They are obviously full from feeding as they didn't move and hunt when there was penguins and Weddel seals next to them, if they don't eat either of them then then eat fish.

It's also dribbling.

So when we see a leopard seal we can not dive for 4 hours, after that a 30 minute seal watch needs to be conducted.

Everything has been made much better by seeing a Gentoo penguin which is rarely seen at Rothera!

Back to work!

Penguins are slowly starting to invade Rothera as the snow melts and we are left in a quarry. 

This week has felt crazy busy and a bit stressful!

After the JCR left we have been all stations back to work, the weather was variable all week changing from really sunny, to windy or low cloud. The weather is highly changeable here, and when I say that it can change within just a few minutes.

WAVE...I got very excited, i really want to go gliding here, it would be incredible. I'm working on it....

One of my main jobs is to liaise with Sam and the other scientists to see when it is best for us to go out on the boat and water sample. We need to discuss the weeks weather and what's happening with the phytoplankton bloom to decide when it's best for us to sample. The wind direction dictates most of our limits, for example if it's blowing a strong southerly then all of the brash and pack ice blows towards the wharf where we take the boats in and out of the water, if this gets blocked then we can't get back to Rothera and there is nowhere else safe to moor up. The wind also needs to be light so that we do not drift off from site 1 which is out in Ryder bay and at 500 m depth; the RaTs project has been sampled from there since 1997 so it's important not to drift off site. We have two back up sights if the weather does not allow us to sample there.

Schools sent us some homemade flags to celebrate Antarctica day ! 

This week one of our winter's had an accident and had to get flown back to the UK to have his tendon repaired - he should be back in 6 weeks! This week I had my first dive under ice! We have been waiting to access North cove and Hangar Cove and finally it was within safe limits for us to get near to the site where the heated settlement plates. I dived with Gail, where we swam to the bottom and then under the ice to her site, we were attached by a line the whole time. The first part was so scary. You had to think about the ice being above your head so making sure your buoyancy was impeccable, also about exits for if there was an emergency. I was not allowed to go near Gail's plates as she is looking at settlement so only one diver can complete the work by taking photographs of the plates, it's also best to not have much movement around them, Whilst she was doing that I was on seal watch, I also collected sediment sample, The highlight of the dive was that we were actually diving in poo, as North Cove is where the STP (basically burns our poo) outlet is, so I also collected a water sample so that we can measure the coliforms (bacteria) so see how well the STP is working!

This iceberg looks like it rolled over and broke!!!

Elephant seals are loud and smelly ... so funny to watch!

It was a sunny and calm day on Thursday this week, most the of base walked around the point. It was beautiful and we all saw our first chinstrap penguin of the season!



Anna, Emily, Matt and I went to the crevasse at the weekend with Blair our field guide. It was nice being in a small group so that we could spend sometime looking at the ice formations and taking some photographs.


With the summer now starting the warming has increased which has increased the snowmelt into the crevasse, this meant that the access hole was a bit smaller than last time which made it a bit exciting! We are also definitely going to make an ice bar down there during winter!

Sam & I have the mission to set up the transport aquarium which will leave with Sam on the ship in March. We need to get it set up now so the system is stable and that the bacteria in the filters grows ready to keep the tanks healthy.

Chao for now, hope you're all enjoying being back at work!

Very spoilt to have a view like this everyday!

Lost voice = everyone on base is ecstatic!

Danger Penguin... we watched him for ages thinking he was going to fall down the hill, the little Adelie managed to keep upright for the whole mission - much to our amazement ! 

I feel like the past week has been an intense week of sit down amazing meals washed down with some lovely Rioja mixed with intense work as the ship arrived which meant that the base god evaded with lots of new people, along with lots of resupplies for us to unload and unpack! All of this has coupled together for me to loose my voice...much to the annoyance of the base (I joke).

The JCR launched a glider and conducted some water samples in our long term sites whilst we waited to moor it up!

We had Christmas a day early as the James Clark Ross (JCR) was meant to arrive on the 26th, however it was two days late due to some glider and water sampling work! The ship arrived early on Monday. I along with a few others including the boating officers were responsible for mooring up the vessel, it went very smoothly!

JCR

Once it arrived I spent next few days ''ragging'' a Gater around Rothera being a postman and delivering all of the parcels to the correct zones, once offloaded from the ship.

Emily Venables & me

So much food!

Relief means that everyone helps out! We all made a chain within the corridors and passed the food down the line to be put away for storage! 

Whilst the ship was moored alongside the warf we were too busy and it was too restrictive for us to go sampling or diving! 

I did manage to use the ship to do some work , using their salinometer which measures conductivity. I was trusted with the salts samples from 2014/2015.

New year was epic. The boat shed was turned into what reminded me of a barn dance back in Wales (I felt right at home)! There are a lot of talented singers and musicians this year which meant lots of different bands entertaining us until 12.

We even celebrated New years three hours early so that we could wave to our love ones through the webcam!

Once New Years struck Rothera, most of us boarded the JCR and stood at the bow whilst the oldest and the youngest member of the ship rang the bell. It was definitely a moment to remember.

2016 began, we cast off the JCR and were left with stocks full of food and a few other necessitates and got straight back to work - no rest for the wicked.

I would just like to thank everyone who is taking the time to read this blog, but to also wish you a very Happy New Year and I hope that it's everything that you expect it to be or make it to be! For me it is going to be a weird one knowing that I am in Antarctica for the whole year, again very resfeber! Lots of love x.x.