Getting set up on the RRS James Clark Ross

We have set sail!

It's great to be back on the JCR. Over the last two years I have met most of the crew during Rothera reliefs where they delivered our freshies and cargo, I also more recently saw them in Monte Video. Between that and knowing a few of the scientists from working with them at Rothera I have already fully settled in and am getting at great vibe about this cruise!!

I am one of the only scientists that is using the water pump system to do a few filtrations on the way up to Tromso. After Tromso we pick up the rest of the scientists and start our sampling regime up through the Barents Sea.

Communications  are going to be very limited at most of the stations in the Arctic so sorry if I am not able to do many updates but here is a link to the communications officer that has secret ways to keep his website up to date, he posts almost every day!

http://www.gm0hcq.com/jcr_update.htm

One of the great scientists Dr Sian Henley who is not only a colleague but a friend from hours spent on boats at Rothera updates her twitter page here: you can see we have completed all of our very serious safety briefs.

https://twitter.com/drsianhenley/status/880742058675273728

Mum and Dad dropped me off at the National Oceanographic Center in Southampton where we were lucky enough to me the famous Boat McBoatFace

Another tag out board!!!!!

CTD rosette

Lots of microscope time

My work space

Where all our chemicals for preservation are kept

Plankton trawl

The mighty ship

These photos show the general layout of the ship. My workspace is the one with all of the filters which I will be using to filter water through filter paper for analysis back in the UK mostly for fatty acid, lipids, HPLC. I will also be pulling plankton nets and preserving the community for analysis back in SAMS at Oban. The massive CTD rosette attached to the winch will be used to get a profile of the water column to show us the temperature salinity and also where the peak of chlorophyll is in the water column and also collect our water from desired depths in the big grey niskin containers. Chlorophyll is a proxy for phytoplankton we use it do that we can try and get the bulk of the community when we do sample. I will also be using the microscope to identify Calanus copepod which are incredibly important to the lipid pump in the Arctic 

..basically feed most of the fish stocks. 

So now on to Tromso and then up the Barents Sea! 

Packing up to leave again...this time in search of some polar bears.

Tomorrow I board the British Antarctic Survey's Royal Research Vessel the James Clark Ross at Southampton where we will set sail for the Barents Sea up into the Arctic circle. I really can't believe I've got this job and now that I've had a break even if short and sweet I feel ready for the next adventure. Hopefully I will see a polar bear...

The research that I will be involved with is very interesting, I am employed by The Scottish Marine association  (SAMS) as an Arctic Technician. I will be assisting on the DIAPOD research project, the link to this is on my previous blog post if you would like more information.

I will hopefully have good enough Internet to keep up my blog as since I've been home I've met so many of you lovely people that keep up to date with my blog and I had some lovely feedback for which I am grateful as it kept me sane (kind of) during my 18 months down south.

My next blog will be from the ship! Eek.

!!I'm home!!

What an incredible 18 months.

I can't believe I am home. I am very happy to see my family and excited to catch up with everyone!

Yesterday I attempted to park my car, as soon as I pulled into the space my brother Dan was like ohhh no you've messed it up already, he couldn't be more accurate as it took me about 5 minutes to try and park the car blocking the Usk carpark...my brother almost walked off it was so embarrassing...I won't even talk about what happened in the shop after that!



I have had such an incredible experience. I have learnt so much from climbing to diving to cooking, medical training, fire training, supervising, dive coxing - thank you to everyone who has taught and mentored me along the way! Made some amazing friends and shared some incredible experiences that will stay with me in memories and the thousands of photos that I have finally sorted through! Being home I am already sneezing from my cat and the lush green grass. I have been astounded at home many more noises and smells there are. I am also very happy to not sign out and tell people where I am going, although it kept me safe whilst in the Antarctic I now feel free but weirdly worried that I should be telling people where I am driving or walking to ha!

A few of my friends summed up their time in a few selected photos which I thought was a great idea, so here are some photos that sum up this incredible experience that I was so privileged to have had! The photos don't summarise everything but things that I thought were important to the experience I had, basically I believe the people that I shared my 18 months made it a time in my life that I will always look back on in happiness.

Having an incredible team made our 2016 winter at Rothera even more spectacular, it has been described as a very harmonious winter-Ali Rose's photo!! 

From the very start we were a team and this great group of people made our Antarctic Winter one incredible journey.

An incredible moment when Ben took a photo of Kate and I sampling off an iceberg whilst under the sea ice with his ROV named Debra

Boarding the Protector and going around a few of the islands was very interesting! Generally enjoying all of the wildlife around Antarctica everyday from the whales to the giant petrels to everyone's favourite the penguin. My favourite Antarctic Animal was the sea lemon :) This penguin colony sounded like something from a David Attenborough documentary . 

When I talk about this event I get very emotional...seeing two twin otters land in the depths of our midwinter to evacuate people from the south pole was truly inspirational! 

 Travelling up the full length of the Atlantic on the RRS Ernest Shackelton and then the captain allowed us to swim at the equator! I was terrified of sharks.

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The diversity of diving in the Antarctic struck me from my first dive. 

Winter trips! I had an awesome breaks away with Ali Rose and Al Docherty before and after midwinter, a great way to have a true Antarctic experience and learn how to use tilley lamps and cook off a primus!

Oh this transport aquarium has been very emotional -  It has been an awesome experience setting up an aquarium, collecting the animals and then travelling up the full length of the Atlantic on the RRS Ernest Shackelton looking after these Antarctic species but I will be honest it did not go through the tropics very smoothly. 

Simply enjoying the view..we were so privileged -photo taken by Steve Windross! 

Icebergs. I love icebergs. I will miss them a lot. Their colours, their shape the sound they make when they break up. 

Oh Fossil Bluff. If you read the book Silent Sound you will understand why I love it there, it's the most peaceful and quiet place I've ever been too. I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks there before and after my winter, flying in on the twin otter was amazing and then keeping this place going and refuelling the plane was a great break from Rothera.

However...I am only home for 3 weeks as somehow I've got another job and guess where...ha yep the Arctic, no idea how I've managed it but at the end of June I am joining the BAS ship the RRS James Clark Ross as an Arctic Technician for the Scottish Association of Marine Science where I will be sampling all the way up the Barents sea! Amazingly I will be with lots of friends from Rothera so it will be great fun.

 Here's a map of where we are going and some information on the project that I will be involved with. http://www.sams.ac.uk/diapod and https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-oban-times/20170126/281943132598787


 I will keep writing this blog so that I can share my progress and hopefully a photo of a polar bear!