The Warm North Wind
[This post written 6/10/08; position: lat -57’49”, long -44’28”; temp 1C; wind chill -13C]
Today we have had a change in the weather. The morning dawned gray and foggy. I was up on the bridge at 7:00 hoping to catch John Helly using his laser to measure the iceberg’s freeboard dimensions. I missed him by an hour, but did get a chance to watch the sea, which was oddly calm. The wind soon picked up, though, coming from the north. In this topsy-turvy place, the north wind brings warmth, which you’ll see reflected in today’s temperature readings. Suddenly, we are above freezing. One big result of this is that the iceberg has begun to melt and calve. Large chunks of it have been coming off today — at least twice, maybe more. It’s hard to say, because even with people watching from the ship, sometimes we are on the wrong side of the berg to see the action, and we rarely catch it while it’s going on.
One result of the wind is rougher waves. I guess I stayed out in the cold too long yesterday, because today my cold has moved into my head. I would probably be dizzy today even on dry land. As it is, I am seasick again, even though these are not big waves. So, I apologize, but this will be brief again.
This morning Paul showed us footage the RC plane took before it crashed. See above. It actually got some pretty good (and quite useful) pictures. We now have a decent idea what the top of the iceberg looks like. As you can see, it seems very smooth and flat. So in a way, the flight was a success after all. The team will try again with another plane as soon as the weather permits.
Whew. Off to bed.