Joy of Synoptic Surface Mapping
[This post written 6/19/08; position: lat -57’49”, long -43’40”; temp -1C; wind chill -19C]
Today has been another triumphal day for the engineers, and so for the scientists as well. My own day started early, as I pried myself out of bed at seven to go out and watch the MOCNESS being retrieved, and to take a few pictures. I noticed yesterday that photos of the MOCNESS seem nonexistent. Or it might be that some exist, but none are good enough to put on the shared drive. I discovered it’s hard to get good ones of that activity, which involves people doing hard, fast work in the non-ideal light of dawn and the ship’s big work lamps. I haven’t edited the photos yet, so I will save them for another day. There was plenty of excitement of other kinds.
The photo sequence at left is a series of still shots taken from the RC plane’s video footage — mostly from the second flight, and from the third flight, which happened this morning. As you can see, we are getting wonderful birds-eye views of the iceberg. The top photo shows one of the underwater ice shelves that surround iceberg A43K (the bluish green area). The middle photo is an odd thing indeed, and takes some explaining. It shows the GPS beacon in it’s protective Nerf football about a second after it was released from the plane, before it hit the iceberg. I keep meaning to ask Brett or Paul what those rods are that are sticking out. I suspect they are meant to further cushion the fall, or to increase the chances of the beacon landing in a particular position. But I’m not sure. The third photo shows a small lagoon — a notch in the iceberg’s shoreline. You can see the underwater ice shelves in this one, too. It’s also clear that, at least at this time of year, this iceberg is very smooth on top, just like the previous one. This may very well change from season to season. It’s quite possible there are lakes and crevasses in the iceberg during the summer when temperatures are warmer.
Flight number 3 for the RC plane was our most successful so far. Not only was the beacon successfully dropped on the iceberg. Steve E. piloted it back onto the deck with only a tiny bit of damage to one wingtip — an especially amazing feat given the wind, which was almost high enough to keep the team from trying to fly at all today. Steve couldn’t resist doing a victory roll after the successful drop. 🙂
Our Phoenix ROV made another successful run today, too, moving in very close to the iceberg and staying there for an hour, collecting video footage of the iceberg’s underwater surfaces and pumping a large water sample for the chemists. At the science meeting later in the day, Ben Twining reported that his preliminary results show more than the usual amount of iron in this sample, which would support the theory that icebergs may be adding nutrients to the seawater surrounding them. We continue to be impressed with the performance of this handmade ROV. None of this sampling would have been possible without it, after the loss of the Phantom.
I will conclude my entry for now. I’m not quite sure why, but the ship is traveling fast — faster than my Meclozine can quite keep up with, so I’m feeling a little woozy from the increased wave action. Checking my notebook to see what’s on the schedule now…ah, synoptic surface mapping. That explains it. We’re going back and forth in the lawnmower pattern, grabbing quick water samples to test salinity, temperature, and florescence as we go. Trying to detect patterns. Goodnight, all you princes of dry land.