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Another beautiful day as we charge to the southern end of the line. The sea floor is shoaling rapidly as we head south to the continent. The stations are also close together, so by the time we finish sampling at one stop we have already arrived at the next. This is keeping most people on board very busy. Keith the bosun demonstrated his fishing skills by capturing a huge (1 cm) pteropod, which looks like a marine snail. The arrival of this monster from the deep on board caused great excitement in the biology team, all captured on camera for the ABC. Once we finish this transect, we will head east towards Mertz Glacier region. The first camera deployments on the CTD and on the drop camera frame will be made tomorrow, as we get into shallower water. The cameras are being used to take photos of marine life living on the sea floor. Much of the sea bed around Antarctica remains almost unexplored. One of the aims of this voyage is to map out patterns of biodiversity on the continental shelf and slope of Antarctica and related the biological distributions to the ocean circulation patterns.
REGARDS: Steve, Fred and Penny
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.