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Overnight we finished another short line of 6 CTD stations, running up a canyon from deep water to the continental shelf. This canyon is one of the places where dense water formed on the shelf drains down to the deep sea. At the last station, we detected some of this dense, cold (-1.8C) water escaping in a thin layer near the bottom. We have had mixed success with the camera systems so far. The camera mounted on the trawl frame is getting some great photos, but the frame is twisting as it moves through the water, causing damage to the wire. We are now moving to the next camera site, where we will try a new strategy using the trawl wire. The winds got up above 30 knots last night, with some blowing snow and limited visibility, but it seems the worst of the weather may be to our south, closer to the coast. The sea is full of small chunks of very thick and rotten chunks of old sea ice, perhaps remnants of the heavy ice that used to be piled up to the east of the Mertz Glacier and the iceberg B9-B. The light mantled sooty albatross are causing some oohs and aahs on the bridge.
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.