Information
Comments
Neptune did indeed visit yesterday afternoon to welcome 37 newcomers to the oceans below 60 degrees south. Each was given the opportunity to taste his fine fare (and even wear some too!). Challenge by choice of course...
We celebrated with an Italian night of garlic bread, pizzas, pasta and for desert, tiramisu. We also enjoyed our first "special occasion", on an otherwise dry ship, with a choice of beer, cider or wine. Wisely we have a no alcohol within 8 hours of work so some of us were unable to imbibe, as the bridge and engineers have to maintain a 24 hour watch, and some scientists needed to be up to monitor ice conditions. Next time maybe?
The first three NIWA buoys were deployed by helicopter before the cloud base dropped, closed in and it started to snow. From the bridge we could watch as the helicopter slows and hovers and Christian sets it (the
buoy) down on the ice floe. Each buoy weighs 13kg so it's necessary for Christian to be sitting out of the sliding door of the helicopter in a fall restraint harness.
The remaining buoys are being deployed from the ship by the deck crew, gently swinging the buoy over the side with the 7 ton crane, using a releasable hook as the officer on watch (Nick at the moment) carefully slides the 8,000 odd tons of icebreaker alongside a suitable ice floe.
The buoy is then lowered and a firm tug on the rope releases the hook, leaving the buoy to measure and transmit to satellites, the rise and fall of the oceans swell, as we sail south to place the next...
Tomorrow we will go in search of our first "ice station", a mass of frozen pack ice large enough to spend two or more days studying.
Cheers
Andy, Brett
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.