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Expeditioners and crew today commenced the process of scrubbing socks & shirts, vacuuming velcro, brushing boots and cleaning camera cases in preparation for our arrival at Mawson station.
The weather & sea conditions remain overcast but calm, with many more expeditioners venturing up to the bridge in an attempt to spot the as yet elusive sea ice. Aurora Australis' bridge crew are also encouraging as many people as possible to nominate their timeslots for the sighting of the first iceberg of the same size (or larger) than the ship. Half of any proceeds from the iceberg raffle will be placed towards Camp Quality, the Aurora's nominated charity.
There have also been a number of smaller Antarctic bird species sighted around the vessel, but we're yet to see some of their larger cousins such as petrels and albatross.
The opportunity to spot some of these rarer or at least less-frequently observed Antarctic species tends to draw out the bird-nerd in most personnel during the voyage. More advanced bird-nerds (author included) generally fail outright in our attempts to identify, or even correctly pronounce, each species by their correct scientific / latin names, so it's great to have real scientists aboard to point out the subtle differences in behaviour, size, markings and diet. Disappointingly, to date there have been very few - if any - Bright-billed Berg-bullies seen around the vessel (or for that matter, within the pages of the reference books on the bridge......).
We're continuing on a West South-Westerly course towards the location of a whale mooring, which has been recording data from its position beneath the surface of the ocean, tethered to weights located below on the sea floor. Once the position has been identified, the vessel will retrieve the mooring so that the data which has been collected can be added to the long term dataset for this project. The expeditioners will also shortly commence an hourly program of sea ice monitoring, which will provide additional data and information around the type, extent and thickness of the sea ice encountered by the vessel. When this information is compared against other sources of data and imagery on sea ice (e.g. satellite photos), the scientists back in Australia and elsewhere can conduct clearer analysis and develop more accurate modelling of the sea ice conditions and trends around Antarctica.
Cheers
Mark & Fred
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.