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The Aurora Australis remains amidst the broken pack ice fields around 10 nautical miles from Mawson station. The vagaries of Antarctic weather have not been lost on the crew and expeditioners today, with earlier forecasts suggesting wind conditions were to reach to between 30-40 knots around midday. However, both at station and within the general location of the vessel, conditions remained generally calm throughout the day with only a passing snow shower.
The pace of voyage planning at the very least continued to build today, with personnel aboard the vessel, those at Mawson and Davis stations and at the Australian Antarctic Division's headquarters in Kingston, reviewing key activities to be undertaken in the coming week subject to ice conditions, weather, priority cargo requirements and the vessel's own endurance capabilities (e.g. fuel and food). Tomorrow morning, the vessel will again return to sit within Kista strait off Mawson station and will hopefully be able to deploy vital refuelling equipment throughout the day, which once set up and tested, will see tens of thousands of litres of specially mixed fuel transferred to station, to help power the generators to provide heating, power and light throughout the coming winter months. The station will also have additional power supply available through the wind turbine, which can produce large amounts of energy in the right conditions.
Later this evening, the Aurora's bridge team noticed a regular pattern of swell moving through the thick sea ice fields from the open ocean to our North towards the coastline. The pack ice generally dulls the effect of ocean swell, and as we're approximately 25 miles South of the edge of the pack, it's likely that a significant weather system lies somewhere out within the Southern ocean, for the swell it generated to have penetrated so far through the icy blanket.
Even with its bright orange exterior, when situated amongst the extensive pack ice fields which extend to the horizon, the Aurora still represents a tiny anomaly of colour in the otherwise white landscape. But the pack ice isn't entirely devoid of colour itself. As the ship bumps and glides through the large ice flows, it disrupts, breaks and overturns many of them, revealing an amazing range of sub-surface colours which stand in stark contracts to the pure white surface. The greens, reds, yellows and browns seen on the undersides of the sea ice are attributed to various forms of algae, which bloom profusely in the cold, nutrient rich Antarctic seas at this time of year. The algae is very low in the Antarctic food chain, and is consumed by a variety of other minute life forms phytoplankton (plant life) and zooplankton (small sea creatures), including krill. In turn, the krill feed fish species, penguins and whales and eventually the larger predators such as seals and orca. The abundant food sources explain the presence of so many penguins, mostly Adelie's, which populate ice floes in varying numbers right across the pack. Large groups of these cartoon-like little penguins can be found huddled together on a single flow, while elsewhere several penguins might share a larger ice floe, spread out and laying on their bellies to snooze away their krill or fish dinners. It's not uncommon to see a single penguin standing out on its own many hundreds of metres from any others.
Seals are also regular inhabitants of the pack ice fields, with several crab-eater seals seen in close proximity to the ship this evening. Some hardly move as the ship passes, others roll about on the ice showing their bellies and covering their muzzles in snow not unlike dogs rolling in the grass.
For those aboard, the opportunity to see Antarctic wildlife in their natural habitat is a great privilege, which brings a smile to the face of even the longest serving crew and expeditioners. Being aboard the Aurora as it makes its way around, over and through the ice - is also an interesting experience in itself. The vessel isn't moving fast, but it does move - rolling, swaying and falling as it rides over the top of larger floes. More significant chunks of ice have the noticeable effect of 'decelerating' the vessel's progress, a sensation made even stranger for those working or eating inside the ship who don't have the benefit of seeing the ice before us, and can't therefore anticipate the way the ship will move. Just in case anyone was wondering, most 'ice breaking' isn't actually a result of the ship's bow acting like a knife or a saw to cut through the ice. Instead, it's the vessel's specially designed hull, powerful engines and propeller which enable it to ride up on top of the ice and the ship's weight then splits the ice floes and pushes them aside. The Aurora also has various methods to assist with ice-breaking, such as specially designed ballast systems which repeatedly transfer water from tanks on one side of the hull to the other, creating a gentle rocking motion which allows the vessel to maintain momentum and slide off or push aside any large ice floes it might encounter, which would otherwise stall its progress.
On quiet evenings like tonight, when there are very few expeditioners aboard to share the space, the bridge of the Aurora is a great place to spend time simply staring out at the scenery through the large glass windows, the crew usually playing a range of well-known songs - providing an awesome soundtrack with which to enjoy the approaching twilight and our divine isolation.
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.