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Last 24hrs; AIVIQ continues to make excellent headway and the Southern Ocean remains on our side. We were expecting up to six meter waves on Wednesday, but we really didn't see much over four meters which made our sea sick friends happy.
In the last 24 hours AIVIQ and her crew crossed over the Antarctic Convergence. The Antarctic Convergence is a major boundary zone of the worlds oceans that separates the waters surrounding Antarctica into Antarctic and sub-antarctic regions. The smart people travelling with us will say that in the Antarctic Convergence, the cold dense surface waters of the circumpolar ocean sink and flow northward creating a major meridional circulation system.
If you are like Trent and I this may not mean much; however, there is no need to check Wikipedia as we have already done the hard work for you. What this means in TrentCam language is that we have just passed over an invisible but somewhat important biological and climatic boundary. The change in the conditions of the ocean and the climate means we should start seeing many species of birds, fish and other animals that would rarely be seen on the north side of the convergence. Cameras at the ready team.
Operationally our plan has been formed and sent away for review. The Operations Plan is created by Voyage Management in consultation with everyone involved. It is then sent to AAD HQ for review and approval. The important thing to note when planning these operations is that no plan ever survives H-hr and in Antarctica the weather is often at fault.
It is for this reason that the team will now commence contingency planning. We will be looking at how weather can impact our mission and assessing what tasks can be done in poor weather windows. For example, the wind may prevent us from undertaking operations on water, but we may still be able to undertake land-based preparations. In this instance we will adjust our sequence of events and adapt to the situation. The team will continue to build contingency plans to ensure all our preparations are done efficiently but without compromising safety.
At the time of writing this SITREP we have 40/50 negative PCR's results. Ten more and we are COVID Green.
Regards,
Cam and Trent
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.