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A busy day.
Three ice stations were occupied overnight. At one of these a buoy was
deployed to complete a 3-buoy array in the pack north of the polynya. Two
of these were at locations to where we estimated spice buoys had drifted.
The buoys were originally deployed in near-open water, and measuring the
ice thickness at these sites on a revisit provides an estimate of the total
ice growth along the drift track. It was most reassuring to pick up a
transmission from one buoy as we approached the site, and to confirm that
it was within about a mile.
In the morning measurements of frazil density were made from the basket on
the ship's crane, and we conducted two trawls.
This afternoon we occupied a fourth ice station on the fast ice between
grounded bergs north of the Mertz Glacier tongue ("the dagger"). More than
120 Emperor penguins came ashore here and headed "inland".
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.