Friday 4 January 2008 à 18:03
En route to Dumont d’Urville
Anne Goffart. Correspondent aboard the Astrolabe
A strong sea and high winds of as much as 50 knots last night (about 92 km/h) are making it difficult to cross to Dumont d'Urville in Adelie Land.
Friday 4 January 2008 à 16:04
Position of Astrolabe at 06:33 UTC
Anne Goffart. Correspondent aboard the Astrolabe
61° 09 S
142° 03 E
Friday 4 January 2008 à 13:11
Antarctic biodiversity inventory: for what?
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
The return of good weather means we can enjoy a fabulous sunset on the horizon of Antarctic sea early this morning, around one o’clock. Once again, our star never left us. It stayed essentially at the same height for three hours.
Friday 4 January 2008 à 13:01
Data for the Aurora Australis at 12h30
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
Position of the icebreaker:
- latitude: 66°19.089' S
- longitude: 143°37.275’ E
Wind:
- direction: SE
- speed: 30 knots
Water temperature: -0.6°C
Air temperature: -4°C and -25°C in the wind
Atmospheric pressure: 972 hPa
Relative humidity: 80%
UV-B: 4 W/m²
Water depth: 580 meters
Sunrise: above the horizon all day
Friday 4 January 2008 à 13:00
Position of Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
FROM: Martin Riddle
DATE: 04/01/08
REPORT (SITREP) NO.: 319
UNIVERSAL TIME: 0100
LOCAL (SHIP) TIME: 1200
AUSTRALIAN EASTERN STANDARD TIME: 1200
POSITION: -66 19S, 143 59E
HEADING: 140T
CURRENT SPEED (KNOTS): 2.5
DISTANCE TO NEXT WAYPOINT (NAUTICAL MILES): N/A
DISTANCE COVERED LAST 24
HOURS (NAUTICAL MILES): 94.6
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Overcast, low grey clouds,
visibility good, wind 34 kts from 149T with gusts to 36 kts
AIR TEMPERATURE:
-4
SEA TEMPERATURE: -0.6
SEA CONDITIONS: Moderate to rough seas and moderate
SE'ly swell 2-3 m ICE
CONDITIONS: Isolated bergs, open water.
REMARKS: Yesterday's blue skies and calm seas were a great contrast to the
stormy weather that began the New Year. We took advantage of the opportunity
and completed 6 stations in the last 2 shift, with the night shift putting
in a particularly strong effort to do nearly 4 complete stations. This
afternoon the strong winds are returning as predicted and may force another
halt to sampling in the next few hours. We are approaching the end of this
stage of the CEAMARC sampling and when conditions allow we will return to
the Polynya moorings to move the Pole Compass. The big isopods, amphipods
and sea-spiders of the past few days were put firmly in their place last
night by the arrival of the Big Polychaete. This magnificent bristle-worm (a
polynoid or scale-worm) was about 9 inches (230 mm) long, 3.5 inches (90 mm)
across, with scales more than 1 inch (24 mm) in diameter and weighed about
330 gm - at just three to the kilo this is by far the largest polychaete
seen by any of the benthic ecologists on board. We have since captured video
imagery of these monsters scurrying along the sea-bed as the trawl
approaches. To top it off, the bristle-worms arrived complete with their
own over-size parasitic nematodes (up to 4 inches long) infesting the space
under the scales.
Regards, Martin and Sarah.
