Monday 14 January 2008 à 17:46
Position of Astrolabe at 12:37 UTC
Anne Goffart. Correspondent aboard the Astrolabe
66°42 S
142°27 E
Monday 14 January 2008 à 15:55
Position of Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
UNIVERSAL TIME: 0100
LOCAL (SHIP) TIME: 1200
AUSTRALIAN EASTERN STANDARD TIME: 1200
POSITION: -66 26.4S, 140 31.3E
HEADING: Various
CURRENT SPEED (KNOTS): 2.5 kts
DISTANCE TO NEXT WAYPOINT (NAUTICAL MILES): n/a
DISTANCE COVERED LAST 24
HOURS (NAUTICAL MILES): 113.9 Nm
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear skies and good
visibility, wind decreasing 20 kts from 102T gusting to 25 kts
AIR
TEMPERATURE: 0.3
SEA TEMPERATURE: -0.7
SEA CONDITIONS: Moderate seas and
moderate confused swell 2-3 m
ICE CONDITIONS: Frequent large icebergs
otherwise open water, ice covered continent in sight.
REMARKS: With only a few days of sampling left, weather forecasts and
sea-ice conditions from satellite imagery are being continually reviewed and
plans fine-tuned to ensure we make the best use of the available time.
Yesterday it seemed that some planned sites to the west would be covered in
dense pack-ice and not easily reached. The strong south-easterly winds last
night which gusted to more than 30 kts, however, seemed to have worked in
our favour, moving the edge of the pack-ice westwards and clearing these
sites. As a consequence we will try to sample them. Yesterday's shallow
sites (~200m) proved to be very diverse with complex multi-layered sponge
and bryozoan dominated communities. Unfortunately the trawl with the digital
camera which has been providing us with such excellent images of the sea-bed
suffered some damage when it landed up-side down. The Science Technical
Support wizards have been busy fixing it overnight and it should be
operational again soon. The French beam trawl was used at two sites
yesterday and it proved very efficient, collecting very large hauls and
appearing to retain some of the smaller infauna that may be lost through the
mesh of the AAD trawls. We are currently sampling from the bottom (1200m) of
a closed basin northeast of Dumont D'Urville, which appears to be a trap for
fine sediment - more about this tomorrow.
Regards, Martin and Sarah.
Monday 14 January 2008 à 14:43
Stefan Chilmonczyk ‘hunt’ for Channichthyids
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
Today as everyday, I hope for the presence of a Channichthids specimen in the trawl that comes from the bottom of the southern ocean.
Monday 14 January 2008 à 14:35
Data for the Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
Position of the icebreaker:
- latitude : 66°26,639’ S
- longitude : 140°31,497’ E
Wind:
- direction: E-SE
- speed: 12 knots
Water temperature: - 0,8 °C
Air temperature: 0,2 °C
Atmospheric pressure: 985 hPa
Relative humidity: 75%
UV-B: 7.6 W/m²
Water depth: 1030 meters
Sunset: 00:29/ sunrise: 03:04
Monday 14 January 2008 à 13:23
Icebergs in sight!
Stéphanie Pavoine. Based in Dumont D’Urville station
Morning free. We are sailing along the Mertz glacier. It is splendid, lost in the end of this gigantic world.
