Saturday 19 January 2008 à 17:47
The Umitaka Maru at last!
Patrice Pruvost. Correspondent aboard the Umitaka Maru
This morning, after several days of waiting in Fremantle (Australia), the Umitaka Maru finally arrives in port. We are all very impatient to explore this ship that we have been talking about for months now!
Saturday 19 January 2008 à 16:14
Position of Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
FROM: Martin Riddle
DATE: 19/01/08
REPORT (SITREP) NO.: 334
UNIVERSAL TIME: 0100
LOCAL (SHIP) TIME: 1200
AUSTRALIAN EASTERN STANDARD TIME: 1200
POSITION: -65 37.0, 141 05.3
HEADING: 022T
CURRENT SPEED (KNOTS): 4 kts
DISTANCE TO NEXT WAYPOINT (NAUTICAL MILES): n/a
DISTANCE COVERED LAST 24
HOURS (NAUTICAL MILES): 102.3 Nm
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Low cloud, sunny
intervals, passing snow flurries, visibility variable, wind 14 kts gusting
to 15 from 270T
AIR TEMPERATURE: 0.2
SEA TEMPERATURE: 1.2
SEA CONDITIONS:
Slight seas and low confused swell
ICE CONDITIONS: Very large iceberg 2
miles to port, numerous smaller bergs on radar, bergy bits and growlers
nearby, otherwise open water.
REMARKS: As predicted, sampling the very rugged seabed in this canyon system
at the edge of the continental shelf has been difficult. The results,
however, have been well worth the effort. At the cost of some torn trawl
nets, we have managed to get imagery and samples down to 1500m, with the
very diverse seabed offering up a similarly diverse fauna. Last night we
recorded the most fish species from any one trawl - 16 including at least
one which was new to this survey. The benthic invertebrates were similarly
diverse with a great range of sedentary groups, such as sponges, bryozoans
(lace coral), tunicates (sea squirts), gorgonians and some very large
solitary corals, forming the main supporting structure for an equally
diverse variety of mobile groups such as polychaete worms, amphipod
crustaceans, ophuroids (brittle stars), crinoids (feather stars), echinoids
(sea urchins), asteroids (sea stars), pycnogonids (sea spiders) and a range
of molluscs. Early this morning we stopped the benthic work temporarily and
switched our efforts to sampling the waters around the very large ice-berg
nearby, with the intention of identifying whether it is a source of trace
nutrients that might stimulate plankton growth. Satellite imagery indicates
the iceberg is about 35 km long by 18 km wide. If it is 400m deep, it
contains 252,000,000,000,000 litres of water or 12 million litres for every
one of the 21 million Australians. You would need a pool 3m deep by 40m wide
by 100m long to hold your share. The berg is designated B-17A and came into
this region in October 2006. It comes from a large chunk of the Ross Ice
Shelf that calved between 160-165W in April 2000. This section subsequently
broke up, with other fragments heading in the opposite direction.
Regards, Martin and Sarah.
Saturday 19 January 2008 à 15:42
Fishing for water on the Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
After 78 CTD stations, some 1,200 bottles of water have been sampled by Steve Rintoul’s team. The Aurora Australis is heading today for an iceberg known in the region since 2006.
Saturday 19 January 2008 à 15:33
Data for the Aurora Australis
Sophie Mouge. Correspondent aboard the Aurora Australis
Position of the icebreaker:
- latitude: 65°35.669’ S
- longitude: 141°35.380’ E
Wind:
- direction: W
- speed: 12 knots
Water temperature: -1 °C
Air temperature: -0.2 °C
Atmospheric pressure: 982 HPa
Relative humidity: 75 %
UV B: 7.3 W/m²
Water depth: 1,330 meters
Sunset: 23h47 / sunrise: 03h49
Saturday 19 January 2008 à 13:41
Farewell to Antarctica!
Stéphanie Pavoine. Based in Dumont D’Urville station
The campaign is over for the CEAMARC program. We arrange the materiel and the samples.
