Port call in Punta Arenas

We are almost ready to leave! The past three days were very busy with getting ready for the trip. Unpacking boxes, counting supplies, setting up equipment, testing equipment, freaking out about missing stuff, locating the missing stuff, and unpacking more boxes. The weather was uncharacteristically nice, which made everything a whole lot easier in this rough part of the world. Almost everything worked out and almost all preparations are done. Both US icebreakers, LM Gould and NB Palmer were in Punta Arenas for the port call, and we met a lot of friends with whom we worked on previous cruises. Seeing all these people made it a warm welcome in this remote part of the world.

Both US Antarctic icebreakers Laurence M. Gould and Nathaniel B. Palmer docked at the pier in Punta Arenas, Chile

Palmer in beautiful weather

Pier in Punta Arenas

Then it was time for a last supermarket run and a last cup of coffee/beer. We are ready for our expedition! Departure in three hours, Drake Passage, Here we come!

Down south again

We are getting ready to go back to Antarctica! On Tuesday Oct 21 we will fly to Punta Arenas in Chile and on Sunday Oct 26 we hope to set sail on the research icebreaker “Nathaniel B. Palmer” to sample the waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula, or the WAP as it is affectionately called. We are going in the early Antarctic spring, a lot earlier than previous expeditions. It will still be dark at night during our trip!

 Getting ready always comes with a mix of stress to get everything ready, sadness to leave home for so long, and excitement about going to Antarctica. Our gear was shipped months ago, which forces you to finalize the science planning well in advance, but there are always last minute adjustments and additions.  And there are the uncertainties of doing field work in Antarctica. We plan to do our research at the location of the Long Term Ecological Research site of the WAP: Palmer LTER.  This is of course a good plan, but the satellite data show a lot of sea ice where we want to go! So we’ll see where the phytoplankton hangs out when we get there. Fortunately, you can also see phytoplankton with the satellite, so we’re keeping a close eye on the daily satellite data that are delivered to our computer. Also, there are a number of satellite wind products that I’m keeping an eye on for the conditions in the Drake Passage, the windy bit of water we have to cross to get to our research site.

This is a pretty awesome site to watch the wind all over the globe http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-115.96,-89.44,345

 Right now it looks pretty manageable, so hopefully between now and two weeks the wind will stay calm, the ice will melt, and the phytoplankton will start to grow. Antarctica, here we come!

The Nathaniel B. Palmer in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Sea ice concentration in our study area.

The Nathaniel B. Palmer at the British Antarctic station Rothera, last year.