Helo Ops

Today was one of those days you don't ever forget. I rode in helicopter! I
saw penguins up close! I had so much fun and learned so much that now all I
want to do is go to sleep.

I'm going to post all about the experience tomorrow when I'm well rested
and the feeling has returned to my toes. Until then, check out this
chinstrap penguin who posed for me!

Q & A with class 8A (and special guest)

How old do you need to be to apply to the Girls on Ice Program? Luis Jimenez wonders if there is a similar program for young men. You need to be 15 to 18. Full details are at http://girlsonice.org/apply. I'm sorry to say that there isn't a similar program for boys. Luis, I wish there was something better that I could tell you! But don't give up, because I'm sure that there are a lot of other field programs out there for high school students, even if they're not about glaciers.

We'd like to hear more about how you are spending your days and what kind of fun you are having! (Julio B really wants to know about the fun part). Oh, the fun we have! Here are some highlights:

- The lounge on this ship is awesome. There's a big screen TV, lots of movies (remember, we don't get TV channels), and really comfy chairs.

- I'm reading a book by my favorite author, Graham Greene. Every time I take a big trip, I buy myself one of his books. This way, I always have something to read to when I'm away from home that's new but that I'm sure I'll enjoy. This one is called The Human Factor and it's about a spy.

- It's been really fun getting to know so many people from different places. I especially like hearing stories from the sailors who've spent a long time in Antarctica.

- The cycling contest. There is a friendly competition going on to see who can bike the farthest (on a stationary bike, of course) in 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and an hour. I did my first 15 minutes yesterday! I made is 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles).

- We make everything in to a party! Ted Scambos needed some help with his AMIGOS. He needed to assemble a 120 m (that's almost 400 feet!) of wire with thermometers on it. So he invited everyone, made popcorn, put out bowls of M&Ms and almonds, and Terry Haran (another AMIGOS team member) played guitar! We had a singalong and got the work done.



- The crossword puzzle is a big deal out here. We get one from the New York Times every Sunday and print it out really big to hang in the hallway. I tried to do some, but the glaciologists are way out of my league! They finish it really fast.



- The ship is from New Orleans, so we're all about football. The captain sends out emails with score updates during the games, and will even call down from the bridge when it gets exciting!

- We watch for penguins, whales, and seals! It's great to see them up close. Watching the icebergs is also fascinating for me because they're so different from anything else I've ever seen.

- While we were working on the ice, we might have taken a few extra moments to build a snowman. And make snow angels. And have a snowball fight.



I wanted to tell you about a typical day at sea, but I don't think I've had one yet. Give me another week or two to settle into a routine. And now for the special guest! I have some questions from my three year old nephew, Noam (posted for him by my sister).

Who drives the boat? How? Can you post a picture of the driver? The boat is driven by Captain Joe, or by the mates on watch. They drive the boat by using controls on the bridge, which is the highest part of the boat.



I know you study the ocean, but how do you get to study the water if you're on a big boat and the water is down below? We have so many different ways! I put machines over the side of the ship into the water to collect data and samples of water that can be analyzed on board. We also use sonar to collect data about the seafloor. Sometimes we even collect mud from the seafloor and bring it on the ship.

Where do you sleep?
In a bunk bed. I have a very small room, which is okay with me because I'm used to living in a very small apartment. And my roommate, Kathleen, is great. She knows all about this ship and about Antarctica because she's been working here for 14 years.

Adelie Penguins

The nice folks up on the bridge always give us a call when they see wildlife. Then we all grab our cameras and rush out to our favorite spots to try and photograph whatever creatures have come to visit.

I'm no biologist, but seeing so many beautiful animals has made me curious. So I've been doing a little reading and I'd like to share with you what I've learned about some of our favorite visitors, the Adelie penguins.This photo of the Adelies was taken a few days ago by Caroline Lavoie.

Adelies are only 30 inches tall and weigh about 11 pounds. But millions of years ago, there were penguins that stood 5 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds! They're not alive today, and I'm having trouble imagining them.

While many of us associate penguins with Antarctica, they're actually spread all over the Southern Hemisphere, with a few living right on the equator. There are seventeen species of penguins, but only Adelies and emperor penguins live exclusively in Antarctica.

Playing in the Mud

Science books can tell you a lot about the history of the world: when the plates moved, where the glaciers were, and what kind of plants and animals lived in different environments. But do you ever wonder how we get that kind of information?

One source is sediment cores. "Sediment," in this case, means mud. A greenish-brownish oozy sort of mud that is currently stuck under my fingernails and in my hair. Some of that mud is 11,000 years old!

We spent most of the day getting a 4-meter long segment of mud from the seafloor and analyzing it. First, the core has to be described and photographed. Then we put some of the mud away so that we will have a record of the core. Remember those PVC pipes that I was slicing up with the bandsaw? Now we're using them!

We also took samples of the mud every 5 cm at put it into vials. The photo shows the places where we took the mud. After that, we put big syringes into the remaining mud so it could be studied too.

Everything is labeled very carefully so that when the samples are analyzed, we'll know exactly where they came from. Within a few days, we'll have a whole story of how the landscape in this part of Antarctica has changed over time. This core is deeper than any other in the area, so we'll be able to add to the story told by other cores and extend it back an additional
1000-2000 years.

Q & A with DLMS 6th grade science club

Hi science club! It feels like a long time since I was at school with you. You ask some good questions and I'm going to try and answer them all.

Diana asks: When you were walking on the ice was their any way it could have broken? What would you have done?
It's really unlikely. Sea ice is thick and stable, and there wasn't any wind blowing it around or strong current moving it. Also, we follow a lot of safety rules. I was on the ice with other people, I didn't go near the side of the ship where the ice had broken, and I wore a "float coat" the whole time. If I had fallen in, the float coat would have kept me on the surface until someone pulled me out.

Melissa asks: What animals have you seen so far? What do you eat at sea?
I have seen penguins, seals, whales, and birds. All of our food was loaded on the ship in Punta Arenas and we have good cooks on board. I just had oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. The cooks make these really enormous ice cream cakes for birthdays! I'm eating a lot of fruit because by our second month out here, it will all be gone. I've also eaten a rather large number of dark chocolate M&Ms.

Kiara asks: Have you started your research yet? If not, have you gotten bored?
There was a day or two where I was a little bored, but now I'm busy! I have started doing my research - both my science fair project and other work. I'll post some of my data soon. Today was kind of slow because we have bad weather, but it's nice to have a little break once in a while.

Isabella asks: Do you get along with everyone on board?
I do. You meet really interesting people at sea. I especially like going up on the bridge and talking to the captain.

Lewis asks: What are other scientists working on? That's a really big question! There are three main groups on board: geoscience, ecosystems, and ice/oceans (I'm in that last group). I'll try to explain what each group does in general and then give some specific examples.

Most of the geoscience people look at mud from the sea floor for clues about the history of Antarctica. Amy Leventer looks at ice cores to find out more about the history of the ice. Greg Balco looks at rocks to understand the history of glaciers. Ku Chul Yu looks at mud samples to understand the effects of tides and storms on ice shelves. Caroline Lavoie has a different type of job - she makes very detailed, accurate maps of the sea floor. Kim Roe filters seawater to collect the mud that is suspended in it, kind of like collecting the pulp from your orange juice, in order to determine the age and composition of the mud.

The ecosystems scientists study biology and the way that living things change. Maria Vernet studies microscopic plants in the water. David Honig looks at places where whales have died and fallen to the sea floor. It turns out that there are living things that can only survive on the bones of whales! Katrien Heirman, Dries Boone, and Lieven Naudts use an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to study all sorts of things on the sea floor. The ROV has a camera and lots of other equipment and is named Suzy.

The ice and ocean people are studying the physics of the area. Erin Pettit (the one who runs Girls on Ice) looks at how glaciers change over time. She keeps track of when they get bigger from snow falling on them or smaller from melting or having pieces break off. And of course you know that Ted Scambos and his team study icebergs and ice shelves with AMIGOS. Bruce Huber and I study the ocean currents and properties of the water like temperature and salinity.

Whew! That's a long list and its not even everyone!

Korayma asks: Have you seen penguins yet? What kinds?
Yes, and they really are that cute! I've seen adelie penguins (they're the ones in the photo) and possibly one emperor penguin.

Girls on Ice

While I've been staying on the ship, Erin Pettit has been flying off by helicopter to study glaciers. She has a really cool job, and I wish she would take me with her on some of her adventures. But it turns out that she wants to take you!

Erin runs a program called Girls on Ice (http://girlsonice.org). Every year since 1999, she takes 9 teenage girls to Mt. Baker in Washington State for 11 days. The program is FREE and applications are available now at
http://girlsonice.org/apply. Those of you at DLMS are a little too young for the program, but I want you to start thinking about it now so that you'll be all set to apply in a few years. And tell your friends!

This isn't just about getting to visit somewhere new and beautiful with an awesome scientist. You'll learn how to study glaciers, how to climb glaciers, how to stay safe on glaciers, and you'll even work with an artist to learn how to draw glaciers. And don't worry: you don't need any experience, you don't need perfect grades, and you don't even need to be sure that you want to be a scientist. You just need to be interested in learning more about the earth and in challenging yourself.

A Change In Plans

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton wrote "Pack-ice might be described as a gigantic and interminable jigsaw-puzzle devised by nature. " Shackleton was a great Antarctic explorer. He wanted to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica, but his expedition ran into unexpectedly icy conditions. He is famous now, not for achieving his goal, but for surviving the loss of his ship and keeping all of his men alive through terrible conditions.

I've been thinking about his story because we're working in the same area that he sailed, and we also have an unusually icy year. But unlike Shackleton, we have helicopters, satellite pictures of the ice, and reliable communication with land. We're also in a much bigger and safer ship!

I took that photo from the bridge of the ship (the bridge is like the cockpit of an airplane). You can see that the ship is entering the ice. We can break through the ice, but we can't go all that quickly. We sent a helicopter to check on the ice ahead of us and determined that it gets thicker further south and we can't get through. So we've done what Shackleton couldn't: we turned around and we'll be exploring the western side of the Antarctic peninsula instead of the eastern side.

In a few weeks, we'll try again to reach our original goal on the eastern side of the peninsula. Until then, we're going to do the best research that we can on the western side. We have a ship full of great scientists and equipment, so you can bet that we're not going to waste our time complaining about what we can't change. We've been working together to plan some cool projects on the ice-free western side. I'll start gathering data tonight and should be able to post some of my results soon.