First I want to apologize for missing the blog posting yesterday, and for not being able to keep up with all the things I want to talk about, hopefully this will be rectified in the coming days. Things here have been quite busy and the Internet has been extremely limited in terms of speed so it has not been possible to post the photos I want, and I don’t have time to prepare the stuff I would like to.
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| Greg checking his GPS on a laptop inside the jacket tent. |
Yesterday we deployed two GPS stations on the ice. This involved three skidoos and sledges as we also towed the two EM31 ground based electromagnetic induction sensors. We travelled 75km by skidoo, which means that I travelled 75km while standing on the back of the sled. This was difficult at first but as we crossed West and farther south in the sound there was more new snow which softened the surface. On the way back we went to the ice shelf edge; the edge of the glacial land ice that is floating in this sound. As you can see there is a lot of rocks, dirt and debris on this ice. Towards the end of the day visibility was dropping quickly and we were essentially travelling by GPS positions only. Despite being able to easily see the lead skidoo from my position at the back, I know that from the front skidoo it would have been difficult to see anything at all and when I looked sideways or behind it really felt like you could only see a couple hundred meters at most. Your sense of scale, distance and time completely disappears here without landmarks to reference yourself, and even with them I find it very hard here.
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| Ice Shelf Edge |
After supper yesterday we had a meeting about our activity today and then Christian and I spent time putting the helicopter electromagnetic induction sea ice thickness sensor (“bird”, “HEM”) together.
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| Scott Base seen from the sea ice today. |
Today, we had a full group meeting and went out to the ice to discuss measurement procedures and to familiarize ourselves with the under water camera systems we have to look at the platelet ice. This evening I had a rushed early dinner so that some of the other people could dine with the King of Malaysia who is here visiting the base until sometime tomorrow. This evening we looked at some data, and did some more work with our HEM system to make sure all is working as we may have a helicopter flight tomorrow. If we do not fly tomorrow we will be in the field doing measurements.
Well that is what I have been up to. Last thing, as some of you know I have decided to participate in Movember. In November, men across the world grow mustaches and collect money for prostate cancer research and for men’s health. Prostate cancer causes many deaths and has a high treatability rate when caught early. So far I have raised over 100 dollars but I am hoping some of my blog readers would want to donate some money to this cause. HOWEVER, I completely understand that this may not be a cause you support, or want to support, or that you support another cause, or only support causes you have fully researched, or that you do not know enough about the program (check out http://ca.movember.com). However, if you feel like donating, you can go to my MOVEMBER page (http://mobro.co/JustinBeckers and donate some money. If not, well no harm done in me asking I think, as it is for a good cause.
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