The weather continues to be incredibly warm; I hear it got up to 41°F in town today. This weather has advantages and disadvantages. It is wonderful to be warm when we are outside working at the dive hole as well as enjoying a cup of tea back at camp. The sunshine warms us right through - it's quite soothing and pleasant. The water glistens on the surface of the glaciers and sparkles on the lake ice. It's nice to be able to work without gloves on all the time. It makes the area look even more spectacular, and a bit hard to believe that we are in Antarctica. Sleeping at night is also very warm and comfortable. Those are the advantages. The disadvantage is that the warm weather is making the moat VERY challenging to cross! Kay and I can attest to that after our adventure this evening - check out the photos!
Ian and I dove this morning. Ian collected a couple sediment and core samples from two of the sites along our transect. I collected water samples from just above the mat at nine sites along the transect line. We wanted to collect some samples from the shallower water today as well, but Hal is collecting some GREAT profiles from that region. We need to stay clear of the area so that our fin kicks don't disturb the water column and alter the readings. Tomorrow, we plan to move Hal to one more location and begin gathering samples in the shallow water transect sites.
Ian had an interview with a women from New Zealand Public Radio today. We took her out to the dive hole to conduct the interview. We will be broadcast over NZ air waves sometime in the not too distant future. She said she would send us a CD of the broadcast since we wouldn't be able to hear it from here. To reveal how unstable the moat ice is, when we took the interviewer out to the dive hole, the ATV made it fine - it didn't even crack the surface ice. Just a few hours later, Kay and I had a very different experience!
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You may all be quite impressed with how quickly I jumped out of the back of the ATV! Remember - this is a 6 wheeler - there are two more wheels in the back that are totally underwater! We were stuck! We needed to lift up the back end and gun the power to drive it out of this hole. We kept trying, but as we stepped close enough to grab the back, the ice broke and dunked us in as well! We needed help. I had the idea to use the pole we launch Hal with as a lifting bar for the back end. Kay went to get the bar, I went to get assistance.
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Satoshi to the rescue! You can see in this picture, behind the ATV, the hole continues back. We could drive it forward little bits at a time, but the ATV just kept chipping away the front end. Satoshi and I lifted up on the bar, Kay "gunned" it, and we got out! Then I fell through as I was walking to the edge to collect gear that I had pulled out of the back of the ATV.
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Yep - it's in there good! And Kay and I thought this was going to be a 15 minute trip to the dive hole. Not this time!
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Everyone fell through at various points up to our knees. That means.... yes.... more water up and over the boots! Here I am draining one round of boot water - there were others! Don't forget, the water is 32° - talk about cold feet!
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There are easier ways to get clean socks!
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The impression left by the ATV - don't get too close!
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One of three impressions left by me! There is just no way to know which ice will hold and which won't; there are no consistent signs to follow. It's a giant gamble walking across this stuff! So, the weather is incredibly beautiful and enjoyable, but it is making getting to and from work quite difficult!
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