We had another great day out on the ice today! More samples were collected and we got Hal, with all his probes, back in the water. It was an impressive launch. It is tricky to get a wide instrument with fragile sensors over a huge dive hole and then lower it to the bottom without damaging anything. We prevailed and Hal is in the water. Ian then suited up and moved Hal to a location in deeper water so Hal could measure the parameters of the mat. We have several sensors in the mat at the moment. Hal is measuring oxygen, pH, and sulfur levels in the mat. There is a light sensor beside Hal measuring the amount of light reaching the mat where Hal's probes will be sampling. There is also a light meter hanging below the ice to determine how much light is penetrating through the ice. It is a tricky maneuver through the dive hole as a diver to not get tangled in all the cables!
I am still a member of the "wet, dry suit club;" it's getting frustrating! Water poured into my left arm today. I had to bail out of the dive. Technically, I could have finished collecting the samples - as I did yesterday. But, the first diver is the backup/safety diver for the second diver. Today, I was the first diver. If I continued with the dive, I would not have been in the best space (cold and wet!) to be able to assist as the back up diver if I was needed. That is just not a safe position for me, or the other diver, or our team. So, as frustrating as it was, I turned back to the hole. I bubble tested the suit again this evening. There is a definite leak in the purge valve, there are no other leaks. I have taken apart the purge valve and am in the process of "repairing" it! We'll see!
Antarctica 2006 
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