Today was EPIC! We started out with three sea ice teams. B-199, B-134 and us (B-308) all went out to profile a crack that had been previously impossible to cross due to its length and the thickness (or thinness) of the ice. Here are all the people (except me) who went out today.
Here is our team again, B-308. Sandwich, Brad, Me, Isaac and Marissa.
As we prepared to leave, a helo flew over us with a sling load. It was carrying a six-wheeled ATV. They have to put a rudder on the back of their sling loads to prevent their cargo from spinning and swinging!
This is an “Apple” or a “Tomato.” It is a small fish hut that can be pulled behind a PB. B-134 used it today because they had divers with them collecting samples and needed a dive hut. I tried to take a bite out of the “Apple.” It did not taste like a Granny Smith.
Marissa lounging in the back of the PB.
This was the first crack we came across. While we did not need to profile it, we still needed to hop out and take a look. In this picture, you can see the massive crack that extends farther than you can see. On the left side of the picture, behind the two green flags are Tent Island and Inaccessible Island. We were headed to Inaccessible Island. On the right side of the picture, you can see the bottom of Mt. Erebus as it extends into the clouds. Mt. Erebus is an active volcano and has a lava pool at the top!
Our caravan of Pisten Bully. Yep, the plural of Pisten Bully is Pisten Bully!
Posing with the United States Antarctic Program symbol on the side of every vehicle down here. This is on the side of our PB.
A cache of snowmobiles just on the other side of a massive crack that we needed to profile. Again, you can see Mt. Erebus in the distance.
To profile a sea ice crack, you first have to dig out the snow to reach the ice. Then you can see what the crack looks like. After finding the most recent crack, you have to drill through the ice and measure how thick it is in the thinnest part. Then you need to measure the horizontal distance of the most recent crack. A Pisten Bully can cross a crack that is three feet long or less. The minimum thickness to drive light vehicles such as a PB is about 30 inches. It needs to be that thick because sea ice has salt in it, preventing the ice from forming a perfect lattice structure that happens in fresh water.
After profiling the crack to make sure it was safe to cross, the teams went our separate ways. We then accessed Inaccessible Island. We got our gear out, had some lunch, and found some penguin tracks (sadly, no live penguins). Our Jiffy drill was out of fuel so we had to fill it up. Another surprise: the top of our fuel can was frozen shut! No worries, we were able to use some webbing and a hammer to get some leverage and twist it off. Then it was time to drill-baby-drill!
Opening the Jerry can with webbing and a hammer. We are so resourceful.
Look! Penguin tracks!
Isaac's field lunch. Complete with frozen mustard!
Putting some Minnesota Muscle into that Jiffy drill!
After drilling five holes, we dropped our lines in and immediately started catching fish! It was ridiculous! I am not even exaggerating when I say that we barely had time to drop our line back down before we were setting the hook and reeling another fish up! It was incredible. We caught more fish than we could take in our two coolers so we called it a day and headed for home.
From our fishing site, we could see the Barnes Glacier, two massive icebergs and the base of Mt. Erebus. Not a bad view at all, especially when we were ice fishing on frozen sea ice! Where am I?!?!
On the way home, we saw a seal on the side of the “road.” What an amazing day.
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