As I did not write anything for a while, I will summarize, what has happened during the last two weeks. And a lot of things have happened. On Sunday, 06th of January the second transect of scientific stations has been interrupted. It had been decided that "Polarstern" had to steam back
to Atka Bay to break the ice for the Danish freighter "Naja Arctica". This ship had arrived at the same position in the fast ice of Atka Bay at which we had accomplished the unloading of supply for "Neumayer II" around 17th of December. Since then it was waiting.
"Naja Arctica" carried all the parts, equipment and cranes for the construction of the new German Antarctic research station "Neumayer III" and time was running due to the upcoming winter.
On our way to the southwest, at 7th of January, 25 members of the construction team for "Neumayer III" were brought to "Polarstern" by helicopter. They had come through a lot of trouble as originally it was planned to bring them directly to their camp at "Neumayer". But until then their camp was still on "Naja Arctica" and unloading was impossible for most parts, as those were too heavy. They were brought to the Russian station "Novo" then to the South African station "Sanae IV". There they had a good time until the supply vessel "SA Agulhas" reached the station with supply and lots of researchers. Construction team was exchanged for researchers as space was scarce and from then on until we took them, they stayed at the South African ship. For one day they lived in the equipment room and the Blue Salon of "Polarstern" and then were brought to "Neumayer".
At this day Bram made an announcement to all via intercom. "There are Killerwhales in front of the ship. Orcas!" 30 seconds later about 50 people were standing on the upper decks of "Polarstern" and a huge family of about 30 orcas passed by.
In the morning of Wednesday, 9th of January we reached "Naja Arctica" to supply them with fresh water. At this day the scientific leader of this cruise, Uli Bathmann, asked me to help with photographic documentation of the ice situation. I felt very honoured. Equipped with two dSLR cameras with different lenses I entered the helicopter and an impressive flight began at the early afternoon. Aim was, to get overview images from Atka Bay, from the ice cover at the "Nordanleger" and to take pictures of the construction site and the camp of the construction camp. Before that, the "Nordanleger", a shelf ice area on the western flank of Atka Bay had been
chosen as the best opportunity to reach the shelf ice edge. This was a very nice opportunity for me and I could feel a big pressure to produce good pictures. As Uli did not comment that much about the quality later on, I suppose I did my job ok.
The same day, "Polarstern" started to penetrate the ice. Direction: "Nordanleger". And it was a very hard work. Ice cover was variable and also the snow cover on top. Mean ice cover was maybe 40cm at the beginning and increased towards the shelf ice to 1.9m. But at ridges the thickness was up to several meters. At these rough structures and also towards the shelf ice, snow cover got more and more and reached a mean of 75cm. Snow was sticking to the ship's hull and was like a strong break. It consumed a lot of the speed and power while ramming.
The plan was, to ram two discrete canals more than 100m apart from each other. The ice in between was supposed to break away in big flows. At the end the canal should have been as big as to allow the ice be driven out by winds and to allow the "Naja Arctica" to manoeuvre. This plan worked well at the beginning. But as we penetrated the fast ice more and more, all the
ice and snow made up a dense stew and acceleration to necessary ramming speed got impossible. We could have used winds from the south but except from some help from the tide, nature did not give any help. At some days we did not make more than 90m progress and the distance was about two miles at the beginning.
to Atka Bay to break the ice for the Danish freighter "Naja Arctica". This ship had arrived at the same position in the fast ice of Atka Bay at which we had accomplished the unloading of supply for "Neumayer II" around 17th of December. Since then it was waiting.
"Naja Arctica" carried all the parts, equipment and cranes for the construction of the new German Antarctic research station "Neumayer III" and time was running due to the upcoming winter.
On our way to the southwest, at 7th of January, 25 members of the construction team for "Neumayer III" were brought to "Polarstern" by helicopter. They had come through a lot of trouble as originally it was planned to bring them directly to their camp at "Neumayer". But until then their camp was still on "Naja Arctica" and unloading was impossible for most parts, as those were too heavy. They were brought to the Russian station "Novo" then to the South African station "Sanae IV". There they had a good time until the supply vessel "SA Agulhas" reached the station with supply and lots of researchers. Construction team was exchanged for researchers as space was scarce and from then on until we took them, they stayed at the South African ship. For one day they lived in the equipment room and the Blue Salon of "Polarstern" and then were brought to "Neumayer".
At this day Bram made an announcement to all via intercom. "There are Killerwhales in front of the ship. Orcas!" 30 seconds later about 50 people were standing on the upper decks of "Polarstern" and a huge family of about 30 orcas passed by.
In the morning of Wednesday, 9th of January we reached "Naja Arctica" to supply them with fresh water. At this day the scientific leader of this cruise, Uli Bathmann, asked me to help with photographic documentation of the ice situation. I felt very honoured. Equipped with two dSLR cameras with different lenses I entered the helicopter and an impressive flight began at the early afternoon. Aim was, to get overview images from Atka Bay, from the ice cover at the "Nordanleger" and to take pictures of the construction site and the camp of the construction camp. Before that, the "Nordanleger", a shelf ice area on the western flank of Atka Bay had been
chosen as the best opportunity to reach the shelf ice edge. This was a very nice opportunity for me and I could feel a big pressure to produce good pictures. As Uli did not comment that much about the quality later on, I suppose I did my job ok.
The same day, "Polarstern" started to penetrate the ice. Direction: "Nordanleger". And it was a very hard work. Ice cover was variable and also the snow cover on top. Mean ice cover was maybe 40cm at the beginning and increased towards the shelf ice to 1.9m. But at ridges the thickness was up to several meters. At these rough structures and also towards the shelf ice, snow cover got more and more and reached a mean of 75cm. Snow was sticking to the ship's hull and was like a strong break. It consumed a lot of the speed and power while ramming.
The plan was, to ram two discrete canals more than 100m apart from each other. The ice in between was supposed to break away in big flows. At the end the canal should have been as big as to allow the ice be driven out by winds and to allow the "Naja Arctica" to manoeuvre. This plan worked well at the beginning. But as we penetrated the fast ice more and more, all the
ice and snow made up a dense stew and acceleration to necessary ramming speed got impossible. We could have used winds from the south but except from some help from the tide, nature did not give any help. At some days we did not make more than 90m progress and the distance was about two miles at the beginning.
1 Kommentar:
Hey there Torben,
Glad you're having a good adventure. An orca sighting sounds cool. I can't wait to see your photos when you come back. All the best mate.
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