As mentioned in the last post, the sea ice eliminates many of the
complications involved in deploying instrumentation in heavy weather. We
have been fortunate to have a very high success rate with our megacores,
box cores, and kasten cores since the ship is very stable in the ice.


A picture perfect box core. Note the two burrow
holes, which actually is one u-shaped burrow. The picture doesn't show it
clearly, but there are little piles of Protelpedia sp. poop.

However...

In order for sea ice to form, the temperature must be quite a bit below
freezing. The problem arises when we bring equipment up out of the water
(water temp is around -1.7 *C) into the approx. -11*C air. The wet gear
begins to freeze almost immediately.


Icicles on the catch-plate of the megacorer. The megacore has
many small moving parts, so ice is a real problem.

We have had to improvise sampling a little, mostly involving a quick unload
of the samples and moving them inside where it's a little warmer.
Strangely, a blow dryer has become one of our most important tool.


Dr. Paulo Sumida uses a hot air gun to get thaw and dry a
mecacore tube before deployment.

Still, morale is high and most of us are enjoying being busy. The scenery
is spectacular, though it has clouded over a little today. We plan on
being done with Station G either late tonight, or early in the morning.
We should have more time to blog during the transit.