From adamg Wed Jun 17 21:45:54 1992 Return-Path: Date: Mon, 8 Jun 92 10:46:14 -0400 From: adamg (Adam M Gaffin) To: staff Subject: antarctica 1 By Peter Amati SPECIAL TO THE NEWS Editor's note: Peter Amati, a Holliston High School science teacher and Milford resident, is currently on an icebreaker in the seas off Antarctica. He and former student Naomi Darling are participating in a series of science projects related to ice as the ship, the Nathaniel B. Palmer makes its way to an ice floe in the Weddell Sea to pick up a joint U.S.-Russian research team - Weddell Ice Station I. Amati is sending reports back to the U.S. by satellite and electronic mail. In coming weeks, the Middlesex News will print excerpts. DATE: 21/05/92 TIME: 0102 ZULU LAT: 53.18 S LONG: 70.89 W AIR TEMP: 3.5 C. RH: 78.5 BAR 987.54 Today, we will finally set sail for Antarctica. Due to very heavy ice and very short daylight hours, ship has been late returning by some five days. Therefore, I have spent past five days in Punta Arenas, Chile. 100,000 people, 28% of which are military. Scary to see military personnel on every other corner in full gear, including very large machine guns. Know now why I appreciate America! Science I will be involved involved with is Sea Ice Study. One thing we will be doing is observation of ice on hourly basis (my shifts are 4 to 8 p.m. and then again at 4 to 8 a.m.); includes describing of type of ice. All this is done from inside bridge of ship. We then go out on overhang catwalk on ship; attach ourselves with safety harness 80 feet above water and, in 40-knot winds at -30 to -50 degrees F., shoot five to ten minutes of video per hour. Due to fact that ice is so thick, coming out, ship broke ice 12 feet thick; ship must look for leads, open water. Therefore will park at night (7 p.m. at this time of year). During this time, we will be put over side of starboard stern by a crane along with all our gear, and there is a tremendous amount of that. Once on ice, we will dig numerous snow pits; measure snow depth, hardness, take sample for salinity and density back on ship and measure crystal size. Once we finish this work, we will drill ice-cores holes, measure thickness of snow cover, thickness of ice, temperature of ice and determine topography of ice. We will take larger core sample for return to ship for microtome sectioning to study ice crystal structure under polarized light, extract the algae for biology group from California and bring back cores to ship's cold room for shipment to New Hampshire where, during the summer, Naomi will have job helping scientists interpret and categorize data. Once we finish work of Sea Ice Team (which includes Tony Gow, who has a mountain in Antarctica named after him: Mt. Gow), we will then sled all equipment across ice to bow of ship 308 ft. away and do similar work. We are going to do all this on our way to full recovery of the Weddell Ice Station I. All personnel and all materials, from bulldozers and helicopters to trash and human waste, must be shipped back to the U.S.