Breaking the Ice

The landscape around the base is changing, with the first icebreaker coming to McMurdo and opening the channel for the following ships, the sea ice is now starting to look less stable, the channel for the ships looks completely open now and we can start to see some melting of the ice here and there. It’s weird to think that we will likely see the front of the base as open water before we go.

The morning was very exciting, we went to visit the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, and Allan who is the science manager on the ship gave us a tour of the facility. It made me miss being on board a ship! Great memories from the Southern Surveyor!

Sunday is particularly exciting in the base because it’s brunch day! The variety of food for brunch is impressive, and it has a nice atmosphere in the galley. So, after our tour of the Palmer, and before long hours in the lab, we had brunch!

In the science realm, we had another day filled with lab work, today we have started incubating our animals in different water temperatures (-1.5, 0, +1 and +4 degrees Celsius). We have plated the pterapods for microbial cultures too. A lot of work, but it’s good to feel accomplished by the end of the day.