Li Ling – Jan 26:
Today we stayed outside the outflow of circumpolar deep water (CDW) on the western side of Dotson Ice Shelf doing… 24h of CTDs, nicknamed CTD “yo-yo”!!! The amount of CTD casts on this cruise has been really crazy! Since we started doing science around 2 weeks ago, we’ve already done 100 CTD casts!!! The idea behind the 24h CTDs today was to capture the tidal signals in temperature and salinity change.
Today was though absolutely one of the best days to stay stationary outside the Dotson Ice Shelf! After yesterday’s storm, the weather today was absolutely gorgeous. The sky was blue and clear, the sun was shinning and the sea was really calm. Standing at the front deck and listen quietly, you’ll be able to hear the ice shelf cracking!
Sea ice today
What’s more! We saw an adélie penguin! The first penguin I saw outside Dotson! Being a rare sighting, the penguin received superstar treatment, everyone awoke at that time went out to take pictures of it 🙂
The superstar adélie penguin lying down
The same adélie penguin standing up
In the evening some people saw a whale in front of the ice shelf! I unfortunately didn’t see it, but! Here is a photo of the male elephant seal (identification credit goes to Lars leading the seal tagging team!) sticking his head up for some fresh air!!! These creatures can dive down to 2000m in one go!
