November 21, 1999

It was an uneventful and peaceful night, as the Gould eased into her journey. So peaceful, in fact, that when we got up I realized that we were not moving at all. The sun shone brilliantly on calm waters and we could see occasional Commerson's dolphins traveling in pods. Their black and white markings are similar to those of orcas, but these creatures are small--around 2 metres, or so. So, dead in the water...the ship was a buzz with speculation.

Apparently, there had been a problem with the exhaust manifold, talk of an overheated cylinder, blown gaskets and cracked bolts. A science meeting was scheduled for 10:00am to give everyone an overview of the research to be carried out on the cruise. This would be conducted by Craig Smith, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Dave DeMaster, of North Carolina State University. They were the Principal Investigators, or PIs and were accompanied by teams of graduate and post-graduate students. Phil Sacks, the Marine Project Coordinator (MPC), would attend to bring us up to date on the ship's status and a revised plan.

Phil Sacks, the Marine Project Coordinator (MPC).

The science overview for our cruise, LMG 99-10, included synopses of three projects. The first of the these was the interdisciplinary undertaking by Smith and DeMaster, "Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material on the Seafloor." Through and examination of biological and chemical processes at work in the realm of food production and nutrient cycling, Smith/DeMaster group hope to test several hypotheses and to gain insight into the complex dynamics that make up the foodweb in this unique environment. This will be the first of five cruises for their work. They have been joined by a varied group of graduate students from their home campuses, as well as by graduate students from Southhampton and scientists from the British Museum of Natural History in London.

Terry Hoolihan is here as part of a University of Hawaii at Honolulu sponsored project, directed by David Karl, which comprises a component of the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) endeavour. He will be recovering a pair of sediment traps: one at Port Arthur, near Palmer Station, and the other off Victor Hugo Island. These were set last year. As a complement to both the LTER work and the Smith/DeMaster project, Terry and his colleagues back in Hawaii will be looking at seabed deposits and the cycling of particulate organic carbon (POC). Will be making two passes by these sites to both recover the sediment traps and redeploying them.

The final project, the Drake Passage XBT Program, is directed by Ray Peterson of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego. Peterson is interested in seasonal and longer term temperature variability in the upper ocean: piecing together the bigger picture of the role of the Southern Ocean in overall global climate processes. XBT stands for expendable bathythermograph, a series of which will be launched during our transit. Neither Peterson nor any of his group are on the cruise, so the responsibility for launching the XBTs from the ships deck will be coordinated by Beth McAndrews and Trent Sanamo, the two ASA Marine Technicians onboard. They have asked for volunteers to help with the hourly then 1/2 hourly deployment of these devices.

Phil brought us up to date on the ship's condition. The Gould would need to return to Punta Arenas for repairs, the duration of which may take until Wednesday. In the meantime, Edison Chouest Offshore, the company responsible for the ship, has put an engineer with spare parts on an airplane from New Orleans. He will arrive tomorrow afternoon and get immediately to work. With such a tight cruise schedule, Craig and Dave are both concerned about the impact on their research plans.

We pulled in to port at about 8:00pm and, after a quick turn around by immigration, most of us headed into town for a bite to eat and a beer.