Conditions are ideal for the work we are doing. There’s very little wind, a bit of high cloud and the patches of sunshine make it almost balmy at around minus two degrees.
The scientific program is in full flight. Very early this morning we were heading through the loose pack ice to CEAMARC 27 (the Collaborative East Antarctica Marine Census) – the first station of
the project. It’s an ambitious plan to fully sample each of the 67
positions in the coming weeks.
There is huge anticipation at the first trawl. Teams in the wet-lab sort the catch into phyla to be photographed, tagged and bagged. There are sea spiders bigger than a football, small and large octopus, starfish and worms. There are creatures not yet named. Eight people crowd around the bench for the sorting while, on another side, the dissection group is taking their slice of the action for DNA testing. The photographer records each labelled specimen.
Some underwater trawl equipment carries still and video cameras, which show the undisturbed habit and assemblages of plants and animals. As the ship is underway maps of the sea floor are being created, so the widest representation of topography can be examined.
On the trawl deck the winch is briefly idle. The wet-lab on the starboard side is a hive of activity. A dozen people in their bright waterproofs bend over white tubs sorting, labelling, dissecting and photographing the creatures from the deep. Port side an open door shows movement in the Oceanography lab.
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The ship log says we are ‘pitching and rolling to heavy seas.” The swell is to six metres and we are truly rocking and rolling and really working our way across the ocean. Lots of people are laid low again with seasickness.
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The Aurora Australis is a purpose built vessel used for science and research in the Southern Ocean. It has the ‘trawl deck’ from which instruments and research equipment can be launched and retrieved. Onboard are a number of laboratories where scientists can work during the voyage. These can be quarantined and temperature controlled.