Thursday 21.02.2013
All the benthos people meet in the
red saloon around 7 am. The Agassiz trawl was planned for 6.45 am, but we are
soon informed that there is a delay of a few hours, due to ice conditions. When
we look outside, there´s indeed ice everywhere around, no more areas of free
water can be seen. A few hours later,
the chief scientist announces that the station is cancelled. In such
conditions, it´s just not possible to deploy the trawl, it would get stuck into
ice.
All day-long, the ice-breaker is
very slowly moving back and forth to break the thick ice-plates in front of
her. No open-areas in the horizon anymore, just very large and smaller
ice-plates, icebergs and islands. The weather is great. Everyone is enjoying
the first sunny day in a long time. It really changes the view of the
landscape, everything´s even more amazing under the bright light and a whole
blue sky. It has its effect on people
too, everyone´s reboosted, full of energy again and a happy atmosphere is
quickly spreading. This day was the best one so far. I think I´ll keep a
long-lasting memory of it. As we knew it would be the last day in the ice,
everyone was there, gathering on the deck, talking, taking pictures, staring at
the incredible sights, all day-long. It was great to be all together outside.
With the very foggy weather of the last week, I sometimes even didn´t think of
going outside and always working inside in the ship, you tend to forget you´re
in Antarctica! But that day, there was no doubt we were striking against the
extreme conditions of the South Pole, even if it was in a really peaceful
atmosphere for us, enjoying the daylight on the deck. Usually, the boat seems to progress really
easily in pack ice, breaking it as if it was made of glass. But this time, the
ice was apparently much thicker, as the boat had every time to go back and
forth a few times in order to break one plate.
I had no doubt it would at last make it through the ice, it just takes a
much longer time.
We saw a lot of islands around us.
Some of them the same as we had seen before in Erebus and Terror Gulf, like
huge and steep rocks with an icy top, others much larger and elongated, smooth
and covered with snow, sometimes confounded with clouds in the far. Sometimes a
lonely seal was spotted besides or in front of the boat. They really don´t seem
to care about us at all. That´s quite surprising as they most probably never
saw a ship in their entire lives. They just sleep deeply on ice-plates just in
front of a moving noisy giant ship and get away really at the last moment,
lazily and looking slightly irritated, when the boat is hitting the plate
they´re sitting on. I´m always afraid that the boat would hit them as they
don´t move fast enough, but it never does. We´re just strangers in their territory,
disturbing their quietness. Penguins are shyer, running clumsily on the ice
when we approach or sliding gently on their bellies.
We stay all afternoon in the sun,
getting in just to eat and quickly out again afterwards. The temperature is
around -5°C and gets colder as the night approaches. It´s really difficult to
stay out for a long time without the appropriate equipment. I borrow a red AWI
suit, made for going on the ice, and the matching orange boots. It´s not very
fashionable, except maybe in space (we all look like red ice-cosmonauts), but
very effective. I manage to stay outside until the end with a few survivors,
the others progressively went back inside. We admire the sunset above this incredible scenery. The sky turns
successively pink, then violet, then dark blue to almost black at the very end.
We can see the full moon above the islands and icebergs.
We want to stay until the boat makes
it into open-water. We can see it very close but it takes such a long time to
get there. Back and forth, we can see the triangular shape of the front side of
the boat on the ice-plate that we´re trying to break. Back and forth, another
mark besides, it seems that we don´t make any progress at all. But the pressure
on the ice is increasing everytime until we see a first crack spreading in
front. Back and forth again and the crack opens the plate in two, offering a
narrow passage that the ice-breaker has to widen. The breaking of the last
plate feels like a victory. We´re still a few on the deck, shivering in our red
suits or all wrapped in blankets. The sky turned dark and the light spots of
the boat are on, spotting the icebergs in front. It´s almost 1.30 am when the
Polarstern is finally released from its ice-prison. We then all run immediately
inside. We made it until the end and it was definitely worth it, but it´s
really getting too cold.
(Marie)
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