The Southern Ocean

There is a tremendous amount of information that has written about Antarctica for those wanting to do some heavy reading. Much of the information I will be sharing is from a few different sources including my personal experience, pictures from our expedition, personal research on specific subject matters and the Antarctic Primer provided to each member of the expedition.

"The Southern Ocean consists of a broad band of generally turbulent water surrounding the continent of Antarctica. The northern limit of this ocean is at about 40 degrees South latitude. Westerly winds and the associated West Wind Drift, or Antarctic Circumpolar Current, are outstanding features of the Southern Ocean. They cause massive amounts of water to move constantly from west to east all around Antarctica. This involves water from the surface down to about 3,000 meters (9,900 feet) stretching over a distance of some 24,000 kilometers (14,200 miles).

It has been estimated that on average some 130 million cubic meters of water per second are continuously on the move, four times that of the Gulf Stream, and 400 times that of the Mississippi.

A ship sailing south to Antarctica will encounter a sharp drop in temperature between 49 degrees and 55 degrees South latitude. At that point one can usually detect subtle changes in both the ocean and the atmosphere. If the weather is calm there may be a sudden fog bank, a line of turbulence, and/or concentrations of feeding seabirds. This delineates the Antarctic Convergence, a zone that surrounds the continent." (AP pg.15)

On the expedition, it was communicated when we were heading into the Antarctic Convergence. We experienced a definite drop in temperature and associated fog which can be associated with a change in atmospheric conditions.

A few of us commented on the change we could see and feel regarding the changes in the atmospheric pressure and climate change. I commented in an earlier blog on how the foggy conditions also contributed to the mystic that surrounds Antarctica.

Obviously, one of the dangers of the Southern Ocean are the large icebergs.

Iceberg Alley

I apologize that the blog postings are not happening as quickly as I would hope. The person in charge of communication has had some trouble uploading data into the satellite. This morning I got up at about 5:00 am and looked out my port window and there were icebergs floating all around. The expedition team was called on deck for viewing. It was -5 degrees Celsius and it was foggy and snowing. The wind is the most difficult part, because it will freeze any skin if it is exposed too long. Icebergs are actually quite stunning and the blue hues expressed under the water are beautiful. This area is called iceberg alley and you can immediate understand why. The captain turned our ship and went into the Weddle Sea where we were about 100 miles from where Sir Ernest Shackleton'sship Endurance was caught in the ice. His story is quite an amazing lesson in leadership. If you are interested, his book is called South. The entire expedition was on deck snapping pictures. The great thing about digital photography is that you can take as many pictures as your memory card will hold, then review and delete later. This is awesome, because youdon't worry about film and you don't miss a shot. This morning we were ableto observe; fur seal feeding on penguin and three Humpback whales.This afternoon we are headed to shore. If the weather continues to be foggyand windy, it is going to be extremely cold.