Brian Powell

8/16/2005: Well, after the emergency evacuation of the equipment on Sunday night, we waited until Monday morning to decide on whether to leave. A large leed had been created with other cracks having opened up; however, the decision was made to stay. We now have the oceanography equipment back on the ice (albeit closer to the ship) and will remain until Friday. Where we had originally set up our equipment is now a piece of ice that has drifted well away from where we are. Monday and Tues., I flew kites with radiosondes over the open water to measure heat fluxes from the water and compare with the ice. The sun has been out without many clouds so it has been quite pleasant; although, it does tend to get cold after a couple of hours in the breeze. Today, while on my way to fly a kite, I watched another emperor penguin climb from the water and slide along on its belly for a while before reaching one of the equipment huts. It stood around and inspected the cables, etc. leading into the hut before deciding to head back to the water. Something larger than a seal lying on the ice is quite foreign to them so they seem to always stop and see what is going on before getting back on their way. We aren't supposed to get very close to them unless they come to us so I don't have a picture of a penguin by me. This one, however, was probably close to 3ft in height. It made a few calls to the three of us there watching it. When they are up close and chattering, they seem much more like birds rather than little waddling tuxedos. UPDATE: Well, just after 7pm here, another large crack developed in the ice, so we are extricating the equipment once again. Fortunately for me, I don't have any equipment associated with me out there right now, and I am sitting comfortably on the ship... I suppose we'll decide tomorrow what to do about this latest crack.

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