Brian Powell

8/17: Well, after evacuating the camp again last night, we decided to begin another exploration phase for a few days to follow the warm water "halo" around the rise. I don't have internet access, and I cannot view this site; however, Lisa has forwarded me some of the questions that have been left in the comments: 1) What is a CTD? It is short for Conductivity/Temperature/Density. It is a generic term for a device that measures the salinity (via the conductivity of the water), temperature, and density (a function of the pressure, salinity, and temperature) of seawater. 2) Queasy heaving? Well, once we got across the southern ocean, we reached the boundary of the ice extent and by comparison, the water is very, very calm under the ice. So, the only rough seas are crossing the open ocean in a due north/south course, while in the ice, the ship sort of bounces around like a truck driving across a field. So, the only time I felt queasy was when the ship was pitching (forward and backward) and that only lasted about 1.5 days. If you lay down and read, it goes away. Rolling (side to side) didn't affect me. 3) Is the ice thickness related to global warming? No. Global warming is a large-scale climactic change; whereas, us experiencing thin ice this year is simply bad luck. Sometimes you have years where the winter isn't so bad, sometimes it is colder. Climate is a long term average, not a localized event (in time and space). So, feel free to leave questions in the comments and Lisa will forward them to me. They will be answered in the order in which they are received. Your approximate wait time is ... 3-4 days.

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