March 25, 2006

Funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs

Location: Latitude 63° 03' S, Longitude 54° 41' W

Air Temperature: -5.4°C

Teaching

The last 24 hours have seen us make a large circle for a track line. Yesterday morning we set out from the Firth of Tay headed south. We intended to reach one of our Oligocene sites and start drilling. The reserve plan was to shoot seismic. But, shortly after lunch, conditions deteriorated dramatically and we soon faced white out conditions. We fought our way through the heavy ice, blinding snow, and 50 knot winds for just a little while before relenting and floating with the ice for the rest of the day and through the night. Just before dawn we had to give up our resting spot against a large floe and get under way again. Our drift had carried us nearly 20 miles north and back to Danger Islands. We have now been headed south for the better part of a day and are still looking for an open spot in the water.

Only a few of the people on this boat are teachers for a living. However, in a setting like this, we all end up instructing each other on a variety of topics. A day like today with plenty of spare time lends itself to many of these lessons. Some are teaching things like how to cheat at euchre or how to tie knots. Elsewhere, there is class on knitting and one on conjugating Spanish verbs. A geochemist has learned to weld and some drillers have learned the freezing temperature of seawater. Today I gratefully learned about calculating distances to, and heights of, objects seen through binoculars. Later this morning I read aloud from a news story I had received by email. It was covering the articles in Science this week that reported on increased break up of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the probability of greater sea-level rise due to increased melting in the Antarctic. A couple people looked at me with some interest, and others with complete disinterest, but only one said he did not believe in anthropogenic effects on global climate. This discovery- not that melting is accelerating but of finding someone who has this doubt-took me by surprise. While opinion polls suggest that there are many such people, I haven't been aware of talking to one recently.

Throughout the day, this topic weighed on my mind. With this many scientists and teachers on board, we are ought to be able to teach one person about carbon dioxide emissions and their effect on our atmosphere. We are in many ways a captive audience to each other here-if there is ever a chance to sway someone's opinion, this could be it. I took up the cause in the afternoon and realized that it is indeed going to be a big task. Unfortunately, the ship's alarm sounded just as I had begun to expound. After making our way to the muster station, first in the dark and then with the lights powered by the emergency generator, I decided I would do everything in my power to accomplish this in the next 11 days-even if he pushed me through the unlit hall. It will take more than to bate my enthusiasm for this task.

Water!! And I think we are in the Oligocene!!

Best wishes, Julia

A photo from SHALDRIL I in 2005.

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