April 5, 2006

Funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs

I write this journal while we are crossing Drake Passage, which is well known for its rough seas. So far the crossing has not been too bad, although few people were at lunch and dinner yesterday. Now that the scientific part of the expedition is completed, we all begin to reflect on the successes and failures of the cruise.

Even before we left the states we had received satellite images that showed a lot of sea ice in the northwestern Weddell Sea. In fact, all indications were that this was going to be a bad ice year. As soon as we steamed through the Antarctic Sound there were indications that this was indeed the case. We were met by extensive, very thick sea ice. In fact, this is some of the thickest ice I have seen in my 26 cruises to Antarctica. Some of the ice floes were easily 20 feet thick, too thick for the Palmer to break. Only very old sea ice gets this thick after winds force layers of ice to stack on other layers of what are called pressure ridges. To make matters worse, the ice was drifting at rates of up to a mile per hour. So, even when we found openings in the ice where we could drill, we knew that these openings would drift past us in a matter of hours. Once the drill pipe is in the bottom, we cannot move from our location more than a few meters without the pipe coming out of the hole. Still, we managed to find open areas and, in some cases, to remain on station long enough to collect core. We got to be pretty good at picking a spot down drift of the sea ice and lowering the pipe through the water column just as the open water was upon us. This did not always work because on occasions the drift direction of the ice changed.

Three times we were forced to search for sheltered water while storms with winds up to 60 miles an hour blew for a day or more. But, this is all part of the game when working in Antarctica. In fact, the concept of SHALDRIL was "hit and run;" drill a location while conditions allow and then move onto another location. That is why we started this cruise with a number of "back-up" sites, so we would have maximum flexibility. This is Antarctica after all.

During the four weeks we had for drilling, we spent a significant portion of that time traveling between proposed drill sites, checking out the ice conditions and drilling whenever we had a chance of reaching our drilling target. On several occasions the drillers would lower the drill pipe through the water column, a job that takes several hours, and finally reach the sea floor only to have the ice move in and force us to pull pipe, which also takes several hours. Meanwhile the communication between the drill shack and the bridge was full of tension. From the bridge we would hear the early signals of defeat for a site "How much pipe do you have in the ground? We have ice closing in fast." "OK mate, we are coming up out of the hole." Chalk another point for Mother Nature. But, despite what sometimes seemed like insurmountable odds, the morale and professionalism of the drillers, the mates, and everyone else on the ship remained high. And, we did not always strike out. On several occasions we won the game, each time recovering sediment cores that recorded time intervals that are virtually unknown in Antarctica's geological history.

On the very last day of the scientific part of the cruise we had managed to recover core from every interval of time we had targeted except the Oligocene, the time interval when climate conditions in the region are most in doubt. It was looking as though we would go home without having grasped the golden ring, being down to about a day and a half before having to head north. During this time we re-visited our Oligocene sites only to find them covered by drifting sea ice. In fact, at one point on the morning of the 31st Captain Mike expressed concern that we were going to have problems getting out of the Weddell Sea. We steamed north and east toward Joinville Island to our final set of sites where we believed Oligocene strata are situated near the sea floor. In the early evening of the 31st we made our way to our preferred site and began lowering pipe. Everyone on board seemed totally committed to drilling this last site, despite the fact that we had problems in this area in the past.

Imagine the joy we felt when our first core came to the surface and we observed lithified muddy sand in the cutter. After a few hours the paleontologists onboard presented us with the joyful news that we had indeed sampled Oligocene strata. We were able to retrieve about 4 meters of core before drifting sea ice forced us to abandon the site, just minutes before our agreed upon departure time. At one point a large iceberg threatened to cause us to abandon the site, but some very skilled ship operating by Captain Scott Dunaway bought us the time needed to reach our drilling target. There was a lot of jubilation onboard during the night and early morning and a feeling that we had in the final hours achieved one of our most important objectives. This was our home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Maybe we did not beat Mother Nature. I would never make such a bold statement while crossing Drake Passage for fear she might seek revenge. But, we certainly beat the odds on several occasions. During this cruise we have traveled a total of 3343 miles from port to port. We have constantly battled drifting sea ice and icebergs and ridden out some pretty severe storms to get what we came after. But, should we expect better? After all, this is Antarctica and she gives up her secrets only to those who persevere. That is why I am so proud to be a part of the "Antarctic Community." It is a community of men and women who don't give up without a fight.

--John Anderson

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