Pictures added!

I have added some pictures for posts dated Mar7-15. I hope to add more soon. If you want to see anything specific, let me know.
Steve

finally home

Made it home.  only took 25 hours.  I need a shower and a nap.  More to come later. Steve

Back in Kodiak

Made it back, just pulling up to the dock in Kodiak now. It's been quite
an experience.
Thank you to everyone that has read this, I hope you enjoyed it. I will
be loading pics as soon as I can, probably in a few days. If anyone wants
to get in touch with me for any reason (job offer) try
steven_fenske@yahoo.com
gotta go, there's an empty bar stool somewhere in Kodiak.
Steve

Close enough to taste it

We are currently heading towards Kodiak Island, almost a day ahead of
schedule. We made pretty good time trying to outrun a storm the other
night, and we're here early. The bad news is that we can't dock until
tomorrow, because we have to enter the harbor at high tide. On the plus
side, we're close enough for cell phones to work, and the decks are
covered with people calling the outside world. I called my wife, Kari.
She was pretty excited.
As excited as I am to be off the ship and back in the world, I'm kind of
sad to be leaving the experience and many new friends behind. Thank god
for email and facebook. The experience has left me cold, (really, really
cold) seasick, bored, and sleepless at various times the past month. I am
probably also a little heavier than when I left, thanks to excessive Coast
Guard portions and 5 mealtimes per day.
I'm gonna miss the people and the experience.
Steve

Should have taken Dramamine

Should have. No, I didn't lose my lunch. And thank you for wishing that
I had. Spent the first fours of last night trying to stay in my bed and
trying to make my dinner stay in me. The ship was rolling side to side
about 35 degrees for a while, as we were going fast, trying to outrun a
storm. On many occasions I had to grab the bed to keep myself from being
thrown onto the floor. The rest of the time was spent trying o sleep
while being rolled side to side about every ten seconds. Did I tell you
that ships made for icebreaking don't have the best hull shape for
open-water stability? I finally managed to scoot my mattress to the side
and wedge my leg and hip between the wall and the mattress so I wouldn't
roll around as much. Thankfully, the waves died down after 3 and I was
able to get to sleep. I think I managed to get five hours of sleep or so.
Tonight, I'm definitely going to take dramamine, both so I don't get
seasick, and so that it knocks me out.
Sometime in the night we passed through the Unimak pass from the Bering
sea into the Gulf of Alaska. Just that much closer to Kodiak. No more
ice, seals, walrus, whales, or science work. Kind of sad, but also really
anxious to get back to the world. It's coming soon.
Steve

Happy Easter

Today, believe it or not, someone in charge of morale organized an Easter
egg hunt. Just to make sure there were people interested, they hid 24
hour liberty passes in a few of the eggs for the crew. The rest just had
chocolate. It kept everyone entertained for about 20 minutes or so. The
other highlight today was Easter dinner. They did ham and baked potatoes
yams, and green bean casserole. It was just like mom would make, if she
worked in you high school cafeteria. Just kidding. It was actually
pretty good. Either that, or I'm just getting used to the food on board.
The other excitement is that we are out of the ice again. This is good
and bad. Good because we are getting closer to Kodiak, bad because it
means that we are beginning to do some serious rolling again. We spent
most of Friday and Saturday making sure that everything is secure
everywhere. The general rule of thumb is that you should be able to
turn a room on its side and shake it without anything moving around.
Honestly, the waves feel like that sometimes. We'll know tomorrow if we
did a good job. I'll also know tomorrow if I should have taken some
seasickness pills before I go to bed tonight. We'll all find out
tomorrow.
Steve

No news today

Really, no news today.
Steve

Getting a little restless

Most of us, the crew included, are ready to be back in civilization.
Murmurs of "beeeeerrr" can be heard during the bar scenes in movies. I
wouldn't have thought that coast guard people would be that anxious to get
off the ship already. But they are. discussions of which bar to hit ,
and when liberty will be granted while in port are dominating the talk
during the mealtimes. It gets to everyone, I guess. I don't feel like
I'm losing it that bad, but I might change how I feel when I get back to
the rest of the world. For now, though, I still like I could pass for
normal out in public. We'll see. Not much else going on, two days left
of sampling (not for me), and then three days transit back to Kodiak.
Almost finished.
Steve

Wildlife Sightings

Sorry for the lack of posting the last couple of days, there just hasn't
been that much to post, until now. We are traveling just south of St.
Matthews island, heading towards the Aleutian islands. The good news is
that, as we go further south, and especially near St. Matthews island, the
ice begins to be a little more broken up that it has been, and that means
there are critters here. Today we have seen walrus, seals, and bowhead
whales. Mostly walrus. I can't begin to convey how huge they really are.
They look like some caricature of nature gone wrong. An animal that is
so huge it can't even do anything on land except wallow around. Huge.
But they have to be, the water is so cold that without all that blubber,
none of them would survive here. And they live on clams. If I lived on
clams, I doubt I would weigh more than a hundred pounds. But that's just
me.

Oh, some bad news, the talent show has been cancelled due to lack of
entrants. I might have been one of the talented ones. Probably not.
One of the things we have to look forward to is our weekly science talks.
every Thursday evening, one of our scientists gives a short program on the
research that they are doing here. It is mostly for the crew to get an
idea of what we are doing, but all of us science geeks go, too. Other
than that, not much going on, doing crosswords, playing cards, and
watching movies. And I usually spend a few hours on the bridge watching
the ice go by, looking for wildlife.
Steve

Heading Back to Kodiak

We are now headed back to Kodiak, but it will take us a few days to get
there, at least a week. Outside of the rare social happening, (bingo
night) I will probably not have a whole lot to put up here. So I'm asking
for help. If there is anything anyone wants to know about, let me know.
I will have a much easier time finding information while on board than
after i get back. If you want to see anything, ship, ice, animals,
science operations, let me know so I can get pictures posted. I will not,
however, be able to post photos until after I get back. The connection
here is just too slow to upload anything but text. Let me know.
Steve

End of Science ops

Well, We just wrapped up science ops for the cruise, at least our part.
We will still be doing some sampling on the way home, but that will only
be water sampling and water measurements (conductivity, salinity,
temperature, etc) that are easily done by dropping an automatic measuring
and sampling device over the side. It will still take us 10 days to get
back to Kodiak. I almost wish there were more to do. After we finished
science ops yesterday, I had lunch, and went to bed. I stayed in bed for
15 hours. I think I'm caught up on my sleep now. I will have to check
the library so I have something to do for the next week and a half. I
hope I can find something.
Later, Steve

The Boredom is Getting Worse

The title says it all. Three weeks on board, and we're all starting to go
a little stir crazy. It has gotten so bad that on my shift that I have
decided to start seeping at night during my shift because we don't so that
many stations at night. Last night, we were in transit for seven hours,
out of the ice, and when we finally reached the station, the wind was
howling and the waves were rocking so bad that we didn't even attempt to
do the station. The sea ice has been broken into small (3-10 ft) pieces
and the surface is like an undulating slush field. This makes it
impossible to keep a hole open long enough to get any equipment into the
water. The wind was also shipping at up 60 knots, making the wind chill
-35F. We weren't unhappy to have skipped that station. So the et result
of last night was almost trying to start a station. So we watched some
movies. Six of them. The only sort of fun is that trivia night is
tonight. My apologies to everyone, talent night is next week. I'll be
sure to let you know how it goes.
So for now we are in transit, back in the waves, which look really cool
because the slushy ice moves with the waves. We only have a few more
stations to do the entire cruise, then a week back to Kodiak. More
nothing to do. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.
Steve

Still Pluggin along

The past few days we have been traveling further west than we have been
the last week or so. In fact, we are currently sampling right along the
international date line. We can't actually do anything on the other side
of the line, lest we start some sort of international incident, but we're
really close.

The weird thing about living on board is that days and nights don't seem
to be very different, at least from my point of view. There really aren't
any windows to speak of, unless you go up to the bridge. In fact, if I
want to know what it looks like outside, I go to the wet lab and look at
the navigation monitor, where we have a webcam pointed at the deck
outside. There is one 6 inch window in an outside hatch in a passageway,
but that's it. The only difference inside is that they turn off the
lights and use red lights to light the interior. It makes going
downstairs from a well-lit lab an adventure. With the moving ship, very
dark stair towers, lack of sleep, and very steep stairs I'm kind of
surprised I haven't hurt myself yet. There's still time.

We have been seeing lots of animals lately, bowhead whales, walrus, and
seals were all seen yesterday. The ship was following a lead in the ice,
where they like to hang out. Pretty cool.

We are beginning to near the end of our sampling, even though there are
still quite a few days left in the cruise. We will be doing some specific
sampling for one of the other researchers, but it will take place on the
way back to Kodiak. Then we have a week of transit time to wait. Great.

Talent night tomorrow. I'm not entering, because I have no talent. At
least not that anyone wants to see. : )
Later, Steve

Still Cold

It can be really frustrating trying to get any work done in the conditions
that we are dealing with. It can take as much as 10 hours to go only 5
miles, depending on the ice conditions. And we have to do out sampling in
predetermined places, because we are trying to get an idea of how things
change over time, and we can only do that by sampling the same place
repeatedly. So we have to get to the same spot. Other things mess us up,
also. Trying to make a space in the ice to drop our equipment through,
only to have the ice drift near and close it halfway through a station.
Drifting too far off the station. The ice is surprisingly mobile, even
though it looks like it is standing still. We can be locked in between
floes and still be traveling with the ice sheet between .3 and .7 knots.
At least we don't have to deal with all the stuff going on during the day.
Helicopter operations cause all activity to stop while they are taking
off or landing, because no one can be on deck while the helo is taking off
or landing. Ice core stations, zooplankton tows, extra grabs for people
who like to work during daylight, and ice liberty mess with everyone's
plans. Ice liberty is like recess on the ice for anyone that wants to get
off the ship and play on the ice. I was sleeping, so I missed it. All
this makes for some really slow progress sometimes. Yesterday, it took 14
hours to complete a single station. Normally we can do one in two hours.
And it wasn't even cold enough to have problems with the equipment
freezing. That's why we need to be up here for such a long time.
In the next day or so, we should be experiencing a short time warp, also
known as the international date line. They say the first time can give
you headaches, but I think that's just something they tell the new
recruits.

As for the eider, NO, it did not poop on the poop deck, Kari. And
critters we find on the bottom, three or four species of clams, some
snails, crabs, a few species of sea stars, polychaete worms, and some
amphipods. Occasionally we catch a slow fish in the grabs also. I will
post pictures of some of the critters when I get back.

Cold and slow,
Steve

Late-Night Visitors

we had a surprise sometime late last night, one of the animals we are
interested in, the spectacled eider, stopped for a visit. Actually, about
two dozen of them. One of the crew looked out, and they were just perched
outside on deck. They are considered threatened, and we are analyzing the
ice algae and benthic communities here in part because these eiders feed
on the clams that live on the bottom. They can dive up to 300 feet
looking for food. The really geeky science part is, a few of them pooped
on deck, and Matt, our eider guy, scooped it up and saved it. Even worse,
we have another scientist on board that was able to identify their food by
the shells left in the poop, and was able to identify some parasitic worms
in the sample also. These are the kind of geeks I have been hanging out
with.
Trying to hold on to my sanity,
Steve

Off the Ship, Drilling

Well, that was exciting. 9am we met on the bridge to go over the flight
brief. The captain, XO, some other officers, pilot, and flight crew, and
Ice team were all there. Who's going, what we're doing, where we're
going, assess fitness of just just about everything, and more before we
go. The Coast Guard has a strange (to me) way of assessing fitness. The
person leading the flight brief says a category, and everyone involved
holds up some fingers indicating how much risk is associated with that
category. Highest number is recorded. Everyone gets a vote, even me.
They are essentially asking for assessment of the fitness of things like
the weather, the aircraft, ice conditions, stuff I don't have a clue
about. I just go with the flow.
Immediately, things start to happen. before I can grab my gear and get to
the hanger, the helo is already being rolled onto the flight deck and
getting fueled. So as soon as I get ready, we're off. The ride in the
helo was really cool, the weirdest thing being the fact that I could never
tell ho high we were. Looking at the ice, there is no frame of reference,
because big ice looks just like small ice. I thought we were a few
hundred feet up, but I found out later we were about 1500 feet off the
ice. I had no idea.
The ice station went smoothly, we took parts of six ice cores back to the
ship for analysis. They check for algae species, zooplankton, and do some
stable isotope analysis of the core samples.
Load up, take off, 25 minutes later we are back on the ship.
It was a good day, but I was exhausted. First time I've been able to get
a full 8 hours of sleep since I've been working the night shift.
Today will be less exciting.
Steve

fast Ice, Helo ops

Good news! Tomorrow is the day they are going to begin sampling on fast
ice. Landfast, or ice that is attached to the land. They needed help,
and I really don't need that much sleep anyway, so I was asked to go
along. The really cool part is the ship can't get close to the ice, so we
have to take the helicopter. Pre-flight briefing is at 0900, then we go
from there. The other cool thing is that I will get to see land for the
first time in two weeks. The only bad part is the temps have been
dropping for the last couple of days, so that will have to be dealt with.

So that is my excitement.
Steve

Just another day

Hey everybody, not a whole lot of excitement going on up here, although we
did have a walrus resting on the ice really close to the ship today. It
was about 200 meters off the port side,and really didn't seem to care that
a 35,000 ton ship was going by. It just sat there and watched us go by.
Those things are really big! Other than that, I seem to have settled into
a routine. Eat, sleep, wait, read, work. In that order. Oh, and
crosswords. I haven't done this many crossword puzzles in my life. We do
them as a group, otherwise we would never get one finished.
For example, my day today. I roll out of bed at 7:30pm, shower, and go up
to the mess deck and grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Coffee in hand,
I check out the action in the wet lab, just so I can see what my night is
going to be like. Watch a movie, shoot the breeze, find out what I missed
during the day. At 11:00, mid-rats; more food. My shift goes from 11:30
pm to 11:30 am, and for the most part, we sit around and wait to get to
the next station, when we will be busy for 90 minutes or so, and then wait
until the next station. Sometimes it can be as much as 10 or more hours
between stations, depending on the ice conditions and how long it takes to
get the ship situated so we have a hole in the ice that we can work in.
Tonight, the day shift finished a station just before we started, and we
won't get to the next one until 6 am or so. It makes for a long night.
Breakfast at 7 am, coffee break at 10, and lunch at 11. Finish the shift
and go to bed. It could be worse, at least the people I work with are
really great and I'm learning a lot about the Coast Guard and Arctic
research. I would definitely do this again. It's just kind of tedious
right now.
More later,
Steve

What are we doing?

What are we doing up here anyway? Here it is as I understand it, which is
probably mostly correct, but don't cite me as an expert in the field. I
will add corrections when (not if ) I find errors.

There is an ocean current that comes north out of the Pacific, loaded with
nutrients, and it comes right through the Bering sea. Algae grow on the
underside of the sea ice in the winter, taking advantage of that nutrient
load. This algae is fed upon by zooplankton and other grazers, forming
the base of the food web here. When the ice melts or when zooplankton
die, the algae and zooplankton fall to the bottom, which is 50-90 meters
deep in this area. This provides food for clams, brittle stars, crabs,
worms, and other critters on the sea floor. Living zooplankton are also
eaten by other animals in the water column like fishes and diving birds.
The bottom critters, mostly the clams) are eaten by Diving ducks, walrus,
whales, and seals. It's more complicated than that, but you get the idea.

If there is less sea ice in the winter, there will be less algae forming
the base of the food web, and you know where that goes from there. Many
animals also use the ice to rest between feedings and as a nursery to
raise their young, which could also be worse with less ice. We're just
trying to figure out what's going on.

So we are up here, looking at the amount of algae on and in the sea ice,
counting zooplankton in the water column, counting critters from the sea
floor, measuring isotopic oxygen concentrations, looking at layers in the
sea ice, counting endangered birds, and freezing. And probably some other
things that I don't know about.

Steve

Where?

For anyone wondering where we are right now, plug this into google earth:
62 degrees 27 minutes north, 172 degrees degrees 19 minutes west. We are
just south of St. Lawrence island Alaska, and will do most of the rest of
our sampling in this general area.

We have settled down to a general routine, not much more to tell anyone.
I've been on board for twelve days, now, but it seems much longer than
that. Not that it's bad, but when you can't get away from your work, and
days and nights just don't feel all that different, the days all kind of
blend together. I get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep per night (day) and the
rest of the time I spend mostly waiting to get to a station, and not very
much time actually working while at the station. Last night, in 12 hours,
we were actually working for only three hours total at two stations. The
rest of the time we read, do crosswords or sudoku (thanks Melanie) or
watch tv. Not much excitement. i'll let you know if something comes up.
Steve

No Facebook here

To everyone that has or wants to send me a message, facebook is blocked on
military computers, so anything you put there I can't see. I can check
comments on my blog, or you can just email ma at the address in my blog.
Steve

BINGO!

Tonight was bingo night, and guess who won the grand prize? That's right,
I rock! Glad I got up early for that.

About the food... It has actually been really good. The trouble with
that is that I tend to eat what is in front of me, and They just keep
servin' it up. Every morning for breakfast there is some sort of fried
meat, hashbrowns, eggs, pancakes, etc. I just don't have that kind of
willpower. Lunch and dinner are the same, but with new desserts every
day. And, I really haven't been good about going to the gym regularly. I
just get bored too easily when I work out by myself. I know I'll pay for
it when I get home (Melanie and Margaret) but I knew it was going to be
like this. The only good thing is now that we are working, I at least get
some physical activity in. My goal is to gain less than five pounds while
I'm out here. Cross your fingers for me.

Yes, it really is that cold here. Today is a little warmer, about -10F,
but the wind is picking up, so that will be fun to deal with. The
exposure suits are a full-body type, with built-in insulation and
flotation. I normally wear a layer of fleece under mine, in addition to
long johns and a sweatshirt. the real problem is keeping my hands and
feet warm. Four layers of gloves, two of which are waterproof, and my
hands still get so gold I can't feel them sometimes. For my feet, just a
couple pairs of heavy socks and insulated, waterproof, steel-toed boots.
For my head, A heavy fleece hat, neck gaiter, and a neoprene face mask do
the job. If I ever get to do this again, I'm bringing ski goggles as
well. Gotta cover everything.

I tried to post some pictures the other day, but for whatever reason I am
unable to do so. When I get back, I will go through and put appropriate
pictures with their postings. So everyone will have to read this crap
twice. : P

Gott a go, it's almost time for mid rats. That's midnight rations, or
leftovers, for those of us that are sleeping during normal chow time. How
thoughtful, more food.
Steve

How cold is it, really?

The other day, one of the crew came into the lab between stations, and
asked if we wanted to see something cool. I put my exposure suit on and
went out on deck. She pulled out a bottle of bubbles, the kind kids play
with, and started blowing. the weird thing is, the bubbles first shrank
and shriveled up a bit, so they were all wrinkly, and when they popped,
the liquid part was frozen in 'bubble shape' and the bubble broke into
pieces. There were little bubble shards floating away in the wind.
Unless you live in Fargo (you know who you are) it probably won't work
where you live.

Marisa, from CBL, went out onto the ice to do some ice coring with one of
the other groups two days ago. By the time she got back, she could not
feel her fingers and her nails had turned white. She was on the verge of
getting frostbite. In the temperatures that we are dealing with exposed
flesh can freeze in less than ten minutes. Two days later and she is
still getting feeling back in her fingers.

At our last station, the day team was attempting to get 30 good haps core
samples for a researcher on board. A haps corer basically takes a
cylindrical plug from the bottom of the ocean and brings it up intact, so
that we can see the various layers in the bottom sediment. It was so cold
the the haps corer had chilled to below the freezing point of seawater
(which freezes at a lower temp than fresh water). Even spraying it
continuously with hot water while on deck, and while it was being lowered
into the water, the trip mechanism would freeze solid within a few
seconds of hitting the water. They could not keep it warm enough to
actually get all the samples they needed.

In a nutshell, it's F'in cold!

Trying my best to not freeze off anything I still need,
Steve

A Productive day

Today was the first day that things went well in terms of sampling.
Except for the part where it took 5 hours to get the ship situated before
we could begin. After that, we blasted through two stations last night.
It's not too bad outside, until you get wet. The temp was -20F, with
about 30 mph winds, so the wind chill was way down there, and we were out
in it for two hours straight. One of the annoying things is that the grab
that we lower to take samples of the mud on the bottom freezes up while
it's out of the water, and we have to spray it with hot water while we are
removing the sample, AND while it is being lowered into the water. It is
so cold that the trip mechanism can freeze solid in just a few seconds.
Then we dump the mud (about 5 gallons worth) into a screen box and spray
water over it until the fine mud particles are gone and only critters and
shells are left. It takes about 20 minutes to wash all the mud off the
sample, and after the first one (we do 6 usually) you are wet from head to
toe with spray and mud. And the wind chill is -50. It takes u about
2.5-3 hours to complete a station, and by the time we're done, you're
fingers are so cold they just ache. Oh, and all this happens between
11:30pm and 11:30am. I got the night shift.
Time for shower and bed.
Steve

thanks to Matt Sexson for the photos.

More details, More Ice

First, for Kari, who wanted more of the gory details on the tin can
challenge. Each team, at the same time, was given a can with foil over
the top. Someone said go, and they all started eating at once. The worst
part was that every team had canned peas. And not just any peas, military
peas. Some teams were only able to take one bite before giving up, and
some just kept plugging away. It looked and smelled disgusting. I guess
last cruise they had to drink the juice in the bottom of the can, too, but
this year they did away with that. Not that it helped. I'm just really
glad I didn't sign up for that.

Onto other news. The second day of sampling has not started yet, although
it was supposed to about five hours ago. We got stuck in the ice and
didn't move for a good long time. They finally started a turbine for an
additional propeller shaft (the boat has 3 props and each has an auxiliary
turbine) and we were able to punch through a really thick pressure ridge
and keep going. Even so, they say we may not be on the next station until
noon Sunday. What this means is that I powernapped after working my shift
and then helped drill ice cores after my shift, only to wake up, down four
cups of coffee, and then be told I can hit the rack (bed) for another few
hours. I'm doing my laundry. On the bright side, the Today show comes on
at 3am on armed forces network, so at least I have something to watch.

Nothing else going on
Steve

On station!

First, I know everyone wants to know how the tin can challenge went. Six
teams of four each had to eat a one gallon can of unknown food. First one
done wins. I am happy to report, the team of marine science techs pulled
it off. The amazing thing is two of the team were women that weighed
about a hundred pounds each. Glad I didn't have money on the challenge.

Next, and more importantly, we were finally able to do some work. We
were supposed to get on station about 1am, so I basically took nap and got
up before we arrived. Unfortunately, we didn't actually start doing
anything until 6am or so. We spent the night doing crossword puzzles.
When we were able to get started, the first thing we do is drop a device
called a CTD over the side. I say drop, but we actually lower it with a
crane. It's pretty big. It measures temperature, salinity, conductivity,
and sometimes some other things in the water from the surface down to the
bottom. It also takes water samples at various depths so it can be
analyzed for various things. We are only concerned with chlorophyll
(algae) and and the oxygen isotope O18. Then we do grabs. we drop a big
scoop over the side and pick up a load of muck from the bottom, wash out
the mud and gunk, and save the animals for analysis back in the lab later.
We do this 4-6 times. By the end of it,two hours later, I'm covered
with a mixture of muddy slushy ice that is quickly hardening on my
exposure suit. Then we go inside and do it again at another station. I
think we are going to do about 65 stations like this over the next two
weeks. Fun.

Afterwards, another scientist, who is doing some work analyzing ice algae
and single-celle organisms in the ice, asked if I wanted to go help out on
the ice. I wasn't thinking straight so I said yes. We drilled holes in
the ice to trap sediment, measure light, and incubate algae in the water
column while we were out there. We also drilled a few cores for analysis
back in the lab later. It was pretty cool. The really strange part is
that we had to have two crewmen from the ship come out with us with
rifles in case we were attacked by polar bears. They just stood there
with their guns while we worked, just in case. Pretty freaky.

Well at the end of the day, I was running on about three hours of sleep
and ten cups of coffee, I was exhausted. Hopefully this will burn off
some of the food I've been overeating for the last week.

Tonight, more of the same.
Steve

Last day off for a while

Today was probably the last free day for at least two or three weeks, as
we should be on station late tonight or early tomorrow. I spent most of
the morning up on the bridge, where the ship was following a lead (crack)
in the ice for quite a while because we can make better time there. It's
also cool because it is a great place to see marine life, because they
need an opening in the ice to come up for air. I saw a bunch of bowhead
whales and several walrus, but I wasn't keeping track of how many. About
the only thing left to see would be a polar bear, and we should see them
at some point during the cruise.

Tonight is also the tin can challenge, but the science team has decided
not to enter the competition. With all the young coast guard guys on
board, we wouldn't stand a chance. I'll take pictures for the record,
though.

I did spend some time in the gym the other day, but with the ship rocking
back and forth it was really hard to much of anything. But I did manage
to get part of a workout in.

Next time I write, I should be able to tell you what the sampling is like,
how cold it is up here, and if I will still be able to have children when
I get back. Cross your fingers for me.

Steve

email correction

sorry, I guess I can't spell that late at night. My correct email is:
stevefenske@polarsea.polarscience.net

email

For anyone that is leaving comments, the internet on board ship is too
slow touse (15 minutes to load a webpage) so if you want to send a note,
try me at stevefenske@polarsea.polarsciene.net. It would be a nice change
of pace from being bored out of my skull. Actually looking forward to
being on station and having some work to do.
Steve

Trying to stay awake

We should be on station tomorrow sometime, which means that tomorrow night
will be my first night of sampling. I got the special pleasure of the
night shift. Trying to adjust my sleeping before I actually need to stay
awake hasn't worked. After about 10pm there just isn't anything to keep
me awake. They get the armed forces network on the TV, but that really
isn't all that entertaining. I spent three hours last night on the
bridge, watching ice go by under the light of ice lights--two giant
floodlights mounted on the bow of the ship. In some places they made the
ice sparkle like you wouldn't believe. That's what they use to steer the
ship by a night; they pick out the path of least resistance through the
ice. Slow and tedious, but we'll get there eventually.

I saw my first mammal today, a couple of seals in the crack between two
huge sheets of ice. One of the other guys saw a group of walrus, but I
missed them. There will be more.

We had three guys go out in the helicopter today. We have one scientist
from Fairbanks studying the community structure of algae and zooplankton
that live beneath and within the ice itself. I should get an opportunity
to go out sometime and help take some ice cores. What else is there to do
when you're surrounded by ice?

Should have something more exciting to tell y'all tomorrow.
Steve

Thanks to Kathy Kuletz for the photo.

Ice is loud

So we've been in transit in the ice now for about a day and a half, the
ice has been anywhere between a foot and 3-4 feet thick, more where
pressure ridges have developed. We've been making good time, occasionally
having to stop and back up to get a running start at a thick section.
Last night I was on the bridge, and we were stuck in one place for over an
hour, we had to back up and try the same ridge four times before we were
able to break through. The sensation of running through the ice is like
riding on a bus over a gravel road. It's generally rough and kind of
rumbly, but when you hit a thick area, it kind of jostles the ship a bit,
like hitting a pothole in a bus. And a lot of the time, ice chunks scrape
the hull, making a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard, but much
louder. Loud enough that you can't talk to the person sitting next to
you. People are wearing earplugs just to be able to sleep.
We should be at our first station in about 24 hours, which is a day or so
behind schedule. Hopefully while we're waiting I'll be able to go out on
the helicopter with some of the scientists and take some ice cores. Very
cool.
There have been a few walrus spotted and at least one seal so far, but
they tell me when we get further north there will be thousands of walrus
everywhere. I'll take pictures. Hoping to see some polar bears somewhere
up here, too. All I've seen so far is ice though.
Still not frozen, Steve

Thanks to Aaron Lang for the photos!

Ice, Ice, baby

We found the ice! At 6 am this morning heard this awful, crunching,
grinding sound and really hoped it was supposed to sound like that and it
wasn't something else. I can't see water anywhere when I look outside.
As a bonus the ice also made for a very smooth ride last night, as it kept
the waves from forming and we got a good night's sleep for the first time
since leaving Kodiak.

We saw whales yesterday, or at least that's what they tell me. i wasn't
on the bridge when they appeared. But now our chances of seeing seals and
walrus (walruses?) will greatly improve. Cool.

Oh, and bingo last night was pretty fun. It was hilarious watching all
the hard core Coast Guard guys getting excited over a game that your
grandma would play. I didn't win anything. Coming up on Friday they have
the tin can challenge. Teams of four try to eat an unidentified can of
food from dry storage. I'm not playing, but it should be fun to watch.
I'm already eating way more than I need. Bacon every day. Gotta get
myself to the gym.

Gotta go check on the ice
Steve

Still En Route

We have just crossed through the Umiak pass and have left the Gulf of
Alaska and entered the Bering Sea. We are still about 24 hours away from
the polar sea ice, though. It will probably be another day or so after we
enter the ice before we can begin our real work. Most of us are just
looking forward to being able to sleep at night without having to hold
onto the bed to keep from falling out. It will be a nice change.

The food on board is pretty good, and way too much of it. Mealtimes are
one of the few things to look forward to so far, the rest of our time is
just hanging out or watching movies. It is bingo night tonight, though,
so I suppose that will be exciting. We'll see. I have spent many hours
on the bridge, just watching the spray freeze on the deck and the
fittings. About 12 crewmen spent two hours out there chipping the ice off
with sledgehammers and shoveling the chunks over the side. I was told the
additional weight of the ice affects the way the ship handles.

Haven't seen any cool wildlife, yet, except for one albatross. Supposedly
when we get to the sea ice we will see more because the seals and walruses
sleep on the floating ice.

The only other excitement today was getting the safety briefing for
helicopter use. (Cross your fingers for me)

Not really all that exciting yet, but I'm sure it will happen eventually.

Later, Steve

First day at sea

We left Kodiak at 8 am Sunday with calm seas and sunny skies. That didn't
last long. We started hitting waves within an hour or two, and they just
got bigger as the day went on. Most of us were at least a little
queasy, and I saw one of the Coast Guard crew walking around with a bucket
in her hand. Last night the waves were so bad that I don't think anyone
got a good nights sleep, and one of the crew was tossed out of his bunk
and slid across the floor into the wall, breaking his toe. At the
highest, the waves were sixteen feet, causing the ship to roll 40 degrees
side to side. Exciting. I have learned that a ship designed to break
through ice does not have the hull characteristics that make for a
pleasant ride in rough seas. Bring on the ice! We should have another
day or so of rough seas, then a fairly good transit to the ice, followed
by another day or so until we get to where we will be sampling. The worst
part is the boredom. We really can't set up our gear with the seas so
rough, so we just wait. And blog. More later, Steve

Made it to Kodiak

Got out of bed at 3 am friday, four flights and 18 hours later, I arrived
in Kodiak. we immediately checked into hotel, and went out drinking. By
the time I finally made it to bed, I had been up for almost 27 hours, and
had travelled over 5000 miles, and I did it all on 3 hours sleep.
Temperature in Kodiak was about 15, but it topped out above freezing, with
the sun shining all day and the wind howling. We walked around town and
explored a small park with some hiking trails. The people we saw were
pretty much what I expected. Hats, parkas, and heavy boots were the
uniform for pretty much everybody. I felt overdressed a little. The town
itself was beautiful, with the mountains coming right down to the little
harbor full of dormant fishing boats.

Saturday we left to civility of the hotel for the starkness of the ship.
I am bunking with two other scientists in a triple bunk stateroom. When I
roll over in bed, my elbow hits the bottom of the bunk above me. Pretty
tight. The coast guard crew has been extremely helpful, mostly by giving
directions to most everybody. The ship is just plain confusing, even by
coast guard standards. We lashed down all of our gear, as we expect to
encounter some rough seas before we hit the ice in a couple of days. they
estimate we will be rolling to about 35 or 40 degrees with the waves we
will be hitting.

Sunday morning we left at 8am, under sunny skies and light winds, with a
sea otter and two of her cubs alongside the boat. A few safety meetings,
emergency procedures, scientist meetings, and tech briefs, and we're left
to ourselves. For the next four days. Expect frequent updates.

Lovin' it so far,
Steve

Leaving tomorrow

I guess anything I haven't thought of yet just isn't important enough to bring along. I'll be OK. I was thinking that maybe I shouldn't have finished off the rest of the chili tonight seeing as how I will be spending 13 hours on planes tomorrow. This only guarantees that I will get trapped in a window seat, probably by a cute girl. I feel sorry for her already.
I'm packed, excited, nervous, tired, and I have to be at the airport at 4:30 am. Next time you hear from me, I'll be on a ship heading north from Alaska.
See you then.

Final preparations

I leave in two days, and I believe I have everything I need for the trip. Still need to do some laundry so I can start the cruise with clean clothes. I made a decision to bring a companion along for the cruise. He has been with me to a lot of places, and it just feels wrong to leave him at home for this trip. His name is Ernesto, and when I told him he was coming along, he immediately began conditioning for the trip (see photo). I'm sure he will try and sneak into some more shots during the trip also. Tomorrow, a few last checks, and then I'm ready.

I am spending today planning to pack. Shut up, I'm serious. Kari is home this this weekend after being gone last week an leaving for the week tomorrow. After today, I won't see her until April 8. So tomorrow I begin the big push to find all the crap I need for the trip. I'll let you know how it goes.

Preparations.

This initiates my blog. I have begun packing, and I still have a week before I leave. This is a new personal best. What do I need to keep from freezing parts off while working outside in the Bering sea in Winter? Almost all of my ski gear is going, long johns of course, and lots of layers. I will overpack, but I still expect to be painfully cold for at least some portion of the cruise. Gonna be drinking a lot of coffee next month. Got packing to do. More later.