Polarstern / CAML expedition: presentations and birdwatching
Daption capensis
© Gauthier Chapelle / Alfred Wegener Institut
Today, we had our first series of scientific presentations, allowing us to better explore and interconnect the various research programs. One hour was dedicated to the first part of the expedition, the one focused on the area surrounding the South Shetland Islands and on Antarctic fish, including the very strange "ice fish". I'll tell you more about it soon !
Now we can really feel that Antarctica is getting closer. After the first ones we got yesterday, new snow gusts have started blowing, sometimes reducing the visibility so much we are unable to see anything.
The water temperature brought confirmation, with a drop from 3 to 1°C in one day: we are crossing the famous Antarctic convergence, the contact zone between water masses from the Atlantic and the other, colder, from the Southern Ocean. The wind remained strong all day long (between 7 and 8 Beauforts). Needless to say that for sea-sick people, things are not yet improving.
For the birdwatchers, this was another glorious day: 13 species in one day, all belonging to the big family of albatrosses, shearwaters and storm petrels, the open sea specialists. Our record since Cape Town ! While we head south, new species appear every day, while we leave others behind.
Today, we have seen the first specimens of 2 "great classics" of Antarctic waters: the Cape petrel and the Antarctic fulmar. You can bet we will see even more of them tomorrow ...
