Heading to Palmer Station, Antarctica
On Sunday I will depart the U.S. to begin another trip to Antarctica. Four days later our ship sails from the port of Punta Arenas, Chile on the southern tip of South America. Our voyage takes us through the Drake Passage to the United States Antarctic base Palmer Station. The Research Vessel Laurence M. Gould will be the first ship to cross the Drake Passage and dock at Palmer following the Austral winter.
Our crew’s mission is threefold: to conduct onboard scientific research, to transport researchers, and to resupply Palmer Station. The ship is set to be out to sea for 24 days. As a lab technician, my job will be to help with onboard research. We expect to hit multiple storms, and to study how these storms mix the ocean and allow carbon transfer between the deep sea and the surface.
I will use this web journal to document my experiences, as I have done during my previous two trips to Antarctica (see ANDRILL and NBP09-01). I will upload some photos following my return to North America and high bandwidth. In addition to my posts, there exists at least one other blog that will be updating from the ship: http://harrietmankoff.com
