Friday, October 21, 2005

We have spent the last few days down here in Punta Arenas getting our gear together and trying on and learning how our polar clothing works. We are just about to get on the boat and run through some security protocols and start getting things moving. Our luggage will be transferred via huge tractor from the warehouse to the ship, whereas we are carrying our personal items. We will be traveling across the Drake Passage on the Lawrence M. Gould R/V IB. The Gould is a Research vessel (R/V) and an Icebreaker (IB). Well equipped to get us to our destination of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our trip is thought to take 5 days but anything can quickly change that. More later...

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

This is it... Our last night in New York for the rest of the year. We are packing for our three month trip to Antarctica and excitement is boiling over. Imagine trying to pack everything that you could need for three months into three bags. Crazy! Ya, that’s what I thought. Well the packing is going really well, but I don’t feel ready yet. We will see in the morning and better yet I will see how I feel once I am on the plane. Back to the bags!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

This Blog will be used to update the public about the daily activities of our research teams down in Antarctica. We have two different teams conducting research on opposite sides of the continent. Dr. David J. Kieber will be leading his team from Lyttelton New Zealand on a cruise to the Ross Sea on the Nathanial B. Palmer, this trip will take two months. On Dave's team he has Jordan Brinkley and John Bisgrove, both are students from SUNY ESF. These three will be gathering data of organic sulfur release and degradation.
On the opposite side, SUNY ESF's other research group will be stationed at Palmer station, a United States research installation. Here a team of two SUNY ESF students, George Westby and Kerry McElroy will be gathering data on the organic sulfur present in the Bellingshausen Sea. Both groups research goes much deeper and will be discussed more thoroughly in this blog during the extent of this project.