Hello from the Southern Ocean #1

from Tim Page

onboard the Australian Icebreaker "Aurora Australis"

in the Southern Ocean heading to Macquarie Island

November 24, 1999, 9:20am

Hello there to the students and staff of Winthrop and Doyon Schools, and particularly to the

classes of Ms. Kelly. Ms. Watson, Mr. Beal, Ms. O'Reilly and Ms. O'Brien!!

PRESENT POSITION: 50 degrees South Latitude, 154 degrees East Longtitude

DIRECTION HEADING: 100 degrees (South East)

SHIP SPEED: 15 knots

DISTANCE FROM TASMANIA: 533 nautical miles

DISTANCE TO MACQUARIE ISLAND: 301 nautical miles

AIR TEMPERATURE: 7.5 degrees Celsius

WATER TEMPERATURE: 8.9 degrees Celsius

WIND SPEED: 15.5 knots

Hello all. I'm back!! Some of you may remember me from last year. I'm the

crazy idiot who decided it would be a good idea to go to Antarctica by ship

to help with a survey of seals. Well guess what, I'm doing it again!

Let me tell you about myself. My name is Tim and I live in Australia, but

grew up in America (in New York), and so have been to Massachussetts many

times. I met your librarian, Ms Kelly, while whale watching last year, and

so I thought it would be fun to keep in touch while I was in Antarctica.

I know that many of the things that interest me, like whales and the sea,

will probably also interest you because Massachussetts is a great place to

see whales and has a very long and distinguished history of seafaring.

Last year I also went to Antarctica and sent back emails from there. You

can see these emails, plus lots and lots of photos from that voyage on my

website, which is at: http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/Canopy/2681 under

"1998 Antarctic Voyage". There is also a small amount of information on

this year's voyage on the website under "New Antarctic Voyage (1999)".

There is someone else very important that I really must introduce, he is

Charlie Chowder the Clam. He was sent to me by Winthrop School last year to

join me on the voyage. Since then he has travelled the world doing very

important research on the role of clams in world history and their

superiority over humans. You can see his adventures on the above website.

Enough about that, let me tell you about our trip. Well we all assembled in

Hobart, which is the capital of Tasmania, the most southern state in

Australia. We left on our ship, the Aurora Australis two days ago. There

was a big party as we left the harbour. I share a cabin with a scientist

called Simon, who studies krill, which are like little shrimp. Every animal

in Antarctica depends on krill in one way or another, so it's very

important.

We were supposed to be heading straight down to the Antarctic Continent, but

there was an accident on one of Australia's Antarctic bases, called Mawson.

A scientist fell down a crevasse, which is a deep hole in a glacier. She

was injured and so the ship had to turn around to pick her up. This means

that the Antarctic Division have had to change the schedule. So, luckily

for us, it means we will be going to Macquarie Island ("Macca") first, to

drop off supplies to the base there. This is fantastic news for us because

this island is a real paradise for wildlife, with MILLIONS of penguins,

seals, albatrosses and whales all around it. YIPPEE!!!!

The Antarctic continent is surrounded by an ocean, called the Southern

Ocean. There is a giant ocean current that goes round and round the

continent clockwise (from west to east). This Circumpolar Current isolates

Antarctica from the rest of the world and helps to keep it cold. The cold

water of the Antarctic meets the warmer water from the north at around 55

degrees south latitude. There are often great fog banks there, and the sea

there is very rich in life, and that explains why there is so much life on

Macca (Australians love nicknames). Islands that are near the Convergence

are called Sub-Antarctic and do not get covered in ice in winter, but still

get pretty cold!

You are probably wondering just why I am going there in the first place.

Well firstly because it's cool!! No, I don't just mean it's cold, I mean

it's interesting. I am going there to help with a seal survey. This

basically means that we will be counting how many seals and penguins there

are of the different species. The reason we do this is to try and

understand how the whole ecosystem works. You see because Antarctica is so

remote, people don't really understand just how it all works yet, and we

have to know this to stop it being screwed up by us humans doing things like

fishing too much. If for instance we were to take out too many fish, it

would first affect the smaller species that feed on them, but would

eventually affect every species, so we must be careful and understand will

happen before we do something.

I hope this all makes sense. Ask your teachers if you don't understand what

I'm talking about. Also you can have a look at last year's emails I sent

for some background information. If you want to ask me any questions, you

can email them to me.

Have fun! Bye for now.

Tim