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1. Mare Channel

2. JCR at Damoy

3. Damoy Kitchen

4. Demob Team

From: Ben Ward
Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2007 20:58
Subject: Damoy

Hello again,

It's been a while since I wrote, and in that time we have finished our CTD transects and are now safely moored at Rothera Research Station. It has been a relatively relaxing few days since we finished, with some data to process and a few water samples to analyse as we enjoyed a scenic cruise down the Antarctic Peninsula.

A couple of days ago the ship stopped off at the tiny and very remote base of Damoy. It was established in 1975 as a refuge point and transit station. If Rothera was isolated by pack ice, then supplies would be dropped at Damoy and then shuttled on by light aircraft. These days the ice-breaking James Clark Ross can bash its way through pretty much anything up to a metre thick, and so Damoy is no longer used. We stopped off this week to make the site safe and to close it up. We took away things like old distress flares and even dug out some really retro 1970s snowmobiles. The base is now closed, with the windows shuttered and of course a few health and safety signs, but it remains unlocked so it is available as a refuge in the bleak surroundings.

After Damoy we sailed on to a Ukrainian research station, visited by Gerard and Graham. Then it was down to Rothera. After nearly three weeks on the ship, a few people were keen to get to there new home, but us oceanographers made them wait just a little bit longer.

The sea ice coverage in the region can be very different from one year to the next, and the people at the British Antarctic Survey want to know why. One theory is that salty and warm water (at least relatively so at 1-2 degrees C) is surging up a a deep trench in Marguerite Bay, just south of Rothera. We lowered 9 CTDs across the north end of the bay to find out where the warmer water is, and where it is going. It's been very clear of ice in Rothera this year, so hopefully we'll find the reasons why when we start to look at the data.

Goodbye for now,

Ben