1. Rothera Station

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2. Adelie penguins

3. Our flight to Stanley

From: Gerard McCarthy
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:27
Subject: Final report

Hi there,

We have reached the end of the cruise. Since I last spoke to you, we have completed all the science on the cruise and are now on the homeward journey. There was two final pieces of science to finish before we reached our final destination of the British Antarctic base at Rothera. Just after crossing the Antarctic Circle, we completed a CTD section on Marguerite Bay. This was much like the work we did in Drake Passage, but over a much smaller distance and in much shallower water. Hugh Venables, who has just completed his PhD at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and now works for the British Antarctic Survey, took over as PSO (Principal Scientific Officer) for this section of the cruise.

We were actually in sight of the base at Rothera when we stopped for the last piece of research work. Many of the people on board were only on the ship to reach Rothera to spend the summer or longer there. These people came from all walks of life and some were, by this stage, getting frustrated with all the delays to perform CTD stations! This time the water samples collected in the Niskin bottles would be used to test for oxygen, rather than salinity. This is part of an ongoing survey of the oxygen isotope levels around Rothera - called RATS, short for RotherA Time Series.

We got to spend a few days around the base at Rothera but were not allowed to go any farther than the base for safety reasons. During this time we saw Weddell seals and Adelie penguins. A few lucky people saw some Orcas or Killer Whales in the bay.

To be honest, I was sad to reach Rothera as I knew this was the end of the trip. Now we are back in the Falkland Islands preparing to fly back to the UK for Christmas. We are happy with ourselves that we had a successful scientific cruise and we are looking forward to being home for Christmas.

Gerard