Arrival, preparation and setting sail

Hello and welcome to the journal of the GENTOO cruise aboard RRS James Clark Ross (JCR). We are currently steaming south through Drake Passage, renowned for being some of the roughest seas on the planet. It's not been too bad so far though, although a few of us are taking some time to get our sea legs! The constant rolling is hard to get used to: simple tasks like walking up stairs, making cups of tea, and even sitting at a computer can be rather challenging when the whole world is constantly tilting one way or another.

The first of the science team arrived on Monday after the long and slightly tedious Ministry of Defence flight from Brize Norton via Ascension Island. We have been fairly busy unpacking bits of scientific equipment, putting them together and testing them. The Seagliders that are going to form a large part of this mission have been particularly time-consuming. We plan to deploy at least three gliders in the Weddell Sea starting on Monday morning.

Seaglider on the deck of the JCR

Alongside mobilising the ship, those who arrived early managed to get out and see a bit of the Falkland isles - they are somewhat like the remote parts of Scotland, only with added landmines (an unfortunate relic of the war) and penguins! There are four types of penguins on the Falklands: King, Rockhopper, Magellanic and Gentoo (the penguins that gave our cruise its name). We went out to see the largest colony of King Penguins outside of South Georgia, at Volunteer Point, where there are literally thousands of them, looking rather out of place in the grassy landscape. Volunteer beach is a beautiful place too, pristine white sands and a turquoise sea that is reminiscent of the Carribean, although when we were there the icy winds and rain reminded us of how close we are to the Antarctic. The weather on the Falklands is even more variable than in the UK; we had 25 degree sunshine (we got sunburnt) one day, then 10 degrees and raining the next.

King penguin at Volunteer Point

We are all now doing the final bits of preparation before the science begins in earnest: preparing logbooks, learning how to use the software needed to process all the data, learning how to take water samples for analysis of various water properties, and making decisions as to where we are going to do the main body of the science. This is difficult due to a large patch of sea-ice near the deep end of where we would like to do our transect. We also have to decide on locations to test and deploy the gliders, as well as where to deploy the drifters and Argo floats. Whatever happens, it promises to be an exciting cruise!

Gentoo penguin

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