Animals are amazing. Yesterday we were at 81 degrees north latitude, and 73 degrees east longitude (look that up on a map). We have not seen land for days, and there is nothing out ahead of us but ocean, and eventually an ice-covered ocean. Yet we have seen birds flying around the ship daily. How many miles can they fly away from land? I guess they can “rest” on the water (and now the ship), but wow that is an impressive distance for relatively little wings. And some people actually saw porpoises swimming and jumping out of the water a couple days ago! Alena, a student onboard, took this photo of me trying to take a picture of the birds making use of the life boat.
I didn’t expect that you could update your blog so regularly! Even if I don’t understand everything, all the little anecdotes/stories you tell are very interesting. Thank you again for that!
(I’ve heard that you saw some dolphins, icebergs and a bear.. Some pictures to come? :-D)
Hi Claire, thanks for the comment! It is quite the process for me to get posts up every day, but I’m so excited to share the stories that it’s worth it. I hope you’re understanding a little more about the Arctic and climate than before? Yes, we’ve seen lots of icebergs and sea ice. It’s SO beautiful – and SO loud as the ship crunches through sea ice! There are a few cool pictures from today and the last couple days of sea ice. About dolphins and polar bears… yes, some people have seen them, but sadly not me yet. 🙁 I saw polar bear tracks though! No pictures of dolphins (they were too quick), but check today for polar bear pictures, and fingers crossed for more to come. Keep the questions coming!
Dear Lindsey! When you return home you will become a different person,you will be changed.Because you are so close to the the mysterys of the universe…Your articals are very interesting! Thank you!
Ludus, thank you for the lovely comment about my articles and about this grand experience. I believe you’re right, this experience is indescribable! I hope you continue to follow along with us!
Hi Lindsay,
I am not sure if this is the best way to post questions to you. If there is a better way, let me know.
My friend, Drew, is the one who got me hooked up with your blog, and I am following it with my class of 4th grade students. They have a few questions this morning (we have looked through the blog briefly and will spend more time with it in the coming days and weeks):
1. What have you learned so far from the experiments you have done?
2. Have you seen any animals that can’t be seen in the wild anywhere else?
3. Have you seen any penguins?
Thanks for doing the blog. My students are having a blast following along!
Hi Patti, I’m so glad you and your students are having fun following the blog! Here are answers to your questions:
1. Many of the experiments so far (like deploying instruments a couple miles deep into the water to take water samples and measure salt content, temperature, pressure, current, and life forms like phytoplankton in the water) have been in “data gathering” mode. I’ll keep you posted on results, but a lot of these experiments will also be continued back at everyone’s labs back home too!
2. Some people onboard (not me yet, sadly) have seen the wild animal that we all most want to see while we’re here: polar bears – I really want to see one myself though! A day or two ago I posted one of the better pictures we have so far of polar bears, so you can see that. We have also seen seals in the water (and bones on ice from a seal that was a polar bear’s dinner), little fish along the edge of the ice as it cracks as the ship passes by, and a few kinds of birds that must have flown an amazing distance to get here! (You can see more about birds if you look back a couple days on the blog to one of the “Posts from a Scientist”)
3. I’m glad they asked about penguins, because many people don’t realize that penguins only live in the far south of the Earth, and polar bears only live in the far north of the Earth. So penguins and polar bears would never actually meet in the wild!
And I’ll say hi to Drew for you!