A23A: The Filchner Ice Shelf once had a pointed edge. This is sometimes referred to as the “Horn von Druzhnaya“ - named after a former Russian summer camp which was sited there. The horn broke off back in 1986 and disintegrated into three large fragments that drifted offshore. The two smaller fragments (A22+A24) embarked on a journey around Antarctica and ‘merged’ with the Southern Ocean. The largest fragment A23A ran aground on Berkner Bank. This iceberg is still resting there today, after having been labelled ‘A23A’ for identification purposes.
The volume of A23A comprises twice the volume of annual snow fall over Antarctica. Assuming that on average each German citizen uses 120 litres of fresh water per day, A23A (area: ca. 65x74 km, height: ca. 300 m, density: 0.9 g/ccm) would be able to supply Germany with drink water for 371 years. .
The favourite gear of the chief scientist is the CTD. It is always a joy, after successful sampling of 288 litres of Southern Ocean water, to watch half a dozen scientists gather around the gear and fill small clean glass bottles with sea water for various analyses in the laboratories on board and at home. All this activity is coordinated and supervised by a long-term serving distinguished oceanographer, who takes care that each droplet ends up in the correct sample bottle.
Work is also going on during transits, such as the transit to Rønne Depot. Grateful beneficiaries are science disciplines that are able to carry out analyses already on board. In this context, freshly caught fishes are important material for complex investigations. Eco physiologists study the material and energy budget of animals in detail, i.e. even at the scale of individual cells and their micro-power plants. Most inhabitants of the sea react on the current environmental changes in the Ocean. The result is stress, migration and decrease in population. The eco physiologists observe these changes and want to investigate why the organisms are influenced by these changes, and thus provide an important contribution to a better understanding of the entire ecosystem.
After a 3-day break at the Rønne Ice Shelf the ship has lost weight: 159 tons, to be precise. We have supplied 169 tons of fuel which was unloaded in barrels or pumped from our tanks into bladders and received 10 tons of used up scientific remains. The collaboration with the colleagues from BAS (= British Antarctic Survey) is as smooth as the surface of blue ice. The fuel will mainly be used for the operation of vehicles and for creating hot water required for sub-ice shelf drilling about 500 km upstream from the ice shelf edge. South of Berkner Island AWI and BAS are working together on a project, whose main scientific objective is a better understanding of climate-ocean-ice interactions. These interactions are very important for the future of the Filchner-Rønne Ice Shelf and the influence on a future sea-level rise.
Scientific ship-board party and crew send their best regards!
