A short update while still in port

Hello, everyone.

I haven't updated for a while, cause I was super busy trying to get ready. It is not easy in so many ways. I am also spreading myself way too thin trying to organize my own program while helping out my colleagues.

The ship was never meant to have a large science group like ours and even the small amounts of space they have have not been properly maintained. Science instruments the ship nominally has are mostly in a very bad condition. Again, cause there is nobody to take care of it and somehow when people do use them they don't clean up after themselves, don't drain salty water off to prevent rusting and so on. 

The crew for the most part are extremely accommodating, I have a lot of THANK YOUs to give and need to seriously stock up on thank you bottles and thank you cigarette packs ;). But unfortunately sometimes there is a limit on what they can do... The ship will not magically become bigger and the hold is not going to magically get an inside door.

The best word to describe the whole expedition is "opportunistic". I have to say this word worries me. It might result in good science, but most likely it will result in a lot of lost opportunities. Something we could have done along the way, but did not have enough preparation/planning to make it happen. Normally such cruises have a few years to prepare, this one was put together under an extremely tight schedule. Oh well...

NOTE TO MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY: Please don't be worried about safety, I am talking about lost science opportunities. We will be keeping as safe as we can in the Southern Ocean and I do have trust in the crew/operations people.

Another point I wanted to make is a language/cultural barrier. I tried to be really helpful to many-many people, but I am just one and somehow a lot of times I'm getting ignored by some important people, who should have listened. One thing I'm trying to explain over and over again is a cultural difference. In Russian culture we all grew up to answer NO to a question we don't quite understand/know how to answer. So my fellow colleagues and upper management have been getting a lot of unreasonable NOs. I can see how frustrating it can be, I just wish some of them would have taken my advise earlier. Knowing how to ask "but why" is a skill, which I have been offering to share for a few months now. However, I am a single person running my own science project, I can not solve too many issues at once. I could have solved a lot more early on. Another oh well... 

What I am trying to say I guess is this. On a Russian ship sometimes NO does mean NO, but sometimes NO can be negotiated to a YES under specific conditions. We can not risk the safety of people, but we are willingly going to the Southern Ocean to do science, so might as well try to negotiate getting the largest return possible. I am working really hard to make it happen.

On that note, I have to stop, cause we are leaving tomorrow and there's too many things to do.

Thanks for reading!
Masha

Akademik Tryoshnikov in Cape Town

Meanwhile Akademik Tryoshnikov made it to South Africa. This photo was taken by someone on the ship as they were approaching Cape Town:

The ship arrived early morning on December 15, 2016 and by lunchtime they cleared customs and docked at the premium spot at the Waterfront. Just a short walking distance to the touristy bit of Victoria Wharf, cafes, restaurants and hotels.

Swiss Polar Institute put up an educational/promotional display at the Waterfront, where people can learn about our upcoming expedition. There is even ski-doo on display - a rather funny looking machine in the middle of sunny summer wharf filled with tourists.

 Swiss shipping containers and a ski-doo. 

I had to pose on a ski-doo wearing a dress!

I went back to the Swiss house again today and ended up talking to tourists about the crazy work that I do. It was actually quite nice to talk to people, to answer questions about my work and just random questions about Antarctica. And since I am being all philosophical here I want to make an observation. It is amazing how much listening one needs to do in order to answer a question. Random questions asked by people usually had some stories, (mis)conceptions, personal interests and agendas behind them - unraveling them is extremely important before answering a question that  was asked.

Posing near the SPI container after answering questions.

After that we walked to the ship and worked till the sun set. 

First impressions of Cape Town now and then

My grandfather's journal entry about Cape Town is anticlimactic. This was the first country he ever visited outside the USSR and one would imagine that he was overwhelmed. Plus, South Africa was in the midst of apartheid, it would have been a very different experience to visit it back then. Instead of listing his impressions or feelings, Vitaly admits being overwhelmed. I am not going to translate it word by word, but basically it sums up to my grandfather’s frustration with their ship’s “political leader (aka KGB officer)” who failed to send letters home. 

13 декабря 1959 года

Южный Ледовитый океан

Район 55 градусов южной широты

С большим опозданием и без всякого энтузиазма возвращаюсь я к этой тетради, в которую не заглядывал уже больше недели.

Посетили Кейптаун. Впечатлений масса… О них можно было бы писать десятки страниц, они многогранны и разнообразны, имеют и положительные и (ещё больше) отрицательные стороны словом первые впечатления от заграницы, да ещё такой кондовой капиталистической – оглушает. Другим словом я затрудняюсь определить этот комплекс впечатлений. Запомнилось масса деталей, куча интересных (по крайней мере на мой взгляд) подробностей как о городе и его окрестностях, которые мы видели при подъезде на мыс Доброй Надежды через весь полуостров, так и о населяющих город людях, их одежде, привычках, некоторых мыслях… Конечно все это (или часть хотя бы) надо было бы обязательно записать, потому что детали забудутся, а общее впечатление может исказиться. Первое впечатление всегда самое полное и интересное, что больше не повторится.

И все же не могу, не поднимается перо все это описать. Испорчено впечатление, отравлено настроение, подорвано доверие, испорченные сложившиеся хорошие отношения между людьми. А всё из-за одного мерзавца, испортившего настроение полутораста человекам из экспедиции и экипажа судна, доставившего беспокойство им и их близким.

A SIDE NOTE FROM  MASHA IN 2016:

Communicating with family and friends from outside of the USSR was extremely difficult. All letters were censored and nobody was allowed to send letters directly, only "official diplomatic channels" were used. The USSR had no diplomatic relationship with South Africa back in 1959, so my grandfather's letters had no embassy to go through. The "political leader/KGB officer" was supposed to talk to the Czechoslovakian embassy and have them mail the letters back to Moscow, but somehow this did not happen in December of 1959. Considering that Vitaly could only send letters home from ports (i.e. once in a few months if he was lucky), one can understand his frustration and lack of enthusiasm to continue writing in his journal, which he considered a "very long letter to family and friends".

***

This frustration got me thinking about the luxury of social media nowadays. The first thing I did in South Africa was obtain a sim-card with an extensive data plan (BIG THANK YOU TO MY FRIENDS! Sim-cards are not so easy to obtain for a foreigner in South Africa), which allows me to keep in touch with my family and friends all over the world. I send them pictures and notes about things I see, and it makes my experiences traveling around Cape Town so much more meaningful. And this is exactly what my grandfather was lacking. I feel so lucky! 

***
So not to leave this post similarly anticlimactic, I will write about some of my first impressions of Cape Town below. 

Flying into Cape Town I was completely smitten by Table Mountain: 

View of Cape Town and the gorgeous Table Mountain from my airplane window

Table mountain is everywhere:

My first trip to the beach with my new south african friends. 
Sunset beach provides great views of Table Mountain. The water was unexpectedly cold, reminded me of swimming in San Francisco bay without a wet suit. I basically ran in and ran out, just enough to mess up my hair ;).

So since Table Mountain was calling me from everywhere, naturally I had to go on top of it and look around:

This is the first view you see as you get off the cable car - featuring Lion's Head, Signal hill and parts of Cape Town city. The island you see off the bay is called Robben island the most infamous political prison in South Africa. This is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. The prison is now a museum.

This picture is taken looking just the west of the previous view. There are multiple hiking paths coming to the top of Table Mountain, something to keep in mind for the time my knee completely heals up. Devil's peak is the name of the neighboring mountain currently in the clouds - hiking Devil's peak has been the top one hiking recommendation from many friends. Next time!

This is a view due west from the top of Table Mountain, featuring 

Camps Bay suburb and beach - a very nice place by the looks of it.

 Looking south on a cloud-free day one can see the tip of the peninsula - Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. It is somewhat obscured by clouds in my picture. That area is a national park, featuring magnificent views and many hiking trails of its own.

Table Mountain is dissected in the middle by a narrow canyon, this is where one the hiking trails, Patteklip Gorge comes up. 

I don't know the name of this flower, but it looked like a real trooper surviving high winds atop Table Mountain. 

There is a lot a lot more to describe and to see in Cape Town besides Table Mountain, but this post is getting too long as it is. I will write up a story about a drive to the Cape of Good Hope, but for now let me just show you a panoramic view from the top. Breathtaking:

Panoramic view from atop Table mountain overlooking Cape Town.

Thanks for reading!
Masha

A few words about our science

This is schematic map of our upcoming expedition. We will be circumnavigating the Southern Ocean, stopping at several sub-Antarctic islands. Our cruise will consist of three legs:

Leg 1: Cape Town, South Africa to Hobart, Australia

Leg 2: Hobart to Punta Arenas, Chile

Leg 3: Punta Arenas to Cape Town

I will be participating in all three legs, which means about three months at sea. I am excited and terrified at the same time. It would be an unforgettable journey for sure. We have rather ambitious scientific objectives to fulfill, I am sure many of them will get somewhat modified and shaped to suite the existing conditions.

Our project for this cruise is interdisciplinary. Here's a short summary of our project on the Swiss Polar Institute website.

My primary science responsibilities for the field data collection will be two-fold:

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

I/we will be collecting meteorological data on the snow particle distribution. We will install several sensors to capture this, plus I will take macro-photos of snow flakes to determine particle distribution and crystal structure. This part of my work I usually entitle "taking pictures of snowflakes".  This line works great at social gatherings, believe me :).

We are also collaborating with other atmospheric scientist measuring weather conditions, collecting precipitation samples and such. In expeditions like that all collected data are usually shared among interested science groups, so that each person can concentrate on maintaining their own instruments and obtaining in situ data of the best quality.

We will also be launching radiosondes collecting information about the vertical profile of the atmosphere. We will do semi-regular launches, but also hope to get several profiles crossing atmospheric river events. My colleague Irina and I identified the first atmospheric river reaching Antarctic continent and we are keen to experience an event like this and gather more data. 

Here's a link to our first paper on atmospheric rivers if anyone is interested. 

OCEANOGRAPHY 

I/we will be measuring the saltiness of the Southern Ocean. We are primarily interested in the mixed (top) layer, but we will run all the salinity analysis for everyone else's needs as part of our contribution to the scientific effort of the expedition.

On top of that we will be collecting water samples from the mixed (top) layer of the Southern Ocean for isotope analysis back on land.  Upon our return we will analyze these samples in the lab at British Geological Survey (BIG THANKS!) to determine the sources of water, particularly focusing on abnormally fresh water sources. The goal and the title of our project is to determine the sources of recent freshening of the mixed layers of the Southern Ocean.

We will be deploying six SOCCOM floats - unique long-term laboratories autonomously reporting and collecting physical and chemical data from the Southern Ocean. Deploying these floats will be an adventure and I will try to write more about it as it unfolds.

My one sentence response on what else I will be doing on the cruise besides taking pictures of snowflakes is that I will finally "become an oceanographer".

Ok, this is the end of the science update. Here are a few images for everyone to get excited again:

Me by the docked Akademik Tryoshnikov in Bremerhaven.

Irina on the main deck of Tryoshnikov as it is about to leave the port.

The ship is currently sailing from Bremerhaven, Germany to Cape Town. There is a summer school on-board the ship and this part of the journey is called LEG ZERO. I am (well all of us really are) particularly grateful to students and scientists onboard testing our equipment and identifying potential problems. Even though my inbox everyday is filled with disaster emails, it's better to know now and come up with solutions.

Our hard-working students Nastya and Franzi, Irina and I saying the last-good byes in Bremerhaven. 

First look at Tryoshnikov

Hello,

I finally figured out the platform for my upcoming blog.

A week ago I went to Bremerhaven, where I saw Akademik Tryoshnikov for the first time:

The weather was pretty gloomy and I have to say it was mostly raining during the week I spent in Bremerhaven.

The ship was much smaller inside than I expected, I have been on a cruise on Akademik Fedorov before and I was amazed how much smaller Akademik Tryohsnikov is. There's no big room - even the mess is quite small and consists of two semi-attached rooms. The lab space is also extremely limited, so we will become really close with all our colleagues during the cruise. But the thing that impressed me the most was the hold(трюм) - as the only access to it was through the vertical ladder from the outside (!):

After some deliberations though our science cargo was put into another hold, which has very steep stairs, but they are covered from rain and have railings. So all in all even the scariest part somehow became less scary.

My colleague Irina and I were busy finding space for our atmospheric equipment, while waiting for the ocean equipment to turn up. At the end of the day we were able to locate and secure all our cargo and find suitable places for the future instrument installation as well as cozy inside space for data loggers.

My friends probably know already how many unfortunate things happened to me in Bremerhaven, with me falling off a bike and my computer dying unexpectedly. But I survived the trip and came out stronger on the other side. The most amazing thing for me in adventures like this are always people I meet and connections I build. I am happy to report that while short and not quite "on board" - Bremerhaven trip was really productive in that regard. I look forward to reuniting with some of these wonderful people in Cape Town in a few weeks.

Till later,
Masha