No. 19 - Foot of a Glacier
We went to the southeast side of Elephant where two huge glaciers
drain off the top of the 50-mile long massive island and plunge into
the sea. We put the trawl over at three stations in the area and came
up with a few fish and tons of mud, bryozoan skeletons, and dense,
heavy sponges -- should have expected something like that at the foot
of a glacier. There wasn't any sense in doing more stations and
reaffirming what we already knew, but there was no where else to go.
The wind never really gave up, steady at 30-35 knots out of the west.
This morning we set the trawl along the edge of a deep channel between
Elephant and Clarence Islands. The current runs strong and deep
between these islands and the bottom is scoured. Again we found few
fish, some brittle stars and many very hardy sponges. We poked around
to the north side of Elephant but the wind was approaching 50 knots,
gusting to 60, and a large ground swell was growing bigger. I gave up
and we went to the back side of Clarence.
Clarence Island is a 25-mile long, narrow triangle with its point
sticking north up into Drake's Passage. It's the top of a very steep
mountain ridge rising almost vertically from the sea's edge to 6,000
feet. Running north and south it presents a formidable barrier to a
westerly gale. It's impossible to anchor next to the island because
the sides are so steep, but we found a large area of relatively calm
water on the back side. There are some very strange meteorological
conditions here as well. As we got further into the lee, air pressure
dropped and the temperature warmed to an amazing 57 degrees.
Lenticular clouds and other bizarre shapes are continuously forming in
the eddies above us that are created as the wind rushes over and
around Clarence. Thick, dark portions of the sky alternate with open
blue areas. It is truly surreal.
We'll stick our nose out into the maelstrom early tomorrow morning.
If we can work we will go north of Elephant; if not we'll snug up
close against one of the glaciers on the southeast side. And wait.
-Roger