NATHANIEL B. PALMER VISITS PALMER STATION

The icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer just visited Palmer Station.  Remember this ship from Punta Arenas?  It was docked in the harbor as I left on the Laurence M. Gould.  A group of scientists boarded the Nathaniel B. Palmer for a research cruise just after we left to cross the Drake Passage.  Their trip has run into some difficulties.  Sea ice forms around Antarctica each winter and makes the continent double in size!!  The sea ice melts away in summer, but this summer there are spots where not as much melting occured.  The scientists on the Nathaniel B. Palmer wanted to go to one of these areas (where a HUGE ice glacier fell into the ocean a few years ago), but there was too much ice for them to safely lower and recover their instruments.  So, they have come to work in the waters near Palmer Station, where there sea ice has melted away.  I took this picture around 11pm, when four scientists were returning to the ship after a day at Palmer Station.  This is another example of how the scientific experiments you work so hard to plan often need to be changed.  Sometimes, the end result is even better than you could have expected if you had planned it!