The final stretch by Lauren

We are in the final stretch of the cruise! Consistent with winter in the Southern Ocean, we’ve encountered several high-wind storms this week. Wave conditions were occasionally too high to deploy the CTD Rosette, but it has given is a chance to make progress on cruise documentation. Each person who sampled something is responsible for documenting the sampled property! Some of the CTD students are documenting oxygen/nitrogen isotopes, for example.

Noon today brought clear, calm seas and we were excited to get back to CTD Rosette deployment.   Here is a photo expressing our excitement at the CTD console:

As you can see, we have a bit of an art gallery above the console. Some of the field scientists (i.e. the inorganic carbon, organic carbon, and CFC groups) frequently visit us to inspect the depth of the chlorophyll maximum, oxygen minimum, and mixed layer. One day (day 43 perhaps?) we began asking them for decorations…and they delivered!  The CTD corner is now covered in whales, origami, a few sketches, and a lovely garland made by the day shift marine technician (MT).

Looking ahead, we are about to start a rapid sequence of stations near the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Everyone is thrilled for the final push, before we close science and head north to Punta Arenas.