A very large iceberg, measuring 78 kilometres long and 39 kilometres wide has broken off from the Mertz Glacier Tongue in the Australian Antarctic Territory after another iceberg measuring 97 kilometres long (B9B) collided with it around the 12th of February. The event was discovered by Australian and French researchers during a joint study that began in 2007 during the International Polar Year.

Photo: Neil Young

Two months can be a long time. On this cruise the days seemed to pass in minutes and so much happened. Until last night we sampled 1000 m sediment. We made a way of about 9950 NM. The last miles to Wellington we are compared by a lot of birds, especially the albatross likes to swim near the ship during the station work.

The calm stormy seas have been very common during this expedition. So much so that we have had to abandon our cruise track once and most other times to alter station plans working around the weather. The constant battering of the waves against the ship has also demanded a sleeping manner of heaving, tossing and turning in bed much to the chagrin of a much-required rest after a long day or night’s work. Popular inkling labors on a ‘such-is-life-at-sea’ phrase and/or ‘such-is-the-Southern-Ocean’!