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Joe is currently on his way to Antarctica on a scientific expedition related to his thesis work.
General Information about my experiences:
Current Thesis Topic: For more information about cool stuff that I have done, view my resumé.
Hobart, Tasmania Joe Tegeder [tegeder@hotmail.com] 12/1/01
Hello everyone, After a long few days, I've arrived. This place is very nice. Where to begin, .... First off, I fly out of Gulfport to Atlanta. Delta Airlines could not do diddly squat for me except check my bag through to Melbourne. So when I arrived in Atlanta, I had to go to the American counter to get my boarding passes for the rest of my trip. Well, I came to find out that I needed a visa to enter Australia. No one that is going on this trip new about it...in fact, I specifically asked that question at one point many months ago. Anyway, since this occurrence was very odd in Atlanta, the nice lady behind the counter had to learn from a computer print out (which by the way American Airlines is still using Dot matrix...get into the new century). After about an hour, angry passengers waiting behind me and the third and final boarding call for my flight to Dallas, she got the Visa. Now, I'm off to Dallas. I get to Dallas and Try to get the rest of my Boarding passes....yep, not even Atlanta could give me passes for Quantus. Well, they eventually do it. So, By the time I got to LAX, I was pretty tired. I was going to have a few of you (Karie, Ang and possibly Richie) meet me at the airport, but due to security we said probably not a good idea. But what we did not realize was that every international passenger connecting at LAX must go back out and walk to the International terminal. This means that I had to go back through the security gates. Now, this was no big deal in Gulfport, but LAX....you could have put a sign out front saying San Diego Zoo and no one would have realized it. My god, the line for the gate was over 300 yards long and took over an hour to get through it. See, you guys could have stood in line with me. It was not to bad, I talked to the nice Sydney couple that were on there way home from a Hawaiian cruise of all things. By the way, have I mentioned the National Guardsmen w/ big guns...yup but I only saw a few. After the very long plane trip from LAX (which by the way is the longest commercial flight there is...over 15 hrs) I was ready to arrive. Good thing about the trip was...5 movies (3 of which I had not seen) Seinfeld episode where George pees in shower and the news...oh, did I mention the hot blond Australian Girl two rows back. Why is it that they never sit next to me? Also, Quantas...best airlines around. People very nice, food pretty good, roomy...sort of and I finally after all of these years scored one of them free toothpaste/eye cover packs w/ a pair of socks. I'm getting off track, Melbourne, cleared customs but had to declare my grandmothers chocolate cookies. OOps. Tasmania is nice. It is overcast and about 55-60 ish. I'm currently staying at a hostel right downtown b/c it turns out that the dive shop never got my last e-mail w/ my flight info. Why you ask? Another story but the short end is that right before I left my office on Thursday, I discovered that my computer had a virus...why, the guy at the dive shop accidentally sent me that worm virus which that same day I received a warning from the USM Computer techs about. Wow. Who would have thought. So much for Hotmail checking attachments for viruses. I'm going now, I'm at a coffee shop in town and I want to go to the pub next door that is plastered (no pun intended) w/ Guinness stuff (Sorry Kevin, this one is for you). I'm being picked up tomorrow morning to go diving. Wish me luck, I'm praying that they will have a wet suit for my big butt otherwise, prepare for a short dive...very short. Bye for now and I'll try and send photo's later in the week. Mom, I'm ok...stop worrying please. This place is nicer and more friendly than anywhere in the U.S.
Miss you all and Kevin I'll see you on the 8th right? Your plane is due in at 12 noon right. If I can get away, I'll try and go meet you. Otherwise, take the shuttle into town, not a cab. The shuttle costs 8.40 Aust. dollars. Joe Hello
everyone, I wanted to let you all know that you should go to this
site. It is for the ship that I will be sailing on. On it, under
Gen Info, there is information about e-mailing me as well as a
section to track the ship while it is at sea. So beginning around
Dec. 11th you will be able to know where I am at be going to this
site. Dad, I know you will love this. Love you guys, Joe
Hello all, I will keep this short, running out of time, but I made it to Hobart.
Hello everyone, I hope all is well there. I'm still here in Hobart until the 11th. I moved on board the ship yesterday. To my surprise, I get the pleasure of rooming with my advisor and some other guy who has not showed up yet. The other amazing thing about this situation are the bunks. They are stacked on top of one another and I get the bottom. Actually I was assigned the top bunk but my advisor pulled rank and put me in the middle. Then last night, I heard from one of the cadets that for the Antarctic Circle crossing, you want to be as close to the floor as possible. So, I woke up this morning and moved to the bottom bunk. The other guy can squeeze into the middle bunk. Last night was very interesting. The coast guard took over a pub here in town called "Irish Murphy's". Three of the Coast Guard people were being promoted and it is tradition that when that happens, you take a portion of your increase in pay and you buy everyone onboard drinks. Therefore, ~$6000 U.S. Dollars was given to the bar and we drank until it was gone. Believe it or not, the bar tab was closed out by 10:30 pm. I'm kind of thinking that it was a lot less than 6000. But it was a lot and I got 4 drinks out of it. Go Coast Guard! I hope you all enjoy the pictures. I'm off to go work now. Take care and I'll be in touch.
Hello
everyone,
Hello everyone,
After a long few days, I've arrived. This place is very nice. Where to begin, ....
First off, I fly out of Gulfport to Atlanta. Delta Airlines could not do diddly squat for me except check my bag through to Melbourne. So when I arrived in Atlanta, I had to go to the American counter to get my boarding passes for the rest of my trip. Well, I came to find out that I needed a visa to enter Australia. No one that is going on this trip new about it...in fact, I specifically asked that question at one point many months ago. Anyway, since this occurrence was very odd in Atlanta, the nice lady behind the counter had to learn from a computer print out (which by the way American Airlines is still using Dot matrix...get into the new century). After about an hour, angry passengers waiting behind me and the third and final boarding call for my flight to Dallas, she got the Visa. Now, I'm off to Dallas. I get to Dallas and Try to get the rest of my Boarding passes....yep, not even Atlanta could give me passes for Quantus. Well, they eventually do it.
So, By the time I got to LAX, I was pretty tired. I was going to have a few of you (Karie, Ang and possibly Richie) meet me at the airport, but due to security we said probably not a good idea. But what we did not realize was that every international passenger connecting at LAX must go back out and walk to the International terminal. This means that I had to go back through the security gates. Now, this was no big deal in Gulfport, but LAX....you could have put a sign out front saying San Diego Zoo and no one would have realized it. My god, the line for the gate was over 300 yards long and took over an hour to get through it. See, you guys could have stood in line with me. It was not to bad, I talked to the nice Sydney couple that were on there way home from a Hawaiian cruise of all things. By the way, have I mentioned the National Guardsmen w/ big guns...yup but I only saw a few. After the very long plane trip from LAX (which by the way is the longest commercial flight there is...over 15 hrs) I was ready to arrive. Good thing about the trip was...5 movies (3 of which I had not seen) Sienfeld episode where George pees in shower and the news...oh, did I mention the hot blond Australian Girl two rows back..why is it that they never sit next to me? Also, Quanta...best airlines around. People very nice, food pretty good, roommy...sort of and I finally after all of these years scored one of them free toothpaste/eye cover packs w/ a pair of socks. I'm getting off track, Melbourne, cleared customs but had to declare my grandmothers chocolate cookies. OOps. Tasmania is nice. It is overcast and about 55-60 ish. I'm currently staying at a hostel right downtown b/c it turns out that the dive shop never got my last e-mail w/ my flight info. Why you ask? Another story but the short end is that right before I left my office on Thursday, I discovered that my computer had a virus...why, the guy at the dive shop accidentally sent me that worm virus which that same day I received a warning from the USM Computer techs about. Wow. Who would have thought. So much for Hotmail checking attachments for viruses.
I'm going now, I'm at a coffee shop in town and I want to go to the pub next door that is plastered (no pun intended) w/ Guiness stuff (Sorry Kevin, this one is for you). I'm being picked up tomorrow morning to go diving. Wish me luck, I'm praying that they will have a wet suit for my big butt otherwise, prepare for a short dive...very short. Bye for now and I'll try and send photo's later in the week. Mom, I'm ok...stop worrying please. This place is nicer and more friendly than anywhere in the U.S. Miss you all and Kevin I'll see you on the 8th right? Your plane is due in at 12 noon right. If I can get away, I'll try and go meet you. Otherwise, take the shuttle into town, not a cab. The shuttle costs 8.40 Aust. dollars.
Joe Hello I'm alive and loving it down here in Tasmania. The people and the country are fantastic. I went diving today off the Tasmanian Peninsula. Water Temp. was a balmy 14 C. I wore a 7 ml w/ a hood. It was actually 14 ml in the chest. For you non-divers, that's a pretty thick suit, just short of a dry suit. Due to weather conditions, the best divers were not accessible, but the dive captain found a place called Studio 1. It was named that b/c that is where they brought David Doubelet from National Geographic to shoot for the Jan. 97' issue. Funny thing about that is, that is the issue that made me want to dive here. I had no idea that this was the shop, or the place where it took place. It's kind of funny...at least I think so, because the only reason why I saw the magazine in the first place was because I needed a root canal done in Hilo, Hawaii. At the time, I was bummed but now, after today's dive, I'm excited. The dive was a kelp forest dive that had boulders with big crevices for animals to hide in. Due to the recent storms, the kelp had been torn away from their holdfasts and were floating over the bottom. As my buddy and I descended, I was thinking to myself, let me see the Weedy Sea Dragon and I'll be happy. First thing I did was to swim to a boulder and poke my head into a hole. To my delight, I find 2 lobsters. I show my dive buddy and she notices the 2 Gummy Sharks resting right below the lobsters. No, these will not eat you. They are only about 2-3 feet long. From there, I figured it would be best to swim to the deeper part of the bay and try to see the Sea Dragons (~18 meters...multiply by 3.3 ft for your conversion). Once we got there, I spot my first one. It was a Juvenile and was a brownish red with a tint of green (like the Macrocystis....the kelp). I was so happy that I was yelling to my buddy. Oops, that caused me to use up a lot of air. So, we began our trip to the shallower water. There, we saw another Sea Dragon. This one was over a foot long and had no eggs, therefore the dive boat captain told me that it was probably a female. The colors of red and purple on this thing are a sight to see. By this point, my buddy and I are getting pretty cold, so we begin ascending to our safety stop (5m for 3 min.). Here, I notice a iridescent blue milky thing wedged between the boulder and the kelp. It was a Lion's Main Jelly fish. Another great find. The important thing to know here is that this was a dive that we did b/c the conditions were bad at their other sites. If this was bad, I can only imagine what the wreck dive or the blue couldron is like. I highly recommend this country and the diving here for everyone. If you want to dive here, go to Eaglehawk Neck Dive center (it's on the web) and check it out. They even have lodging available for about $4.50 US a night. That is where I stayed. Sorry, but I have to go, my time is up. I'm currently in Hobart staying at the Pickled Frog Hostel. I'll be getting on the boat on the 8th. Sorry no photo's but no CD-Rom on this machine. Shortly, I promise. Hello Everyone, I am on the ship and we are on our way. We are expected to cross the Antarctic Circle in 6 days (hazing time for over 100 people on this trip) and rough bumpy weather is expected at any moment. The temperature outside is about 55-60 F and it is partly cloudy with the occasional drizzle. Lat. 43 21.49 S and 147 34.51 E. The last few days I have spent in port getting things put together and tied down for this crossing. For those of you who do not know, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the only body of water that circulates the globe. This means that sea conditions in general can be quite rough. I have never been sea sick before (knock on wood), but I put on a patch just in case. Since underway, we have taken part in a welcoming ceremony for ourselves, as well as for cadets from both the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the New Zealand Navy. Their welcome was pretty funny actually, because they were all wearing hats from their respective affiliations and they were given USCGS Polar Star Hats. You probably had to be there. After that, we did emergency drills, complete with trying on a survival suite, which is affectionately nicknamed as "the Gumby Suite". I may send a pic. of it eventually. As for pictures, I'm not really sure what the protocol is at this time. I am going to ask around a bit more before I go and send off photo's from the ship. As for replying to this message and any other message in the future, please do so. But it is important that you do not send me any attachments, large files and please delete the previous message and all of the addresses on your message. If you have any questions about it or would like to follow the ships cruise track, you can do a search for the U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker "The Polar Star" on the internet. When you get to the site, look under general information and there are e-mail directions, as well as an option for cruise track. That is about it for today. My sea sickness patch is making me drowsy. More later. Joe Hello Everyone I'm not sure if you guys received my message yesterday b/c it was sent back to me. Please let me know if you guys received it or not. It was about my first day on the ship. It seems as if my address book may be to large. How sad is that? Also, dad, please send me Cubie's e-mail again. It is also important that when you guys reply to this that you do not send any attachments or any of the previous message, including all of the addresses. Dad, that means you need to take your signature off (all 10 pages of it). The band width for the ship is very small. Anyway, things have been quite bumpy and last night there was even a small fire in the Incinerator room. We had to gather at our emergency stations (mine is in the Helicopter Hanger). After about 20 min. everything was secured and I went to bed. As for everything else, it is great. We are expected to arrive at our station in about 8 days or so. I'll keep you posted. I'm going now. Take care, Love and miss you all. Joe Hello Everyone I had a pretty good nights sleep last night. I through my pillow on the floor and I seemed to sleep better. I'm kind of thinking that I may be allergic to the down pillow, but I've never had any problems with my duvet at home. Maybe it's the disgusting old towel that I brought w/ me thinking that I would only use it for a few days (It's all I got now). Too bad for me. Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of re-calibrating my instruments for no reason at all. My advisor wanted us to. Have you ever tried dealing with water on a boat, with no gloves on, with a wind chill in the 40's. It is not very fun. Anyway, I think he may be satisfied with it now. He better be anyway. I asked one of the helicopter pilots afterwards where the plank was b/c either myself or someone else will be walking it shortly. If you can not tell, I'm a bit stressed at the moment. It's hard not to be when your advisor is around you every single moment of the day. As Gloria Gaynor would say, "I will survive"! Well, enough of that. You better write me back. One day out at sea is like 15 on land! Hello Mom and Dad, I'm doing ok. I caught a cold, but I think it is on it's way out. As for everything else, it is the usual trying to communicate with my advisor. Staying in the same room with him does not help much. I'm trying to enjoy this trip but I keep getting stressed out b/c of him. It is kind of crappy but I don't know what else to do about it. I'm hoping that things will improve over the next day or so. Well, I have to go fix some stuff that we changed yesterday for no reason at all. Talk with you soon. Love Joey
Hey dad and mom, I just wrote to mom, but I'll write again. First off, Kevin did make it the next day. He is on board. He had troubles getting out of Gulfport and Atlanta. Gulfport was for plane problems and in Atlanta a passenger started to smoke in his seat. Those problems caused him to miss everyone of his connections and he was forced to fly standby all the way to Hobart. As for where we are, our Lat. is 56 degrees 53 minutes South and the longitude is 167 degrees 52 minutes East. We are traveling South at about 16 knots. I'm going to check my laundry now. I'm hearing that we will cross the Circle on Sunday and we will not be "Hazed"....they prefer to call it a ceremony...yeah right! It should be a cold one. Love you guys, Joe
Hello everyone, I just wanted to send a quick message before I head off to bed. I'm at 57 degrees 23' S and 168 degrees 04' E. We are heading South at about 15 knots. The water temp. is ~ 6.5 C and salinity is ~34. We have yet to see any ice, penguins or whales. However, we have experienced some rolls over 30 degrees. For this crossing, they are saying that it is kind of mild. However, we have yet to finish it, so who knows what is ahead of us. We are also seeing a lot of sea birds. Some of those are the Wondering, Royal, and Black Browed Albatross, the Cape Petral and Plians (I may be spelling those wrong). Anyway, the Wondering Albatross are pretty neat because their wing spans are over 10 feet. Close to double that of the Laysan Albatross on Midway Atoll. We are expected to cross the Antarctic Circle on Sunday and I am told that we will not be "HAZED". However, we will be going through a "CEREMONY"!!!!!! Semantics!!! I'm just hoping to get by with my hair on my head and no frost bite. I also just used the gym on the boat for the first time. It was great. It is better than the gym at my apartment complex and possibly better than my high school gym. It was great to ride a stationary bike while doing a 30 degree roll. It was like going around a corner, but not having to worry about wiping out. Fun Stuff. By the way, some of you may have been experiencing difficulties with sending me messages directly to the jtegeder@sci.uscoastguard. (whatever I told you). Apparently it is not working, but if you just hit reply to this message, it will work. I'm off to get my laundry and go to bed. Take care and I hope you all are doing well. Joe Tegeder P.S. I promise that I will attempt to send pictures tomorrow or in the next few days. I keep leaving my camera in my room.
Good Day everyone, from 173 degrees 23 ' E and 67 degrees S. That's right, South of the Circle! I hope this message finds you doing well. I am fine and enjoying the cold weather for a change. We moved right on into icy areas yesterday (not the Ross Ice Shelf). On our way, we saw two Humpbacks (not me of course), two seals, one loan Emperor Penguin, and 6 Adelie Penguins. The penguins are really neat. The look and act like you see on TV...go figure. They are really humorous to watch. They kind of waddle around and wave at you and then jump into the water, only to pop out again a few minutes later (at least these did). Yesterday, we took our mooring equipment and instruments out of the hold and we will start putting them together this morning. We will probably start deploying them later this week sometime. However, tomorrow I get the pleasure of going through a traditional rights of passage that a sailor has to go through after crossing the Antarctic Circle. There are similar rights of passage for the Arctic Circle, the Equator, the X (which is the Equator at the date line), the Panama Canal, and there are probably more but I'm not that sure. Anyway, not exactly sure what I will be doing, but I'm not allowed to tell you anyways so I'll just tell you that I'm sure it will involve some sort of cold water...very cold water. Speaking of that, the surface water temp. is -1.48 C....that is about 30 F. For those of you who do not know, the freezing point of seawater is about -1.8 C. What else can I tell you, this place is pretty amazing. It is daylight all day long. Last night the sun was setting at 11:30 pm...it kind of stayed that way for a few hours, went down and then began to come back up. The other neat aspect of sea ice is the emerald green color of the water that surrounds some of the tiny bergs. To tell you the truth, words are hard to describe it. Currently, I'm drinking my Starbucks coffee (yep, there is a Starbucks everywhere, even on a Coast Guard Icebreaker). I'm off to work a little on my thesis before starting to put together moorings. Please keep in touch and I'll talk with you soon. Joe Tegeder
Hello it's me again, your newest member into the land of the Emperor Penguin! I can't tell you much but it involved being cold....very cold! The water temp. was a balmy 33 F and the air temp. was about 20 F (not with wind-chill). Currently, our Latitude is 70 degrees and 20' S and the Longitude is 175 degrees and 11' E. The sun is of course shining and there is ice as far as the eye can see. The ship is moving along at about 6-10 knots. The vessel cuts through the ice like it is nothing. Once the ship hits the ice, cracks form and shoot outwards at very high speeds. The ice then is pushed aside beneath or on top of other ice. If the ship is coming up to Penguins, they kind of get confused and begin to scurry and squawk in front of the boat. Pretty soon, they either jump into the water or they fall through one of the new cracks that was formed by the boat. As for the seals, mostly Crab Eater Seals, they tend to be a bit further from the ship. They kind of just lay there. If they move at all, it is kind of a slow giggle away from the ship. People on board have spotted both humpbacks and minke whales, but both times I was not fortunate enough to see them. In case you are wondering, these animals kind of hang out around the different cracks and openings within the sea ice. Earlier I said that there was ice as far as I could see, well all most. There are a lot of holes in it as well at this point. We will get to the thick ice in a week or so (Ross Ice Shelf). That is when the real ice breaking begins. There are also certain spots in this area where the surface water is beginning to freeze. The thin layer of ice holds together so well, that when the ships wake hits it, the energy causes the waves to form in the ice as well. It is a weird thing to see. Yesterday, I put together all of my instruments onto the mooring line. It was quite the ordeal. It is really neat though to see how it looks finally. Before this point, I' had only seen it on paper. So, the real test will be in two days when we put it in the water. I'm praying that my Fluorometers and computer work. What else to say, lots but I have been on the computer now for a long time. So I will say good night to you. I hope all is well where you are. Take care, With best regards, Joe Teg
Hello Mom and Dad, I did survive my initiation. I can't tell you very much about it, but I will tell you that the air temp. was 20 something, and water temp. was about 33. Brrrr... Dad, you would have really enjoyed one of the Naval Academy Midshipman onboard who broke out in a anti-army song during the festivities. I immediately thought about you and how you would enjoy the military aspect of this ship. Anyway, I'm going to try and send out a group e-mail now so I'll say more in it. Jimmy wrote me and said that he is looking forward to the trip to NC next week. Bye the way, Can you send me Oma's phone #? I do not have it here. I would like to call her/you on Christmas with a Satellite phone. Bye for now. Miss you and love you guys. Love Joey
Hello Dad & Mom I'm still fine. We are now moving in towards McMurdo to do the closer Mooring first b/c the chief scientist forgot an important chemical for the nutrient analyzer. Therefore, the helicopters will be taking off in a little while to go into the station and get some and bring it back here. The neat thing about that is that I gave my camera to one of the pilots to take pictures of the boat on their way back. Anyway, as for Danny and his e-mail, tell him that I think it is either "Jimmy" or "James" or maybe even "Jamesdavid". If that does not work, tell him just to sign up for another free account on Yahoo.com. Its easy. Yahoo will be a lot better than Hotmail. I have to get going. I'll try and call around Christmas. I miss and love you guys. Love Joey. Here's another. We're in the Ross Sea now at Lat. 76 deg. 34' S and Long. 172 deg. 23' E. We sent off the Helicopters a few hours ago to McMurdo station to get two grams of Copper Sulfate.....someone forgot it!!! I'm just glad that this $12000 mistake was not mine!!! That equals $6000 per gram....ouch. Not much more to report but we will be up for the next few days getting things together to put in the water. Bye, Joe Success Mooring one is deployed on the North side of Ross Island. I went out in a Landing Craft to configure the GPS on the mooring once it was in. It was very cold. While we were waiting for the entire thing to be in the water, a General Emergency alarm went off on the boat (Apparently there was smoke in the oil room or something). It was kind of funny b/c from my advantage point about 400 yards from the ship, all I saw was about 50 people run in all directions up on the flight deck. Anyway, everything was fine, but it was the 4th emergency of this trip. Not sure what that means. The Coast Guard though are very proficient and "diligent" at getting problems solved. It is very interesting b/c the average age on the ship is probably 22. Ok, it is probably more like 32 but there are a lot of younger people that are very professional. I'm going to go now. My toes are still numb. We have a great view of the Volcano (Mt. Arimis on Ross Island) and it is of course sunny out. Our lat. is 76 degrees and 59' S and our Long. is 171 degrees 59.78' E . Miss you guys, Love Joey
Hello everyone, These photo's were taken a few days ago. I gave my camera to one of the helicopter pilots to take photo's. The one of the mountain is of Mt. Erebus on Ross Island. If you look closely, you can see the ice edge of B-15 iceberg. This iceberg calved off sometime last year and it is larger than Rhode Island. We should be deploying our last mooring (the one with my instrumentation on it) sometime within the next day and we should be finished for Christmas. Yeah. For those that are interested, our current coordinates are 77 degrees 12.94' S and 176 degrees 39.125 E. We should be crossing the date line sometime tonight. Talk with you all soon and Merry Christmas. Joe Tegeder
December 3, 2001 Joe, News from Antarctica! This is your ship? Right? A true adventure in the spirit of the frontier. This truly is one of the last frontiers on our planet. You are a participant! In the Arena! Love, Dad http://www.antarctican.com/pages/news/newsfr.htm
Hello Everyone Here's some more photo's. Its 6 am here, I think that is 1 pm on the 22nd there EST. Anyway, I'm up working on my paper still and I am collecting underway chlorophyll samples for a girl that is out here from the Virginia Inst. of Marine Science. I thought that you guys would like more photo's. Here you go. Enjoy. By the way, our Lat is 76 35.867 S and Long. is 176 41.4 W . We are heading for the channel at McMurdo today. We are expected to arrive at McMurdo on Jan. 7th. There is over 30 miles of ice to go through. We may be hellicoptered off on Jan. 2nd and spend 5 days at McMurdo. We want to stay on board for the ice break in and we will also be able to get off on the ice on New Years Day to check out the animals and play around. By for now. Please give my best to everyone. Miss you all. Love Joey P.S. I am on the small boat. The buoy is the mooring that we put out.
Hello all, My instruments are deployed. Yeah. I went out in the small boat again to help with the deployment of the mooring from there. To do that, I had to get dressed up in this suit....Mustang Suit. I look like I'm an X-wing Fighter going to fight the darkside. The other photo is of the Mooring looking back on the Polar Star. Anyway, we have one more station to do for water samples and then we will begin breaking the ice channel into McMurdo. I am looking forward to that. Take care, Joe Tegeder
Hello All,
I'm so sorry
it did not work. We were able to sign up for 15 min. of phone
time today. The phone was patched through Seattle, so it would
have been really cheap for me, but all the circuits were busy
during my time. I was going to call and talk to Oma and Mom and
Dad, but no luck. It was very frustrating. Anyway, Merry
Christmas. The phone that I used the other day to talk to you mom
and dad went off this morning w/ my advisor. Yep, he's gone. I'm
free for 6 weeks. Yeah. Merry Christmas to me.
Anyway, all is
good. I've all ready had Starbuck's twice today. It is only open
for about 15 minutes here and there, so when it is, you have to
run for your money and get in-line. Surprisingly enough, there is
a lot of waiting in-line on this ship (meal time, ship store,
barber shop...which I did not/will not use, starbucks etc.).
It's lunch
time, bye for now. Merry Christmas.
I miss and
love you all.
Joey
\Hello Everyone I just got your message. I was unable to make any calls yesterday. I was a bit disappointed but its all right. We've hit the thicker ice now (+10 feet thick). We are inching a long. I think that we have only moved about 5 ship lengths in the last 3 days. Basically, the turbine engines are going full power and we back up about 250 feet and begin to go forward. As we hit the ice, the bow of the ship lifts up onto the ice and the boat comes to a halt. The weight of the ship breaks about one hundred feet or so of ice behind the bow. At this point, we back up and do it all again. We can not back up to far and gain more speed. If we did, the ship would probably beach itself on the ice and get stuck. Apparently we have all ready done that once....but I did not know it. Someone recently mentioned it to me.
I hope Jimmy, Danny and Melissa's
visit is going well. I did not get anyone else's e-mail as of
yet. They could be a float somewhere out there in e-mail land.
Well, write back and tell me what everyone got for Christmas.
I love you all. Give my best to
Mom, Sophie, Danny, Jimmy, Melissa, Grandma and Oma and anyone
else...oh and the cats.
Joe
Hello everyone, Since I'm not able to be there to say it in person, I figured that I would do it this way. Check the photo! When I called this morning, It was an unexpected surprise. I am very happy for the both of you. Since I am not there to tell you in person, I figured that I would do it through a photo. Please pick the one you like best. As for me, we are still inching along slowly. The ice is pretty thick in this area. Tonight, they will be sending divers down to check out the shaft so I should be able to get some good photo's of that. Not much else to report. I will be in touch. By the way, Jimmy, did you go and see "Fellowship of the Rings" yet? How was it? When I'm in New Zealand, I plan on seeing the movie and trying to take a tour of the filming locations. Bye for now. Again, Congrats Dan & Melissa. Please write to me with details on how you proposed. Love Joey
Hello everyone, I forgot to give you my coordinates. Here they are, Latitude: 77 degrees 42.707' S I hope your Christmas vacations are going well. Joe Hello Everyone
Mom & Dad, can you please tell
Danny that I never got his e-mail. I think he sent it to my
Hotmail account. If he did not do that, then who knows where it
is.
Anyway, I'm enclosing a photo of
Kevin and I serving pizza at dinner tonight. Once a week on
Saturdays, different sections of the ship cook the pizza dinner.
Tonight, it was the scientist's turn. But since we are only 4
now, we recruited the officers to help us out....or at least it
was something like that. Anyway, it was fun.
I hope all is still well. It was
great talking with you all this morning. I will write more in the
next few days. We can see McMurdo now, about 9 miles off in the
distance, but we are not there yet.'
Love and miss you guys.
Joey
Hi Mom and Dad,
12/31/2001
Thank you very much for the message.
It was very interesting to find out that there are 82" of snow in
Buffalo and that Jon is at Duke now. If you all do talk to them,
please give them my best. I believe I have Aunt Cheryl's address
here, so I think I will send her a postcard from Antarctica (assuming
that they are still at that address).
As for what I did today, absolutely
nothing. Well, I did something. I read a chapter of "The Fellowship
of the Ring" and then I went and watched part four of the planet of
the apes. We just got done w/ dinner (chicken fried steak, mashed
potatoes and cake.....chicken fried steak was okay, but not great).
We, Kevin and I are about to go down to the Science Library and watch
"Rio Bravo", a John Wayne Classic.
Then around 2300 the boat
is going to stop and we will have Ice Liberty and 2 beers each to
celebrate the coming of the new year....2002....scary.
Well, I get to be pushed into the new year before anyone else in my
family. Kind of neat. I have not given to much thought to my new
years resolutions, but I probably should soon.
While I'm thinking about it, dad, can
you please e-mail me any football results over the next few days. I'm
curious to see how the final 10 turns out in NCAA Football. Where
does U. TX. fit into it? Are they playing for the title or did they
get hosed and pushed to some lower bowl bid?
That is it from here. I wished I had
more to tell you. The weather outside is still sunny, and the wind
picked up so the wind chill is pretty cold....I imagine around 0 F.
As for animals, none in sight as of yet. I guess we are to far inland
right now. We are only about 5 miles from McMurdo. Lat. is 77 43'
07.6" S. Long. is 166 07' 09.6" E.
Kevin just came in and was wondering
if you can, can you save the ships track for us and print out a map
after we are done for us? Is that possible w/ the program you are
using? If not, don't worry about it. We were just curious.
Talk with you both later. I love and
miss you both. Have a great day tomorrow.
Love Joey January 2, 2002 I flew off the boat today by helicopter and landed in the middle of a mining colony....not really. I'm at McMurdo Station which resembles what one would think was a mining colony. I am scheduled to leave on Jan. 5th for Christchurch New Zealand. I'm looking forward to that, but it may be delayed b/c there is a bad storm that is supposed to hit tomorrow. Obviously, that will be exciting as well. Yes, I'm kind of sick like that. It's all an adventure to me. Anyway, here are some photo's of my day in McMurdo. #945 is the last pic. of me before I shaved off the beard. I have an after pic. but it is on another disk.More later. Joe Enough about that. I'm good. There are white out conditions today. A storm blew in, bringing high cold strong winds w/ blowing snow. The snow is only dusting the ground, but over the ice, everything is white. It is pretty fantastic. I don't see this much in Mississippi!!! I'm tired of e-mailing here. To check 9 messages takes over an hour b/c it is so freaking slow. I miss my Cable Modem!!! Love you guys. Joey
January 4, 2002 Hello Everyone, We are about to fly out, but I wanted to send photo's from this afternoon. My friends and I did a hike up to Observation hill (~742ft) and then we went down to the dive holes to see seals. I have to get going. Joe January 8, 2002 Hello We had a good day today. We went up to the top of a mountain today via a Gondola and then we rode down w/ a Mountain Bike. It was a lot of fun but now we are tired and will be waking up at 6 am to go to the North Island. I also wanted to let you know that I never got your last e-mail that you mentioned on the phone yesterday about our relatives #. Not sure what happened. Well, I'm off to read and go to bed. I love and miss you guys. Joey 1/22/02 Hello everyone, I know that this may be a lot of photo's but there is something here for each of you. The really green landscape is taken outside Hamilton New Zealand and it is where they filmed the shire portions for the Lord of the Rings movie. The picture of the giant troll over the movie theater is also for that movie.; That theater is where the movie premier was in December. Yes, I did see the 12:45 am showing there. The seats were very plush. The mountain right before those pictures is where Mt. Doom was shot. All the pictures shot before those were on the North Island up near Auckland. The pictures after the Troll was on the South Island taken over the last few days. The pictures of my friend Kevin and I sitting at a table with three other people is a very interesting story. When we went diving up in Poor Knights Island (those are the first few photo's), we met them at a cafe that we had lunch at. They were so fantastic that they invited us over to their house near Auckland for dinner one night. They had a beautiful home as you can see in a few of the pictures. Thanks Dave, Annete and Deb!!!! The pictures of me behind the wheel of the car is my first experience w/ driving on the left side of the road. I think I did pretty well. The cows were taken on the highway between Haast and Queenstown. They were just crossing the road...who knows where they were headed. Currently, my friends and I are in Queenstown for
a few days before returning to Christchurch to finish my trip back down
in Antarctica. We do not want this New Zealand experience to end but I
guess it has to at some point. It is a lovely country and I would highly
recommend it to everyone. I have to go, this has taken forever to get
set up. Take care all.
Joseph E. Tegeder
(Antarctic Adventure!)
1/27/02
Here is a photo from my Queenstown Nevis Bungy jump. It was over 400 feet, what a rush. I am going to attach other photo's as well to a few e-mail's b/c these files are too large to send by hotmail. Also, I wanted to let you all know that I will be flying back to Antarctica tomorrow (Jan. 29th). So I will not be able to check this e-mail account until after March 14th. Please send all other e-mails after Feb. 3rd to the following address on the ship jtegeder@sci.uscoastguard.net . Thanks, Joe
1/28/02 I will call you tomorrow when we get to McMurdo. I am in NZ right now w/ all of my cold weather stuff on and I am so hot. Got to go outside now. I'll call soon. Sorry about not calling. I miss you guys. Love, Joey 2/2/02 Hello everyone, I wanted to let you all know that I am back on board the Polar Star now. I will be at this address for another five weeks or so (around March 10th). Until that time, please send me messages at this address. We will spend the next five days retrieving our moorings and sampling stations. After that, my advisor and everyone else will go back to McMurdo. Myself and another friend will stay on board to help with another project that will sample stations between here and Valparaiso Chile. That project is called SOFeX (Southern Ocean Iron Enrichment Experiment). Basically, scientists from several universities have added a lot of Iron into the water in the Southern Ocean to see how it effects production. The boat that I am on will be the last ship to go along the enriched area to see the results. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. The super bowl is in two days and I look forward to seeing the game on tape (it will be flown out here from McMurdo right after the game is over). So please do not ruin the out come for me. Take care, Joe Tegeder 2/3/02 Hello Mom and Dad, I'm back on the boat again. We have made it back out of the channel and have successfully escorted the Greenwave (the supply ship for McMurdo) into McMurdo. Surrounding the ship right now is Beaufort Island and a large tabular iceberg. There are several smaller icebergs around as well w/ a few Adelie Penguins on them. Also, we just learned that McMurdo is fogged in. That means that the Admiral of the Coast Guard who flew out here yesterday with us can not be helicoptered off from here. That means that we may have to turn around and go back in. As far as science goes, that is bad....but that may mean another chance for me to see the Killer Whale Pods that everyone but me has seen. How frustrating is that? The Orcas are apparently at the mouth of the channel that we just made in the ice. I was watching yesterday but no luck. Besides all of that, things are well and are normal for ship board living. Last night was bingo night. I had no luck but it was still fun to hang out with the crew. Tonight is steak night. Should be a good meal. The food on the ship is ten times better than at McMurdo. I am really glad to be back here. That is it for me. Talk to you soon. Love Joey 2/6/02 Hello everyone, We recovered the mooring today which contained my instruments. Everything was intact but there were several major problems that occurred once we looked at the housing for the computer. First, there was a drop of water that got into the housing and on the data logger. The second problem, which may or may not have been a symptom of the first, was that data was only recorded for one day. It should have been more like 40-50 days. I'm really not sure what this means for my project or my masters degree. We have been collecting suspended particle samples along the way at several sites, and my advisor says that I can use this data but I don't know. It would require a lot more work because it is on a completely different subject and I would basically starting over. It is kind of a confusing situation. The thing is, I had no control over this happening...well not really anyway. The computer program was done by another student. I have no programming skills what so ever (And I think, hope, this is understood by my advisor). All I can say is that I did my best. I am in good spirits but a little disappointed. I'll write more in a few days. Miss you all. Love, Joey 2/8/02 Hello everyone, We have finished all of our work out here. The recovery of both moorings went well. Although it was really cold when we did it, no one was injured and only a few instruments fell victim to mother nature. One of such instruments just so happened to be the pressure housing for the data logger on my instruments. Sometime during the first day (out of 44) there was a short circuit, causing everything to stop working. Yes I was disappointed and fearing the worse regarding my thesis. However, the chief scientist has agreed to let me use previous cruise extracted chlorophyll data and this years extracted chl data as well. This will allow for me to continue with roughly the same topic and avoid having to start from scratch on a new project. Anyway, I'm just glad that the moorings were recovered and my advisor seems pleased with the operation and project. We are currently packing up and getting ready to bring on more scientists for this next part of the cruise. I will be staying on board to take part in another project looking at Iron in the Southern Ocean. The transect that we are scheduled to do is right around 55 degrees south. That puts us right in the worst weather areas of the Southern Ocean. I'm not sure, but I think this is going to be a bumpy ride. We are scheduled to be into Valparaiso Chile now around March 6th. That will give me a week there before returning to the U.S. I can hardly believe that the trip is almost over. Wow. It seems like yesterday that my advisor first told me about this project. Time fly's. Not much else to record from here. It is still daylight here for 24 hours but the sun is getting lower and it appears to almost set at times. We should have our first sunset of the cruise in about another week or so. I'm looking forward to seeing the Southern Cross Again. I really like that constellation. Well, bye for now. I hope you are all doing well. Enjoy these photo's. Some are of the buoy that was on the mooring (it was covered in ice when we got to it). Others are just random ice shots.
Super bergs ice-jam McMurdo Washington DC. USA. 23 November 2001 Two super icebergs have caused an unprecedented ice-jam in the Ross Sea, forcing US authorities to call in a second icebreaker to try to open a channel to McMurdo Base. The bergs are so large they have upset the currents and and wind regimes of the Ross Sea, impeding the seasonal pack ice break-up, according to the US National Ice Center. Now for the first time the US Coast Guard is sending its two Polar class icebreakers, Polar Sea and Polar Star, to the Ross Sea to break a channel through fast ice that extends for around 118 km. "The unprecedented ice is certain to make the task of breaking into McMurdo difficult, if not daunting," National Science Foundation official Erick Chiang said, according to the US program's news weekly, Antarctic Sun. Antarctic sea ice hampers access to many of the continent's bases, but usually breaks out with seasonal warming in summer. Sea access is vital for heavy cargo and fuel deliveries - and particularly for McMurdo, Antarctica's largest base. The National Ice Center's Ice Products Branch Chief, Christi Montgomery, confirmed that the icebergs C-16 and, particularly B-15, were both to blame this year. The bergs broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in early 2000. At the time B-15 was the largest iceberg ever measured, at about 11,000 square km. Both bergs have drifted west and taken up positions to the north of Ross Island, where McMurdo is located. B-15 now stretches between Beaufort Island and Franklin Island, and is upsetting the whole flow of ice in the southern Ross Sea, Montgomery said. It could stay where it is for years, or break up further and block the passage to McMurdo itself. The Polar ships are capable of cutting through 1.8 metre ice in constant motion, and have a backing and ramming capability of ice up to 6.4 metres thick. The National Ice Center's satellite imagery shows the ice to be broken ranges from 1.3 metres to 2.9 metres in thickness. Polar Star was already on southern icebreaking duty this year and is expected at the ice edge at about 28 December. Polar Sea, which is undergoing shipyard work, should reach its sister ship by early January. Normally supply ships can enter McMurdo Sound by the second week of January. This year the National ice Center predicts the shipping channel will be ready around January 20. -- www.antarctican.com
Washington, DC. USA. 8 January 2002 The US Coast Guard sent its two Polar class icebreakers, Polar Sea and Polar Star, to the Ross Sea to break the channel, which is necessary for a tanker and a freight ship to reach McMurdo for the annual resupply. The US National Science Foundation's representative in Christchurch, Arthur Brown, said today the channel had been recently cut to the McMurdo port area and was now being opened to the desired width. "We were very fortunate that a storm just before Christmas greatly alleviated the problem," Brown said. The storm blew open part of the sea ice, but the US program still decided to make use of both ships. "We're now pretty much on schedule," Brown said. "I couldn't have said that a month ago." McMurdo's difficulties were largely attributed to the super icebergs, B-15 and C-16, which broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in early 2000 and have now run aground to the north of Ross Island, where the US and New Zealand bases are located. The bergs are so large they have upset currents and winds of the Ross Sea, impeding the seasonal pack ice break-up, according to the US National Ice Center. However, Brown said is had also proven to be a tough year for ice, which was carrying a greater than usual snow burden. Around the continent, similar conditions have forced radical change on at least two other national programs. The British ship Ernest Shackleton was forced back by Weddell Sea ice, and in Prydz Bay, expeditioners have been airlifted from the beset Australian resupply ship Polar Bird. The Shackleton was blocked 200 nautical miles from Halley base by the ice and the 60 people aboard waited for two weeks for the ice to break up before the British Antarctic Survey decided instead to head for South Georgia, and then the Falklands to refuel. A BBC correspondent in Antarctica said four passengers would then return to Britain without having reached their goal., but most were expected to try to reach Halley again in a few weeks' time. The Polar Bird has been immobile for nearly four weeks and a helicopter transfer to the other Australian ship, Aurora Australis, was completed yesterday. Aurora is now on its way to Mawson station with the expeditioners. Only Polar Bird's crew and a couple of specialists, such as a meteorologist, have been left on board. A change in the weather is seen as vital for the ship to break out. The Australian Antarctic Division's Kim Pitt said conditions were beyond the ice-breaking capability of Aurora. -- www.antarctican.com
McMurdo Station
Lake Hoare in the McMurdo Dry Valleys Power surge blacks out base Hobart,
Australia. 13 November 2001 The surge triggered automatic fire extinguishers and caused local damage to station installations but, despite early reports, did not cause any outbreaks of fire. It robbed the station of all power for 15 minutes in minus seven degree temperatures on Monday afternoon local time. Emergency generators re-powered Casey's living and medical quarters, the Australian Government's Antarctic Division said. All power and communications were then restored about 12 hours later. "What might have been a major setback for the station...has quickly been set right," said the division's director, Dr Tony Press. He praised the response of station staff. Fire is regarded as a special danger to Antarctic bases because of high winds and dry conditions. The $US3 million state-of-the-art Bonner research laboratory at Britain's Rothera station was completely destroyed by a blaze fought during a night-time blizzard on 28 September. With the commencement of seasonal scientific work, a total of 51 people were at Casey when the surge hit around 3 pm. Its cause is being investigated by technical experts. Initial communications problems led Antarctic Division headquarters staff to fear the Casey expeditioners had been forced to extinguish a number of fires. However a subsequent investigation found that the "fires" were in fact the explosive rapid response fire extinguishers, which are thought to have blown the roofs off two electricity substations. More concerning was the potential damage to Casey's main satellite communications control room, but the division confirmed all communications had been restored. -- www.antarctican.com Antarctic Tasmania: The Other Great Southern Land
Links Forged in
the Past In more recent history, the very first Antarctic explorers recognised the privileged position of Tasmania as a rich repository of equipment and fresh Island produce. Tasmania's place in polar history was first established in 1773, when Captain Tobias Furneaux, the consort of Captain James Cook, anchored his ship Adventure in the Hobart region. Having just accompanied Cook's Resolution on the first confirmed crossing of the Antarctic Circle, Furneaux was grateful to find a "most excellent harbour" and a countryside "very pleasent [sic] … the sides of the hills covered with large trees and very thick… The Lagoons… abounds [sic] with trout and several other sort of Fish…." He declared the area " capable of producing every necessary of life [sic], and a climate the finest in the world." This anchorage, on Bruny Island, is now called Adventure Bay.
Captain Cook and his crew were the first people ever to cross the Antarctic Circle. Cook eventually journeyed beyond the Circle three times during his voyage of 1773-1774. Then in 1777, after discovering the Prince Edward Islands and exploring Îles Kerguelen, he sailed to Bruny Island in Tasmania to rest and resupply. His reports of enormous seal colonies "found on the Coasts of all these Southern lands [sic]" encouraged sealers and whalers in the 1790s to use Tasmania as a base from which to launch their expeditions to the subantarctic and beyond. The Scottish sealer James Weddell was just one in a long list of international Antarctic luminaries to take advantage of the deep-water harbour and other amenities available in early "Hobart Town". Explorers Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont D'Urville, Sir James Clark Ross and Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink, scientist Sir Douglas Mawson, and Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach the South Pole, all took advantage of Tasmania's unique links with the frozen continent. Meeting Future
Challenges, Today Hobart, Tasmania:
Supporting Antarctic Exploration
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Weddell
Dumont D'urville
Ross
Borchgrevink
Scott
Mawson
Amundsen
Shackleton
 Little Penguin (Eudypt |