Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

was a touch green in hue. A few snowies would be about, chattering as usual on the
crags at night, the bay might be bathed in bright moonlight but Coronation Island
would be shrouded in a checkerwork pattern of diffuse cloud shadows. The moon
reflected from the bay ice had a double intensity. There was a mystical quality about
the scene, which could keep me standing in my shirt sleeves with the thermometers
registering -11°C or less; it was the cold which drove me indoors, the snowies by now
silent and the only sound outside was the ice creaking and groaning.
We much appreciated the location of our hut near the top of the ridge, which
meant that the magnificent unbroken views when it was clear compensated for
exposure to the gales.
Then the temperatures rose for a couple of days to -5.5°C at nightfall and a much
warmer -1°C next morning. Now freezing rain coated everything with a glaze of ice;
it turned later to snow and drifts formed - some up to 4 ft deep outside the met hut; it
was very sticky stuff, coating even vertical surfaces up to 1 1 2 inches thick. We retired
to bed, with the temperature up to +0.5°C and a howling gale rocking the hut, to our
alarm. It would have some effect on the sea ice I was afraid, although the bay ice was
now at least 9 inches thick. Ralph reported a crack already in the newer ice off
Berntsen Point.
But the temperature fell again next morning and at 8 o’clock that night was
down to -13.5°F. The gale had had some effect on the ice, as two cracks had appeared
in the bay, running south from Billie Rocks. The tide had overflowed from these and
the ice appeared to be rotten; in fact it should be unchanged and now that the spell of
higher temperatures was over we thought it would probably remain a fixture until
next spring. The wind dropped about 6 am and rose again that evening when it was
blowing from the south and the temperature was down to -14°C.
On 22 May we woke to a really wonderful morning. The air temperature was -
14°C and very large snowflakes were falling - some up to 1 2 inch in diameter and
drifting erratically like feathers in the still air. The early morning clouds still clung to
Coronation Island, its ridges lit up by the sun. (I drew the view to the northeast and
made colour notes for a painting. In Nature there is never any clash of colours,
however opposed they may be. Thus, one notes purples and blue-greens or crimson
and scarlet in opposition, but the effect is beautiful; unfortunately it didn't often
come off when I tried to capture it on paper!) Then the mist closed in and the
afternoon was dull, but later the moon came out.
However, these pleasant conditions were not to continue and next morning the
temperature was -3°C and continued to rise all day, reading +0.2°C at night. A strong
northerly gale raged all day and under its influence the pack moved out. That
evening there was open water in the Strait and from Outer Islet eastwards; the ice
was gone except for a few large bergs - one just outside Outer Islet - and some
streams of pack south of the Robertson Islands. Blizzard conditions prevailed all day
and piled great drifts in front of our door and over the generator hut: such were the
effects of a northerly wind. There was an excellent double corona. The temperature
continued to rise next day to +5.6°C. The weather was windy and snowing at first,
later changing to rain. Over the next few days it remained warm, the temperature
between +0.7°C and +6.7°C, lower at night.
At the end of May the weather pendulum began to swing the other way again.
The day began with temperature just above freezing, but it steadily declined
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