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

through the day until at 8 o’clock the thermometers read only -9.6°C and the pack,
producing this swing, which had been out of sight for some days, was now lining the
eastern horizon. The pressure on it from the south must be increasing and we could
expect it to move in again. A blizzard developed at 1 o’clock with the passing of the
cold front. The temperature fell to -17.2°C during the day, but rose slowly again until
at 8 o’clock it was -12.5°C. The pack moved in again during the next two days to
surround the Robertson Islands, but thick fog to the south east made it difficult to
define the pack edge.
On 3 June the temperature was fluctuating oddly; it was +2.6°C that morning,
but had fallen to -10°C by evening. The meteorological register informed me that at 2
o’clock a cold front was seen, felt, or otherwise detected; to my mind the met
phenomenon of the day was the ending of the blizzard - no doubt subdued by the
cold front. Meanwhile the ice moved out until only our cove remained filled. The
blizzard had thrown quite a depth of snow onto the slope and I went up to the ridge
on skis to make the ice-ob, but the sea and sky were obscured. Next day the air
temperature ranged between -10°C and -8°C throughout the day, though the sun
made it feel a lot warmer.. The snow surface was excellent for skiing.
So the weather fluctuations continued and I wished it could be more stable
around one level. We all went skiing on the 'nursery' slopes one morning on a new
fall of snow. The bay ice was now for the most part floating free and there was 200-
300 yards of open water between its edge and the shore. The pack in loose streams
moved up the Sound and through Normanna Strait and after a few days of these
temperatures it became colder again. On 11 June for example the temperature was
between -13°C and -15°C all day; next day it rose to -7.2°C. The bay ice was quite
strong and in places about 9 inches thick. More bergs had moved up from the south
and stranded along the south coast of Coronation. A few days later the temperature
was between -12°C and -23°C, quite an appreciable change again. The dawn was
lovely and then the pack fog crept into the bay. Next day it was between -14.5°C and
+1.7°C - very much warmer that evening. There was another lovely dawn, but cracks
appeared in the bay ice and the pack was breaking up again, with long leads to the
southeast. A gale hit us in the evening and lasted a couple of days.
Three days later it began with the temperature at +1.2°C, falling to -1.2°C in the
evening and a pool of water opened inside Bare Rock. Numerous large bergs were
grounded south of the Robertson Islands and the edge of the pack was between there
and Confusion Point. Next day the sea was high and increasing and the bay ice was
breaking up in a great swell; all day there was the noise of ice blocks crashing and
grinding, one against another. In the evening the wind dropped a little, but not
before the waves had broken up the ice so that there was now open water almost to
Knife Point. The ice-edge out to the east wasn't visible because of snowfall. It was
very instructive to see the way in which the brash ice blanketed the effect of the
swell, so that even with a heavy swell in open water the surface was usually fairly
flat and motionless only 20-30 yds in from the open water.
Yet again a very rapid fall in temperature occurred - from -1°C one morning to -
21.3°C at night; over 20° in just 11 hrs! It was a very raw day, with intermittent
blizzarding and after lunch when we went out to bring in petrol we found it very
cold in the snowstorm. We hadn't acclimatized to this further change and had to
dress up more warmly - difficult with our limited supply of clothing. This gale
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