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

north to south. The wind remained bitter and visibility was low. The snowdrift to the
West of the generator hut was very deep and Ralph cut a tunnel through it - though
too narrow for Derek and me (!) - and its roof was in danger of falling in. It was a
lovely clear night with a moon and a double corona. Coronation Island was clear at
first but a veil of mist developed later and cut off the base of the mountains. The ice
distribution remained much the same, with open water from Gourlay almost to the
Robertson Islands. Several large bergs had been grounded just off the Robertsons for
over a month now.
I went down one morning to take the sea surface temperature, but had difficulty
getting access to water as it was all snowed over, and there was 3 inches of water
under the snow layer and on top of the ice. I thought this must be water that had
seeped up through the ice, and not melt-water from the snow. The sea water
temperature was -1.5°C. 20 August was windy again, the ice line from Gourlay
Peninsula nearly to Reid Island, and the horizon was free of the main body of the
pack. There were many thin north-south streams of pack and large numbers of bergs
of all sizes.
I took the sea temperature on 21 August and it was down again, as was the air
temperature.. We went to Gourlay taking the route over the top of the Bluff, so as to
see the sea ice. The cover was 9 10ths to the horizon, with few leads. A week later the
pack was broken by leads, one very large one off Gourlay Point running north-south,
in a wedge shape, with the thin end to the north; the bay ice was solid to a line
joining Gourlay Point and Reid Island.
Spring l948. On the last day of August there was a 45 knot gale, with blizzard and
drift snow, and we were indoors pretty well all day. Next day was windy again with
drift snow; but 3 September was a gloriously fine day with eight hours of sunshine; a
week or so later we had blizzarding and bad weather again. On 25 September I went
to the top with Derek, where we found no change in the ice, except for a tongue of
pack ice which had thrust through a large lead to the east, cutting it into two sections.
At the end of September gale and dense drift snow kept us indoors. On 3 October I
went with Ralph across to the northwest coast by Robin Peak. The ice was decaying
and Ralph went through one crack and got wet. There was a large lead off Cape Vik
and other small ones in the area between Moe Island and Return Point. Another large
lead extended to the south in an area off the south coast of Signy Island and ran up
past Gourlay Point. Clouds were rolling on over Coronation Island from the north so
we suspected there was open water there.
It was mild and wet on 5 October and the thaw continued; the ground was very
soggy outside. The sea ice cover was only about 2 10 ths with a large area of open
water almost to the horizon and up to the line of previous leads between Gourlay
Point and Reid Island. Two days later the ice-edge was about two miles from the
Coronation coast, with open water beyond Return Point to the south. By l9 October
the principal lead was increasing but there were few other leads and 9 10 th ice cover
to the southwest. So it continued. In early November, a dismal morning, the ice in the
bay was lessening and no pack was visible, but there were plenty of bergs on the
horizon south of the Robertson Islands.
By 4 November the Elephant Flats ice was breaking up. I sought the bottom with
a 10 ft rod, in the centre of the bay, without success. But I found there was a
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