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

mauve, violet, purple, deep blue, oranges and greens - the deep grey-green sea ice
separating the pools emphasized the reflections. The temperatures were now in the
range +1°C to 6.5°C with winds of 50 mph, but fell again by the end of the month,
when no open water was visible from Garnet Hill.
November opened with temperatures around -6°C and continued slightly
warmer. There had been no change in the ice by 11 November, but afterwards we
were unable to make ice observations because of the bad weather, which led to the
break up of the ice. There were strong winds most of the time and the bay ice
continued to break up, but 20 November was a day with bright sunshine at times and
when the wind dropped it was warm. 24 November was a gloriously fine day with
the edge of the pack advancing up the sound towards us; it moved right into the bay.
And 26 November was a fine day: wind, blue sea, white pack and clouds. The wind
dropped and a lovely evening followed, the sea dead-calm with clear reflections, sky
duck-egg blue with darker purplish clouds.
Summer l949-50. On 30 November the temperature was around -3°C all day. There
had been heavy snow overnight and all day which transformed the landscape; there
was now 2 ft of snow in most places. There was still plenty of sea ice enveloping us
and on 7 December we recorded 9 10 ths all around. Two days later the pack was solid
to the west beyond Sandefjord Bay.
During January as in the previous year the weather was variable - some fine days
and some bad, some with pack ice close and others with little or none in sight. The
temperatures stayed just under freezing point for the most part. On 20 January
though it was up to 3.5°C and the weather bad with storms and drifting snow and
rain; a very heavy sea was running. Several large bergs passed across the bay -
giving rise to arguments among us as to their draught.
193