The RRS James Clark Ross. Photo: British Antarctic SurveyBy Jan Strugnell, British Antarctic SurveyToday we all joined the RRS James Clark Ross (JCR) at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, to get ready for our cruise! The JCR is almost 100m long and seems enormous when it is docked at Stanley. The hull is painted bright red and the words ‘James Clark Ross’ are written in large white letters at the front.
The JCR was named after Admiral Sir James Clark Ross, R.N. (1800-1862) who discovered the North Magnetic Pole in 1831. During 1840-43 he also made three voyages to Antarctica in an attempt to reach the South Magnetic Pole, and to undertake a range of scientific studies of the region.
The JCR can hold 80 people, and for our cruise we have 24 scientists and 28 crew onboard. We are heading to the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas for 50 days for geological and biological sampling.
The scientists for this cruise, known as JR 179, comprise 11 geologists and 9 biologists. The geologists are mainly interested in sampling the sea floor for evidence of past glacial features and past climate change (but more on this later) and are supported by the BAS core projects PEP-G and QWAD. The biology team (of which I am a part) is focusing on benthic (bottom) sampling and also epi-benthic (just above the bottom) sampling to obtain of idea of the marine life which lives on and above the sea floor. This work is part of the BAS core project BIOPEARL and is supporting the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) IPY project by having me (Jan Strugnell) and Stefanie Kaiser on board.
We spent the day being very busy unpacking all our kit and assembling trawls and bits and pieces in preparation for the cruise. It’s much easier to do this while the ship is steady and in port and so we are trying to do as much in advance as we can. Everything has to be tied down and safely secured before we leave to stop it being thrown around when we are at sea.
The weather has been spectacular in Stanley and many people have even got sunburnt!
From February 19th until April 10th 2008, British scientists are embarking on the British Antarctic Survey’s research ship RRS James Clark Ross. This project is part of the British Antarctic Survey (British Antarctic Survey) program known as BIOFLAME (Biodiversity, Function, Limits and Adaption from Molecules to Ecosystems). Scientists onboard are studying marine fauna from the ocean shelves and slopes from a little-known region, the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas. This is part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life. Follow their route on the CAML-Cousteau Expedition tracking page.