The MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.
The MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.
Read updates from MagLab faculty researcher Lydia Babcock-Adams as she journeys aboard the Research Vessel Roger Revelle on a National Science Foundation expedition to Antarctica.
It’s been a busy week; I have so much to update you on! From where we left off –
We exited the Strait of Magellan on January 11 and made our way south along the coast of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, towards the Drake Passage. It was very calm in the Strait, but the seas picked up as soon as we entered the Atlantic Ocean. When crossing the Drake, you hope to have what people call “the Drake Lake”, which means calm seas. However, the Drake is well known for tough crossings with high winds and big swells – that crossing is called “the Drake Shake”. The first day of our crossing was closer to a Drake Shake I’d say. We had winds over 40 knots (1 knots = 1 nautical mile per hour) and the swells were up to 15 feet. Luckily, my sea sickness medicine kept me feeling okay during this bad weather, so I was able to look out the port holes and see the waves crashing over the back deck. During bad weather like this, the captain secures the decks which means we aren’t allowed to go outside. Lucky for us, the bad weather only lasted a little more than 24 hours and we had calmer seas for the rest of our crossing.
During the crossing we were deploying instruments called XBTs, or Expendable Bathythermographs. To deploy these, we load a tube with the instrument inside into the launcher and then drop the instrument overboard. It’s got a long copper wire which transmits the temperature back to the computer. The depth of each temperature measurement is calculated based on how fast we know the instrument falls through the water. We deployed an XBT each hour through the Drake (as weather permitted) with two scientists taking a 6-hour shift. You can see a photo of me on the back deck holding the launcher while the XBT falls through the water and my lab mate, Danny, watching the temperature plot on the computer screen.
Finally, early on the 15th, four days after leaving the Strait of Magellan, we arrived at the U.S. Research Base, Palmer Station. The Noosfera, a Ukrainian research vessel, was docked at the station, so we stayed offshore and used small boats to transport some people and supplies to and from station.
We also used this time as an opportunity to do some safety training on small boat operations. There will be some science happening from small boats, so we all learned what supplies to bring with us, how to go down the ladder to the small boat, and how to get back up! We took a boat ride around the area and got to see several humpback whales, a penguin colony, and icebergs which was so cool. After all the transfers were complete, we headed off to our first official station to collect water samples.
More next time on how we collect seawater samples and what we do with them after that!
Until the next watch,
Lydia
Greetings from Punta Arenas, Chile!
My travels began almost a week ago, on Saturday January 3 out of Tallahassee. It was a long journey to Chile involving a four and a half hour delay in the Atlanta airport, and rogue luggage that went through Miami to Santiago, rather than on the plane with me from Atlanta to Santiago.
Finally after about 36 hours of travel I made it to Punta Arenas, on the southern tip of Chile. Although it was 11:30pm when we stumbled out of the airport, it was still twilight because of how far south we are here. This time of year, summer in the southern hemisphere, the sun rises around 5:30am and sets around 10pm – that’s 16 and a half hours of sunlight! It’s convenient for all the work we’ve been doing loading science gear onto our ship, but it has totally messed with my internal clock.
Mobilization began on January 5 which included loading all the science gear on the ship. They have lab spaces for us which include benches, drawers, cabinets, fume hoods (for working with solvents or acids), and chemical storage, but we bring all of our science supplies. We’ll load the last bit of cargo on the ship tonight and then head out through the Strait of Magellan early tomorrow morning. This strait is an important passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans; however, it is very difficult to navigate because it can be quite narrow in spots and there are often high winds and fast currents. We will have a pilot coming onboard tonight who will safely navigate us through the passage, then he will get off the ship before we head south towards Antarctica.
In addition to setting up the labs, we are also having meetings about safety. We all need to know how to respond in the event of an emergency. On the ship we have an alarm. The pattern of the alarm alerts us as to what the emergency is. If it’s three short blasts that means there is a fire or piracy (though we aren’t too concerned about piracy in this part of the world). If it’s seven short blasts followed by a long blast that means man overboard. If it’s one long blast it means abandon ship.
We are also each assigned a life jacket and a survival suit which we may need depending on the emergency. Although going through the safety training is serious because there are real dangers here, it is always fun when everyone is trying on the survival suits. They will keep us warm and floating in the water but are cumbersome on land! We are also assigned extreme cold weather gear from the US Antarctic Program, which includes boots, lots of different types of gloves, hats, and various pants and jackets that we may want for operations out on the deck. Although it is summer down here it is still cold!
While I’m at sea I’ll be posting as often as I can about the science conducted on the ship as well as what it’s like to live on board.
If you have any specific questions, contact me at babcock-adams@magnet.fsu.edu and I will respond as I can. We have internet on the ship, but it is limited (and the farther south we go the spottier the coverage may be).
Until next time,
Lydia
R/V Roger Revelle is operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography under a charter agreement with the Office of Naval Research. Roger Revelle is one of six major oceanographic research vessels owned by the U.S. Navy and operated for shared-use through the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System.
The National Science Foundation is the primary U.S federal agency supporting research at the frontiers of knowledge, across all fields of science and engineering (S&E) and all levels of S&E education. Important support for research vessel operations at Scripps Institution of Oceanography is supported by the National Science Foundation (including awards 1119644, 1212770, 1227624, and 1321002).
Last modified on 20 January 2026
