A Walk on the Sea

Another convoy came to an end on 27 Sept 08. It was fairly uneventful, except for some minor vehicular problems while returning. We met the Russian convoy on the way back. They were going to the Russian shelf. In contrast to us, they had only 2 vehicles and 3 personnel on the convoy team. That is probably because many of their vehicles are out of service. They exchanged greetings and then moved on after 5 min.

This was also a fuel convoy. So the activities were the same as the previous convoy. This time there was no blizzard, nor any wind. These were perfect conditions for working outdoors. The temperature was around -25ºC. I too helped in the decanting operations, climbing all over the oil tankers.

While the decanting operations were going on, Jamwal, Chaubey and I decided to go for a short walk on the frozen ocean, or the fast ice as it is more appropriately called. It was just about 50 meters from where work was going on. On reaching the edge of the ice shelf, we discovered that the drop was too steep. So we were about to go looking for a gentler slope. But on closer examination, we discovered that although the drop to the sea surface was steep, but because of the blizzards, snow had accumulated irregularly all along the shelf edge forming steps. These appeared to be like the 'sastrugis' I described in one of the previous posts. We could easily descend using them as steps. So we went down, half walking, half sliding. On reaching down, we gingerly stepped on the ice. Although there was no possibility of the ocean surface being weak anywhere at this time of the year, we were still apprehensive. In fact the ice was so thick that we could have easily driven a snow mobile on it with no chance of the ice breaking anywhere. Finally we did step on the ocean. That first step was an exhilarating experience as if we had stepped on the moon. Although we had walked all over the lakes of Schirmacher all through the year, but walking on the ocean was something different. After all we were standing at a place where the ocean was 400 meters deep and from where the fast ice extended for 1000 km northwards. This experience is possible only at the poles. No where else in the world does one find frozen seas. These thoughts and many more raced through my mind for the 15 minutes we spent there.

At the edge of the ocean, where it met the ice shelf, huge blocks of ice were lined up. These form due to the tidal activity and the sea swells. Whenever there is high tide, the water beneath the fast ice presses against it causing the ice to break and get thrown up. This is peculiarly seen at the edges. This is also a feature of the epi shelf lakes in Schirmacher. The sea freezes immediately after its surface is broken in this manner.

There was no difference in the surface of the ocean and the ice shelf. They were both miles and miles of featureless icy landscape. But the sea had a less undulating surface. I walked a few meters deeper into the ocean. The steep shelf edge loomed menacingly in front of us. At places, the fast ice had a glassy appearance like water. That made us decide that it is better we go back. We were too apprehensive to stay there longer. So we hurried back. The ascent was easier than the descent. We hurried back up the 'steps' to the ice shelf. My hands were frozen stiff after holding my video camera for 5 min without gloves. Soon, this place will be swarming with penguins. That will be another experience.