Oden News Flash! Before we get to today's topics I need to make an announcement....

Mark Your Calendars and Register for this week's Live From IPY Webinar from the Oden. Go to the PolarTREC.com homepage and sign-up to participate in the one hour live event that will start at 1pm Eastern time this Wednesday, January 7th. I created a document that helps teachers understand how to prepare their classes for a webinar and it is posted on my Dec 13th journal.

The Ross Sea Polynya

After weeks in the sheltering calm of the Amundsen Sea ice, the Oden has entered the Ross Sea Polynya. Polynyas are areas along polar coastlines where prevailing or seasonal winds push the sea ice away from the shore. The exciting part is that these open polar waters allow sunlight to penetrate the sea and cause the microscopic algae to bloom which in turn causes the whole ecological food web to increase in activity. The waters of the polynya are no longer crystal blue but are now are a rich, green soup of phytoplankton. The krill are here to eat the phytoplankton and the fish, penguins and whales are here too. We will see few penguins and seals as we cross the polynya because there is none of the sea ice that they prefer to rest on.

The Ross Sea Polynya is huge. I live near the smallest of the great lakes, Ontario that is 150 miles long and 50 miles wide with the potential to become a storm-tossed inland sea. The Ross Sea Polynya dwarfs the largest of the great lakes as it stretches 500 miles along Antarctica's west coast and is 300 miles wide and it will get larger as summer progresses. To the North lies the fragmenting sea ice and the southern shore of the polynya is the Ross Ice Shelf. The largest glacial ice shelf in the world where 1000 foot thick rivers of freshwater glacial ice slide off the continent and float out onto the sea. The edge of the ice shelf is a 200 foot tall ice cliff that towers over the sea for hundreds of miles. The early Antarctic explorers called the Ross Ice Shelf, "the great barrier". We will cross this greatest polynya for the next 2 days and at the western edge we will again enter the sea ice near Ross Island. All the scientific teams on the Oden are hoping for one more ice station near Ross Island before the Oden begins its ultimate task of opening the shipping channel into McMurdo Station.

Today's expedition flags were created by:

Mrs. Germinara's Class West Middle School, Auburn, NY

Girl Scouts Camp Yaiewano, Phelps, NY

Ms. Clapp's Class Castleton, Vermont

Miss Crowley's 5th Grade, Liverpool Elem. NY

Miss Sheppard's Kindergarten, Sandusky, Ohio

Ms. Grove's class Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton School, Gilbertsville, NY

Ms. Fries, Montessori Children's House, Columbus, Ohio

Photo Of The Day

Krill Safari Video

I have wanted to capture Antarctica's most abundant animal on video ever since we arrived. Last week I was able to observe a single krill in captivity but on January 1st, while working with the Seal Research Team about a mile from the Oden, I had my chance to capture them on video, in their natural environment. Enjoy!

Making memories on the ice,

Jeff Peneston