7 December 2008 SCINI Has an Open House

Journal

Today is Sunday. I know that is Sunday because I got to sleep a little later. We all met at the lab at 11:00am and got right to work getting ready for SCINI's Open House. My first job was to put a sign up for people so that they knew which way to walk. I took two flags, the sign, and some tape and headed to a place that everyone calls the "Transition Area". This is because it is where you transition from walking on land to walking on the sea ice. I put up my sign and even Bob thought it looked good.

The sign to the SCINI Open House. — I put two flags in the ice and then I attached the sign. I thought it looked pretty good.

We are really lucky that they approved the Open House because they don't usually encourage activities that involve people walking on the sea ice. You usually require special training to go on the sea ice. So a big THANKS to the powers that approved our Open House.

The next thing I did was put a sign on the door of the Jetty. We asked people to enter one at a time to minimize the amount of light that came in. We need the room to be as dark as possible to read the computer screens. Some people did just what the sign asked them to do, other groups opened the door to let 6 people in at a time, and I found one pair of ladies waiting outside because they saw two people walk in and thought they had to wait until they left.

The sign I put on the door to the Jetty. — Bob wanted to make sure that as little light as possible was let in. Even the windows were covered with dark plastic.

The last thing I did to set up was put the flags from the students at the Second Opportunity School around the outside of the Jetty. They looked really pretty flying in the wind.

The flags hanging outside the Jetty. — The flags looked great but unfortunately about 2 hours later I had to use the Pisten Bully and the flags had to come down.

Stacy, Bob, and Scott were busy getting the inside of the Jetty ready. They set up a projector and hung a large white sheet. They set up the computers and set out SCINI. The only thing they didn't set up was the navigation system.

Getting ready for the Open House. — Stacy and Scott are setting up the computers for SCINI's big performance.

Francois was busy back in the lab getting SCINI 2 ready for her appearance.

People started to slowly come to the Open House. We had some trouble communicating with SCINI and the trouble turned out to be a faulty cable. It took some time to figure out what the problem was.

Trying to find out why we can't talk to SCINI. — Scott tried a lot of things before Bob figured out that we had a bad cord. It's always the simple things.

Once we figured out the problem we were ready to go. That's when we discovered that the hole had frozen up some and SCINI wouldn't fit. Stacy and I grabbed the Jiffy drill and proceeded to demonstrate how to drill an ice hole. I was amazed at how many people were taking pictures of us while we drilled. They didn't even mind that the room became filled with stinky smoke. Once the hole was drilled (three and a half drill flights) we were ready to launch SCINI. Scott did the honors.

Scott launches SCINI at the Open House. — Scott was the only one who wore Bunny boots and so he was nominated to launch SCINI.

SCINI did a beautiful job and everyone was impressed. Francois called on the radio and said that he was ready. Stacy asked me to drive up in the Pisten Bully and pick up Francois and SCINI2. I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive. I had the training but this was driving it through town where there are people. Scott came out and walked me through the steps and I swallowed hard and took off. I am pleased to report that I made it to the lab without hitting anything or anyone.

I picked up Francois and then we stopped to get the scuba gear. In the meantime, more and more people were showing up for the Open House. By the time I returned, the Jetty was full. Everyone was transfixed on the screen and seeing what was on the seafloor.

The Open House is very popular. — The Jetty was full of people. The Open Hous was the place to be.

We even put some people to work. Everyone that wanted got a chance to drive SCINI and boy were they excited. Chris is handling the tether. He works in the Heavy Machine shop and his wife is a teacher that wants to hear more about PolarTREC. On the screen you can see one of the huge sponges that SCINI spies on the seafloor.

We put people to work. — Everyone got a chance to participate if they wanted to. Some helped with the tether, some lifted SCINI, and a lot of people gave driving SCINI a try.

Bob and John (an underwater photographer) went down first and took some pictures of SCINI under the ice. Then it was Stacy and Francois's turn. They were so excited. Stacy had decided to make things easy and use Bob's wetsuit. She was all dressed with her weight belt and oxygen tank on when she realized that her regulator wouldn't connect to Bob's suit. I walked up to the dive locker with Ken (one of our trusted volunteers and today's dive tender) to get Bob's regulator because it had already been taken there to be rinsed. Remember, saltwater kills.

When I returned Stacy finished suiting up and she and Francois jumped right in. About five minutes later Francois came back up and reported that his tank was very low on oxygen. He had not checked it before he dove. Lucky for him it wasn't completely empty. This meant that it was Scott's turn to go to the dive locker and get a new tank.

While we waited for Scott to return we were treated to a visit by SCINI. She had climbed the dive hole and she sat on the ladder saying "Look at me. Don't you think I'm pretty?"

SCINI visits the scuba divers. — SCINI came up the second dive hole and sat on the ladder. She looked so cute.

After SCINI left we noticed that we had another visitor. Stacy noticed that an amphipod was swimming in the hole. It was really cute. If you want to know more, then try the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphipoda .

Can you see the amphipod? — In the Southern Ocean, amphipods are the most common benthic crustacean.

Scott returned and we discovered that this tank was also low but not quite as much as the first. Stacy offered to use the tank and announced that they would dive for as long as they could. They had had enough delays. They both suited up, again and Francois jumped right in.

Francois jumps right in. — Francois is the first in the dive hole and the last to exit. His enthusiasm for scuba diving is infectious.

Stacy patiently waits her turn. She is so good.

Stacy patiently waits her turn to enter the dive hole. — Stacy is a dive instructor. She is an extremely experienced diver. Just the one you want for your dive buddy.

One of the unexpected treats was that Holly got to dive tend. She is in her third season in Antarctica and knows Bob and Stacy from California but this was her first chance to get to be a dive tender. Ken, the dive tender scheduled, had to leave because things had gotten so far behind. Holly was only too happy to step in and take his place. I have never seen someone so happy about getting the entire front of their body wet and lugging heavy equipment around. You go Holly!