First, let me offer a penguin update. The penguin, now known as Addie, has wondered off and no one has seen him/her. The research team was unable to come and rescue him/her. In my mind, he took a left turn, headed back to the ocean and has been re-united with the colony.... ☺!Today started with Aslan diving and "stealing" the light sensor that was attached to Hal. Hal no longer needed it for what he is doing at the bottom of the lake, and we needed it for the light sensors that are going under the light array. Aslan had to take a box cutter diving with him in order to slice off the duct tape that we used to hold the light sensor cables to Hal's other cables; box cutters and dry suits with clumsy dry suit gloves are never a good combination! He managed to free the light sensor and bring it back to the surface - without any snips to his suit or gloves!
Next, I dove and threaded the light sensor cable from our dive hole to the second hole we drilled yesterday. Ian dangled a carabiner through the hole and I ziptied the end of the cable to the carabiner with a zip tie. Ian pulled the cable up through the hole, and then we pulled the cable through from the dive hole to the new hole - I felt like we were dental flossing the lake! I then took the new light sensor to the experimental area at the bottom of the lake and ever so carefully placed the light sensor into the mat without touching any other part of the mat. There were now six cables going to the surface through the second hole, three from the light sensors and three from the power supply to each one of the light arrays. I ziptied those six cables together about a meter below the surface of the ice. I told the folks above that everything was in position and Ian turned on the lights! At first, only two arrays worked, but a little fidgeting with the cable of the final one triggered it into action. The experiment is set and ready to go!
Tomorrow, we attach all the cables that are now poking through the surface to the solar panel which will be used to power the arrays. We will also get some photos which I will attempt to post! In the mean time, this is what it looks like when a diver comes back to the surface - it's fun!
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Our work at Lake Hoare is almost finished. On Tuesday, we are scheduled to go back to McMurdo. I will meet up with Dr. Peter Doran there and help with the ENDURANCE project. I will also be launching the robot that my students at Rye Junior High built! It's almost robot time!
You can also check out my journals and pictures from previous seasons at: http://www.ryejrhigh.org/ellwood
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