6 October 2009 Bad Weather

Location: Lat: 77  16.696 N Long:  167  15.889 W

Sunrise: 10:09 am Sunset: 7:23 pm

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Today we could not fly to look for any bears because of the bad weather. I decided to take advantage of this time to work on preparations for the Live event this Thursday at 8:30 PST.

However, there is always something interesting happening aboard the Polar Sea. For example, during dinner tonight we had a bit of excitement. As I finishing up my delicious dinner of beef stew and biscuits, I heard an alarm signal and "Fire, Fire, Fire!" coming over the pipe (the intercom system). In less than 5 seconds, the mess hall was cleared - all the Coasties were off and responding to the alarm. The scientist and I were all still sitting there deciding what to do and finally decided that we should head to the hanger - out designated "muster" location in case of emergency. As it turns out, there was a smoke in the engine room, but the fire was put out before any real damage could happen. I was amazed by how quick the Coast Guard responded to the emergency. It really reassured me that if there were a real emergency that we would be well taken care of.

Later in the evening, we all gathered in the mess hall again, but this time to play BINGO! This is another one of the fabulous weekly events aboard the Polar Sea. How could I pass an opportunity to play in the farthest north Bingo game in the country? My grandmother was a big Bingo player - so I had to represent

I even got close to winning a game of Black Out, but lost after a tie and a "Bing-off"

There is of course always some science going on as well. In fact, George was able to download some of the data from the collar of the bear that was recaptured a few days ago. The path that the bear followed was very intriguing - the bear generally stayed in the same area, but did a weird looping pattern. One guess is that it was following the ice as the ice moved, but then she tried to get back to the same general area as before.

Sound of the Arctic

Thanks for all the posts and comments about yesterdays sound of the arctic. It was the sound of the adult polar bear while she was under the effects of the tranquilizers. It was quite a hilarious moment as I held my phone up to the bear to get the audio recording - a great ad for my cell phone company

I have another sound for today - my hint is that this one is NOT from another planet. Good luck!

Listen to the following sound clip and take a guess as to what you think it might be. If you think you know, feel free to post your guess in the "Ask the Team" section of the site. Check back in tomorrow to find out the answer!