 |
| The coastline of South Georgia in the distance |
 |
| Fin whales blow in the distance |
 |
| Fin whales |
Monday, 16th April 2012. The day after our amazing trip to Bird Island was taken up by the coring team who took lots more samples of layers and layers of glorious mud from the sea floor. The sediments are full of diatoms, tiny little planktonic algae, which give the sedimentary layer a slight green tinge. The team had been hoping to find more carbonate-based sediments, but siliceous diatom ooze is all they got. Lots and lots of it.
While the corers were busy, I had time to scan the horizon. When the curtain of fog lifted the South Georgia coastline popped into view every so often. Through the mist I could make out a jagged mountain range of snow-capped peaks with glaciers carving through the steep and rocky terrain. I'm looking forward to seeing more of South Georgia as we'll be doing more science in the direct vicinity of the island over the next few days.
The time gazing at the horizon wasn't in vain. A pod of whales cruised past the ship some distance away. Again, they came barely to within binocular range and on camera it's mainly the blow that shows up with the occasional flash of an arching back. I'm getting better at telling the species of whale by their blow and the shape of their back and dorsal fin. These were fin whales, a large species of rorqual whales, that grows up to 27m in length. Fin whales are similar in shape to blue whales, but have a more pronounced dorsal fin that gives the species its name. Three of four animals travelled together at considerable speed, blowing and diving in regular intervals. The spectacle didn't last long. Fin whales are fast swimmers and before long they were gone again.
No comments:
Post a Comment