April 15, 2012 Jumbo Piston Core Speed 0.8 knots Location
Bransfield Strait (-62.56427333, -55.98799167) Depth 253 meters
Yesterday we finished all scientific operations and we began our
journey north back towards Chile. We are slowly maneuvering
through lots and lots of ice and hopefully we'll make it back
home on time. From the picture below you can see where we've
been so far on this cruise. We are currently at the end of the
red line headed back towards Chile. It'll take us a few days to
get there, maybe more if the ice continues to be heavy. Jumbo
Piston Core As I looked back over my blogs, I realized I hadn't
shared one of the most interesting operations that the
scientists have done. It's called a Jumbo Piston Core (JPC for
short) and it is made of 24 meters of solid steel. The JPC is
lowered over the side of the boat and dropped to the seafloor to
collect sediment. It can only be used in areas that have a lot
of sediment and not a lot of rocks otherwise it will bend.
Because of the potential danger th