As reported by Sam:
8 November
Dr. Jan Pawlowski (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Dr. Sue Goldstein (University of Georgia, Athens) arrive in camp. They begin familiarizing themselves with the camp and the foraminifera we have collected. In the evening, Dr. Goldstein and I collect scallop shells that have ablated through the nearshore ice. Basically, ice forms on the seafloor in close proximity to the permafrost layer. This ice, which is pure water and therefore less dense than the surrounding salty seawater, eventually floats away from the bottom, carrying attached organisms with it. This ice and associated material impacts the underside of the semi-permanent nearshore ice layer in the cove. It freezes in place here. It slowly works its way to the surface as the upper ice layers melts or sublimes (turn into water vapor) and escape into the atmosphere. This is a relatively poorly understood transport process, but it might be an important source of fossils in the Taylor Dry Valley area.
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9 November
For the first time since I began coming to Explorers Cove in 1984, an Adelie
penguin visits the camp.
He was seen at the "Iceberg Graveyard" site, where several icebergs have been
grounded since 1993 A second Skua gull is also seen here; perhaps this is a
nesting pair? Skua nests are not very impressive: just a spot on the ground
where they lay their eggs. Dr. Goldstein and I collect scallop shells ablated
from this side of the cove, and Drs. Pawlowski and Travis continue their work
on the forams. After supper, Dr. Pawlowski and I try to find the penguin again,
but he has waddled off onto the ice. His tracks are visible, and we follow them
for some time, but he has disappeared as mysteriously as he arrived.
10 November
Neal and Doug return to camp, after a brief stay at McMurdo Station. Doug had a wonderful time celebrating his birthday! Back in camp, they do back-to-back surface supply dives, harvesting forams from under the dive shack. Dr. Stockton is back in McMurdo, and will keep us up-to-date with happenings there.
11 November
Doug and Neal do back-to-back surface supply dives, harvesting forams from under the dive shack. This is now part of the daily routine. In the evening, I dive with them at the Downstream Delta site to collect forams and scallops there.
12 November
We take a "day off" from diving -- it is cold and windy, and helicopters are not operating. I sorted through our collection of "quartzball forams" for Dr. Pawlowski to analyze using molecular methods. We are trying to determine if the various quartzballs we see are different species. Perhaps they are members of the same species, but differ because of the particular spot they are inhabiting on the seafloor.
13 November
Neal and Doug do back-to-back surface supply dives under the dive shack. 
Neal
reported that a Weddell seal, named "Bob" by Mrs. Hayden's 2nd grade class in
East Greenbush, NY, was swimming very close and "giving him the evil eye" (basically
being a pain). I dive with Doug and collect "flower forams" -- a mysterious
species that looks like a miniature flower on the seafloor.
14 November
Very similar to yesterday -- Neal and Doug do back-to-back surface supply dives under the dive shack; I dive with Doug and collect more flowers. Later that night, Doug and Neal make a dive at the "Iceberg Graveyard" site to collect sediment from a strange black pit seen on the bottom. This pit is filled with very salty water, and it looks like everything in it is dead. We must investigate this!
15 November
Our
generator has sprung a little oil leak, but that was quickly fixed by Willow,
one of the McMurdo Station mechanics. She often travels with scientists to fix
their camp equipment. Willow left after a few hours of repair work.
The sea ice is now several years old and is in horrible shape: 15-16ft thick with lots of melted-in sand blown in from the Taylor Dry Valley. As you can see from the picture, the surface is very rough, which makes travel difficult.
Despite
the rough ice surface, we investigated our dive hole at Cape Bernacchi yesterday
-- it is a 1-hour trip by skidoo -- and found a colony of seals occupying the
site. I counted 20 seals lounging around the hole. Two of them were moms that
had just given birth to pups. I didn't want to bother them during this fragile
time of their lives, so there are no pictures of them (yet). But I did take
a picture of one of the proud fathers.
