Parque Nacional Alberto de Agostini, Chile

We spent the night in relatively protected Beagle Channel and it was a good thing — over 60 knot winds were recorded nearby. As a consequence, we started out a little early for our next stop to see the Pia Glacier. It sits at the base of the nearly 8000 foot Mount Darwin that is at the southern end of the Andean Ice Sheet. The glacier is about 1 km across and actually gets wider as it reaches up to the snow-capped peaks. In fact, when you look around, it’s easy to see the impact of glaciers in the area — we were anchored in the Pia fjord which is one of several in the area. While starting out cloudy, the sun came out letting us see the peak of Mount Darwin. It looks a little like the Matterhorn. Our first exercise of the day was going out on the Science boat to take measurements visibility, temperature, salinity, depth and chlorophyll levels. This last measure is interesting because it is an indirect way of seeing the numbers of phytoplankton in the area (phytoplankton perform photosynthesis). We also took some samples to examine in the lab. I really enjoy doing this stuff. We also saw some Chilean black dolphins that are only about three feet long. Anyway, from there we got dropped off at the edge of Pia Glacier. It was really awe inspiring! We also were treated to all the pops, cracks, and a calving while we were there. There was a lot of sea ice that apparently hadn’t been there last week, so the glacier has been busy. Anyway, it was a beautiful spot and a very enjoyable day. We finished the day with a discussion of sea versus land ice, old ice versus new ice, and why polar ice is blue. This led to a bet on how long it would take for a piece of old ice to melt and how much water it would produce. There were some pretty outlandish guesses — so who won?! I humbly accepted the honor. Maybe I should get a job at a bar!