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| Relaxing morning coffee. Photo: Jacque Comery |
Saturday, 7 November 2015
September 2: Breakfast on the deck at Bauer Bay
Andrea and Rich met up with me last night at Bauer Bay. We awoke met by a stillness, so rare for the west coast. Glorious sunshine, and a gentle breeze welcomed us out onto the porch. Rich cooked an amazing pancake breakfast complete with lashings of tinned butter and maple syrup, and we sat back, coffee in hand to enjoy a very special September morning.
September 1: Marine debris collection haul
The latest haul from the monthly marine debris collection at Bauer Bay.
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| Hard plastic chips washed up on the west coast. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Green string. Fishing waste, collected from Bauer Bay beach. Photo: Jacque Comery |
August 31: The first skua of spring
This Great Skua Stercorarius skua lonnbergi was nestled in behind one of the 'beach balls' at Bauer Bay. It is the first Skua that I have seen since they disappeared from the Island over winter. Soon the elephant seals will be giving birth to their pups, and the Skuas will be here on mass to take advantage of a ready food source.
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| Great Skua shelters from the wind on the beach at Bauer Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery |
August 30: Dew drops on the cabbage
A pretty morning dew descended upon the Macquarie Island Cabbage Stilbocarpa polaris behind the Bauer Bay Hut. It is said recorded that early occupants of the island used to eat the cabbage to provide a source of vitamin C to ward off scurvy. It has very hairy leaves, but its stalks are not unlike a hairy celery stick. It has not appeared on the menu this year!
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| Dew drop in cabbage. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Dew drops on the cabbage hairs. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Dew on cabbage. Photo: Jacque Comery |
August 29: Feathers and Dew
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| Feather on the beach at Bauer Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Sunlight and dew drops adorn a feather. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Feather on the beach. Photo: Jacque Comery |
August 28: Bone on the beach
An interesting bone find on the beach at Bauer Bay.
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| Tree of life inside a bone. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Bone fragment. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Bone structure. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Bone. Photo: Jacque Comery |
August 27: Logs on the West Coast
The logs laying on the beach on the west coast at Bauer Bay may not seem that significant, except for the fact that there are no trees on Macquarie Island. All of these logs have drifted from somewhere in the world to land upon our shores. If only they could tell the tale of their travels....
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| Log in the creek at the south end of Bauer Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Another tree at Bauer Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| A log on the beach of the west coast. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| A washed up tree over 100 metres from the waters edge. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Log on the beach at Bauer Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery |
August 25: Macca on the move.....
One of the science projects that we support here at Macquarie Island, is Geoscience Australia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) installation.
Below is a time-series of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) data that has been collected at Macquarie Island since 2001. The station was established earlier than this, but the latest analysis of data is from 2001 onwards. GNSS is a fancy way of referring to GPS now days as the data we collect does not just include the US run GPS system, but also satellites systems operated by Russia (GLONASS), Europe (Galileo), China (Beidou) and a Japan (QZSS)
What the time-series shows is the movement of an antenna on an outcrop of rock beside the science building (which is hopefully anchored to bedrock) broken down into three components. The first plot shows the up-down movement (each dot represents a day). The second plot shows the north-south movement and the third plot the east-west movement. The red lines indicate discontinuities in the time-series (such as equipment changes or earthquakes). For example you can clearly see a displacement in 2004 when the Macquarie Island Ridge earthquake occurred.
From these plots it can be estimated where and how fast Macca is moving:
The current estimate based on the modelling would be approximately 10 mm/year to the east, 30 mm/year to the south and sinking 1 mm/year. It is important to note that some studies have shown that velocities (movement) of the island is still being influenced by the large earthquakes it has experienced over the last 100 years.
Thanks to Ryan Ruddick at GA for the info.
Thanks to Ryan Ruddick at GA for the info.
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| Checking out the GNSS. Photo: Mark Baker |
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| Trying to work out where the antenna cable should be plugged in. Photo: Mark Baker |
August 24: Dried kelp at Bauer Bay
I was picking up marine debris when my eye was drawn to this rock as I thought it was draped in plastic wrap. It was just dried kelp.
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| Kelp on rocks at Bauer Bay. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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| Kelp on the rocks. Photo: Jacque Comery |
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