Erebus bodies update#

Erebus bodies update#

14, 1979, Simpson was surprised by the disparity and mentioned the difference to Air New Zealand’s Navigation department, which triggered an update to the flight plan reinforcing the McMurdo coordinates with the navigational beacon. When the coordinates were compared by Captain Leslie Simpson, who piloted a similar flight from New Zealand to Antarctica on Nov. This was the path used previously by other pilots and crew when embarking on the sightseeing trips no one was consciously aware that the flight plan and the ground control system printout were divergent, according to a report on the crash published in 1984. The red line shows where they were and, ultimately, where the crash occurred. The flight plan depicted here in grey shows where the pilots of Flight 901 believed they were flying. 9, taken from Air New Zealand’s ground control system, instructed then to fly a more southerly route down the middle of McMurdo Sound, putting Mount Erebus about 27 miles (43.5 kilometres) to the east of the flight.

The printout given to Collins and Cassin on Nov. Image: īut here’s where things get a little odd: The flight plan as approved and as received by pilots during the few years of the sightseeing flights’ history had the pilots instructed to take the plane almost directly above the summit of Mount Erebus, a 12,448-foot (3794-metre) peak. Air New Zealand Sightseeing Flight 901 at Mount Erebus. It was a detailed flight plan that consisted of flying directly from Cape Hallett to the McMurdo beacon on Antarctica. They received their first copy of the flight’s itinerary on November 9, a plan that had been established and approved by the New Zealand Department of Transport Civil Aviation Division in 1977. Pilots Jim Collins and Greg Cassin were experienced but had not flown into Antarctica before that trip. Our current award from the National Science Foundation is for the period Augthrough July of 2022.There might be questions about what did and did not happen to Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on November 29, 1979, but one thing is abundantly clear: The crash was 100% avoidable. Jay Rotella, Robert Garrott, and Don Siniff are co-PI's on the study, which is fundedīy the National Science Foundation through the U.S.

Will also continue the long-term monitoring of the population and maintain the long-term Variation in early-life survival and recruitment for those pups. Pup mass, time spent in the water by pups, and environmental conditions relate to Use mark-recapture analyses to evaluate hypotheses about how variation in birth dates, Studies to monitor fates of the pups through the age of first reproduction and (3) The study will (1) record birth dates, body mass metrics, and time spent in the waterįor multiple birth cohorts of pups born to known-age mothers (2) conduct mark-recapture Of diverse sources of variation in pup characteristics to demographic performance. Our current study has the broad objective of evaluating the importance Results because young born in different years can experience very different environmentalĬonditions. Mass, andthe amount of time they spend in the water before weaning. Thus, pups vary widely with respect to birth dates, body Recent analyses have found that differences in maternal identity, age, body reserves,Īnd reproductive experience are directly linked to variation in offspring phenotype Species because population members have strong site fidelity, are readily approachedĪnd tagged during the pup-rearing period, and have been intensively studied for 40 Population is ideal for increasing understanding of population dynamics of long-lived Interest as the Ross Sea is one of the most productive areas of the Southern Ocean,Īnd one of the few pristine marine environments remaining on the planet. The Erebus Bay population of Weddell seals in Antarctica's Ross Sea is the most southerlyīreeding population of mammal in the world. The population's location is of special More than 24,747 marked individuals, contains detailed information on the populationsĪnd individual animals that provide excellent opportunities to study linkages betweenĮnvironmental conditions and demographic processes in the Antarctic. A breeding population of Weddell seals, a prominent Antarctic high-level predatorĪssociated with fast ice, has been intensively studied in Erebus Bay at the southernĮxtent of the Ross Sea since 1968. The long-term database, which includes data for