The Antarctic Basics

For those who weren't around (at least in my life) for my first trip down to the ice, I'm sure you have lots of questions, so I'll try to cover all of the basics about life here.

Where:
Michiel and I are stationed at McMurdo, an American science and research station on the New Zealand side of the Antarctic continent. The station was created by the US Navy in the 50's in support of the International Geophysical year. The Navy no longer owns and runs the facility; it is managed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and run by the sub-contractor, Raytheon. Michiel and I are employed by Raytheon, as are almost all of the people who are not doing actual science work.

McMurdo is located on Ross Island, which is surrounded by the Ross Ice Shelf and an active volcano (Mt. Erebus).

Town as viewed from Hut Point. Dorm buildings are in the foreground.


The Work:
70 percent of the workforce is involved with activities to support the science projects that are going on here. People are employed doing such things as housekeeping, dishwashing (my last job here), logistics (passenger and cargo movement), vehicle maintenance and operation, computers, project and program management, and many other things.

Michiel has already mentioned that he is working as a supply person in the plumbing warehouse. I am working in the Passenger Services area and spend a great deal of my day manipulating the out-dated Passenger Transport System database with the names, dates and hotel requests for passengers traveling back to Christchurch and onward to the South Pole or field camps. It’s actually fun work – I get to see where everyone is going and the department is full of fun people.

Michiel shoveling snow

The work week is exceptionally long. Michiel works Monday through Saturday from 7:30 to 5:30. I work 5 twelve-hour days per week and will shift to nights half way through the season. This means that we don’t have a lot of time together, but thankfully, we DO share a small dorm room.

Michiel in the Plumbing Warehouse


The Living Situation:
Everyone on station lives in a dorm. Some dorms have one bathroom between every two rooms and some have ladies’ and men’s rooms on each floor. We live in one of the latter types. Each dorm has a lounge (with TV, DVD, microwave and pool table (or other games)), a laundry room and an area to recycle.

Dorm rooms are very small but people do a lot to make them cozy with wall hangings, linens and bedspreads from home, coffee makers and decorations. They come equipped with two beds, two nightstands, two dressers, a small fridge, and lamps. We scored a television/VCR combo from Michiel's boss for our room. The offerings are meager but it is nice to be able to get the weather forecast (yeah, yeah....I know you're thinking "What does the forecast matter when it's always cold??!!! Actually, it matters a lot if you can see that it is a total white-out (Condition One) and you aren't allowed to leave your building to go to work.) or watch a movie.

One of the challenging things about the dorm situations is that there is a combination of day and night shift workers living in the same areas and even in the same rooms (as Michiel and I will experience later in the season). Day Sleepers have special signs on their doors to notify passers-by.

One of the things that makes decorating easier is a system called "skua", which is named after the scavenger bird that frequents this area. Usable things that you no longer want are placed in bins labelled "skua". Anyone can rummage through the bins or the central storage area. So far, we've skua'ed shoes, clothes, video tapes, wall hangings, a clock radio and other small items. The skua system makes it easier to come down here without packing hundreds of pounds of stuff.

Weather:
Of course, no discussion about life in Antarctica would be complete without a word about the weather. As it is now summer, the air (ambient) temperatures are fairly mild, ranging from -15 F to 20 F (-26 C to -7 C). However, the extreme winds make for awesome wind chills around -45 F (-43 C). These winds create white-out snow conditions that require us to curtail travel outdoors. When we have a “Condition 1”, all travel is restricted, including travel to your work place.

Aside from the cold and wind, the biggest physical discomfort is the dryness. We were lucky enough to "score" a humidifier from the medical clinic, which helps a great deal with nighttime dryness and I've noticed that there are a lot more containers of moisturizer around station, but it is a constant struggle to stay hydrated (we drink liters of water and juice each day) and moisturized.

Furthermore, the dryness seems to make it easier for people to catch colds and harder for cuts to heal. Colds and flu (commonly called "the crud") are a big problem and account for many lost work hours. There are loads of signs reminding people to wash their hands before eating and after using the bathrooms but at any given time, it still seems that at least a quarter of the station has the crud.