Pressured

Behind the New Zealand Station there is a beautiful phenomenon which we've come to know as "the pressure ridges". The movement of the sea ice against the shore has created great forces and pushed it upwards. In places it looks like frozen sea waves while in other spots big chunks of ice have been pushed upwards. Alternating thawing and freezing has also created beautiful icicles.
In years past you were allowed to walk freely in this landscape, but for some reason (maybe a minor incident like someone twisting his ankle) it was deemed too unsafe. The Kiwis for years have been allowing their people to do this and have been doing regular safety inspections of the route to make sure that unsafe areas were marked with black flags. So after much lobbying and the appointment of official "guides" the route was opened again for Americans who could sign up for it on the sign-up sheet outside the Rec office.


More pictures on our picture website:
http://michielandsherithepictures.blogspot.com/

Helo Ride to the Ice Breaker!

Happy Holidays! We enjoyed a quiet and well-needed rest during our 2 day weekend for Christmas. The station had a huge holiday party - complete with Santa, door prizes and eggnog - as well as a big holiday dinner with lobster tails and duck.

We went for a couple of walks (and saw a lone Adelie penguin), played games and watched "Weeds", my new favorite cable series.

The season is ramping up to a fever pitch of activity as the ice breaker ship approaches. This annual event signals the approach of the re-supply vessel and the fuel ship. This year, the NSF contracted a Swedish ship, the Oden, to break the channel through the ice from open water. The ship had several scientists on board who needed to fly out to New Zealand, so I was invited to go on board to do the "bag drag" for the departing passengers. Bag drag is the process of weighing passenger's checked bags as well as the passengers themselves with their hand-carry bag.

The ship was only 5 miles from the ice edge, so the only way we could get to the Oden was by helicopter. Helicopters are used extensively by the US Antarctic Program to get scientists and their field support teams to various field camps. This was my very first helo ride in Antarctica, so I was very excited!

We traveled 15 minutes over the ice and spied lots of Weddell Seals hanging out by the pressure cracks as well as a group of about 9 Adelie penguins scattering from the sound of our rotors. We landed next to the ship and enjoyed great views of the freshly created channel at the stern and the large chunks of ice churned up next to the vessel.

We got a short tour of the boat after doing our work and I was particularly impressed by their 2 pine saunas and snazzy bar. As you would expect from a Swedish ship, we were offered Wasabread and coffee :)

Here is a short movie (high quality for fast internet connections)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6N1lJ1nEYg

Same movie in low quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uojQ_I0_dME

Update on the MSNBC.com situation

The uproar is dying down on station as the reporter mentioned in our last posting as made a sort of public apology by way of his most recent article on MSNBC.com. We did get to meet him briefly, as well as his photographer (who seems like a pretty cool guy). Our photo is included in the Slide Show on the right hand side of the article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15834019/). We were photographed while doing our weekly volunteer duties in the greenhouse.

In order to not be confused with this spurned and ridiculed reporter, the visiting PBS crew has taped "We are not from MSNBC.com" signs to the back of their parkas!