Photos I Wish I Took

The warm temperatures have been melting all of the roads and the snow on the hills and mountains, creating a huge amount of run-off.  This relatively warm run-off flows into Winter Quarters Bay and raises the temperature of the water which speeds up the melting of the Ice Pier from underneath.  Remember that Ice Pier I mentioned in a prior post?  It now has 4 feet of good ice and the rest of its thickness is slush.  Not good news...

The powers-that-be have been brainstorming alternative methods of off-loading all of the cargo arriving by resupply vessel since the Ice Pier has finally and officially been deemed un-usable.

They are down to 2 options:  offload all of the cargo in Lyttleton, NZ and fly 150 extra C-17 missions or use some kind of modular "Lego" pier to do an offload here.  Too bad the NSF didn't want to consider other options when the alarm bell was sounded by our Fleet Operations personnel back in August.  Over half of our cargo has already been containerized in California and ready to load onto the Resupply vessel.  This cargo will likely get re-prioritized and need to be re-containerized.  

On a brighter note, everyone who bet money on the NSF missing their stated deadline to announce the new subcontractor for the USAP is now richer.  Although...no one would have bet against this happening.  After two contract extensions, we were supposed to hear today who our new "boss" will be, but it is silent at the Denver Headquarters.  Many think that we'll hear right before Thanksgiving.

Finally, to end my week on a happy note, here are some great photos that I WISH I took.  They have been "borrowed" from the public photo storage location on the network.  Enjoy!



Penguin Chick under one of its parents