Distressed Fishing Vessels

This has been the season of distressed fishing vessels in the Ross Sea and the Southern Ocean.  New Zealand sells fishing permits to companies from all around the world so that they can catch toothfish (Antarctic Cod) in the waters surrounding Antarctica.  Unfortunately, two of these vessels have run into problems this season and the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) has been expected to assist in rescuing and transporting stranded fisherman back to New Zealand.  This support is at the US tax payers expense while New Zealand reaps the benefits of selling the permits.  Some New Zealand media have been blaming the appetites of Americans and Japanese for these fish as the cause of the problem.

The latest mishap occurred on a Korean-owned fishing vessel, the Jeong Woo 2.  The distress call came in early in the morning on Wednesday, January 11.  The ship had caught fire and the 40 men on board had evacuated to the bow of the ship in little more than shorts, flip flops and t-shirts.  Several of them had severe burns and three were missing and presumed dead. When a call like that occurs, the members of the McMurdo Emergency Operations response team are paged to convene in a conference room to discuss the USAP support of the incident. 

The Korean sister ship picked up the men who were well enough to be rescued but the 7 with bad burns were picked up by the USAP research vessel, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, which steamed to pick them up and deliver them to the ice edge near McMurdo Station, where they were helicoptered to town and delivered by ambulance to our Medical Center.  You can imagine the logistical and medical support this kind of operation required - much of which occured overnight. 

Six of the injured fishermen spoke only Vietnamese and one spoke only Indonesian.  (It is common practice for fishing vessels to hire personnel from different countries.)  Luckily, there was someone on board the Nathaniel B. Palmer who spoke fluent Vietnamese and there is someone here in McMurdo who is married to an Indonesian woman, lives in Indonesia and speaks the language.  These people played a crucial role as interpreters and calming influences.

The staff here took excellent care of the injured, provided them with all sorts of USAP swag - fleeces, polo shirts and pants from our store, and transported them once again back to the airfield for a flight to New Zealand for medical treatment.  Way to go USAP!

Here's a link to one of the stories about the rescue:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/complex-rescue-help-injured-korean-fishermen-4683872

Thanksgiving Morning

Thanksgiving morning in McMurdo always falls on a Saturday.  We don't get the real Thanksgiving Day holiday, but the closest Saturday and Sunday are days off and we celebrate Thanksgiving with our annual 5K running race at 10:00 AM.  The Turkey Trot almost always brings out some great costumes and a variety of attitudes and seriousness about racing.  Here are some shots from this year's event. 


The starter turkeys

 



The start and finish line are at the Chapel

 

Completely overheating with my 4 layers of clothing

 By the way, it's definitely a benefit being over-40 in these races as my "competition" consisted of a group of 9.  I think I came in fourth in this grouping after a very poor performance, multiple lace tyings, dead mp3 player and fighting a cold.

McMudhole

The gorgeous weather of the last few days has turned our roads into slushy mud pits, but it sure is nice to feel the warm sun on a face that doesn't need to be covered from the wind!

Olympic Competitors - Another Reason to Love McMurdo!

Last night, I attended another installment of the wonderful new talk series here in McMurdo called "Secret Lives".  It features two people each week telling stories of their off-ice lives.  Yesterday's was particularly exciting; it starred our Nurse Practitioner, who is an Olympic level figure skating judge, and the head of our Housing department, who competed for 12 years as the brakeman for the two-man bobsled team representing TRINIDAD!

Curtis was a star sprinter and was recruited to train in Lake Placid, New York for the Trinidad and Tobago team.  He competed in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer and in 1998 in Nagano, Japan.  He talked about the mechanics of racing bobsleds (or bobsleigh), the agony of being in a thin piece of fiberglass moving at speeds up to 90 miles per hour with 4 g of gravitational force and the effects of crashing (ripped off skin).  He balanced those stories with tales of luxury and grandeur at the Olympic Games (masseuses, chefs at your beck and call, drivers and interpreters, and designated driving lanes on the roadways just for athletes).  Utterly fascinating!

There is another Olympian on station who also competed in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.  Deborah is here with the military and I've gotten to know her through my IT training classes.  She competed in the biathlon for the US.  

Olympic results are here:

Curtis: http://www.todor66.com/olim/1994w/Bobsleigh_Doubles.html                    
Deborah:  http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/no/deborah-nordyke-1.html
  
Hooray for our tremendous community!



The control towers and buildings at the Ice Runway

 I admit it...I love the flying machines of Antarctica.  On Sunday, the people who work the airfield and the crews who fly the various aircraft allowed the community to come and check out these beautiful planes and helos up close.  We even got to sit in the cockpits of some of them!


LC-130 Hercules - flown by the New York Air National Guard

 





In the cockpit of a Bell 212 helicopter - normally flown by PHI



The most beautiful of the Antarctic aircraft, a Basler BT-67, flown by Kenn Borek Air of Canada.



A DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter - also flown by Kenn Borek.

 It is a real privilege to be able to say that I've flown in almost all of these (except for the Twin Otter) and every time is still thrilling.

At the end of the day, we also got the opportunity to go up into the Air Traffic Control Tower.

Inside the tower

 The interesting cloudscape added to the enjoyment of the day and the beauty of the photos.

It's HOT!

Well, it's hot for Antarctica.  The snow and ice on the roofs and eaves of all the buildings is melting off into giant puddles.  The roadways have a super slick surface of hard packed snow.  The sun is bright and shiny; the sky is blue and the winds are almost non-existent.  Conditions like this never last but while we have them, everyone is cheerful.....except for the people who are concerned about the thickness of our new new ice pier, which is used during annual vessel (goods, supplies, and vehicles) and tanker (fuel) offload.

At the end of last season, the new ice pier floated away in a storm.  It's been spotted some 20 miles or so away from station, complete with electrical poles, quonset hut, and bollards for tying up the ships.  Here is a photo taken from a helicopter of the ice pier lodged in annual sea ice.

The environmental team will work on removing all of the material out there on the sea ice but in the meantime, fleet operations have been working on making a new ice pier this winter and winfly.  With our incredibly warm temperatures this year, the new new ice pier is only 9 feet thick but it should be 17 feet thick at this point in the season.  We'll see how this one works out for us...

Rockin' the Chalet Deck

Condition Fun is a band that has been around for many years and is the brainchild of Sandwich and Bill.  They excel at writing fun and catchy tunes about the vehicles of McMurdo.  Last season, they asked me to join them on drums to fill out their sound.  Now we're up to five members with a sixth contributing clarinet and cigar-box guitar onarious numbers.

Last Saturday, Condition Fun was asked to participate in a live video tele-conference with the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California by the Pricipal Investigator for one of the marine science projects, Gretchen Hoffman.  Gretchen did 2 live interviews from the deck of the Chalet (Sation and NSF management offices), which, by the way, has the best views of any place on Station.  The first interview was with a group of six graders and the second interview occured at night in California during the aquarium's Halloween cocktail party and shindig.

Gretchen thought it would be fun to have us "play out" her interview with a popular tune, C-17.  It was a great treat for us and I think it came out quite well.

The video is on Youtube.  Check it out here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joghsyhnsjc

Snow Day!

In Antarctica, when you have a snow day, you don't get to stay home and go sledding BUT they do cancel flights.  Today is supposed to be the first day of the Mainbody season, the time when almost all of our science occurs and station population can swell to 1200.  Many of the winterovers are scheduled to fly out after 8 months or (in many cases) one year and are giddy with excitement.

On the schedule today are two flights, one a C-17 and the other an Airbus.  The Airbus was slated to bring 70 people to station but now that it has been cancelled due to blowing snow and low visibility, ten priority passengers have been moved to the C-17 which can land in worse conditions than the Airbus.  The C-17 has been delayed and may yet be cancelled, but for now, we're planning on losing 38 people and getting 40.  I can live with that.

Here are some more amazing photos from the science group that is gathering worms on the ocean floor for genetic analysis.

Changeable

From -81F/-60C wind chill to 1F/17C in just two days.  The clouds have moved in overhead and have brought warm, moist air with them.

In the meantime, we are all preparing (mentally, spiritually, physically) for the beginning of Mainbody starting next Monday.  With each flight, we'll get 140 new people and lose only about 100 winterover personnel (in total!).  It will get crazy busy very quickly.  To commemorate the end of WinFly, the carpenters are throwing a big party with live music this Saturday night.  Sadly, I agreed to cover someone's bartending shift so I won't be able to attend.  I hope some people actually come to the bar!

The Carp shop

Gallagher's Pub, where I'll be bartending

More Nacreous Photos

Here are photos of some stunning nacreous clouds we observed a couple of nights ago.  Unfortunately, the photos don't completely capture the variety and clarity of the pastel colors, but you get a good idea of what makes this place so special.

Recreating During WinFly

Even though the temperatures have been quite low recently, we do try to get out and recreate when it's Condition 3 (good visibility and not less than -60F wind chill).  There are several marked hiking trails and a software program that helps us plan our route and check out with the Firehouse (when the program is working properly!).  Checkouts are mandatory for certain routes and at certain times of the season.  During WinFly, since the weather is vey changeable and cold, most routes require a checkout and a radio.  The software is updated to inform us if we need radios and checkouts.

Last Sunday, we hiked the Ob Hill Loop in temperatures that might have gotten down to -30F wind chill.  For about an hour and half, we hiked in the swirling snow, searching for our path, which had been drifted over.  At times, the gusts made it difficult to move forward, but that just added to the "workout".

It was good fun, but after such an outing, lots of water, warm drinks and calories are imperative. 




The Coldest I've Ever Experienced....

I thought the other day was cold but, today, I reached my new record for low wind chill....-76 degrees F.  Woo Hoo!  Not a bit of skin can be showing in temperatures like these.  We're grateful for "big red", the parka we get issued.  Mine has real coyote fur around the hood. Check out the What to Wear post for a photo.

Oh, wait...it just got colder.....

And by the way...that is awful, deadly cold.  The wind gusts almost knock me over and even covered body parts are close to frost nip in a very short amount of time.  The roar of the wind is ferocious and a bit scary.  On my way from lunch back to the building where I work (uphill and into the wind!), I did a little experiment with a cup of water.  I tossed the water into the air and it froze instantly into a spray of ice.  Pretty neat but it was too bitter to hang around outside long enough to ponder the science behind it.

BRRRRRR!!

The current temperatures make me think I should stay right where I am....but I've got to walk from Building 155, which houses the Computer Training Room, the Dining Hall, the Store, the Barber Shop and other functions, to my office.  It's only a 5 minute walk but it's into the wind.  On a day like today, goggles, a balaclava, hood, glove liners, and mittens are not only desired...they're absolutely necessary!

No Auroras but Lots of Life Under the Sea

We subscribe to an aurora alert email service.  Today's alert email said this:  "The effects of the solar events of the last days have reached Earth and a large magnetic storm is in progress. The aurora associated with this storm is already covering Scandinavia. It should be visible in Central Europe during the night.  Because of the activity following the initial shock, we expect this storm to continue; if it does at the present level, it will be visible across the northern half of the continental US, Southern New Zealand, Tasmania, and even the southern coast of Victoria, Australia."  Sadly, the raging storms with 55 knot wind gusts are blowing too much snow around for us to see any farther than the building next door!

Since I don't have any pretty sky photos for you, here are some photos taken by the divers who are here researching the cold adaptation genetics of Antarctic worms. And, yes, the divers are diving under the ice.  The support staff drills big holes in the ice and then places a little warming shack over the hole - not unlike ice fishing in Minnesota or places like that, except that otherwise normal people put on diving gear and jump into the water.  Here's a bit of what they see:

And here's a photo of what they are wearing to go into those frozen waters.  This was taken from inside a Dive Hut.

WinFly Weather

So far, we've had a surprisingly mild WinFly. WinFly stands for Winter Fly-In; it's one of hundreds of abbreviations we have here that came from the Navy.  It's the period of time after winter and before Mainbody when the bulk of the summer population arrives.

WinFly goes from mid-August to early October and the population is about 460 - 29.6% of whom are women.  The population is made up of remaining winterovers who will leave in October and about 300 new folks, who are remarkably tan, with-it and perky in comparison.

I expected the winterovers to be resentful of us, crusty and grumpy, but I've only heard a few grumbles about the increased population, the onslaught of cold viruses and the fact that we are eating THEIR salad and fruit.  The more sane winterovers told us that it was a mild, snowy, blowy winter that was made more pleasant by the giant shipment of freshies that came mid-winter with a medevac flight - but certainly, even these folks are ready to go after seeing only white and feeling only cold for nearly 9 months.

WinFly is known for its super-cold temperatures, storms and nacreous clouds.  We hadn't seen much of the cold temperatures.  Temps had been hovering around 0F/-18C with wind chills getting down to -15F/-26C or so.  That all changed yesterday.  Here are today and tonight's forecasts:

   

We've seen some nice, but mild displays of nacreous clouds, but nothing like these. Photos were taken by a winterover.

The nacreous clouds pictured here might be the Type II Polar Stratospheric Clouds, which require temperatures of -125F/-85C. They are more vibrant than the ones we've seen recently, which might have been Type I, which show up in warmer temperatures and have to do with a reduction in the ozone layer, Check out this website: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/psc1.htm for more photos and descriptions.

McMurdo Night and Pole Air Drop

This is my 7th season at McMurdo Station, Antarctica but the first time I've ever seen the stars from here. Normally, I arrive for the main season in October, when the sun is about ready to start circling the sky for 5 months without setting. But this year, I have the opportunity to see the transition from the long, dark winter to summer. We arrived on August 27th, after a very relaxing 4 day delay in Christchurch. At that time, the sun was rising at about 9:45 AM and setting at about 4:00 PM. It was a bit hard to tell because of the heavy cloud cover and blowing snow. Now - just one week later, the sun rises at 9:11 AM and sets at 4:38 PM.


During the day, the light is soft and the mountains glow pink. The sunsets take at least an hour. On the walk home from work, we can see the moon and stars shining brightly and the lovely silhouette of the local feature, Observation Hill, with its cross on top commemorating Robert Scott.


When you add in the surprisingly warm temperatures, oodles of snow on the ground and moments of only light wind, it is magical! I've never heard people talk so much about the beauty of this place as I have in the last week. There is loads of snow around (due to the fact that they had such a warm winter...they don't get snow if it's too cold.) and everything looks relatively clean and white.


I feel very lucky to be here...and now that the NSF has made an agreement with the Russians on an icebreaker, I also feel relieved to know that I'll be able to stay until February.


On another note, one of the C-17 aircraft that came in recently continued on to the South Pole to do an air drop mission of medications (and oranges!). Here are some photos:

Inside the C-17. Getting ready to drop the load.

Note that the temperatures on the ground at the South Pole have been about -85 F/-65 C and the sun has not yet risen over the horizon (that will occur on Sept 21 at 5:48 pm). The crew at the Station lit giant flares to give the plane a target. (AlmaMia: an interesting fire gig for you???)

Burn barrels glowing in the drop zone.

The Air Drop