Boondoggles!

We've had lovely weather here in McMurdo. It's been sunny and unseasonably warm (18 degrees F/-9 degrees C). That might not sound warm to you, but with all of the sunlight, the lack of wind and the absence of an ozone layer, it's down-right balmy! We've done some great little hikes and Michiel is doing a 2+ hour run every Sunday afternoon.

Aside from the weather, both Michiel and I have been blessed with some amazing boondoggles. Last week, I was invited on an aerial survey of 2 emperor penguin colonies by DC-3 aircraft with a science group that has been researching emperors for over 20 years. The skies were blue and the views were incredible. We did much of our flying over the ice edge (where the permanent ice shelf meets the ocean) and the formations of ice and icebergs were fabulously beautiful.

The Cape Colbeck emperor colony hadn't been visited in 13 years and the last survey counted 5,000 chicks and 10,000 adults. The researcher, Paul Ponganis (from Scripps in La Jolla, California), didn't know how many critters to expect so he was overwhelmed when we found the colony and he estimated 10,000 chicks and 20,000 adults!





Cape Colbeck






Penguins and Poop. Very hard to get good photos with a normal camera!










Beaufort Island - site of a small emperor penguin colony (approx. 200-300)

Today, Michiel is out on a helicopter ride out to the dry valleys, an area of Antarctica that is situated in such a way that it gets no snow or ice. Photos from that trip will be coming soon.

Morale Cruise

After the icebreaker has done it's job and created a channel in the ice big enough for the supply vessel and the oil ship to pass trough, they leave to fulfill other contracts. The Coast Guard vessel takes over and keeps the channel from freezing over again. After many requests from the community, this year the NSF has requested the Coast Guard again to provide us with cruises on their ship. People were able to sign up for this (person number 666 to sign up was Satan, I didn't know he was on station) )and after a lottery were placed in either the first shift or the second or on the alternate list.

View from the Polar Star Coast Guard ship.

Sheri was on the alternate list and was lucky enough to have enough people not show up (there were some parties the night before and some people might have drunk a little too much to be able to get up early or stand the motion of a ship). I made it to the second shift.
The boat took us far into the channel (unfortunately not all the way to the ice edge/open water) and even did some real-live ice breaking. Along the way we saw lots of seals, some penguins and several minke wales. You can imagine how excited people were.

Minke wales and seal

Lovely view of castle Rock A Russian cruise ship

The Furthest South Possible.....

The famous ceremonial South Pole

I was able to finally step foot on the actual continent of Antarctica (McMurdo is actually on an island that is attached to the continent by an ice shelf) and can now say that I have been at the bottom of the world.

My position as Passenger Services, Senior allows me the opportunity to organize the movement of over 1200 people from Antarctica to Christchurch, New Zealand (the process is known as "Redeployment"), including all of the employees who work at the South Pole. I was able to spend a day at the Pole working with my liaison there on the redeployment process and got a full tour of not only the new station (which was completed last year), but also of the old Dome station, the Ice Cube Project, where they are drilling 70 holes for neutrino-detecting sensors, and the new telescope (didn't get to go inside, though).

LC-130 transportation towards Pole Some of the transportation at Pole

I flew with my counterpart from Christchurch at 8 AM on an LC-130 Hercules aircraft and spent a good portion of the trip enjoying the incredible scenery over the Trans-Antarctic Mountains from the cockpit. (I was also able to spend the last hour on the way back to McMurdo in the cockpit! The flight crew was great and enjoyed my enthusiasm about the scenery as much as I was enjoying the scenery!)

The runway is only about 200 feet away from the new station, which sits on stilts in order to avoid being covered over by drifting snow. It was about -35 degrees F/-37 C with the wind chill and it certainly felt cold after the balmy temps in the 40's (6-7 degrees C) we had been enjoying at McMurdo. After walking up the 2 flights of stairs to the station entrance, I could certainly feel the physio-altitude of 10,374 feet/3168 meters. Apparently, something about the atmospheric pressure at the Pole makes high altitudes feel even higher. There have been lots of problems with people working too much, too soon after they arrive at Pole and having to get evacuated to McMurdo to recover. In order to reduce the negative effects of going quickly to these altitudes, the medical clinic has been giving the same medication (Diamox)used by climbers to everyone who goes to the Pole.

It was a great day and I thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of not only my host, but also of everyone in that small community. Here are some highlights of my day: Walking under the dome of the old station, seeing the glaciers and mountains that make up the Trans-Antarctic Range, seeing all of the science projects that we support in our logistics department (cargo and passenger movement), getting to spend time with someone I work VERY closely with via email and seeing the new South Pole station.

Note: The ceremonial pole in the photos isn't really at the magnetic south pole. The real furthest south point moves constantly and every year, they hold a big ceremony and move the marker for the true South Pole.

more pictures

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

Sheri Gets A Morale Trip

I got my turn to leave the safety of Mactown for a Morale Trip to Sea Ice Training. Since the annual sea ice (the ice that melts each year) is near to its break-up point, this was the last sea ice training course of the season and I was lucky enough to snag a spot with 8 other people.

Sea Ice Training is mainly meant for scientists and workers who regularly drive across the ice to get somewhere. The purpose of the training is to learn how to evaluate cracks in the ice in order to ascertain whether they are safe to cross in your vehicle.

We learned that the annual sea ice is 2.5 to 3 meters thick, while the permanent ice shelf is over a kilometer thick. The C-17 and LC-130 aircraft have been landing on the annual sea ice and each time a plane lands, surveyors measure the deflection of the ice beneath the load of the aircraft. If the ice sinks too low (that is, below sea level), the C-17s have to take off immediately in order to avoid getting frozen and stuck.


When a you encounter a crack in the ice, you are supposed to clear away the snow to reach the ice itself, then you drill a hole with a power drill and giant, metal drill bit (called a "flight"). Each flight is about 3 feet (one meter) long. Once the entire flight is drilled into the ice, you connect another flight to the first and continue drilling. Finally, you add a third flight and you'll probably hit water. The water that comes up through the hole is crystal clear and appears "blue lagoon" blue. Now, you measure the depth of the hole by dropping a weight and cord on the end of a measuring tape.


You will also measure the width of the crack and determine whether the crack is more than one-third the length of your vehicle's track. For example, the Pisten-Bully has a nine foot track and can only safely cross a crack that is less than 3 feet wide.

In order to try out our new skills, we travelled out on the Road to Nowhere to drill some holes. Along the way, we saw the same seals and pressure ridges that Michiel saw on his boondoggle. We had a clearer day, however, and got tremendous views of Mt. Erebus beyond.




After doing some drilling, we had an added bonus of hiking up a volcanic island that was home to several nesting skuas. The black soil was surprisingly soft (almost like sand) and the aggregate rocks were pitted and sculpted by the wind.

Boondoggles

Every so often we get opportunities to get away from town on some form of fun vehicle. These trips used to be called "Boondoggles" but are now referred to as "Morale Trips".

Michiel won a "morale trip" by being one of the first ten people to volunteer to clean up the gym after the big Halloween party. He was invited to go one evening after work on "The Road to Nowhere".

The Road to Nowhere heads out over the permanent ice shelf ("white ice") towards Mt. Erebus, passing a Weddell Seal colony along the way. Passengers are transported in giant orange vehicles called Deltas.

Here are a couple of photos of a seal in front of the pressure ridges of the Erebus ice tongue.




The Road to Nowhere

Recreation

We work hard and play hard. In order to provide recreational opportunities for 1000 people with different tastes, McMurdo has a recreation department staffed by three people.

Gear issue services includes the rental of musical instruments, cross-country skis, climbing shoes, etc. A small 2-lane bowling alley (with one of the last manual pin-setting operations in the world!) is located in Building 63. Open bowling hours are on Sunday evenings. They also have cosmic bowling (using black lights and glowing bowling balls!)

The sports gym is the site for volleyball, basketball, aerobics and other activities. Sign up sheets for league and team play are also posted on the Recreation bulletin board. The climbing wall is also located in the gym. All personnel on station who have received training on its proper use can utilize this wall. Training classes will be announced at various points throughout the season.

The weight room offers nautilus type equipment, free weights, exercise cycles and other exercise equipment. Upstairs, this building has a Ceramics room, a sewing room, and a bouldering cave. The Acey Deucy (Bldg. 78) is completely outfitted with aerobics training equipment. Both facilities are open 24 hours a day for your use.

The library has books on many different subjects and interests that are available for checkout. The library is open most evenings each week.

There are three clubs open to serve the McMurdo community. Gallagher's, the non-smoking club, offers a 'burger bar' three nights of the week. The Coffee House has a cozy atmosphere and serves coffee, wine and cheeses. Southern Exposure is the smoking bar.

Beer, liquor and soda are available for purchase at the retail store during regular store hours. The amount purchased per visit is limited. Video checkout, fax service and pre-paid long distance phone cards are also available through the store, as well as t-shirts and souvenirs, toiletries and maps.

Chapel of the Snows offers a variety of religious services for community members.

A band room is available after work hours and is equipped with amps, sound board and instruments. This season, I am playing drums in a reggae band so our band has a two hour slot on Wednesday evenings for practice.

Aside from the regularly available activities and services, the recreation department ensures that there are clubs, games, special activities, trips and parties every night of the week and on some days (for the night shift workers).

Our costumes for the 70s party and Halloween (I guess you could say that we are Queen's Day celebrators?)




Some of the best of the very creative Halloween Costumes. Costumes were judged for Best Overall, Best Antarctic Theme, Scariest, Funniest, and Best Group costumes. The winners get to go on a special outing by snowmobile to a gorgeous overlook of Erebus Volcano.





Here’s a schedule of the past week’s activities:

Monday, October 24th: Bowling and Volleyball leagues begin tonight! Check with your
captain to get the season schedule! Good Luck!

Tuesday, October 25th: NEW!! Silversmith class with Harry Fishel. You lucky students who are signed up on the rec. board start your 5 weeks of classes tonight from 7-9pm in bldg. 136. Bring your $10 supplies fee.

*Rescheduled Sunday (10/23) Science Lecture in the dining hall at 8:30pm.

Wednesday, October 26th: Morning Movie: "Children Underground" at the Coffee House

NEW!! * Survival Russian language class starts tonight at 7:00pm in 207 1st floor lounge! This is a basic course in Russian language with an emphasis on tactics for traveling the Trans Siberian Railroad.

*Birthday Bingo starts at 8:00pm in Gallagher’s! If you were born in October, you play for free! Bring your ID along.

*NEW!! *Intro Shito Ryu Karate class from 6-7:15pm in the big gym. All welcome!

*Antarctic Movie Night in the Coffee House starts at 7:30pm. Tonight’s movie is “The Crystal Ocean”, all you ever wanted to know about icebergs, glaciers, and pack ice.

Thursday, October 27th: The Ends of the Earth: A three credit course continues through Dec. 15th. Classes will be held every Monday and Thursday 7-8:00pm in the 208 1st floor lounge.

*Every Thursday Night is American Night at Scott Base! Shuttles start at 6:30pm from DJ! Check the rec. board for details.

*Thursday Night Movie: "Children Underground", 8pm at the Coffee House

Friday, October 28th: NEW!! * White Crane Women’s Self Defense Class from 7-8pm in the laundry room.

NEW!! * Shito Ryu Karate Class from 8-9pm in the laundry room.

Saturday, October 29th: Town Halloween Party at the big gym! The party starts at 8:00pm, with costume judging 9:00-9:45pm. Join the fun! See you there!

Sunday, October 30th: NEW! The first 10 people to get down to the gym at 10:30am to help clean up after the Halloween party, get their names on the first recreation trip of the season!

NEW!! * Shito Ryu Karate Open Training from noon-1pm in the big gym.

*Discovery Hut Tour - Sign up on the rec. board, and meet at the handwashing station at 1pm sharp.

*Cinema Sunday at the Coffee House: noon: "Cosi"
4pm: "Like Water for Chocolate"
8pm: "A Soldier’s Story"

If this isn’t enough, there are always hikes and walks around station to get great views of the sea ice, the ice runway, the Royal Society mountain range and the active volcano, Mt. Erebus. Many people ski or run the roads out to the ice runways and Michiel and I are certainly trying to make time to do that in preparation for the marathon and fun runs later in the season.

With band practice, staying in shape, eating and sleeping, we don’t have much time for the other activities (especially with my 12 hour shifts), but we do try to attend the science lectures (more on that next time!) though it's temptiing to want to do a little of everything!