kelly's antarctic blog

MABEL Spring 2011

2011-04-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

MABEL is a high-altitude instrument intended to test the design concept of NASA's next-generation laser altimeter: ICESat-2. MABEL flies aboard an ER-2, the updated, research-oriented version of a U-2 aircraft. Follow the blog I kept for NASA here:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/MABELblog/

Mr Kucia's questions associated with NASA

2010-01-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

Mr. Kucia found it interesting that our AMISOR team requested Tang while in the field.

Mechanic Steve discovered Tang at AMISOR Camp

Mr. Kucia said that Tang brought back memories of the Apollo space program. He thinks that if there was ever a location on Earth which mirrored the conditions of space travel, he would venture to guess that it is Antarctica. With this in mind, he had a few questions:

When you were in the field on your last project did you or anyone on your team feel as though you were training for a space mission? When in Antarctica do you feel as if you are on another planet?

We have to go through medical screening prior to heading to Antarctica. The level of detail of the exam often feels like we are prospective astronauts in the space program! Other than that, the only time we feel as remote as an astronaut is when trying to communicate with family. It is either via satellite phone or using limited email capabilities.

Has NASA ever sent equipment to Antarctica to be tested?

NASA has a LOT of equipment in Antarctica, from the ground stations of satellite systems to telescopes to terrestrial based science instruments. But one of the most interesting projects that NASA has in Antarctica is the active search and collection of meteorites. Since meteorites fall from space onto the ice, they are easy to see on the surface and therefore easy to collect. Additionally, because of the glacial flow of the ice sheet, the meteorites get entrained in the ice and then accumulate in specific areas. This is therefore a relatively inexpensive way to collect rock samples from the asteroid belt or, in one known case, from Mars.

Have they ever sent anyone training to be an astronaut to Antarctica?

Great question. I know that they sent an astronaut to McMurdo Station a few seasons back (roughly 2003). Her name was Catherine Coleman and she had been part of two different Space Shuttle missions. The best part of her trip to Antarctica was that she called the International Space Station for us and many people at the science building where I worked participated in a conference call. The three astronauts aboard the space station (which included a good friend of Catherine's named Ken Bowersox, who had been her commander on her first flight with NASA) were equally as interested at what we could see out our window as we were interested in what they could see out of theirs!

How long will your equipment that was deployed continue to transmit data?

I think the instruments we left in the ice shelf will be there pretty much indefinitely. They are frozen in to the ice shelf. Science technicians will routinely visit the site to download more of the data in coming seasons.
What data are you most interested in? Why?

Believe it or not, the most rewarding experiences that I had on this project were a) seeing a different country's program and b) seeing a full, deep-field season where we accomplished the tasking with time to spare. As far as the data are concerned, the Amery Ice Shelf is unique because of the ocean currents in the cavity beneath the ice shelf. I am not an oceanographer, so I will have to wait to see the published results that arise from the data collected.

Other fun photos from Davis Station and AMISOR Camp

2010-01-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some more fun photos from the trip to Davis Station with the Australian Antarctic Division:

Davis Station from the air (Shavawn's photo). The light green building in the foreground is the galley; the light orange, small building in the center of the frame was our accomodation. The dark green building was being built while we were on station.

Welcome to Davis!

A leopard seal and her pup. After 8 previous seasons on the ice, this was the first leopard seal that I had ever seen!

A few elephant seals.

My friend Cath took this photo of an Adelie penguin. She thinks it is the best photo she took this summer.

Cath organized an iceberg cruise one evening. Here are a few photos from that night.

There were three boats on the trip.

Toward the end of the evening, the lighting turned spectacular!

This was truely a special evening!

The best part of the trip was stumbling on an iceberg that contained not only fresh-water ice (the white parts of the iceberg), but also salt-water (or 'marine') ice (the green part of this iceberg). Marine ice forms at the base of the ice shelf where this iceberg originated.

A cold night at the first drill site on the Amery Ice Shelf.

Instructions for the only American in camp...

My favorite photo from this season. A little bit of fun with flat lighting and an ice shelf as a backdrop.

Photos of AMISOR Camp

2010-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

Here are a unch of photos of AMISOR Camp:

The first night at AMISOR Camp (the first of two sites). Four of us were left with a pile of gear at 5:00 PM to set up the tents...

AMISOR Camp. From left to right: the plant and drill tents (the plant tent is mostly dismantled here), the kitchen tent, and three large sleeping tents. Behind the 3 sleeping tents are two smaller tents, one of which is the bathroom tent. This was taken as I left the second site, so the stuff in the upper left is cargo staged to be loaded and flown back to Davis Station.

My sleeping tent (they sleep 2).

Inside my sleeping tent (it's a little messy...). We slep on cots and were inside 2 sleeping bags zipped together.

My tent being moved from the first site to the second site via 'slingload'. The helicopters picked up the sleeping tents and flew them 65 km to their new home.

AMISOR Expeditioners, 2009-2010. Left to right: Me, our leader Al, experienced driller Shavawn, mechanic Jeremy, experienced driller Adam, and mechanic Steve.

Christmas Dinner! Adam managed to get a descent sized turkey into our oven. It was very impressive! We also had pumpkin, potato, cranberries, and stuffing! It was nearly like being home!

Inside the plant tent. The boilers on the right and the generators and compressor are on the left. Note the exhaust pipes, power cables, and hoses throughout the tent.

Inside the drill tent; Shavawn drilling. The hose carrying the hot water runs through the stand and into the drill hole.

Some appliances inside the kitchen tent, including (from left to right) an esspresso maker, a bread machine, a hot water urn, a microwave oven, a sandwich maker, and a yogurt maker!

Washing my hair on the Amery Ice Shelf!

Headed back to Hobart on the Aurora!

2010-01-15T01:46:00.000-08:00

We have completed the deployment of instruments to the second drill
site, named AM06. So our tasking is complete! We packed up the bulk of
camp and said goodbye to the Amery Ice Shelf for the season.
The team headed out of the field about a week ago. We arrived at Davis
Station and everyone had a (much needed) shower. It was nice to be
back on a station, sleeping on a real mattress, and eating food
prepared by the chefs of Davis! Everyone enjoyed being back in the
community.
At Davis, our team was able to personally thank people on station for
the direct support we received while in the field. Often, we would
call in requesting essential materials needed to continue our science,
such as electronic replacements, boiler replacements, and Tang! The
folks on station would then send out our requests on the the next
flight to camp.
A nice treat at the end of our stay at Davis included a boat trip
(three inflatable boats, called Zoliaks, with outboard motors) through
the icebergs that are near station. In the distance, we were also
able to see the Aurora Australis approaching Davis to bring new people
in and to take some of us home.
A few days ago, three members of our party (myself, Al, and Jeremy)
boarded the Aurora for the return trip north to Hobart. It's been a
fabulous time at Davis and on the Amery, but now it's time to go home.
We will be on the ship for about 8 more days. Right now, our team is
working on their computers, reading books, and watching movies. And
SLEEPING! We can't get enough sleep!
I'll write more from the boat (if interesting things pop up) or from
Hobart, where I will post pictures.

New Drill Site!

2009-12-28T01:52:00.000-08:00

We have moved to a second drilling site!

It took 3 helicopters, 3 pilots, 5 additional helpers from Davis Station, 13 hours, and more than 20 flights, but we are now in our second location for this season. We are still on the Amery Ice Shelf, but we are now tucked behind Gillock Island, which protects us from the wind and affords us with a nice view of some rocky cliffs. The general consensus is that this site is a little nicer than the last.

The day of the move was frantic and long. We took down the kitchen tent when we knew that the helicopters were in transit to our first site (AMO5). Then we packed the first three helicopters (including two members of our camp) and began the move to the second site (AM06). The kitchen tent was in the first load, so the high priority at AM06 was to get that up and functional as quickly as possible. Then the other loads began to move to the new site. Our sleeping tents, which are made of canvas, stretched over a metal frame, which rides on metal skis, were moved 'as is', on a line under a helicopter. Most of the heavy machinery associated with the plant tent was also moved to AM06 using the same technique, which is called a 'sling-load'. Ultimately, that evening, we had all of our gear relocated to AM06 and the kitchen tent and our 3 sleeping tents were set up and operational.

By the time we were finished that day, it was 1:00 AM. And we were all exhausted. The next day was Christmas Eve, so we took it pretty easy. We set up the drill tent, which took only about 3 hours.

On Christmas we slept in and then set up the plant tent. Again, this was a relatively quick process. Then, we exchanged gifts. Shavawn bought a bunch of plastic yard toys and we headed outdoors, where the sun was shining and the temperature was a balmy 0 C (or 32 F). We tossed around foam footballs and other toys for a while. Adam received a few rubberband-powered airplanes, so we flew those as well. Most of us got a little too much sun that day, so we headed inside for Christmas dinner, which included turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, and a pumpkin pasta salad. All of this was prepared (mostly by Adam) on a 3 burner stove and in an oven with questionable heat control!

The past couple of days, we have all been working hard in preparation to begin drilling here at the second site. We expect to be drilling tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!

Drilling on the Amery Ice Shelf

2009-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

We have drilled through the Amery Ice Shelf!

We started drilling about 5 days ago. At that time, our team of 6 broke out into 2 teams of 3 and we began working 12 hour shifts. The first few days consisted of using a hot water drill (a drill with a nozzle that shoots out high-pressure hot water) to drill farther into the ice shelf. Following this, we used a reamer (also a tool that blasts high-pressure hot water) to make the hole wider. We didn't realize it, but on the third day of drilling, we punched through the bottom of the ice shelf and into the ocean cavity below. It turns out, the ice shelf is roughly 640 meters thick and the sea-floor below is roughly 979 meters below our drill site.

The past few days have been spent sending oceanographic instruments though the hole and into the ocean cavity beneath the ice shelf. These instruments include a Conductivity, Temperature, and Density meter (CTD) and a current meter. We are also attempting to send a camera through the hole, but the casing that protects the camera from both pressure and water is still leaking, so this may not happen as planned.

We expect to finish with the drilling and instrumentation of this hole in the next 2 days or so. That's a good thing, because given the current 12 hour, busy work schedule, we have all been eating as if we were on a road trip: junk food followed by more junk food. We eat whatever is fast and handy. After we have finished, we will break camp and move to a second location and start the process all over again. The site has already been chosen and the crew from Davis Station is sending helicopters out in a few days to make the actual move.

I'll write more as we close up this camp.

Drilling!

2009-12-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

We have begun to drill through the ice shelf!

We drilled more than 250 meters yesterday. The shelf itself is about 500 meters thick. However, we will be sampling the ice shelf (taking cores from the ice shelf) along the way. So getting to the bottom of the ice shelf will still take some time.

We have broken into two groups of three people each. My group had a very long day yesterday. We shoveled snow for most of the day (from about 9 AM until about 5:30 PM) to keep up with the hot water drill. Then we transitioned to monitoring the actual drilling operations (from about 6 PM until about 2 AM). We made it to bed by about 3 AM. This was to transition to roughly 12 hour shifts for drilling operations.

So today, I am very tired. We are getting ready to relieve the other team. So I should sign off. More to follow...

Ahead of Schedule

2009-12-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

Things in AMISOR Camp appear to be ahead of schedule. We have the power/water/pump (the 'plant') tent up and running and the drill tent is making steady progress. Additionally, we spent many hours yesterday shoveling snow to be melted to 'fuel' the hot water drill. We nearly created a swimming-pool-sized hole in the ice shelf and yet we will still need more snow!

The goal is to drill 2 holes this season. Because we are currently ahead of schedule, it looks like that is a real possibility.

The food here has been great. We generally take turns cooking, however, Shavawn, Adam, and I are doing the bulk of the galley duties. This is due to the fact that Al is busy getting the drill tent up and running and Jeremy and Steve are constantly tending to the mechanics of the plant tent. Adam and Shavawn are far better cooks than I am, but they have given me plenty of advice on my days to feed the masses. A typical day's menu consists of 'grab-your-own' breakfast (usually cereal or oatmeal), a soup for lunch (with a base that closely resembles the previous day's dinner...), and then some dish for dinner (we have had mexican, mushroom chicken, shepherd's pie, among other things). When the last plane-load of our cargo arrived 2 nights ago, the Davis Station cooks sent us an amazing strawberry dessert! It was a huge hit!

There is very little wildlife in the center of the Amery Ice Shelf. We are at exactly 70 degrees south and 70 degrees east (check us out on a map). That being said, we have still spotted a couple of snow petrels buzzing our tents and 1 lonely skua that was looking to scavenge our camp.

The ambient temperatures remain at about -5 to -15 degrees celsius. But the wind is highly variable. When it is windy, it is really cold. Yesterday, we had no wind. We drank our morning coffee outside in the sun. Today, however, it has been pretty windy (about 20 knots, gusting over 25) so it has been relatively cold. We have been drinking many hot drinks.

We are close to commencing the actual drilling operations, so I will write more as we get closer.

In AMISOR Camp

2009-11-28T02:16:00.000-08:00

We have made it to the AMISOR Camp on the Amery Ice Shelf.

Four of us (Al, Jeremy, Adam, and I) arrived about 5 days ago, at about 5:30 PM. We then set up our 8 x 24 foot kitchen tent and 2 of the 3 sleeping tents, which are about 8 x 16 feet. We finally made it to sleep at about 3 AM.

The next few days were filled with setting up more tents. We set up the third sleeping tent, the 12 x 24 drill tent that will house the actual hot water drill, and the 12 x 24 plant tent that houses the power and water supply for the drill and for the rest of the camp. Additionally, we moved around a lot of our roughly 15 tons of cargo that is used to set up the camp. This cargo took about 14 flights to move from Davis Station to this camp.

The other night, the last two members of camp arrived (Shavawn and Steve). They had been back at Davis Station ensuring that our cargo made it to our ice shelf camp. They brought us some cake from station!

Camp life is quite fun. It has been between about -5 and -15 celsius for our stay thus far. We are south of the Antarctic Circle; at this time of year, we are in 24 hours of daylight. So the temperature difference between day and night is minimal. We sleep in double sleeping bags (one light one inside one very heavy one). And most of us sleep in a hat and thermal underwear. We have cots and pads to keep it even more comfortable. In general, once you are tucked in, you are quite cozy.

The kitchen is stocked with a large variety of food. And we eat quite comfortably at a table using deck chairs. We have 3 gas burners and a gas oven. Additionally, once the generator part of the plant tent was up and running, we can use a microwave!

We also have good communications. We have an HF radio for calling Davis Station and a satellite phone for calling home periodically. We also have access to email (which is how I am posting to the blog), but no internet.

The drill tent and the plant tent have really been coming together in the past couple of days. We will be using a hot water drill to drill through the ice shelf. To do this, we will need a constantly pumped and recycled supply of hot water to be fed through the drill. So the plant tent has a few generators (for power), a few boilers (to heat the water), and a few pumps (to circulate the water). The water comes from the ice shelf itself. We will dig and chop up loads of snow and then melt it to pass it through the heating, pumping, drilling, and recycling system. Currently, the plant tent is almost fully operational. The drill tent is just a few days behind.

So once we have the setup a little further along, we can start drilling. I'll post more as we get closer to that point.

Photos from Survival Training

2009-11-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos from the 24-hour survival training that Jeremy and I attended:

This is taken from the helicopter as we approached Brooks Hut

Most of our group walking across the sea ice

Two Adelie penguins jumped into our line

A Weddell seal

We made it to Davis Station!

2009-11-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

After a few days of being stuck in the ice within site of Davis Station, we were taken from the Aurora Australis to Davis via helicopter (a Sikorsky S76, for the aviation folks).

We were the second flight onto the station, greeted by people that had just spent the winter here at Davis. There were 18 winter-overs here on station. Many of them were overwhelmed by the arrival of new people (the last boat had departed at the end of March, 2009).

The station is now buzzing with many, many people. It is a sort of crossroads for the Australian Antarctic Program right now; there are the Davis Station winter-overs (waiting to leave), some Mawson Station winter-overs that have been flow in to catch the Aurora Australis before it heads north, and of course all of us new folks. So it is a bit overwhelming. I am not sure of the total numbers, but my guess is that we are at about 90 people on station plus about 50 people still on the boat.

But all these hands were needed for an event called 'resupply', where the Aurora Australis provides a year's worth of fuel, water, and cargo to Davis Station. So people have been working on round-the-clock shifts to get the supplies needed from the ship to the shore.

I am part of a team called AMISOR (Amery Ice Shelf Ocean Research). There are 6 of us in total. Al (our leader), Shavawn (our team member with the most experience outside of Al), Adam (another very experienced team member), Jeremy (a team member with drilling experience on the Ross Ice Shelf), Steve (a mechanic that wintered here at Davis), and myself.

When we arrived at Davis, there were many briefings and trainings. Jeremy and I had to attend a 24 hour survival training. We were flown out to a hut and then walked back to station with a trained field officer. The first day was spectacular, and we saw Adelie penguins and Weddell seals. The evening was quite nice and we all turned in for a good night sleep. However, the wind picked up and kept many of us awake in our bivvy bags (large, wind-proof bags that go over you and your sleeping bag).

The next day of survival training was very windy; it was roughly 40 to 50 knots gusting to 55+ knots. We got up quite early and quickly packed to head back to Davis. It was quite hard to walk with the packs on our backs, and the survival training quickly became challenging! We were all exhausted by the time we reached Davis, but in truth, I think we were all happy that we had an exciting experience. Although, I am still recovering.

The past couple of days have been associated with getting our camp cargo loaded onto small planes (called CASA 212, with support from a company called Skytraders, again for the aviation folks).

We are expected to leave Davis Station tomorrow and head to our camp on the Amery Ice Shelf. So things are a bit frantic.

Before I take off, I wanted to share a few photos from the trip south:

The Aurora Australis (photo from the AAD website, credited to G. Dowse)

On the bridge of the Aurora Australis

A big wave crashing over the bow of the Aurora Australis

AMISOR team member Adam uses a sextant on iceberg watch

An iceberg

Stuck in the sea ice

The critters (emperor penguins) that live on the sea ice

The 22 guys onboard that shaved their heads for Camp Quality

Stuck in the ice near Davis Station

2009-11-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we can now see Davis Station. However, we are making only slow
progress through the fast ice, or the sea ice that is held 'fast' to
the shoreline. We have moved roughly 500 meters since this morning.
There is a lot of uncertainty associated with when we will actually
set foot on station.
But we are very well fed and there are enough social activities to
keep people entertained as we wait out the ice.
Where we are stuck is called Iceberg Alley and it's quite amazing.
The fast ice has trapped a number of magnificent icebergs. Some of
them, I've been told, have been here for years. I will definitely
have photos up soon!
The fast ice, and our close proximity to land, also means there have
been A LOT of Adelie penguin sightings. Adelies make their nests from
small rocks on land. So we are seeing a lot of them as they wander
across the fast ice to get to the ocean for a dinner of krill.
More later, when I know more about our arrival on station...

The Aurora is in pack ice!

2009-11-11T02:22:00.000-08:00

The sea ice that we were cruising through has consolidated a bit and
become what is called pack ice. And we have been cruising (and often
stuck) in this pack ice for the past couple of days. We are chasing
leads, or places where there are runs of open water through the pack
ice. Additionally, we have been breaking some of the thin pack ice.
But it has been slow going for the past few days (we are averaging
about 7 knots) and even slower at night (typically less than 5 knots).

The pack ice has provided us with lots of animal spotting
opportunities. We have all seen a lot more penguins (especially the
Adelie penguins). But the best sighting we had was of a leopard seal
and her very young pup. They were on the pack ice next to a bit of
blood, implying that the pup had been born in the past few days. With
respect to humans, leopard seals are probably the most dangerous
animal in Antarctica. They have very fierce and scary jaws. And this
one was ready to defend her new pup from the Aurora. She displayed
all of her teeth for us and then skirted her pup away from the boat.
After 7 years in the US Antarctic Program, this was the first leopard
seal that I had seen. They are truly a rare sight.

The Murder game has ended! There were two participants left and they
declared a truce. Everyone is walking around with a bit more
confidence.

The crew of the Aurora Australis are huge supporters of an Australian
charity called Camp Quality, which offers a care-free camp setting
for kids with cancer. The crew hosted a charity head shaving the
other night and about 22 guys onborad shaved their heads. This raised
roughly $14,000 for the camp from the 100 or so expeditioners and
crew onboard.

We also crossed 60 degrees south latitude. For sailors, crossing the
Antarctic Circle is a big deal, and while 60 south is not exactly the
Antarctic Circle, King Neptune still reared his head and hazed the
people onboard that had not sailed this far south before.
Fishy-smelling milk shakes were poured over the heads of his victims
while Vegemite was smeared across their foreheads. This event was
also hosted by the fabulous crew of the Aurora, who were incredibly
entertaining in the roles of King Neptune and his subordinates.

We are getting very close to Davis Station, where I will be able to
upload pictures to this blog. So standby...

We are in the ice!

2009-11-08T23:48:00.000-08:00

We are finally in the ice!

For the past 2 days, we have been in the sea ice. We are surrounded
by unconsolidated chunks of it, intermixed with large icebergs. The
sea ice and the icebergs have afforded us with the opportunity to
finally see a lot of animals!

The sea ice helps calm the seas, so the trip has become far more
smooth and steady. Everyone is feeling a lot better.

The Aurora Australis has the ability to push right through this
unconsolidated sea ice. When the ice becomes more consolidated, and
these chunks start to freeze together as we head farther south, the
sea ice becomes 'pack ice'. The Aurora, which is currently going
about 10 knots, can go through 1.5 meters of pack ice at a steady 2
knots. So this is a pretty strong boat!

There are about 3 people left in the Murder game, so it is getting
very exciting. There was a high-drama Murder this morning...

We are getting busy with briefings associated with our upcoming
arrival at Davis Station. So things have picked up on board the
Aurora!

Mr Kucia's class had a series of questions. I have done my best to
answer them. When I couldn't answer them, I asked a specialist! So
here are the questions, followed by the responses:

Have you committed murder on the ship yet? Or were you murdered first?

I committed one very skillful Murder. I knew where my victim was and
I also knew that nearly everyone else was in the theatre room at the
time of the 'attack'. So when he approached the theatre, in an empty
hall, I struck. However, two days later, I was Murdered. Yesterday,
my roommate faced a similar demise. There are only a few people left
in the game (we are GUESSING 3, but nobody know for sure), which has
lasted much longer than anyone expected.

Is Corey the new city council representative of Hobart?

I left Hobart without finding out if he made it to the council. I
will let you know when I reach Davis Station and can look on the
Internet.

When you were a kid, did you always want to study glaciers?

I think I always liked cold weather, snow, and skiing, but didn't
really consider glaciology until fairly recently (about 6 or 7 years
ago).

When did you decide to become a glaciologist?

While working in Antarctica (making maps for the U.S. Antarctic
Program between 2000 and 2004), I started to appreciate the beauty of
ice shelves, ice sheets, and glaciers. I met a glaciologist in
Antarctica that thought I should come back to school for a PhD in
glaciology. It sounded like a great idea! So here I am.

What animals will you run across during your stay in Antarctica?

We have already seen a lot of animals on the Aurora. Specifically, I
have seen 1 emperor penguin and I just saw 2 Adelie penguins. This
morning, a good friend of mine saw a minky whale. Yesterday I saw a
Ross seal. We also have an ornithologist on board and he tells me
that we have seen the following birds (in rough order of abundance):
short-tail shearwater; Antarctic petrels; Antarctic prion; fairy
prion; cape petrel; southern fulmar; southern giant petrel; blue
petrel; southern diving petrel; wandering albatross; black browed
albatross; light mantled sooty albatross; and snow petrels. When we
get to Davis Station, we ought to see more animals. I will list those
as well, and I will also post photos of some of the things we have
seen.

What has been the coldest temperature that you have experienced to
date? Where were you?

The wind blows onto the Ross Ice Shelf from the West Antarctic Ice
Sheet. That wind is steered toward the center of the ice shelf by the
Transantarctic Mountains. The converging air masses meet at the front
of the ice shelf, where I was camped for about a week in 2004. The
ambient temperature was about -30F. But the win made it much more
severe. It was probably closer to -50F with the wind chill. We had to
stay in our tents for about 3 full days.

When drilling, what type of shelter will you be staying in?

We'll be sleeping in tents. They are a little bit more rugged than
the tents you probably take hiking, but they are still just tents. We
will have two slightly bigger shelters for cooking and communications.

Do you like your job? Would you choose another one?

I really love my job. I love looking at ice shelves and the job has
taken me to very interesting places. I can't imagine what else I
would be doing.

Is it hard to breath in such coldness? We all know that there is no
such thing as cold, only the absence of heat.

It's not hard to breath. However, there is a lot of condensation of
your breath when you exhale. This condensation ends up on your neck
warmer, or your collar, making it wet. Wet neck warmers are not warm
neck warmers. So this is the major hazard of breathing in the low
temperatures.

What types of activities do you do when you are not working?

We are on the boat right now. Extra activities include playing cards,
reading books, watching movies, and listening to talks by other
researchers or explorers. I just sat in on a lecture about fishing in
Papua New Guinea. At Davis Station there will be too much to do! I'll
report back on that later. And at the drill site, on the Amery Ice
Shelf, we will be a little limited. I imagine I will read a lot more
in camp.

Have you ever tried ice fishing? Would you ever want to?

I actually have never tried ice fishing. I wouldn't mind trying it in
Minnesota. But I can't try it down here. The animals of Antarctica
are protected, including the fish. The only folks that can fish are
the biologists, who are trying to study the creatures.

How may layers of clothing do you have to wear to stay warm when on
the ice?

It varies a bit. But generally about 3: 1) a base layer of thermal
underwear, made of either wool or capilene; 2) a fleece layer; and 3)
an insulated layer, which is typically down. If it's windy, it is
much colder and you have to add another layer, especially around your
core, like a wind-proof vest.

How did you meet Mr. Kucia, how old were you and what was your first
impression of him?

I think I met Mr Kucia when I was in about 6th or 7th grade. He was
on the same Ski Patrol (at Ski Sundown) as my mother. My first
impression of him was that he was a small child trapped in an adult's
body.

Is the air thinner in Antarctica?

The air is definitely drier. Antarctica is a desert, receiving less
than 13 inches of rain a year. At the South Pole, the elevation is
roughly 9000 ft. But the pressure altitude is on the order of 12,000
ft. So, yes. The air here is thinner.

Does it snow on a daily basis?

Currently, I am in the ocean, at about 60 South, and it has been
snowing off and on for about 4 days. However, once we get off of the
ocean and head out onto the ice shelf, it will only rarely snow.
Antarctica is a desert. It gets less than 13 inches of rain a year.

Are the animals of Antarctica shy?

The penguins here are generally pretty curious. Additionally, they do
not see humans as a threat. So they are pretty willing to walk pretty
close to you to check you out, as long as you are lying on the
ground. Lying on the ground makes you look like less of a threat.
Most seals are also generally tolerant of people getting close enough
to take a picture. They start squawking at you of they think you are
too close. Birds everywhere are generally shy. However, the skuas are
not shy at all. In fact, some are quite brazen. One stole a bagel
from my friend's mouth. Another stole a letter that a friend of mine
was carrying.

If the living conditions were possible would you stay?
Would you ever consider winter-overing?

As much as I love it in Antarctica, it is tough to be away from other
family (and extended family) for a large chunk of time. So, for
family reasons, I don't think I could winter-over. One thing that the
winter-overs see that makes me envious is the Aurora. The northern
hemisphere has the Aurora Borealis. Similarly, the southern
hemisphere has the Aurora Ausralis (the name of the boat I am on, as
well). It would be great to see that. But it is not worth missing
more holidays and ski trips and golf outings with my family.

What is the most beautiful sight in Antarctica?

I think that would have to be compressed, glacial snow. When snow is
compressed, it doesn't look white. It's a beautiful shade of blue
that you don't see anywhere else. It is by far my favorite color. And
I never had a favorite color until I came to Antarctica.

Day 6 on the Aurora

2009-11-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

The seas were quite high this morning. Most of the ship woke up at
7:00 AM because everyone was being tossed around in their bunks. We
were all unable to sleep. Even the soundest of sleepers. So people
were up on the bridge early or doing laundry at 7:00 in the morning
just to do something. A guy I spoke with at lunch has been in the
program 9 years and says these are the heaviest seas he's seen on
this particular boat. Showering this morning was quite a challenge.

It's really rocking right now. I almost lost my seat...

I went to a talk on sea birds last night, so now I feel informed
enough to report on what has been seen. Many folks have seen a few
different types of petrels and a few different types of albatross.
Not being a birder, I have been oblivious to these little guys. It
turns out, they leave Australia to feed in the Antarctic for a few
days and then return; the total trip takes just about 30 days. They
make better time south than we do! Although, we had to slow down a
bit this morning due to the swell. So we are under 10 knots. You
should be able to see our progress here:
http://its-db.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/sitreps.cfm?season=091
0

More later!

Day 5 on the Aurora Australis

2009-11-04T03:18:00.000-08:00

The sea swell over the past few days has really picked up. We are
rockin' and rollin'. The seas put some folks into their bunks for
extended periods. The rocking can make it a little difficult to
sleep. I have been having trouble with that for the past few nights
(it could also be associated with recent shifts in my clock
associated with travel).

I spent some time on the bridge this morning and asked one of the
mates (Garry) a few questions about the boat:

How long is the boat?
94.91 meters

How many people are onboard?
89 Antarctic expeditioners and 22 crew

How many people can the boat hold?
116 Antarctic expeditioners and 24 crew

How fast have we been traveling?
About 10 knots

How fast can the Aurora go?
Top speed is about 16 or 17 knots

How much ice can it go through?
The Aurora can go through 1.5 meters of sea ice at a constant speed
of 2 knots

You can find more information on the Aurora Australis on the
Australian Antarctic Divisions homepage (Google that).

Aboard the Aurora Australis

2009-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

We are underway! We boarded the Aurora Australis on October 30th (the
29th back in the states) and are well out of sight of land.

The water is expected to get a little tough in the coming 24 hours,
so I thought I would get a post in now, while it is still easy to use
the laptop.

There are approximately 100 Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
expeditioners on the boat. Additionally, there are about 20 crewmen
that run the ship. So there are a lot of us headed south. I am in a
bunk with 2 other girls. We are all first-timers with the AAD so the
room is full of questions.

I believe you can follow our progress at this link:
http://its-db.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/sitreps.cfm?season=091
0

There have been some whale and dolphin sightings, but unfortunately,
not by me. But I will keep you posted. I can't post photos from the
ship, but will be able to once I am at Davis Station, approximately
10 days from now.

Not many people have actual tasking while on the boat, so we are all
looking for things to do. People read a lot, and nap, and of course
go to the galley for meals. Today, the entertainment starts to roll
into action. The leaders have organized a game of 'Murder' in which
most of the passengers will take part. It entails drawing a person's
name from a hat and then trying to get that person alone in a room.
Once you are alone in a room with that person, you produce the slip
of paper baring their name, thereby 'Murdering' them. Then, you take
their slip of paper, of their intended victim, which now becomes your
next victim... I'll keep you posted.

Arrived in Hobart!

2009-10-28T03:13:00.001-07:00

I arrived in Hobart yesterday. It took 4 flights: San Diego to LA (~1
hr), LA to Auckland, New Zealand (~12 hrs), Auckland to Melbourne,
Australia (~4 hrs), and Melbourne to Hobart (~1 hr). It was a really
long trip. I left on October 25th. When you fly over the dateline, you
lose a day, as if it never happened. So I lost the 26th and arrived in
Hobart on the 27th. What makes the lost day interesting is that it was
my birthday. So for the coming year, I am telling people that I am the
same age as I was last year!

Between the 3rd and 4th leg of the trip, I started talking with a
couple (Shannon and Chris) and their daughter (Claire). We were all
headed to Hobart and had been on the same flights together since LA
and Shannon thought I looked familiar. As it turns out, I worked with
her brother (Corey) in the US Antarctic Program. Back in 2003, Corey
and I had worked together on a science cruise from Alaska, through
Hawaii, to New Zealand. Shannon and Chris traveled to visit Corey in
Hawaii and we had all had dinner together. It's a very small world!
Corey now lives in Hobart and is running for city council (results
were due today; I'll write more on that later).

Today, my first full day in Hobart, was spent meeting some of the
other folks on the AMISOR team (Al and Adam) and getting my cold
weather gear from the Australian Antarctic Division, or the AAD.

Later, I caught up with a few people over at the University of
Tasmania, including Rob Massom, a friend in the sea ice community, and
Ben Galton-Fenzi, who recently spent extended time at Scripps.

More later… Jetlag is kicking in now…

Headed to Hobart!

2009-10-25T19:08:00.001-07:00

I am currently at LAX headed to Auckland. I then head thru Melbourne to Hobart. It is going to be a long night. I am shocked that I am not seeing travelers from the US Antarctic Program on this flight.

Headed back to Antarctica!

2009-10-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

This season, I am headed to the Amery Ice Shelf with the Australian Antarctic Division. I will be joining a science team called AMISOR, which specializes in hot water drilling. The scientific goal of AMISOR is to drill boreholes through the ice shelf in an effort to better understand ocean and ice shelf interactions.

Starting a week from now, I'll fly from San Diego to Hobart, Tasmania (through Los Angeles and Melbourne), to obtain gear for a three month season. Then I will set sail from Hobart, through Casey Station, to Davis Station. That trip will take roughly two weeks aboard the Aurora Australis. From Davis, the team will prepare to head into the deep field, specifically the Amery Ice Shelf, for a few weeks.

(images courtesy NSIDC and AAp)

Flat Stanley in Antarctica…

2005-12-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was sent a Flat Stanley by Miss Ricci’s 3rd grade class. So I have taken a couple of photos of Flat Stanley in Antarctica:

Here’s Flat Stanley at the American science base, McMurdo Station:

And here’s Flat Stanley at the New Zealand science station, Scott Base:

Stay tuned for Stanley’s adventures in New Zealand…

The Return to Nascent Iceberg...

2005-12-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Three members of our team (Doug, Olga, and I) returned to the Nascent Iceberg area via Twin Otter to recover 3 GPS instruments and redeploy a seismometer. We were joined by a member of the Nation Science Foundation and two pilots.
(See Nascent Iceberg...)

Photo by Joe Harrigan:

This is an image of the front of the Ross Ice Shelf. (Also check out the map at The Field Plan...). There is open water in the upper right and shelf ice in the lower left. The crack separating the two will eventually create another massive tabular iceberg. Our Nascent Iceberg site is at the far left side of the crack where we can watch and listen to the crack propagate.

Our first two stops were QUICK; we hopped to two different sites where we had GPS instruments only, jumped out of the plane at each site, quickly shoveled and located the instrument cases, threw the gear into the aircraft, and took off for the next site. One of our stops recorded less than 10 minutes of ground time! Things went so smoothly because a) we had discussed exactly how we were going to recover the gear in the aircraft on the way to each site and b) the pilots navigated the aircraft on the ground such that we were literally on top of our instruments.

Olga (right) and I jump out of the Twin Otter to grab our first GPS.

I am disconnecting the antennae cable from the GPS unit.

Next, it was on to the main Nascent Iceberg site where we recovered the third GPS unit and set up another seismometer.

Doug removes the GPS antennae from the AWS tower at Nascent Iceberg.

I climbed into the pit to set up the seismometer.

Things were going so smoothly that it surprised me that we experienced our SECOND small fire in the field! Again, while plugging the batteries, solar panels, and seismometer into the 'charge controller', the box sparked and created a small fire. But because of our experience on C-16, we knew enough to bring redundant equipment associated with potentially faulty 'charge controllers'. (See The C-16 fiasco...) Therefore, we were able to get the site up and running smoothly, even with a small fire.

A member of the National Science Foundation joined our group for the day. He took most of the photos on this blog post...

The Return to C-16...

2005-12-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

Last week, five members of our team revisited C-16: Jonathan, Mac, Olga, Emily, and I. When we last visited C-16, nothing seemed to go right. The AWS tower had been damaged and we had experienced a small fire on the iceberg when we tried to attach the batteries to the seismometer.
(See The C-16 fiasco...)

Jonathan, Mac, and Emily (left to right) taking a break on C-16.

We started by fixing the AWS tower, again with Jonathan climbing and me acting as his anchor.

Jonathan working on the wiring of the AWS tower.

Jonathan working on the instruments of the AWS tower.

Mac and Emily worked on setting up the seismometer and a GPS. No fires this time, so that was also considered a great success!

Emily and Mac repairing the seismometer and setting up a GPS.

After about 7 hours of ground time, in what started as poor weather, we managed to get everything running smoothly. The site is currently operating perfectly.

Vehicles of McMurdo Station…

2005-11-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

The vehicles down here are quite interesting. Our science group uses the helicopters and Twin Otters to get to our field sites.

A Bell 212 Helicopter

A Twin Otter

Other groups that wish to get deeper in the field use LC-130 Hercules aircraft run by the New York Air National Guard. These are unique in that they have both wheels and skis for landing.

An LC-130

There are also some very interesting vehicles used to get around station and to travel on snow or ice. Like any ski area, we have a lot of vehicles that utilize tracks. Our group used a Piston Bully and a MattTrack to visit our sites.

A Piston Bully is a comfortable snow cat. These are newer vehicles intended to get large groups out on snow or ice. The large track length ensures more safety when traveling over sea ice cracks.

A Piston Bully

A MattTrack is a modified Ford truck; rather than having four wheels, it has four unique tracks. These are great for snow but the shorter track length associated with each unique track limits its usefulness on the sea ice, relative to the Piston Bully.

A MattTrack (and kazoos...)

Other vehicles used around McMurdo Station include a Haagland. The coolest thing about a Haagland is that both the front and back half of the vehicle have their own drive train; if the front of the vehicle falls into a crack, the back of the vehicle can pull it out.

A Haagland

One of my favorite vehicles on continent is a Tucker. These have been in use since the late 50's and are still used today to groom deep field skiways for the LC-130s. My friend Allen fired up a Tucker and drove it around so that I could get a good photo of the vehicle.

A Tucker

Our Science Group!

2005-11-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Meet our science group (I-190-M)

Our fearless leader Doug is on the far right; he is my advisor at the University of Chicago. Jonathan is flopped out in front of the vehicle (the Piston Bully); he's from the University of Wisconsin. Olga is standing on the far left; she recently finished her PhD with Doug at Chicago. Emily is standing (in red) near Doug; she works with another faculty member at Chicago but joined Doug for this field season. Mac is sticking up through the Piston Bully in the red hat; he's a new student of Doug's, but has been to McMurdo before. And that's me also sticking through the Piston Bully in the blue coat. This was a great day!

Fixing equipment on B-15J...

2005-11-23T22:12:00.000-08:00

Last week, two members of our team visited B-15J. See the map at The Field Plan...

After the logistical challenges of getting to B-15A, it surprised us that at times it seemed difficult to get to B-15J (again, see the map). The major difference is that we reached B-15A via Twin Otter but we were trying to get the B-15J via helicopter. The helicopters that provide support for the research near McMurdo Station will not fly over large stretches of open water. So we had to be patient and plan on going to the iceberg whenever the helicopter hanger called and deemed it possible.

So late one morning, the hanger called to say that they wanted to give it a try around 1:00 that afternoon. So off Mac and I took off instantly.

B-15J

To get there, we had to cross a minimal amount of open water. The gap has to small enough such that the pilot could 'auto-rotate' over the gap and sort of 'glide' to safety.

Small stretch of open water (roughly a half mile).

It was interesting to see that the pilot was enjoying the ride. This particular pilot has been coming down to McMurdo Station for many years and still wanted to take a picture of our iceberg.

Getting there was tough, but the work that needed to be done was rather simple and accomplished quickly. We replaced the wind propellers on two existing automatic weather stations and removed a transmitter from a third. We managed to be home for dinner…

Mac replaces the first propeller.

B-15A instruments recovered...

2005-11-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Our science group made it back to B-15A! Sort of…

See The Saga of B-15A...

B-15A, a massive iceberg which is carrying instruments associated with our project, made national news recently when it started to break up into smaller pieces: (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2530.htm)

Fortunately, our main AWS and seismometer site is still on the largest chunk of the iceberg, which retained the name ‘B-15A’.

The National Science Foundation, a few Twin Otter pilots, and the company that provides logistical support for Antarctic research met with our science group to discuss the possibility of recovering some of our instruments from B-15A. The iceberg is more than 500 miles from McMurdo Station.

A map made for the planning of the mission.

The pilots suggested that in the interest of safety and in an effort to save on fuel, our science group should teach a member of the Search and Rescue team how to download the data on the instrument and recover our gear for us.

The trip went smoothly and our data and instruments were recovered. But it was a long day; the flight time was roughly 7 hours in each direction.

The largest chunk of B-15A.

Great scenery along the way, captured by the Search and Rescue team member.

Questions from the classes...

2005-11-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

My homeroom 7-B
How many science researchers are minorities?
The station is about 35 to 40% female, which differs greatly from the American demographic. Within the science community on station, this percentage approaches 50% female. And generally, the percentage of ethnic minorities does not seem to match that of the United States; it’s anomalously low.

What do you eat while you are there?
We all eat in the main galley. It is buffet style, cooked for about 800 people. So it’s not the best, but I think it’s great because a) someone else is cooking and b) someone else is cleaning it up!

How do you like it? ( Antarctica )
I like it a lot. It’s beautiful down here and an unbelievable, unique experience. And the people are very interesting.

How are your sleep pattern affected due to having 24 hours of daylight?
I lived in Alaska for 3 years, so I was pretty well adapted to (nearly) 24 hours of daylight. For many, it is quite an adjustment. You have to tell yourself to go to bed, because your system doesn’t think that you are sleepy due to solar input. If you continue to have trouble sleeping, they give you a heavy window cover that blocks most of the light and tricks you into believing that it’s dark out.

Have you ever gotten hypothermia? Frostbite?
They give you all sorts of field training to help you prevent either of these cold weather injuries from happening. So generally, people do alright in the field.
HYPOTHERMIA: I have shivered a few times while camping at about -30 F. Shivering is an early sign of hypothermia. But this is pretty minor and all it took was eating a little bit and I was fine. So I would say that I haven’t really experienced hypothermia.
FROSTBITE: (see the left side of my nose in photo below) I have had a white patch of skin on my nose, which is generally referred to as frostnip. Frostbite ranges from blisters (1st degree), to blackened (2nd degree), to solid (like wood) to the touch (3rd degree). I have never had more than frostnip or MAYBE 1st degree.

What is the funniest part about being in Ant.?
The penguins. It’s fun to watch them and make up their conversations…

What is the closest you have ever gotten to a penguin?
Pretty Close… But the penguins, and all other wildlife, are protected by an international treaty. We can not APPROACH the animals such that we disturb them. Touching them is out of the question unless you are a biologist with special, international permits. These penguins approached me and a National Science Foundation representative while we were lying down on the snow. Because we remained motionless, they felt comfortable enough to come and check us out (penguins have no memory of people as threats…). And because they approached us, we were not in a treaty violation. But this was a very unique experience; because of recent iceberg and sea-ice conditions, there aren’t a lot of penguins near our station.

How long have you been doing your research in Ant?
This is my 6th season in Antarctica. I came south 4 times with the support contractor making maps and providing satellite imagery for scientists. And I am in my second season with a science group studying icebergs.

Do you enjoy doing all this research?
Very much so. It is not a typical 9-to-5 job (you may appreciate the merits of this later on…). Additionally, because I am looking at icebergs and their movement, I feel that I might be contributing in some way to the study of climate and global warming.

Have you made friends down south? ( Not Texas , but in Ant.)
Many! In fact, I actually have a few friends that I know from Antarctica that originally come from Texas! On station, we have a fairly large group of people living in a relatively small area. Therefore, you get to know a lot of people really well. There are many people down here that I consider very good friends.

How is it in the Ant.? Does it feel below zero degrees?
Your system does a good job of acclimatizing to the temperature down here. After a couple of days, you can wander around station with just a winter jacket and a hat. Today it is a warm 16 F. When it gets colder (and it does!) you add heavier layers and gloves such that all that is exposed is your nose.

Did you find any thing interesting yet?
Yesterday, while setting up an Automated Weather Station on the Drygalski Ice Tongue, we found a push mound on the south side of the ice tongue. It implies that an iceberg slammed into the ice tongue and possibly forced part of the Drygalski to calve earlier in the year (approximately May). ...it was interesting to us...

Did you find any cool glaciers?
We spend our time looking at ice shelves. Ice shelves are typically created when MANY glacier converge in a shallow bay and create a large flat surface. The ice tongues are the closest we get to a ‘true’ glacier, as they are typically formed by only one ice/snow source.

Is it hard to work in the Ant?
Not at all. You get used to the temperature and then it becomes fun.

Do you like it down in the Ant?
Since this is my 6th season, I think the answer would have to be ‘Yes’.

Do you like what you are doing?
Definitely. You have to in order to devote this type of time.

Do you think that you are a dare devil?
Absolutely not. I am the conservative person in our group!

Last year when you were climbing in the ice cave, how did that ice cave form?
Most of the caves I have been in are just crevasses that for one reason or another are easy to access. The ceiling of the cave is really the icebridge that covers the crevasse. The crevasse opens, then snow drifts over the top and creates the ‘bridge’.

How cold is it over there?
During the summer season, it is typically about -10 F. This does not factor in wind chill or storm events. Once while I was down here, it reached +50 F on January 1st (the height of the ‘Austral Summer’) and pictures of a group of us hanging out outside made the BBC online news!

What is the coldest temperature you have been in while in Ant.?
I have been in a tent on the front of the Ross Ice Shelf, in a storm, at about -30 F (ambient) with about 25 to 30 knot winds. That creates roughly -65 F with the wind chill (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml). The wind was blowing hard enough that one of our 5 tents ripped.

What kind of things do you do?
For work, we fly via helicopter or small airplane into the field and deploy instruments. For fun, I like to ski.

What is the coolest thing that you have seen there?
It’s a tie between emperor penguins and the shade of blue that deep, compressed ice creates.

Have you ever gotten hurt there?
Not at all. Because we are so far away from good medical care, people tend to be very careful about mundane activities. The most I have done is rolled my ankle.

Are you having fun?
All the time. We were out in the field yesterday in the cold and found ourselves laughing out loud, at 0 F

Have you seen something that we (students from Fall River Ma.) have never seen before?
The Southern Cross. It is a southern hemisphere constellation that we see in New Zealand while transiting to Antarctica. Many of the animals down here are in zoos, so I am guessing that you have seen them…

Do you have to wear a lot of clothes?
Yes. We layer clothing. And we wear really smart layers that wick water away from your body. Cotton does not do this. Usually, I wear a Capilene shirt with a fleece pullover. In the field, I add a down vest and a down jacket.

Why did you want to become a scientist who studies glaciers?
It just sort of happened. I studied geology and geophysics in school, went to Alaska to make maps, transferred here to Antarctica to do the same, and then met a glaciologist that I wanted to work with. And here I am.

Did you ever get stuck in a crevasse?
NO!!! I am far too conservative.

What is the AWS used for?
‘Automated Weather Station’. They are towers loaded with atmospheric sensors that transmit data to satellites on a routine basis. We can then pull the data down from the satellite in Chicago.

What do you do at the South Pole?
I was at the South Pole for about an hour. Officially, I was a ‘tourist’…

How many people do you go the Ant. with?
There are about 800 people here at this particular station. We fly south from New Zealand in groups of about 75. My Science group is a party of 7.

Can you hold penguins?
You can get pretty close, but the penguins, and all other wildlife, are protected by an international treaty. We can not APPROACH the animals such that we disturb them. Touching them is out of the question unless you are a biologist with special permits. These penguins approached me and a National Science Foundation representative while we were lying down on the snow. Because we remained motionless, they felt comfortable enough to come and check us out (penguins have no memory of us as threats). And because they approached us, we were not in a treaty violation. But this was a very unique experience; because of recent iceberg and sea-ice conditions, there aren’t a lot of penguins near our station.

Why do you place the monitoring equipment in a pit that you have dug?
Mainly, it’s to protect the instruments from wind.

Do you get tired traveling from place to place?
YES!!! It gets very tiring. Mainly, I miss MY bed!

Where do you sleep?
In dorms. They put two of us in a room. My roommate this season is a good friend of mine from Denver, CO.

Do they have doctors or hospitals there if you get sick?
They have a ‘hospital’ which has similar capabilities as a MASH unit. If we need further help, we have to fly 5 to 8 hours north to New Zealand, dependent upon aircraft. There are about 3 doctors down here along with a few nurses and a Physician’s Assistant. And a lot of people happen to be EMTs; it makes their job applications more desirable and consequently, we have quite a few in the workforce on station.

What is it like working there?
Pretty cool. I walk to work and anything I need is right here in town!

Don’t you get scared of your job sometimes?
Not usually. Sometimes the helicopter and small airplane flights get a little scary, but that’s because I am not a pilot and have no sense of what is ‘dangerous’ with respect to air travel; it ALL seems dangerous to me!

Have you found any diamonds?
Diamonds require very high pressure to form and thus are typically found fairly deep within rocks, which are covered in Antarctica by lots of snow… So very few diamonds have been found down here.

Are you funny?
I laugh a lot. So usually, it sounds like I am the funniest person I know…

Do you like to do a lot of stuff?
I am up for just about anything…

Did you like school when you were younger?
Some of it… Math and Science were fun, but some of the other classes were a drag. I see the value of taking a core group of classes that cover the basics, but school gets better when you can choose your topics (like high school and college).

Where do you live?
I grew up in Connecticut, went to school in New York, went to grad school in Montana, worked in Alaska, and then based myself out of Colorado when I was working for the Antarctic Program. Now, when I am not here at McMurdo Station, I am in Chicago, Illinois.

Do you like it where you live?
I have liked all the places that I have lived; each has been very different.

7-C
What is it like being a geologist?
It’s a great profession. You get to think of the outdoors as your ‘office’. Additionally, being in the sciences allows you travel and see a lot of different places.

Have you ever been on top of an iceberg?
Yes. The icebergs we study are very flat. They do NOT look like the iceberg that probably sank the titanic. They are called ‘tabular icebergs’ and are consistently the same thickness across the berg. The image to the left is a very small example of the ones that we are studying. The picture was taken yesterday from a small airplane.

How big is the largest iceberg?
The largest iceberg we are looking at is the size of Delaware. But that iceberg was bigger when it first broke off the Ross Ice Shelf. It was originally just slightly smaller than Connecticut. But it broke almost in half, creating Delaware and Rhode Island sized chunks.

How much does it weigh?
Weight = volume x density. So…
Weight = (the area of Delaware) x (thickness of the berg) x (density of ice)
Weight = 5,068,000 m^2 x 300 m thick x 917 kg/m^3
Weight = 1,394,206,800,000 kg or 3,073,696,000,000 (3 TRILLION!!!) lbs

Were you scared the first time you explored?
Never!!! I have wanted to come here since I was in high school and discussed it with Lars Cherechetti (another friend of Mr Kucia’s) on a chair lift.

How long have you been skiing?
I have been downhill skiing since I was about 3. I do not remember my first pair of skis. I started Nordic skiing about 7 years ago. And I started tele-skiing about 6 years ago.

Is your job fun? Do you like your job?
Very much so. It is not a typical 9-to-5 job (you may appreciate the merits of this later on…). And I have been doing this for 6 seasons, so I would hope that I thought it was fun!

How long do you usually stay in the Ant.?
When I worked for the US Antarctic Program, I was here from October until February each season. Now, with this Iceberg science project, our field season is October to early December.

Have you ever had second thoughts about going to Ant.?
Never!!! I have wanted to come here since I was in high school and discussed it with Lars Cherechetti (another friend of Mr Kucia’s) on a chair lift.

Do you have any proof of global warming?
The group that I am with specifically studies the icebergs that calve off of the front of the Ross Ice Shelf. Many of them made national news in May 2000 when they broke free. The type of calving that we have been looking at happens cyclically about every 50 years. Thus, it’s not indicative of global warming. However, there is another event that is happening on the other side of the continent: whole ice shelves are breaking up, or disintegrating over very short periods of time (on the order of months). This happened to two ice shelves a few years ago (the Larson A and the Larson B ice shelves; you can look up the events in more detail on the Internet). The mechanisms that lead to the nearly instantaneous breakup of the ice shelves are just now beginning to be understood. But what has become fairly certain is that the rapid breakup of these shelves is in fact the result of global warming. It is important to note that Global Warming is a very complex equation and this is just one variable to examine.

The Larson B collapse: Basically, warming leads to melt pools on the surface of the ice shelf. That water then acts as a wedge; it’s denser than ice and works its way through the shelf like a knife. The result is that the water breaks the shelf into zillions of little pieces. In the first image below, you can see the dark, linear melt pools that formed on the Larson B. On the second image below, the blue color is blocks of the disintegrated ice shelf tipped on their side. The images were taken only a few weeks apart.

Are you and your team the only people who live in Ant.?
NO! Currently, at our station, there are about 800 people. The US runs two other, smaller stations: the South Pole, which houses about 200 and Palmer Station, which can sleep about 50 people. And there are about 30 countries represented on continent.

How deep is the snow?
The snow down here is very, very deep. The snow cap at the pole is roughly 2 miles deep. In fact, if you melted all the snow, roughly half of the area of the continent would disappear. But what we think of as ‘snow’ (the light fluffy stuff that is ideal for sledding) is only the outer layer of that; it’s referred to as the firn layer and is only about 50 meters thick. Any deeper than that and the pressure caused by the weight of the snow above compacts the snow below and creates glacial ice.

I heard you were studying global warming and I was wondering if something big would happen like it was about to melt. What could you do about it and how can this help us ( in Fall River )
There is a concern that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (circled in the image below) will collapse over a relatively short period of time; this may happen in the near future. The ice shelves that are around the continent are deteriorating. In some cases, they are disintegrating over very short periods of time (on the order of months). When this happens, the glaciers that feed the ice shelves accelerate, as there is little to stop them. With the collapse of a large ice shelf, it is conceivable that the entire ice sheet could accelerate and effectively collapse. What we are studying is HOW ice shelves break up to better understand the mechanism and the rate at which such a catastrophe could be triggered.

How do glaciers form?
Basically, glaciers form where snow accumulation throughout the year is greater than snow melt. At about 50 meters of snow depth (the firn layer), the pressure caused by the weight of the snow above compacts the snow below and creates glacial ice.

7-A
While in McMurdo did you ever witness any collapsing of any snow caves?
I have seen glacier calving into the ocean, but fortunately, I have not been close enough to be in any danger. And while I haven’t seen a collapse of any of the caves that I have been in, almost all of the caves that I have photos of have either pinched shut or collapsed in recent years, illustrating how dynamic the ice actually is.

What is your favorite place in Ant.?
That is a real tough question. I like the blue of the ice, so the depths of some of the crevasses are really beautiful. But I also like the stories behind some of the historic huts and it’s fun to visit them and think about the hardship of exploring here nearly 100 years ago with drastically different equipment. But when I think of some of my favorite times in Antarctica, I usually see myself sitting in the station’s cozy Coffee House telling tall tales with friends.

Was this always your dream?( to work in Ant.?)
I have wanted to come here since I was in high school and discussed it with Lars Cherechetti (another friend of Mr Kucia’s) on a chair lift.

Is the temperature there the same as winters in New England?
It’s a bit cooler down here. We are typically around -10 F during the summer. But it is VERY DRY here, and often, after returning from Antarctica, I have been cold while visiting my parents in Connecticut. The damp nature of New England can be a harder adjustment. It impacts your joints and any broken bones from your youth.

7-E
Do snakes live in the Ant.?
Nope!!! That’s the best part about Antarctica! I dislike snakes…

Would you ever go there again?
I’ve been here six times, so five years ago, I answered ‘Yes’ to this question.

Would you move there?
The US wants people to spend less than 13 months at one time in Antarctica. This is to prevent ‘cabin fever’, or folks going ‘stir crazy’.

What do you do there for entertainment?
There is so much to do on station. There are science talks, there is a Coffee House for socializing, there is a climbing wall, a few gyms, and there is a BOWLING ALLEY!!!

What kind of animals are there?
Adelie and Emperor penguins, Weddell seals, a bird called a skua which looks like a fat pigeon, and killer whales. At Palmer Station, they have Gentoo penguins, elephant and leopard seals, and more birds.

Where else have you been?
I have been to all seven continents. And I have been to 78 degree north in Norway. I don’t do well at elevation, so I have no intent to try to go for the ‘highest’ type places on the planet…

Are you very famous?
I have been coming down here for 6 years and I worked for the US program during the rest of the year. So I know so many people down here.

Do you miss your family?
Yes!!! During the holidays (Thanksgiving) I miss them a lot. When I was working down here, I was here from October to February, and thus also missed Christmas. Now that I am involved with a science project that has a short field season, I can go home for Christmas and be with my family!!!

Who is your best friend?
My sister. She is as crazy as I am. We understand one another well.

Do you like going on vacations?
I like seeing new places. And I really like seeing a new place when I have a reason to go there, such as science field work.

How many times have you gone on a vacation?
Too many times to admit! I like to travel and have thus gone on vacation about once a year to an exotic place.
How many times have you been on a plane?
I have a LOT of frequent flyer miles! But being in this program has given me a lot of exposure to flights in small airplanes and helicopters.

Before you went to Ant. Did you know anything about the place?
I knew a little from geologic literature that I had come across in my studies. Also, my advisor for my Masters’ thesis did a field study here in the 1970’s.

Do you stay in one place while you are there?
Mostly, we base ourselves out of the station and take day trips to the icebergs to deploy instruments. Last season we spent about a week in the field (in tents) freezing our butts off. This year, we are doing everything we can to avoid that!

Do you eat penguins? Do you have a pet penguin? Can you hold penguins?
You can get pretty close to the penguins, but the penguins, and all other wildlife, are protected by an international treaty. We can not APPROACH the animals such that we disturb them. Touching them is out of the question unless you are a biologist with special permits. These penguins approached me and a National Science Foundation representative while we were lying down on the snow. Because we remained motionless, they felt comfortable enough to come and check us out (penguins have no memory of us as threats). And because they approached us, we were not in a treaty violation. But this was a very unique experience; because of recent iceberg and sea-ice conditions, there aren’t a lot of penguins near our station.

What day is it? And what is the time difference between Massachusetts and Ant.?
Right now, it’s 6:30 PM on October 26th. And at this moment, it is also 1:30 AM on October 26th in MA.
Therefore, we are17 hours ahead of you.

Why did you decide to become a scientist?
Wanting to know the answers to many of my questions. I chose geology because it offered an opportunity to work in the field.

Were you afraid of going on an airplane?
Still am. Every time. The air is less stable down here making every trip a little bumpy and disconcerting.

7-D
What are the differences between your first trip and this trip?
Everything is so different and new the first time down. I took a lot more photos!!! I fell down a lot more. And I wore more unnecessary clothing.

Why are you crazy enough to go to Antarctica and freeze your butt off?! Are you tapped?
Actually, I am being held by a ‘mad genius’ scientist. SEND HELP!!!

Nathan wants a date with you, he is in Mr. Kucia’s class 7-D
Nathan: You don’t want to date me. I am crazy. See question and answer above…

Are you living in an igloo?
NO!!! I couldn’t imagine! They teach us how to build one in case you get stuck in a storm, but a small tent protected by a snow wall is the best. And in town, we live in dorms.

How many layers of clothing are you wearing?
We typically layer clothing. And we wear really smart layers that wick water away from your body. Cotton does not do this. Usually, while working around town, I wear a Capilene shirt with a fleece pullover (that’s exactly what I am wearing now). In the field, I add a down vest and a down jacket.

How are blizzards there?
Blizzards are not that common. We are officially in a desert and get less than 12 inches of precipitation a year. But we get good wind storms periodically (about once a month) that create white-outs.

What is the average size of an iceberg?
They are very variable, ranging from small chunks the size of a car to the size of Delaware.

Have you ever been in any dangerous situations?
Not at all. Because we are so far away from good medical care, people tend to be very careful about mundane activities. The most I have done is rolled my ankle.

The Saga of B-15A...

2005-11-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

One of the sites that our science group is attempting to visit this season is B-15A. At that site, we have a couple of different instruments including an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) which transmits meteorological data to our homes via satellite. Additionally at this site, we have deployed a seismometer. The data associated with the seismometer is too large to transmit home via satellite and we are forced to return to the instrument to obtain our data. A return trip to B-15A to reclaim this instrument and the data has been part of our field plan since we started thinking about logistics in early May.

But just recently, our massive iceberg made national news when it started to break up into smaller pieces: (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2530.htm)

Fortunately, our main AWS and seismometer site is still on the largest chunk of the iceberg, which retained the name ‘B-15A’. From the image below, you can see B-15A before it split up and after B-15M, B-15N, and B-15P were created.

A before and after image of B-15A and the newly formed icebergs.

A detailed image of B-15A after the breakup.

But the smaller B-15A is now in the Antarctic coastal counter-current and is moving very quickly; this morning three of us calculated that the berg had moved 60 nautical miles in 10 days or 6 nautical miles per day. That’s very fast for an iceberg that had remained nearly motionless in the vicinity of Ross Island for about 5 years.

Now, the data on the iceberg seems more valuable since it records the seismic noise an iceberg makes as it breaks apart. But getting the data back seems a little bit more logistically challenging. Our team is scheduled to have a meeting next week with the folks that provide air support. We’ll see what happens…

Weather delays...

2005-11-03T19:29:00.001-08:00

After successfully getting to three of our sites earlier last week, we have had trouble returning to the field due mainly to weather delays. We patiently watched as a good sized weather system moved through the region, keeping inter- and intra-continental flights from occurring.

People in our science group have different ways of passing time during these delays.

Our leader, Dr Doug MacAyeal, decided his talents were best used repairing our group’s espresso machine:

Jonathan slept:

Olga decided to do a little stretching:

Mac decorated his shoes:

Emily read a book:

I went skiing:

Nascent Iceberg...

2005-11-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

The third mission of this week was to deploy 3 GPS instruments near the Nascent Iceberg site. This is an area near the front of the Ross Ice Shelf that is going to calve in the near future to form yet another massive tabular iceberg. A group of four scientists from our group (Doug, Ronald, Jonathan, and Emily) visited a few sites in a Twin Otter and deployed GPS instruments to look at the spreading rate of the rift. Additionally, they returned to a site where Doug had measured the rate of the advance of the Ross Ice Shelf in the 1970’s. Doug wants to determine whether or not the Ross Ice Shelf has sped up with respect to its advance.

The rift that will form another iceberg, with the wing of the Twin Otter for scale.

A GPS instrument deployed near the Nascent Iceberg site.

The C-16 fiasco...

2005-11-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

The Drygalski mission was a fine example of successful Antarctic field work. The mission to iceberg C-16, however, was an example of how things can go wrong in the field very quickly; this mission was nothing but utter chaos…

The trip to iceberg C-16 was about a 45 minute flight via helicopter, which carried all of our gear and four members of our science team (Mac, Olga, Jonathan, and I).

The helicopter leaving us for about a 5 hour project on C-16…

We went out to visit a site that our science project has occupied for about 4 seasons (since 2001-2002). But recently, the Automatic Weather Station (AWS) constructed there has stopped transmitting data. When we landed and got our gear off of the helicopter, Jonathan went out to look at the tower. He noticed that most of the instruments had been blown off the top of the tower and within a few minutes, he found them in the snow.

Jonathan recovering many of the instruments that had been blown off of the tower…

Next, Jonathan had to climb the tower to remove all the wires that were now deemed useless. He roped up and climbed the tower. And I became his anchor…

Jonathan at the top of the 30 foot tower…

Me as Jonathan’s anchor…

Meanwhile, on the other side of our site on the iceberg, Mac was busy trying to dig out a seismometer that was deployed last season in an effort to replace it with a new one. The seismometer measures seismic waves received by the icebergs. They typically record the ‘noise’ generated by icebergs scraping the sea floor or bumping into one another. It took Mac over 2 hours to dig out the seismometer, which had been in a pit that had filled with snow and ice.

Mac in the seismometer pit…

When Mac finished getting the new seismometer in place, he plugged the instrument into a 'charge controller' box to power it up. He then closed up the intrument cases so that the unit could winter-over at the site. Unbeknownst to Mac, the 'charge controller' box that was sent to this site was probably faulty. So when Mac plugged the batteries, solar panels, and seismometer into the 'charge controller', the box sparked and created what we believe was the first fire on a free floating tabular iceberg of this size.

Burnt, frayed wires from the Charge Control box on C-16…

At ambient temperature, and within a box, the small fire burned out very quickly and all that Mac saw once he opened all of the boxes to check on the suspicious smell, was smoke and burnt wires. So we closed it up and decided to replace the entire seismic setup when we return to C-16 next week...

Drygalski Ice Tongue...

2005-10-31T16:45:00.000-08:00

This past week we visited three of our intended sites: Drygalski Ice Tongue, C-16, and Nascent Iceberg.

Two members of our science group (Jonathan and I) visited Drygalski first and deployed an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) on a tripod. This was accomplished via a small plane called a Twin Otter, which is equipped with skis for take off and landing. The other advantage of these small planes is that it takes very little distance for them to either take off or land. It took a little over an hour to get to the Drygalski.

Drygalski Ice Tongue in the distance, taken from the Twin Otter.

The Twin Otter at our site with our two pilots goofing around…

Inside the Twin Otter; all of our cargo was on one side of the aircraft while all the passengers were on the other.

Once there, we quickly dug holes, laid out the tripod, and attached all of our instruments. Then we turned it upright.

Jonathan adding a pyranometer (which measures solar radiation) to the tower.

The tower in place and upright.

To accomplish this mission, Jonathan and I were joined by two pilots, a search and rescue team member, and another search and rescue team member that also had experience with reinforcing towers and antennae in the field.

Jonathan (sitting in a hole) and I (far right) with the 2 members of the search and rescue team. The pilots are in the background near the nose of the Twin Otter.

The Field Plan...

2005-10-23T14:55:00.001-07:00

Our chief scientist, Doug MacAyeal, has been coming down here on various projects since the 70’s. This project is a four year grant which has him looking at ‘Earth’s largest Icebergs’. We are currently in field season three.

Doug has deployed Automated Weather Stations (AWS), seismometers, and GPS equipment to various sites over the past four years. These sites are typically located on icebergs floating in the Ross Sea and are indicated in green on the map below. One site from a previous season (Nascent Iceberg) is place on the front of the Ross Ice Shelf with the expectation that it will calve in the near future.

Map of our field area. For scale, Ross Island is roughly 50 miles across.

This season, we are hoping to visit many of our sites from previous seasons to check on and update equipment. Additionally, we are trying to go to two new sites, indicated on the map in red. Specifically, we would like to visit B-15J, where we have one AWS and are hoping to deploy three GPS instruments. And we are also trying to go to the Drygalski Ice Tongue to deploy an AWS, which we hope will calve in the near future, like the Nascent Iceberg site.

Drygalski Ice Tongue, taken from an Air Force C-17.

As I write this, we are in a weather delay for a trip to the Drygalski. To get there, with all of our gear, 2 members of our team and 2 members of the Search and Rescue team will fly to the site in a Twin Otter (with 2 pilots) equipped with skis for landing on snow.

Search and Rescue team member Brennen and Iceberg team member Jonathan with a Twin Otter and our gear at Nascent Iceberg last season.

Our plan is for the 2 members of our team and 2 members of the Search and Rescue team to land at Drygalski, quickly offload our cargo, and rapidly deploy an AWS while the Twin Otter patiently waits for us. We are hoping to be done within 3 hours. Hopefully, when all is said and done, it will look similar to our AWS tripod at B-15K.

Jonathan with our AWS tripod at B-15K.

But for now, we wait…

Arrived in McMurdo

2005-10-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

We made it to McMurdo almost two weeks ago. To get here, I left Boston on October 11^th and flew to Los Angeles. From there, I flew to Auckland, New Zealand; that flight is about 12 hours and takes you over the International Date Line. Thus, I LOST October 12^th and landed in Auckland on October 13^th. From Auckland it is just a short hop to Christchurch. All of these flights were on either American Airlines or Qantas.

Once in Christchurch, we were issued our ‘Extreme Cold Weather’ clothing and then awaited our military flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Twenty hours after arriving in Christchurch, I boarded an Air Force C-17 for a flight to McMurdo that took about 5 hours. In the past, we used much smaller aircraft and were consequently packed like sardines for an uncomfortable 6 hour journey. This seemed more civilized.

Passengers boarding the C-17 in Christchurch.

The C-17 has a massive fuselage and for our flight, carried about 65 passengers, a few cargo pallets, and a large tracked vehicle of some sort.

On board the C-17.

Emily is a member of our group and it is her first time in Antarctica. Her blog (there’s a link in the sidebar) has a very detailed description of her trip south; she estimates we spent a total of 24 hours in the air.

Once here, there is a lot of training to get you back in the swing of camping in the Antarctic. If it’s your first time down here, you go to a 2 day camping class (Emily will have a posting of her ‘Happy Camper’ School). Most of the folks in our group have been before and attended an all day class that is held inside. The class covers travel on the sea ice, setting up tents, using stoves, emergency survival, and the use of all types of radios in the field.

Finally, after all the training, we were all able to enter the field. We got our gear ready and headed out to an iceberg named C-16 via helicopter. We were going out to check on some equipment that was put on the berg a few seasons ago. But when we got there, the wind was blowing 35 to 40knots and we had to turn around. But it was a really pretty flight…

An image of the Erebus Glacier Tongue taken from the helicopter on the way back from C-16.

Amazing things about Antarctica…

2005-10-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

One of the most amazing things about Antarctica is the color of the ice. I have had a few chances to visit ice caves and have found each one of them to be amazing site.

This is the IMAX crevasse. Part of it collapsed such that you can use the rubble field to gently walk down to the floor of the crevasse and walk into it for a great distance.

Before our famous icebergs left an impact on the sea-ice in the McMurdo Sound area, you could visit the ice caves associated with the Erebus lacier Tongue.

This is a view from the under-side of a crevasse bridge…

At Palmer Station, there used to be a frozen ice tube at the high end of an inlet. I have heard that it has since collapsed.

The Old Palmer ice tube

Another really cool thing about Antarctica is the number of penguins. Near McMurdo, we have both Emperor and Adelié penguins.

Emperor penguin

Adelié penguin

I am also a HUGE fan of the skiing; the dry air and abundant snow make this region the best in the world for skate skiing.

Skate skiing on the sea ice

There is also a little bit of downhill opportunity; the New Zealand base has set up a small ski hill near their station.

Scott Base Ski Hill: An old truck was altered to pull a rope up a small hill.
Elevation: ~100ft
Vertical: ~300 ft

Barne Glacier

What my group is studying...

2005-10-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is my 6th consecutive season in McMurdo. I used to work for the support contractor but recently returned to school to study Glaciology with Doug MacAyeal at the University of Chicago. This will be my second season in McMurdo studying with Doug.

Doug’s an Antarctic veteran that has spent time in the deep field on the Ross Ice Shelf and on the West Antarctic ice streams, one which now bares his name. His current grant has him examining many of the large icebergs that have recently calved off of the front of the Ross Ice Shelf. These bergs have ‘persisted’ (that’s Doug’s scientific word for their lack of drift) in the vicinity of Ross Island and McMurdo Station for the past 5 years. They have negatively impacted the historic shipping routes in this region and seem poised to throw a wrench into the flight operations.

Doug’s current emphasis is in looking at how these bergs break down as they travel north in a, sort of natural laboratory for studying Global Warming. To do this, Doug equips the bergs with sophisticated GPS equipment and autonomous weather stations. The weather stations are put in with the expertise of folks at the University of Wisconsin, with whom Doug has a close partnership. These instruments relay data via satellites back to our warm offices in Chicago and Wisconsin all season long.

Additionally, a collaboration with Northwestern University has us adding siesmometers to the icebergs to listen to how they bump into one another and grind along the sea bed.

This is a seismometer in the pit that we dug.

This is an AWS tower (in the background) with solar panels for the seismometer in the foreground.

Exploration near McMurdo Station

2005-10-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

In the vicinity of Ross Island, there are three huts that were built during the Heroic Age by Scott and Shackleton approximately 100 years ago. In limited numbers, groups can visit these huts and check out the clothing and equipment that these men used to explore the seventh continent. It is drastically different from the comforts we enjoy today.

Scott’s Discover Hut near McMurdo Station, built around 1902.

Shackleton’s Nimrod Hit near Cape Royds, built around 1907.

Scott’s hut at Cape Evans, built around 1911.

Good books on the Heroic Age of exploration include:

"Lost Men: Shackleton's Ross Sea Party"
Kelly Tyler-Lewis
(coming very soon...)
A Link to Kelly's Book

"The Worst Journey in the World"
Apsley Cherry-Garrard

"South"
Ernest Shackleton

"Endurance; Shackleton’s Boat Journey"
Frank Worsley

"The Endurance"
Caroline Alexander

About the USAP...

2005-09-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

The US runs three permanent stations in Antarctica.

McMurdo Station, by far the largest with the ability to house over 1,000 people, is south of New Zealand and accessed via large military aircraft which land either on wheels or on skis on one of three McMurdo area runways. The runways are either hard-packed snow or sea ice and are open for about eight months of the year.

McMurdo Station

McMurdo is large because it is the main science support hub geared towards helping projects that are headed into the deep field. Additionally, it acts as the Antarctic access point for the US station at the South Pole. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is about 850 miles south of McMurdo and has the ability to house about 200 people. With a hard-packed snow runway, it is typically accessed via planes with skis.

South Pole Station

While the geographic location of the South Pole would make it seem like the most remote place on Earth, the transportation methods to access the third US Station gives a traveler a different sense of ‘remote’. Palmer Station, which is on the Palmer Peninsula south of Chile, is typically accessed via ship through 600 miles of the Drake Passage.

Palmer Station