Wednesday, November 28, 2007
A Day at Lake Fryxell in the Dry Valleys
I have finally finished this entry... thanks for your patience. Now I can catch up on all of the other photos I have to post!My coworkers Paulene and Joselyn were scheduled to fly out to Lake Fryxell in the Dry Valleys last Wednesday, but they were delayed a day because of weather. Joselyn had SAR (Search and Rescue) training on Thursday so I was able to go out for the day. It was a long day and a ton of work... We drilled an 18 ft. hole into Lake Fryxell for a group that is studying the microbes in the water of the Dry Valley waters. My shoulders hurt so bad the next day... but it was totally worth it. The Dry Valleys are on everyone's list of places to get to when they are here at McMurdo, but only a very few people actually get out there. The day was full of firsts for me: first helicopter ride, first time touching the continent, and first time to the Dry Valleys. Paulene was so excited for me, and the three guys with the science group were great. Mike, a native of Wisconsin now living in Illinois, Vladimir a native of Russia, and Han a native of South Korea were the people in the science group we were helping.
When you first walk into the Helo Pax Terminal, you have to pick out a helmet. Looks like there's lots of large heads on station!
Paulene and I in the helicopter.
Crary Lab at McMurdo Station from the helicopter as we were flying out.
McMurdo Station as seen from the Helo
Mt. Bird on the right and in the distance you can see Beaufort Island - This was the first new sight for me since the beginning of last season. Everywhere I've gone in the past two months I've been here and all last season was just a different perspective of looking at the same thing. This was something I'd never seen before! And the dark blue at the bottom of the land is OPEN WATER!!
These are the icebergs that froze into the ice at the beginning of winter this year.
The Commonwealth Glacier as we flew over it.
A close-up of the Commonwealth Glacier.
Flying over frozen Lake Fryxell. You can see the Polar Haven, which is the little building we were doing some of the research out of, and you can see the shadow of the helicopter.
The helo dropping us off. They don't power down at all. The Helo Tech grabs your gear and you help carry it a short distance away from the helo, and then you lay on top it (as the next photo shows). Then they take off with the intent to pick you up in 8 hours or so.
We had to lay on our bags while the helicopter took off again.
The ice on Lake Fryxell is not smooth. It is wind-blown, dirty in some patches, but still VERY slippery!
Inside the Polar Haven - Vladimir (right) is putting on his Stabil-Icers. They are big rubbery plastic foot-shaped things with metal nubs sticking out of the bottom to help you walk on Ice. I had never used them before, but within 5 minutes of being on the lake I was wearing them. I didn't fall the entire day... that's gotta be some kind of record for me!
Lake Fryxell camp - about a 20-minute walk from where we were dropped off
The ice of Lake Fryxell in the foreground and the Canada Glacier in the distance
Mike putting the flight with the drill bit on the jiffy drill.
We had to pull the drill out of the hole because we couldn't pull it up enough to get the ice chips out of the hole so the drill would just stop.
The end of the drill bit laying next to the hole.
Me, Vladimir, and Han working on the drill. This was one of the many times we had to put on another flight to drill down further.
The ice of Lake Fryxell on our walk to the continent
I was so excited to actually step foot on the continent for the first time! Up until this day, I had spent all my time on or around Ross Island. It was a big day! Paulene took a series of photos for me, but I didn't want to bore you with them so I've only included two.
Paulene in her hat from Alaska carrying our ice chipper
Vladimir taking water samples in the Polar Haven. Paulene and I measured the oxygen in the water at different depths, and then we helped take samples.
Paulene in front of the Polar Haven
Han, Vladimir, Mike, me, and Paulene
On the way back to McMurdo
Flying over the ANDRILL drill site on the way back
The pilot of our helo was anxious to get back to station, and this is why. There was a storm headed our way. Another 5 minutes, and we could've been stuck camping out at Lake Fryxell for the night!
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Very cool!