Tuesday, October 31, 2006
50th Anniversary of the First Flight to the South Pole
There are many stories as to when the first flight landed at the South Pole. From what I have heard, most people agree that today is the 50th anniversary of the first flight landing at Pole. The first air drop was made 5 days prior to the first landing.It was especially exciting that the anniversary was today as almost 100 Polies (that's what we call people that work at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station) were finally able to reach their destination after being laid up in McMurdo for two weeks or so.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Videos of the Balloon Launch
I think something was wrong with the links for the videos of the balloon launch. I've fixed them in the original posting, and I am going to post them here again.A video of the balloon filling with helium
A video of the group lining up in preparation to launch the weather balloon.
Video of the actual launch of the balloon!! Jen is running with the instruments in her hands so that they don't bump on the ground during take-off.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Photos from Cape Evans Trip
These are photos from the trip I took out to Cape Evans almost a month ago now. I got these photos from some of the other people on the trip, and I thought I better post them for you all to see.In the Delta
This is how close WE got to penguins (the penguins didn't come up to our Delta).
The Delta I was riding in in front of Mt. Erebus
Our whole group... everyone from the two Deltas
Milling around the Delta
Helen being a Hut Guide - We have to make sure there are no more than 12 people in the hut (including the stable) at one time.
Tidal cracks near the Hut at Cape Evans
Me!
We had to wait for them to move away from the flagged road before we could pass by.
They finally moved after we waited 15 minutes or so!
Me testing to see if humans can slide on the ice like the penguins can! We can't!
Me watching the Delta behind us get shoveled out!
Pushing our Delta out of the soft snow
A few people stayed inside the Delta when we got stuck the 4th time.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The Longest Day of My Life
Things are crazy around here. The flights to the South Pole have been backed up for 5 days. McMurdo is crawling with Polies just lounging around, waiting to get out of here. Flights to a lot of the field camps have been held up too. There are Italians, Norwegians, and lots of people from other countries here. You can walk into the galley and hear 5-6 languages at any given time. Don't get me wrong... it's not all internationals. There are probably 1000 Americans and 200 internationals, if that. Still, it makes things interesting.Our last sunset was two nights ago... I snapped these photos just before I went to bed. The next sunset is scheduled for February 20th at 1:55am. The sun is expected to rise less than 30 minutes after sunset.
This is going to be the longest day of my life...
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Weather Balloon Launch
I just wrote a post the other day about the hole in the ozone over Antarctica, and yesterday afternoon I was sitting around in my room when my pager went off. The science group that is here studying the ozone paged me to see if I was able to come watch their balloon launch and help out if needed. Luckily, I had all of my ECW laying around, so I threw it all on and ran out the door to meet them just a few buildings down from my dorm. They let me in the side door since you have to have a pass key to get in. We waited inside for the winds to calm below 15 knots, and then we ran out and hopped in the truck. We set up on the sea-ice side of the Waste Water Treatment Plant, but we had to move a little bit when we found a spot that was a little bit less windy. The balloon was unfurled, and the helium hose was brought out. I was given the job of turning on and off the helium (very important... without me, that balloon would still be sitting on the ground). Once the balloon was filled, Jen (Dr. Jen Mercer) attached instruments to the end of the balloon. The instruments begin sending information back to the computer at the lab almost immediately. The balloon's final destination is the stratosphere (5-30 miles above the ground) and the ozone. This link will show you the most recent satellite pictures of the ozone hole (about 2 days behind).Waiting for the wind to get below 15 knots.
Sitting in the back of the pick-up on the way to the launch site. My dorm is the building on the left.
Straightening out the balloon.
First I turned the knob on the right, and then I turned the knob on the left. And then, after the balloon was filled with helium, I turned them both off.
Wiesje (who is Dutch) running the helium gun. The helium flows through the tube and into the balloon.
Tying the balloon.
Close up on the tarp... Dr. Jen Mercer is in the process of tying on the instruments that will collect data on the ozone and ozone hole in the stratosphere.
Wiesje, Jen, and their helper in front of the helium tank labeled "United States Antarctic Program".
All lined up and ready to launch!!
If you click on the photo and then click "All Sizes", you will be able to see a larger version. In the middle of the sky, you will be able to see the weather balloon... it's a shade darker than the rest of the sky.
Back at the lab, the instruments immediately begin sending back information to this computer. It will take the balloon between 2 and 3 hours to reach its ultimate goal: the stratosphere.
A video of the balloon filling with helium
A video of the group lining up in preparation to launch the weather balloon.
Video of the actual launch of the balloon!! Jen is running with the instruments in her hands so that they don't bump on the ground during take-off.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
The Hole in the Ozone
A few weeks ago, I attended a lecture presented by one of the scientists studying here on base. The lecture was about the hole in the Ozone over Antarctica. I learned, prior to that lecture, that the hole in the ozone above us is on average 1.5mm thick, and a normal thickness should be 5mm. What I didn't know before the lecture is that the hole only appears during a few months of the austral summer. Here are a few links if you're interested in reading more about it:An article from the Antarctic Sun, written in 2003
theozonehole.com
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Some of the Most Recent Views
A view of Black Island with one of the last sunsets reflecting off the mountain:
A hazy view of Mt. Discovery and Mt. Morning across McMurdo sound from the station:
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Matt and Adam
These are my friends Matt and Adam. Sometimes people wear sunglasses to pretend it's dark outside at night. These guys wore them to dinner one night.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
To Cape Evans
On the 1st of October, I was able to go with a recreation trip to Scott's Hut at Cape Evans. Earlier in the season, I signed up to be a Hut Guide for the National Science Foundation, so I was one of the lucky ones asked to go along as a Hut Guide Trainee. As Hut Guides, we are responsible for checking out the key from the National Science Foundation. We have to tell every visitor the rules. They are not to touch anything inside, and they must clean their shoes of snow before walking in. Only 12 people at a time are allowed inside the hut, including the stable area which is along the side of the hut. It's quite a bit of work actually keeping everyone in line and making sure everyone gets their turn inside, but it was totally worth it just to get to go along!We took the trip in two Deltas, the big red vehicles in the first photo. There were three people riding up in front, and sixteen people in the back of each vehicle. The Deltas are stocked with survival gear in case a storm causes them to be stranded. I was assigned to ride in the first Delta, and as I we left town I realized that I was the only non-winter-over (they had priority for the trip) in the back. We were talking about having to eat the survival food if we were stuck, and someone said, "Katie, I hate to tell you this, but since you're the only non-winter-over in the vehicle... we're going to have to eat you first if we run out of food." We all cracked up, and I reminded them that I had a turnover wrapped up in my bag of gear if they wanted dessert after they polished me off.
The Deltas
We made a few stops as we drove out to Cape Evans, which was only about 10 miles away. However, riding in the Deltas was bumpy (since you're driving on sea ice and it's not groomed) and not extremely comfortable, and the drive one-way took an hour and a half at least. So our drivers let us out to run around and take some photos.
This is my roommate Helen and I. Helen also got to go along as a Hut Guide Trainee.
Pressure ridges from where the Erebus Ice Tongue meets the sea ice. The ice tongue is about 8 miles long and protrudes off of Mt. Erebus into McMurdo Sound (which is still frozen right now).
I believe this is Tent Island. I took this photo when we stopped to see the penguins.
My foot next to a tidal crack, to give you perspective. You have to watch for these as you are walking back onto Ross Island at Cape Evans. Sometimes they can be wide and hidden by snow, and you may not see them until you're knee-deep in one.
Mt. Erebus, the southernmost active volcano in the world.
Mt. Erebus and me!
Scott's Hut at Cape Evans: aka Terra Nova Hut
A photo of one of the corners of the hut - things are just as they left them, for the most part.
This is Scott's bunk.
A window in the hut
Me in the hut
The Barne Glacier in the distance.
The Barne Glacier and Hut at Cape Evans
Friday, October 13, 2006
Getting Some Shut Eye
I'm wearing my sunglasses. It's 10:30pm and still very light out. Today's sunrise was at 4:48am and sunset is 10:39pm... so including dawn and dusk, we're seeing light 24 hours now. We don't have complete darkness at all anymore. A few more days, and the sun won't dip below the horizon again until February! I'm having some problems getting to bed at night already, so I've been told to wear my sunglasses when I'm in a bright room (like the lounge where our computers are). Hopefully I'll be sleeping in less than an hour!! Fingers crossed!!!Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Sunset Two Weeks Ago... 11pm
I was walking home late one night two weeks ago, when I noticed how striking the sunset was. It was 11pm, and as I looked across to Mt. Discovery, I could see that the clouds were distorting the shape of the mountain. Mt. Discovery is the mountain closest to the middle of the photo.
Fata Morgana
These five photos were taken the morning of our trip to Cape Evans a week and a half ago. I was trying to get different shots of the fata morgana, a mirage that appears on the horizon due to temperature changes. If you look at where the land meets the sea, you will what appears to be an elevated chunk of land. That is a fata morgana.
Friday, October 06, 2006
The First Few Days of Mainbody
It's been a slow progression towards Mainbody. The first flight arrived on Tuesday. We were supposed to get two flights on Wednesday and one Thursday, but they were all postponed. Because the flights weren't able to come in, there were tons of Americans flooding Christchurch, New Zealand waiting to get here. And there are some crusty winter-overs that were extremely anxious to get off this continent!When flights started again, Friday brought a flight of people as did Saturday. I think station population has gone from 400 on Monday to 700 or so as of Sunday the 8th. I'm getting a little feeling of what it must have felt like for the winter-overs when we arrived in August. This, I'm sure, does not even come close to comparing what it's like to winter-over and then have 200-300 new people invade your station. But I'm still a little shocked when I walk into the Galley to eat and I can't find my friends, let alone an empty table. The noise in there is so loud - I'm debating whether or not to bring ear plugs.
But Tuesday meant there was a chance I would get packages. As I was walking into Building 155 for break, I ran into a woman, Kathy, who works in the post office. She remembered me (the girl who lost her luggage) from the first week of Win-Fly (she was here for a week to run the PO). Kathy told me that my "packages" were put in flat mail, so as long as that had made it on the plane, I would have them soon. I was excited she said packages plural because that meant I had at least two! I gave her my pager number, and within a few hours I was being let in the back door of the mailroom to get three packages. Everyone was jealous as I was the only one to get package mail on the day the flight arrived. I went home and tore through my boxes like it was Christmas!! Mom had sent me a box full of things I requested! I couldn't believe she fit it all in a 15"x12"x15" box. I also had a package of things I had ordered from Target, and my hiking boots made it. The housing department got approval to buy me a pair of hiking boots since my luggage was lost because I was flying for work. I couldn't believe it when they told me 4 weeks ago. And I was able to get the exact same style of boots I had lost!! The next day I was cleaning in Building 140, where the post office and mailroom are, and another lady recognized me from when I had picked up my packages. She went and got a mailroom key and gave me my flat mail that had come in too. I love getting access to the mailroom when it's closed... really makes me feel VIP.
My favorite thing that happened last week was Mykle Hoban's birthday on the 4th. Around 6pm, I was sitting in the Galley eating dinner when I heard an electronic keyboard rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song. Richard was carrying a large keyboard around following Mykle Hoban through the serving area. A train of people were following behind him, and everyone (except Mykle) was holding Mykle Hoban heads mounted on popsicle sticks up to their faces. I finished up dinner and joined up just in time to follow him around the store. Later that night, Mykle had reserved Hut 10 (the coveted party-lounge-around-you-can-only-reserve-it-once-a-season building), and we all met up to watch Final Destination 2 and 3. I showed up a little late, and as I walked in the door everyone was holding up Mykle Hoban heads and repeating "I'm Mykle Hoban" over and over. I bet we yelled, "I'm Mykle Hoban" about 50 times that night... anytime someone walked through the door. Ralph (one the TV/Radio people) gave Mykle a standing 3-light floor lamp. He had attempted to wrap it in Christmas paper but ran out half-way through. Ralph asked if his gift was blocking my view of the TV. I admired the beautifully-wrapped gift and asked Mykle if he had any guesses to what it was. Mykle responded, "I have no idea!" I was also cornered at one point in the evening so Julie (the other TV/Radio person) could draw spacers (those earrings that form big holes in your earlobes) on my earlobes with a blue Sharpie marker. Everyone at the party had to have them drawn on. The next day, a few of us had very blue earlobes.
I'm the Mykle in the blue shirt in back. That's Mykle himself on the left. The picture they used is Mykle with 2 pancakes on his head (I'm not sure what the story is behind the photo).
Mykle himself is using a Mykle Hoban head in this photo with the keyboard-toting Mykle. The real Mykle Hoban is the second standing person from the left.
Guest Weblogger: BEN BONNET
And now for your reading pleasure... I would like to include a piece written by a WINTER-OVER... Ben Bonnet. I actually first heard of Ben Bonnet by reading www.philjacobsen.com. Phil was going to make Ben the #1 Google for "Ben Bonnet" by writing his first and last name numerous times in an article about him on www.philjacobsen.com. That's how I first heard about Ben Bonnet. And as with all people I've read about on www.philjacobsen.com, as soon as I knew who Ben Bonnet was I ran up and exclaimed, "You're Ben Bonnet, and I read about you on philjacobsen.com!" He looked at me like I was some crazy newbie (which I was). I explained to him how I "knew" who he was. That was over 6 weeks ago. We've chatted a few times, and I still always say "Ben Bonnet" when I pass him in the halls. I asked Phil to write a guest weblog entry for me (which he hasn't), but as soon as Ben Bonnet heard I was doing this he found some time to write the following piece. He wrote this a few weeks ago... with a winter-over brain... so be warned... maybe not appropriate for kids. Enjoy!!
Greetings from your crusty, fried, toasty winter-over Ben Bonnet. That sentence took me 30 minutes to complete. There are some things that you need to know about wintering-over in Antarctica.
First of all, it rocks. I don’t think I could do any more summers after being spoiled by my winters. Winters are sooo cool. However, there are some things that happen to you when you winter-over. For instance, you have this pestering, nagging feeling like you want to slit your wrists and lie there bleeding and dying all over the bathroom floor. Also, some people (myself included) have troubles sleeping. This is because the human body has a circadian rhythm of 24.5 hours. When you see the sun, your rhythm resets. When you don’t see the sun, it doesn’t. Pools of blood, pools of blood. So you lose a half-hour of sleep each night until you are getting 2-3 hours every night out of pure-exhaustion. Like I said, this affects some people more than others. This might account for the desire to hang yourself by your shoelaces.
Another thing that we deal with is t3. I don’t fully know the medical explanation so let me make something up that sounds like the truth. Basically, your thyroid produces t3 when you have sunshine. When you don’t, it doesn’t. A deficiency of t3 causes short term memory problems. I can tell you all about a baseball game that I played when I was 10, but I have no clue what I had for lunch today. It is actually much worse than that. A winter-over has been known to just drift off in the middle of a sentence, because they forgot what they were talking about. This doesn’t really bother the listener because they forgot that you were talking too. It is sort of like having a concussion all the time. Kinda cool actually. Here penguin, here penguin. Good. I’m not going to hurt you. Heeheehee.
I think what really draws me to Antarctica is the community. During the last winter, we had 202 people on station. With a group that small, eventually you get to know everyone. This could account for the urge to walk up to someone in the Galley and hit them in the head with a hammer (true story). You get to know everyone and, because of that, it is a close-knit community that cares and watches out for each other. Except for Phil. No body watches out for Phil except for www.philjacobsen.com.
Well, I think I might have run out of words. At least I don’t feel like typing anymore. Go rent “The Shining” “Groundhog Day” and “Underworld” and you will start to understand the winter. It is a great time, but only if you are mildly insane. Now, where did I put that last brain cell?
Ben hiding from all the new Win-fly and Summer people...
Safe travels as you leave the Ice today, Ben Bonnet and Phil Jacobsen. I hope your travels are extremely satisfying, and I hope to see you both back here in January if all goes as planned for you!!!
Monday, October 02, 2006
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the first flight since August 26. Tomorrow brings 100+ people invading our base. Tomorrow takes away 20 winter-overs that I've gotten to know (some of them as recently as yesterday). Tomorrow takes Matt back to Iowa for his mother's funeral. Tomorrow 3 new janitors arrive. Tomorrow the closed sign will come off the mailbox. Tomorrow I will hopefully get my package that was sent from home with some of MY clothes in it. Tomorrow I will have to stand in line for food at the Galley. Tomorrow I'm going to have to search to find my table of friends. Tomorrow I might have to wait to use a computer at the kiosk. Tomorrow is why we came in mid-August - "to get ready". Tomorrow begins MAINBODY.
PENGUIN PHOTOS!!!!
Since the penguins didn't come towards my group, I had to settle for this shot. Although, I think I was using my digital zoom so it's not the best quality photo ever taken.
Photo by Mike _________ (a guy who was on our trip)
Photo by Ian McKay, I believe
Photo by Justin Dye
Photo by Mike _________ (a guy who was on our trip)
Photo by Michael Deany
Photo by Mike _________ (a guy who was on our trip)
My Travelogue...
I just gave an hour travelogue on my trip to Guyana and Suriname earlier this year. Seems a crazy place to talk about a trip to the rainforest, but many people were excited to hear about my trip. The two travelogues before me were about India and Tibet, so mine was quite a bit different. I had about 30-40 attendees depending on who was stopping in and for how long. Ten minutes before I was about to start, I went to log into the computer on the big screen to access my PowerPoint presentation on the common drive... when I found out there was network maintenance. Luckily, my friend Holly was there because he's an IT guy and IT guys know how to handle these situations. He totally saved me!!Sunday, October 01, 2006
I Saw My First Wild Penguins!!!
I just returned from an amazing trip to Cape Evans and Scott's Hut. I went along as a Hut Guide Trainee, so I was really lucky as most of the "tourists" were winter-overs. On the drive out to the hut and on the drive back, we saw EMPEROR PENGUINS!! Nine of them! They came extremely close to the group of people in the other vehicle on the way out, and on the way back they were blocking the road so we actually had to wait for them to move on their own. The Antarctic Treaty does not allow us to interfere with their behavior, so we waited!I'll write more about the trip in another posting including some amazing photos!!!!