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!
A New Article on the BBC
The White Continent in its Full GloryMonday, November 19, 2007
Balloon Launches to Study the Ozone
My First Launch of the SeasonI'm just a helper when it comes to these things. We launched around 10:30 at night in the middle of October, which is why it looks a little gloomy. Right now we've got 24 hours of bright daylight (when it's not overcast).
The first picture is of Jen filling the balloon. It was a bit windy so the balloon was blowing around a bit. The launch I helped with last year used a plastic balloon, but this was like a giant rubber balloon.
Here is Jen posing with the balloon.
Jen has attached a weight to the balloon to see if it has enough helium to lift the instruments. You can see her partner Lars in the back waiting to turn off the helium.
I helped Jen tie the instruments on. She is very specific when she does this, and mentioned that at one point, I would be the only thing keeping the balloon on the ground. I asked if anyone had ever accidentally let it go without having the instruments tied on properly. She laughed and said no, even though I was a bit nervous I'd be the first!! Since we were using this kind of balloon, I was able to launch it all by myself. Jen gave me the countdown, and then I first let go of the balloon with my right hand and then the string holding the instruments which I was holding in my left hand.
There it goes!!
The information gathered by the instruments attached to the balloon comes back to these instruments which are attached to the Crary Lab.
This is the computer in the lab that gets all of the information coming from the instruments: temperature, distance from the ground, etc.
My Second Launch of the Season
During the work day, Jen and Lars needed some help to do a large plastic balloon launch so me and 2 other co-workers went out to the edge of town to help with this one.
This is Jen working on weighting the balloon properly.
This is Nick, the instrument tech, and he was the balloon holder while we helped to attach the instruments on the other end.
Jen and Lars attaching the instruments while Paulene watches. These instruments cost somewhere around $20,000 on this particular launch!
I'm standing by the instruments looking down the tarp at the payload chute and the balloon at the very end.
Getting ready to release the balloon! When the weights were taken off, Nick was solely responsible for holding onto the 70+ pound balloon for a few minutes before take-off.
There is goes!!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The HoboHookah Has Arrived at McMurdo!
Tuesday's and Friday's flights brought our first package mail in a month!! Not only did I receive the clothes I thought would be safer to send than to carry down, but I also received the HoboHookah! We'll definitely be arranging a photo shoot soon.Sunday, November 11, 2007
This Is Where I Live
Since I'm such a PowerPoint nerd from making science lecture posters, I thought I'd demonstrate my skill by making these little diagrams of where I live.The first one shows the suite that we live in. My 3 roommates and I share a lounge with 10 other people (male and female). It's the only place like this on station, and we live in the main building so I can wear my pajamas to brunch on Sundays.
This drawing shows how our room is set-up. It took some careful planning, but we got it all to fit.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Me at the Today Show
The Today Show was at McMurdo for a series called, "Ends of the Earth" which Ann Curry did some of the reporting live. We were allowed to show up with signs at 2am on the last night of filming. My friends' band played a song at the end of the night's taping. After they wrapped up around 3am, my roommate and I stopped to get our pictures taken with Ann Curry.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Where Did They Go?
This article, titled "WHERE'D ALL THE PH.D'S GO? ANTARCTICA", was written by Bob Lapp who's in Antarctica with the NBC Today Show crew. Please read it, as it is one of the best written articles about the people here working at McMurdo.Here's a great quote to sum up his article:
...I often wonder what happened to all those people who actually paid attention in college? Where are all those selfless folks who wanted to save the world, not own it?
I only had to travel to the bottom of the earth to find them.
The brain drain went to Antarctica. You can't swing a drunken celebrity and not hit a Ph.D at McMurdo Station. It is not just the folks who are doing the science that have a pedigree, but people with Master degrees are driving the vans, cooking the food and doing the dishes.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Waiting In Line
There's me, my roommate Bamma (yes, that's her real name), and our neighbor Emily as we waited in line to get on the Today Show the other morning. Did you see me???