Friday, November 25, 2005


Sorry for the lack of updates. I am hoping to get a new set of photos up today.

We finally got to see some seals on the ground. Here I am sitting in front of a mother and her pup. Up until this point, I had only seen wildlife from the helicopter. I wanted a shot of myself and the seal because I think pictures are more interesting with people (I also wanted credit for seeing them). Sorry for the crappy shot of the seal itself. The next photo I put up will be better. At any rate, the uplift of ice between me and the seals is called a pressure ridge. Pressure ridges form as the ice shelf slowly and deliberately drives into the bedrock. Although subtle in this photograph, they can be quite impressive. Here, the pressure ridge is forming a weak spot in the ice shelf, allowing the seals an easy exit to the surface.

Now isn’t he just the cutest? What in the world is he looking at? Clever little fellow.

So, as promised, here is a better photo of a seal. This pup was at the same location as the photo above (and could very well be the same pup). Two members from our team, Larry and Geoff, went back to this site for two days to complete tide gauge measurements. They were able to get some fantastic photographs. This particular shot was taken by Larry, and is one of the best seal pup photos I have seen thus far. I really love this little guy, he just seems like he’s got such a clever personality.

In general, all the people I have met down here have been incredibly nice. However, there was one day when I met this old man who was really mean! I tried to talk to him, but he just kept staring at me with his nose turned up and a big frown on his face. The nerve! I got pretty pissed off so I stared back with my own frown. We must have been there for hours. The photo at left was taken by Mike Starbuck and shows the old man and I fighting it out with our mean frowns. In the end I got upset and started to cry, which was really embarrassing, so I ran away.

I find the ice formations, and particularly how they play with the sunlight, to be absolutely beautiful. (Dad, don’t you agree that if Georgia O’Keeffe ever made it here, she would have a field day?!)
We have been fortunate enough to have some night flights, which are perfect for showcasing the beauty of the ice because of the low-angle sunlight. Even the most subtle of features come to life. It’s really a treat just to ride back in the helicopter and stare out the window. The closest thing I can liken it to is a parade, where you sit on the curb and wait for all of the floats to go by. Sitting in the helo is like sitting on the curb, and watching the individual ice features drift by, which so clearly stand out among the vast expanse of flat ice, is like watching all the floats in a parade pass by. It’s stunning. This photograph is from a night flight. I put it in not only because I think it is beautiful, but also because I think it is a good example of how the low-angle light can really define a normally understated feature.

With all this talk about ice features, I have to include an iceberg. I just think they are so powerfully dignified, like the alpha males of the sea ice. Every once in awhile we get to fly close to them, and they never cease to impress me. It’s really hard to get a sense of scale. From above, I often estimate an iceberg to be tens of feet high, only to fly down close and realize it’s hundreds of feet high. Really astounding. I think they should be called icebeasts instead of icebergs.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

More photos from the field....

Two days ago we went to a place called Beacon Valley to complete a fault survey (this entails occupying multiple GPS sites for several days on either side of an active fault to record any related deformation.) It was the best day I have had in the field thus far. Absolutely fantastic. The work went very well and the sites were jaw-dropping. It was just Mike, Paul (the pilot), and myself. (Flying with Paul was incredible!) This photograph was taken by Paul, and shows me sitting on a hangover. There were many hangovers (where the rock forms a “lip” due to erosion of underlying layers) that provided fantastic playing opportunities.

Here is another photograph taken by Paul. He had the idea to try this shot, and I am so glad he did. It’s incredible. What I am sitting on is a ventifact, or wind-sculpted rock. They were everywhere, in all sorts of bizarre and astonishing shapes.


This is a photograph of Mike, myself, and Paul (Mike is on the left, Paul is on the right.) We were having such a blast.

Paul was very proud of his pee production. In Antarctica, it is easy to get dehydrated. You lose two liters of water a day just by breathing. So, having a healthy pee production is a good thing. Ha! I just made myself laugh. That sounds so Martha Stewart. Can you imagine her saying, “And here we have a full pee bottle. It’s a good thing.” Too funny. At any rate, here is Paul showing his pee bottle after just one urination. That’s some good peein’ Paul.


Can you say….Grand Canyon on steroids?

This is a photograph of Paul and I getting ready to leave the last sight. The helicopter we used that day was an A-Star. Much smaller and more agile than the 212’s. On the way back to McMurdo, Mike let me sit up front. I will not soon forget that flight, I loved every minute. Paul is a fantastic pilot. I was high on the experiences of that day for a long period after our return.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Field Work

Our field work involves putting out GPS equipment throughout the Transantarctic Mountains to look at the tectonic deformation taking place. Some of these sites will be occupied for a three month period while others will be sureveyed for an hour (footprint surveys, which involve several sites within a short walking distance of the central, or zero, site all being surveyed at the same time.) There are also some permanent sites that collect data all year long. These will be visited to replace parts, download data, and in some cases, take equipment out.
Our first flights out were all with a pilot named Mark. He has been fantastic. A great person to work with and someone who has become a good friend. He took some incredible photos, the first being the one shown here. I am in the picture, walking away from the helicopter with the yellow antenna bag on my back. That’s Erebus Volcano steaming in the background. This is an amazing place…


This is another photo by Mark. The effect you are seeing just above the horizon is a mirage. The official name for this effect is a fata morgana. It is named after some fairy enchantress lady that was skilled in the art of changing shape, hence the name for the landscape “changing shape.” Essentially, what you are looking at is a complex mirage. I have seen several so far, all on clear days. They are evidently very rare in other parts of the world. It occurs when there are alternating warm and cold layers of air near the ground surface. Light travels through these layers and is bent towards the colder/denser air. So, when you see a fata morgana, you are actually seeing a superposition of several images of one object, in this case, part of the Transantarctic Mountains. I haven’t seen it yet, but evidently the images can change rapidly as the air layers move slightly. Every time I have seen this, the illusion has been reflected along the entire expanse of the horizon in front of the Transantarctic Mountains. This picture shows one snapshot. To capture the entire horizon at this scale would require some 20 photographs. Quite astonishing. I love this picture because it looks like an army of penguins coming to storm McMurdo.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

McMurdo

After happy camper, it was back to McMurdo to get started on work. McMurdo is the United States Antarctic Program station where we are staying. We take day trips to our sites, and stay at McMurdo in the evenings. This is a photograph of McMurdo. In general, everything is very cushy. I was surprised. It’s very much like living on a college campus. The building I am living in even has heated bathroom floors! Things have come a long way since the first explorers.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Antarctica!!!


Once we arrived, we had a quick briefing, and then all of the newbies headed out for snow school, or happy camper as most call it, the next morning. I must say, happy camper school was a tremendous amount of fun. I learned a great deal. Many things were very surprising and incredibly useful. For example, I didn’t realize how important it is to eat food to keep warm, especially sugars and fats. At one point I woke up in the middle of the night and was cold. I had half of a chocolate bar, and within minutes, I was warm again. It was startling actually. I know at least two other people did this same thing, and were equally impressed.
The first shelter we constructed was a quincy. It involves piling all of your sleeping bags and soft equipment into a mound and covering it with snow. When everything is solid and hard, a hole is dug for an entrance, and the soft sleeping bags inside are pulled out to reveal a hut of sorts. Very effective and quick. This picture shows the quincy in progress.

We also built a snow wall. This was perhaps my favorite part of happy camper. We used saws to cut out blocks of snow, just like a real life quarry. The blocks are then shaped and fit together to form a wall. The idea behind this is to set up your tents behind the wall, and thus block the wind. It’s great fun. Kind of like playing in a gigantic sand box. This picture shows the birthing of our wall, next to the already built quincy.

I should point out that one of the reasons it was so fun to play in all of this snow was because you never got wet. My gloves and clothing were in constant contact with the snow, yet they never absorbed any water. Antarctica is an incredibly dry region, it’s the driest continent on the planet. If you tried to do the work we were doing in Ohio, you would be soaked in less than 5 minutes. This photograph shows our quincy, snow walls, and tents.


Some people built trenches to sleep in. To build a trench, snow blocks are cut out of the ground surface to form a level bed, and another deeper section is cut out at one end to allow for access and any necessary draining (what would drain, I do not know.) The trenches that were built in our group, along with our wall, were a bit on the elaborate side. In the event of an actual storm, the focus would of course switch to speedy functionality as opposed to carefully calculated snow masterpieces. This picture shows Matt lying in his trench. You can’t see it from this picture, but he has a set of stairs leading to the ground level above. He also finished his trench with a roof. Very impressive. We had a debriefing the next day, and those who built trenches said that in general, they were glad they went through the experience, but would probably not choose this structure again in the future. One of the common complaints was that it was difficult to successfully pee into a pee bottle when you are unable to sit up. Also, given that they were cramped, it was hard to maneuver and put more clothes on if you got cold. The pee bottle stories were really quite hilarious. One guy in our group, Josh, talked about the art of contorting yourself into a workable peeing position, and then the trauma of getting to the top lip of the pee bottle before you are finished urinating. I am still laughing, even as I write this, thinking of Josh re-enacting his pee bottle issues. As a side note, Josh and Matt are two from a larger group of folks who just left to camp and conduct research at a place called Blood Falls in the Dry Valleys. I consider everyone in that group a friend and I hope to see them again some day. Fantastic people.


There is a lot you can do with a saw and some snow. I decided to make a bunny. Very useful in an emergency.


An equally useful creation is a small-scale reproduction of Stonehenge. Mike Starbuck, another member from our research group, was the architect and builder of this fine rendition. Every camp should have one (a Stonehenge and a Mike Starbuck). Note the addition of a bunny to this particular Stonehenge.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Travel

So, the day finally came for us to leave for the ice. We were supposed to be ready to go for an early flight, which meant leaving the Windsor at 5:30 AM. We ended up having delays and not getting off the ground until about 4 in the afternoon. Prior to getting out, we had to wait in a "secure" area. Once we were screened, they didn't want us leaving and getting knives and guns and bombs and dirty needles to then take on the plane. Here I am waiting in the courtyard. The courtyard, which reminded us of a jail recreation yard, was a small, enclosed, locked outside area that gave us the chance to get some fresh air. The woman in the red shirt is an "outsider" trying to communicate through the locked gate. Kinda funny.


We flew down to the ice in a C-17. It's the second largest plane used by the military. The thing is a beast. I think this picture is hilarious. What you are looking at is the tail fin of the C-17 sticking up above some building/house structures. It reminds me of big animal, maybe a grazing cow or something.

So this is the inside of the C-17. Pretty nice. The planes they used for the Antarctica flights before this were much more cramped. The flight itself was very comfortable and enjoyable. However, I think they could of shipped me in a cardboard box and I would of been excited.
I took this picture because it showed some of the guts of the plane. Kinda cool. This is a military plane, so obviously the workers are all military. It was funny to have the typical safety talk (the one that is normally given by a flight attendent) given by someone in uniform, pointing out the emergency exits on the ceiling. Can you spot them? They are the two green boxes some 25 feet above the floor. If you land on water, that's the exit. Now that would be a fun emergency exit!

Here is a photo of the C-17. This was right after we landed, about 10:30 at night.