Stephanie's Antarctic Update

Bitter Sweet Brimstone

2010-11-19T19:43:00.001-08:00

We've tried twice now to get to our most northern helicopter supported field site, known as Brimstone Peak. Unforutnately, because it is so far north, it is difficult to know what site conditions will be without actually flying out there. So far, we've given it two shots, and both times we've had to turn back. This is the bitter part of the equation. Look above, and you'll see the sweet factor. Paul has flown us both times, and both flights we've been lucky enough to see some incredible features on the return flight back. That deep, vibrant blue is a chunk of submerged iceberg. I honestly do not think I have ever seen such a color occur naturally. I was a giddy fool when I saw this berg. There's a close up of it below. Seriously??? Unbelievable.All of these photos are from our first attempt at reaching Brimstone. The weather forecast said it was clear, but we soon found out that the site was completely socked it. It was quite a surreal thing actually, I've never seen Antarctic weather like it before. The sky was gray, almost purple, and there were pockets on the horizon where it looked like it was raining. I think this strange lighting helped to make all of the views so stunning. Below are just a handful of photos from that night.

Above, one of the trippy "rainstorms" on the horizon. Wow.

The water adds so much dimension to the views. It's such an deep blue, the reflections are unreal.

Penguinos!!!!

I've literally got dozens of photos like the one above. The helicopters we fly can't go over water, but we got to fly back along the sea ice edge because of where we had to turn around when the weather went bad. It was an experience of a lifetime, and I will not soon forget it.

Flying in style

2010-11-14T01:24:00.000-08:00

I've come down to Antarctica many times now, and it has always been on an Air Force plane. However, the United States Antarctic Program has started a contract with Australia to fly commercial Airbus passenger flights to Antarctica, and I was lucky enough to take one. The above photo shows me stepping foot on the ice for the first time this season, with the Airbus in the background. While flying in first class was awesome in itself because of the posh seating (yes, I am fully reclined in my seat!), the real treat was having two huge windows to look out of the entire time. With the Air Force planes, you have a teeny little round window the size of a grapefruit, and you can't look out of it while landing, so having a giant window to peer out of during the entire flight is an incredible luxury. I saw views of the continent that I have never seen before. Huge, broad expanses of the mountains (because we were flying so high), incredible sea ice formations, features to the north outside of our normal work region, the Italian base (I couldn't actually see the base, but we flew right by the location), basically all the way from the coast along the spine of the mountains to the U.S. base on Ross Island. The photo at left is just one of many from the flight. It shows a section of the Transantarctic Mountains and the frozen Ross Sea in front. The wind-blown snow on the dark blue ice made for a surreal image, and was an effect that I have never seen quite so spectacularly. I was giddy the entire time. Awesome experience.

first helo flight of the season

2010-11-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

***OK, don't pay attention to dates. I hate that blogger doesn't keep things in order (they don't keep the first entry at the top so you can read through in a logical order) so I fudge the dates to make them show up correct.***

Last Friday we went on a night flight to a place called Mt. Coates in the Dry Valleys. They call this area the Dry Valleys because it remains relatively ice free throughout the year -a rare occurrence in Antarctica. We were doing some minor upgrades to the existing site, and also performing what is called a tie. When we installed the POLENET system, we installed a new antenna in a new location, however, there was a system installed prior to our POLENET site. While this older site is no longer running, we can link the data from our new site to this old site by collecting data from the old antenna. This is called a tie, because you are "tie-ing" the old data to the new data, giving you a better record of how the rock is moving. The above photo shows me working on the old antenna, originally set up by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Not a bad day at the office! Because we wanted to collect at least 2 hours of data to get a good tie, we ended up having some time to look around. Mt. Coates is one of my favorite sites in Antarctica, because the surrounding landscape is like a giant playground. There are huge cliffs, beautiful valleys, peaks, glaciers, gnarled wind sculpted rock formations perfect for jumping around and playing on. It takes your breath away. Below is a photo of me doing a yoga pose on top of one of the rock formations. Myself and two friends of mine have a contest going to take yoga photos in front of impressive landscapes around the world. I'd say this backdrop qualifies for some seriously high marks.

POLENET season 2 work

2008-12-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

This year has been a bit different than last year, which was the first season of POLENET. Last year we spent most of our time installing new sites. This year we've been spending time installing new sites, but also servicing sites installed last year. This photo is from a new install this year at Deverall Isnald, and shows what a complete site setup should look like. I’m standing very professionally next to the frame that holds 4 solar panels (blue panels in front), wind generators (black wind mills on top), an iridium antenna (thin stick on top), and a met pack (white thing on top, collects temperature and wind data). In the background off to the right is the GPS antenna (gray mushroom). So I say this is what a site 'should' look like, because we’ve been finding some 'surprises' at the sites we are re-visiting this year, as you can see below in the photo from a location called Lonewolf Nunatak (standing in the photo is Joe, from UNAVCO). First off, we chose the stations to re-visit because we knew that they were down. We communicate with the stations through the iridium, and can get state of health info. So if we get bad state of health data, or if we can’t talk to the station at all, we know something is up and that we need to make a visit. We expected mostly electronic problems, but obviously that hasn't been the case. Definitely unexpected. Basically, the wind is too strong, and is ripping the front half of the frames off. This pulls the cables from the box, smashes the solar panels, and usually kills the wind generators as well. The picture to the left shows the fatal wounds to the solar panels, after we’ve flipped the broken frame front over. We think the culprits are the couplings used to hold the frame tubes together, which are cast aluminum. The picture below shows an 5/8" steel anchor bolt from Lonewolf, used to anchor the frame to the rock. The wind completely snapped it in half. Antarctica is no joke. The wind here is strong. Lonewolf is a particularly legendary site for wind, but since we've found a second downed frame, it's clear we are going to have to make some adjustments. We've temporarily fixed the problem, at least we hope, by adding braces to the joints that have been failing, but for next year, we will likely need to switch to steel couplings, and possibly re-think the solar panel configuration for particularly windy sites (the four solar panels basically act like a sail, catching wind and significantly increasing the strain on the frame).

jaw dropping scenery

2008-12-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

While I think people shots are always the favorite, I’ve got to put in some scenery shots. I wish I could do this place justice through photographs alone, but it really is a total body experience. The mountains, the air, the ice, they never lose their ability to take my breath away. This is a photo of the Transantarctic Mountains, about 100 km south of McMurdo, the U.S. base. It gives me the urge to reach out and run my finger along the spine of the ridge, like it’s a little pet lizard landscape or something, just sunning there in the snow.

2008-12-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

Do you see all that color?!?! People ask me if Antarctica is all white, they ask me if I miss color. I try and explain how on the contrary, there is every color imaginable. The light plays off the snow and ice, reflecting all the different subtleties in the spectrum, intensifying contrasts. It’s incredible. Even in the sky. This photo isn’t doctored at all. I didn’t even want to crop it. Granted there is some darkening around the edges from the camera adjusting to the brightness of shooting straight at the sun, but what you are looking at is pretty much what I saw in the sky, only with the brights a bit brighter and the darks a bit darker. So much color pops out. Reds, purples, greens, pinks. I left this photo in full resolution, so you can click on the image and see it in its entirety. I just think it’s shockingly gorgeous. Every little facet. It’s like a game, looking through and seeing all the different plays on shapes, color, depth. Mmmm. I love it.

2008-12-05T01:18:00.000-08:00

He's back!!!! If some of you remember, we had a plane crash last year. Is was in a Basler on the way to a site called Mount Paterson. Well, they fixed him, and he's back! This is a photo of that exact plane, after more than 6 months of work, including two months of a dedicated crew camping in West Antarctica at the crash site to get the plane fly-able back to Canada. As you can see, he's quite happy (or maybe it's a she?!?) The plan is to try again this year, and take this exact same aircraft back to Mount Paterson again. Hopefully everything goes great this time around...

2008-12-05T01:02:00.000-08:00

This photo is from Deverall Island, the southernmost island in the world in fact! We just finished the site today. It was beautiful weather, pretty close to freezing, maybe mid 20's. I wish I could explain what it feels like to be out there. The air is so clean and fierce, and everywhere you look there is incredible scenery. It's such a high. You can't help but be happy. In this photo, Eric and I are sitting by the GPS monument just after installation. Our little mushroom child. We drill into the bedrock, and install the white 'monument' base, before putting on the GPS antenna, which is the mushroom-looking thing (technically, the mushroom looking thing is just a cover to keep out snow, and the actuall antenna is underneath this cover, but you get the point). Behind us you can see the Transantarctic Mountains.

Made it!

2008-12-05T00:34:00.000-08:00

I made it! We got in about 1 week ago. This is a photo from right after we landed. I'm standing with Adrienne, who worked with Terry (my current advisor) for her undergrad, and who is now at Columbia. This was about 10 am in the morning.

2008-2009 Antarctica Field Season

2008-11-25T23:16:00.000-08:00

Time for another field season in Antarctica! Getting a slow start this time around. So far, we've been stuck in New Zealand for 5 days. Although stuck isn't really the right word because it's so beautiful here, and I hardly feel stuck. The above photo was taken after I went running this afternoon. This park is right across the street from our hotel, and Eric ran into me here and took this photo. Sadly, this is the only photo I have to show for my time here in New Zealand. Because we weren't expecting these continued delays, I left the only camera I brought at the CDC (clothing distribution center, where we get all our cold weather gear). Still, this is a pretty good synopsis of my time the past 5 days. I've been eating, sleeping, running, and working on a final exam for my exploration geophysics class. I've also been buying entirely too much stuff, but the exchange rate is amazing!!! .51 to the U.S. dollar. So basically you can take 50% off everything you buy. It's a dangerous rationalization to make, I can attest to that personally. Alright, so anyways, hopefully we will get down to the ice soon. Until then, I'll be doing more of the same in this photo.

Back in McMurdo...

2008-01-31T17:45:00.000-08:00

It’s weird to be back in a group of 1000+ again after being in the intimate and quiet environment of a camp. Here is a picture of the C-130 Hercules aircraft, or Herc, that took us from Patriot Hills back to McMurdo. (I’m posing with some toy horses that my sister and brother-in-law sent to me-you guys rock!). We also arrived at Patriot Hills in a Herc. Hercs are the largest aircrafts with retractable ski-wheels (you can see them in the photo) and they are frequently used in Antarctica because they can carry so much weight but are still capable of short takeoffs and landings. It’s something incredible to see them land up close. When we landed at Patriot Hills, we did what is called a combat offload (although I’m supposed to say that they “drifted” the cargo because combat offload sounds too reckless or something). Basically we chucked a bunch of giant pallets of cargo, each about 3 meters cubed, out the back of the Herc just after the landing. I actually had no idea it was going to happen. We landed, and then all of the sudden the back of the plane opens up and all of the pallets start to tumble out onto the ice. The pallets are nested in these sort of grooves on the floor of the plane, so when you load and off-load they hook in and slide along the grooves, like how a roller coaster car slides along a track. Normally it’s a slow process, but to see it happen while moving, with these giant pallets just sort of gently crashing out onto the ice is shocking. My mouth dropped open and stayed open the entire time. It was fantastic.

Incredible Person

2008-01-31T17:43:00.001-08:00

I met some really incredible people at Patriot Hills, and one of them was Marc De Keyser. Marc works in comms (communications- works the radios, sends/receives info about flights, weather, etc.) at Patriot Hills. This year he WON the marathon there. People from all over the world pay big bucks to come to Antarctica and run that marathon, and Marc, someone who works at the camp, won it. The top photo is a close up of Marc at the marathon. He is such an awe-inspiring person and runner. Winning the marathon in itself is incredible, but get this: next season he’s going to run from 80º to pole, running half a degree a day. That’s 31 miles a day for 20 days. 31 MILES A DAY FOR 20 DAYS!!!! IN ANTARCTICA! And not just Antarctica like coastal Antarctica, we’re talking Antarctica like 80º to the South Pole Antarctica, like get frostbite and lose fingers and chunks of your face Antarctica. He’s incredible. Got to be one of the top 5 most amazing people I have ever met in my life. He’s very humble, and was shy when I almost blew my top at hearing his stories. You can’t help but be amazed by him. The bottom photo shows Marc finishing the marathon. The guy in the wheelchair on the right did the marathon as well. I’m sure another incredible person. Unfortunately he wasn’t there when we arrived so I never got the opportunity to meet him. There are some genuinely impressive people in this world.

Patriot Hills!!!!!

2008-01-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

I’ve just arrived back from Patriot Hills camp. It was a wonderful experience, and I miss it already! Our science was a success, and the experience in general is one that I will never forget. I kept up with the blog writing while there, but because of the difficulty in uploading to the internet from camp, I’ve waited until my return to McMurdo to make the entries live. They are all included below, unchanged. Pay no attention to the dates, I’ve just put in dummy numbers to get the entries to align properly.

2008-01-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

I am officially at Patriot Hills! I hope I can give this experience justice. It’s an incredible place with incredible people. Don’t get me wrong, McMurdo is great, but staying at a camp, even a camp as big as this, is a completely different experience. Mike tells me I love it here because I don’t have any friends in McMurdo, maybe he’s right! I’ve always had a hard time making friends, I’m such a quiet person. ;) Whatever it is, I love everything about this place. Above is a quick little map to show people exactly where the Patriot Hills camp is in relation to McMurdo. I’ve stuck the South Pole in there too. The distance from McMurdo to Patriot Hills is about 2000 km.

2008-01-23T17:55:00.000-08:00

My affection for this place grows with every day. When the winds are howling at 60 miles an hour, I love it. When it’s so dead calm that you can hear someone’s boots crunching in the snow across camp, I love it. I love getting up in the morning, or any hour of the night really, and looking out and seeing the mountains, seeing the sun. I love the way the skidoos smell. I love the sound of the Twin Otter taking off and landing at all hours. I love chatting and washing dishes with people after meals, and I love the fact that everyone speaks different languages and has different stories and histories that they are willing to talk about. And I love the fact that we are actually getting our science done!!! Above is a photo taken from the Twin Otter showing the Patriot Hills camp. The actual “Patriot Hills” are to the right. You can see the tail end of a ridge sticking out, marking the end of the range.

2008-01-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

Our science is going incredibly well. We’ve had a dedicated Twin Otter here, with two crews, so we are basically operating 24 hours a day as long as the weather is fly-able. The above photo was taken by Thomas, and shows the underside of the Twin Otter we've been using at Patriot Hills. Thomas takes some pretty fantastic photos. Even the pilots were salivating over this one. So at any rate, as I've said, the science is going well. Because we're trying to work 24 hours a day, there is pretty much always work to be done, even if you aren't actually out installing a site. For this reason, and simply because I don't want to miss anything, I haven’t had a proper nights rest since being here. I mostly just take 2 or 3 hour naps a couple of times a day, but surprisingly, I’m not tired at all. My body is physically tired, but I think that’s mostly from all the heavy lifting and working in high winds. When I do sleep, it's in my tent, which is shown below. Sorry it’s a bit messy. For those of you who know me well, can you spot Puppy and Tomato Pillow? You can see we’ve got actual mattresses to sleep on, and a little bedside table. I’ve got a thermometer on my alarm clock, and the range in temperatures has been between about 82 (only one day, other than that I haven’t seen it over 65), and about 28. It’s not the greatest sleep when the temperature is 28, but for the most part if the sun is out, the temperature inside the tent is between 50 and 60. Really comfortable actually.

2008-01-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

Safety first. Here is a photo of Mike and I installing a GPS monument at a place called Pecora Escarpment. You can see the red harnesses we are wearing around our waists and legs, and the blue ropes we are tied into. That’s because we are actually on the edge of a cliff with a massive drop off just behind us, so we need to be roped-in to work. Peter and JR, our mountaineers, set up an anchor system just off the rock, and the blue ropes you see connected to us are tied into that anchor. So in the event that one of us topples over the cliff, we’re brought to a safe halt and Peter or JR can fish us out. We were lucky this day, because the weather was beautiful. About -18C (0 Fahrenheit) and hardly any wind. On a windier day it’s much easier to lose your balance when a strong gust rolls through, and it really becomes important to be roped in.

2008-01-23T14:07:00.000-08:00

It’s a very humbling experience to realize you are weaker than the air surrounding you. To have to fight to take a step forward because the force from the wind is so powerful, it’s something incredible. Capturing this feeling in a photo is difficult, but I think the two above photos can give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Abel took both of them. They are both showing the Twin Otter staging area, only the top photo is without wind and the bottom with. In the photo with wind, you can see how everything is sort of fuzzy. That’s from all the snow whipping across the ground surface and up and over the ridge crest. The winds in that photo are about 30-35 miles per hour. Abel and I were prepping some batteries today, and the gusts were up to 60. One of our windiest days here so far. In general, the past 3 or 4 days have been pretty intense. That kind of wind makes simple tasks a challenge, and really takes a toll on your body just fighting to stay stable when working. To prep the batteries today, Abel and I had to open a wooden box, about 3ft by 3ft, and take out 22 batteries, each weighing 72 pounds. The concept is easy enough, but we got annihilated because it was so windy. Just getting the top of the box off was a ridiculous challenge. You’ve basically got a giant wooden sail. Once that thing is free from its screws, it wants to whip up full force and fly away at 60 miles an hour. Then after you manage to get the top off and lodged inbetween something before it smacks you in the face, you have to immediately jump into the box and hold down half a dozen odd sheets of cardboard (from the previous batteries already removed from the box -each battery comes in cardboard) that are quite eager to fly off into West Antarctica. So finally you get the box top off, get all the cardboard pinned down, then you have to actually lift the batteries out and get them into a tent 50 meters away so you can work with them. All of this in 60 mile per hour wind gusts, and snow flying EVERYWHERE. I was completely soaked. It was like someone was taking a bucket of fine powder snow and throwing it in my face every 10 seconds. Into my ears, my nose, into my mouth, down in-between every single layer of clothing, frozen in my hair. Simple tasks like this become complete pandemonium when you factor in the weather. But to be honest, it’s actually quite fun. Don’t get me wrong, my description isn’t exaggerated, but the truth is, the shear chaos of it makes it entertaining! It’s fun to be in wind that powerful. You can lean back into it, like you are sitting in a recliner, and be completely supported by the force from the wind behind you. As long as the work is still possible, it’s a great time.

2008-01-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the dining hall tent at Patriot Hills. We ate meals here, and when we had down time, a lot of people would hang out here and read, socialize, play games (the camp has a stock of books and board/card games). This photo shows some of the people form our group sitting at a table on the right, Abel is on the left playing the guitar, and if you can see it, the girls in the back are Malin, Patti, and Paola, Patriot Hills staffers. Some of my best conversations were spent washing dishes with them and others after meals. Really incredible people, with unique backgrounds from all over the world.

2008-01-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

The food at Patriot Hills is nothing short of fantastic. Especially after eating at McMurdo for so long. Lots of hearty stews, pastas, fresh fruit like pineapple, melon, avocados, fresh baked bread every day, incredible deserts. We are spoiled here for sure. This is a photo of a typical meal. It was Indian this particular night. Clockwise from top, there is some saffron rice, some chutney, a lamb curry, chicken curry, some sort of potato deliciousness, a fried shrimp medley of sorts, and some naan bread. Sorry my Indian food terminology isn’t more advanced. Bascially, it was all yummy.

2008-01-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you don’t really need an explanation, but here it is anyways: this is a photo of Thomas after an install at a site called Wilson Nunatak. Mmm-mmm-mmm.

2008-01-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Just a good people shot of Eric on the left, myself in the middle, and Abel on the right. This was at a place called Windy Pass, just a short skidoo ride from Patriot Hills. There is another mountain range behind Patriot Hills, and you can see it in the background of this photo. Stunningly beautiful area.

2008-01-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

The Patriot Hills staff works incredibly long hours, 7 days a week. No days off. However, every once in awhile they get the rare opportunity to take a “night off” and get some recreation in. It was our luck that once of these occasions happened to occur last night, and also that they were nice enough to extend the invitation to us to join in the fun. This particular event was sledding and skiing. During the day, some of the Patriot Hills staff took a snow cat (I think this is the name of the machine, it's kind of like a snow plow on steroids, used to groom the snow) up a large snow ridge extending off the mountains behind camp, and groomed a skiway down the side of the ridge. It was like a resort! Most of our group was tired and decided not to go, but Thomas and Mitchell and I couldn’t resist (in truth, I have been sick and probably should have stayed in and recovered, but who can resist?!?!?) It was SUCH FUN. Really a once in a lifetime opportunity. Flying down the mountain in these little teeny plastic sleds made for toddlers, getting completely plastered in snow and wiping out at every other turn (at least I was!) What’s more, we had first class skidoo service right back to the top of the mountain after every run. What more could you ask for?!?! Seriously??? Sledding down a groomed skyway in the middle of Antarctica? It was fantastic. I’ve got a photo of each of us, Mitchell is in the top photo, I'm in the middle, and Thomas is below.

2008-01-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

The folks at Patriot Hills asked us to take a group photo before we left, and this is a copy of that photo. Clockwise from the left: Peter, Don, Abel, Patrick, Mitchell, Audrey, Brian, Mike, Thomas, The Dog, and Myself. The Dog is our beloved pet skidoo, slightly past it’s glory days, but still a rugged and trustworthy friend that we all grew to love. Unfortunately, Bob, Eric, and JR were already gone, and are not included in this shot.

Off to Patriot Hills...

2008-01-07T04:10:00.000-08:00

I hope to be off to Patriot Hills soon. Patriot Hills is a camp in West Antarctica where we will be camping while installing 6 permanent GPS stations. We have been trying to get out to this camp for two weeks now, but bad weather and a variety of other issues have kept us from getting out sooner. HOWEVER, we are scheduled to fly tomorrow morning, and it looks like we've got about a 50% chance of getting there this time, so I thought I should go ahead and put up a post saying that I will be out of email contact until the end of January. I've probably just jinxed it and we won't even get out, but just in case, that's the scoop. At any rate, other that radio communications, we will only have satellite phones, so no internet. If I have time tomorrow morning, I will put up a map of where we will be going. I really hope we fly tomorrow!!! I am incredibly excited to go this far into West Antarctica, and anxious to get the bulk of our work started. Also, in the past when I have done research in Antarctica, it has always been out of McMurdo, which is basically a small functioning city. This will be Antarctica proper! I'll take lots of photos and put everything up when I get back. Stay tuned....

Group Photo

2008-01-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

We took a group photo last week. There are 13 of us in all, including both the seismic and GPS group. In this photo, one of our mountaineers, JR, is missing. I’ll try and get a photo of him in soon. From left to right: Eric Kendrick, Robert Smalley, Patrick Shore, Peter Braddock, Brian Bonnett, Don Voigt, Abel Brown, me (Stephanie Konfal), Mitchell Barklage, Thomas Nylen, Audrey Huerta, and Mike Willis. Eric, Mike, Abel, and myself are from Ohio State. Peter is the husband of my advisor, Terry Wilson, so he is also from Ohio State in a way.

2008-01-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my boots! Those spiky things on the bottom are crampons, for when we work on ice. A lot of our sites this year will be on nunataks surrounded by ice. Sometimes the ice is covered by snow->ok for walking, but other times it’s just exposed blue ice. In these cases we need crampons to get anywhere without falling over, especially when hefting a 72 lb battery.

2008-01-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

We had a slight “event” a week or so ago, when our group was at a site called Mt. Paterson. Yes, only one t. Mount Paterson is about 550 miles west of McMurdo, somewhat near the coast. I would have put a post up about this earlier, but it was a somewhat sensitive issue. Enough time has elapsed now, and I think it is important to talk about, so I’m putting up some photos. In short, we had a plane crash in the Basler. If you have read previous posts, you will know that a Basler is a fixed wing aircraft, slightly larger than a Twin Otter, and therefore capable of carrying more weight. It uses skis to land, just like a Twin Otter. I wasn’t on the flight, another member of our group, Bob, ended up taking my place. There were six people from out group total (3 GPS, 3 seismic) and 4 people from fixed wing (pilots, mechanics). Basically, they had finished work, and were attempting to take off. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the take off, and the wing of the plane ended up clipping the ground. The plane spun around and crashed. Among other things, the landing gear sheared off, the props were broken, and the belly of the plane got smashed in a bit. The above photo shows the Basler after the crash. You can see how the props are bent, and the damage to the underbelly of the plane.

2008-01-06T14:08:00.000-08:00

I got a call in my dorm room at about 6 am, informing me of what had happened to my group. I went and got Peter (our mountaineer) and we headed down to Mac Ops (stands for McMurdo Operations) to get more info. The entire “event” actually went quite well, considering the situation. We were in contact with them via satellite phone, and knew that everyone was ok. Their weather (for the moment) was stable, although they were a bit hungry. The original rescue plan, with a Twin Otter coming from the South Pole, and a second Twin Otter arriving from McMurdo, went as planned, and everyone was back in McMurdo within 24 hours of the crash. Additional backup plans including a supply air drop were also organized, and it was clear that no matter the situation, everyone was going to make it back fine. I was really impressed with the overall execution of the rescue, and with everyone involved. It’s good to know there is such a prepared and skilled group of individuals down here to mitigate events like this. The photo above shows the landing gear that was sheared off.

2008-01-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Eric at Westhaven earlier this year. Eric was involved in the Basler crash, and recently wrote an account of some of the events for a Dispatch article (only you Columbus-onians will know what that is.) I wanted to include part of Eric's account. Here it is, unabridged:

The takeoff started normally. At Mount Paterson, as is typical at the places where we install our equipment, there is no runway. We land and takeoff in our ski-equipped airplane wherever the snow is adequately smooth that the pilot thinks those procedures can be done safely. Antarctic winds shape the snow into long ridges called "sastrugi". The pilot has to choose his takeoff and landing areas so as to avoid sastrugi large enough to damage the landing gear.
At Mt. Paterson, as our plane accelerated to takeoff speed, the bumps occurring as our skis crossed the sastrugi seemed to me at first to be nothing out of the ordinary. But as we continued to build speed and the bumps got harder, I braced my left arm against the seat in front of me so that I could be ready in case something happened. I estimate we were travelling close to 80 miles per hour when, after another hard bump, I saw the left wingtip hit the snow outside my window. Immediately the plane spun to the left and we went sliding. I put my right hand over my head to be ready to cushion my fall in case the plane were to flip over, but we came to a stop after just a few more seconds of sliding and bumping over the sastrugi.
My initial thoughts were I was glad that the plane had not flipped over, and I was relieved that I saw no fire. My next thoughts were that we should quickly disentangle ourselves from our collapsed seats and then get out in case a fire were to start.
After getting out of the plane, we called back to McMurdo on our satellite phone to explain our situation and to notify them that no one had been seriously hurt. At that point, we expected that it might be three or more hours before a plane could reach us, but we knew that since no one was badly injured, there was no need to risk an immediate rescue mission until all options had been considered as to the safest and most efficient way to get us out.
We were lucky that the weather was good, but we hoped that a plane would arrive before weather conditions deteriorated, since otherwise we might be stranded there for days. I think all of us are very aware of the dangers that our work entails, and we all work hard to minimize those risks. I think many of us have had "close calls" before during field work in remote areas, I know I have. The risks aren't unique to Antarctica. I love this work, and accidents like this are part of the territory. My main concern after the accident was that an airplane critical for our field work this year had now been wrecked. Without the DC-3, accomplishing this year's mission is going to be a lot more difficult.

Back on the Ice!

2007-12-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

I left the U.S. on the 3rd, got to New Zealand on the 5th, and was on my way to Antarctica by the 7th (really the 8th, we left just after midnight). It was craziness before I left. I had to take my final exams early, finish class work early, plus I was trying to get stuff together for the project, finish up some research stuff, etc. It was a bit nuts. But I made it down ok. The photo above is from the flight down. I hope you can see the guy with the yellow clear bag over his head. Not your typical commercial flight safety briefing. Something about putting some gas mask or something over your head in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately the exact life-saving justification was lost on me, given I was trying not to laugh at the entire production. No disrespect, but seriously, it was really funny. That big yellow thing is some generator or something that was getting shipped down.

I managed to snap a shot of the C-17 this year, in the photo to the right. Ginormous. It’s a nervous excited thrilling feeling stepping off the plane and breathing in Antarctic air again. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s so true. This place is amazing. You see those mountains for the first time and it takes your breath away. I literally gasp. It’s like being on a completely different planet. I thought maybe some of the excitement would be gone since this is no longer my first time down, but it’s been just as incredible to see everything again.

I go running outside as often as I can, and every time I get to the top of the hill between the U.S. and New Zealand bases, there is this incredible view looking out over the ice shelf and the mountains. It’s an area sheltered from the wind, so sometimes it’s completely quiet. No cities to make noise, no buzzing lights. You almost have to stop dead in your tracks and just take a moment to respect it. It’s such a wow factor. All by myself, completely engulfed in it. When the sun is out, there’s this incredible contrast between the bitterly sharp blue sky and the perfectly sterile white ice shelf. I wish the pictures could do it justice. It’s a total body experience. It’s like you’re blanketed in the mountains, like you can almost drink it in. The air is so unbelievably clean and cool and sharp, contrasting with the softness and warmth from the sun, it’s like a drug. I never take a camera with me running, so I don’t have a photo of that exact view (maybe one of these days I’ll take one…) but the photo above is similar. It has that same sensation of extreme contrast between the sky and ice. I took it last week on my first helicopter flight out this year.

The weather hasn’t been all that great this year. Some people speculate it’s related to it being an El Nino year, causing a lot of low pressure systems to come through. We had an opportunity last week where the weather was good, so we took advantage of it and flew both during the day and night. The goal of this field season is the same as the last; to deploy GPS systems on bedrock, so we can understand how the bedrock is moving. Only now the project is called POLENET, involves more countries, and includes other types of geophysical observations, like seismic as well. I am still involved with just the GPS side of things. Some of the sites we are going to this year have never been visited before. For all of the sites, the idea is to make things “permanent”, in that they will operate year round. We’re going to use helicopter, twin otter (a type of fixed wing aircraft), and also Basler (another, even larger type of fixed wing aircraft) aircrafts this year. I've never been on a Basler before, so that will be exciting! When we are within 200 km of McMurdo, the U.S. base station, we use helicopter support to reach our sites. That’s what we used last week. We started with a site called Westhaven Nunatak, leaving at about 8 in the morning. Westhaven is about 180 km to the south from McMurdo. Weather was great, about -20 C and a light wind (yes, this is great weather for this location!) Every site we do this year will have 20-24 batteries, which each weigh about 75 pounds. There is also an aluminum A-frame, solar panels, the GPS antenna, monument, tools, etc. Each site, not including tools, is about 2,100 pounds. In short, it’s a lot of weight to heft around at high altitudes, especially if you have to go uphill. Fortunately, for Westhaven, we were able to sling load (when the helicopter transports cargo via a cargo line below the aircraft) the batteries. A HUGE help. Above is a photo of the Westhaven site, showing the batteries getting dropped off by the helicopter. We won't be able to sling load for any of our sites supported by Twin Otter or Basler, which is all the rest except for one!

We actually had to stop at another site close to Westhaven to finish up some work, so by the time we got back to McMurdo, it was about 8:15 p.m. A long day with a lot of physical activity. One of the helo techs brought down dinner for us and we ate in the hanger before going back out 45 minutes later. It was SO nice to have a hot meal. I only had about half of a frozen bacon sandwich all day, and probably burned about a billion calories, so it was a treat to have a warm meal before going back out. Here’s a photo of my leftover bacon sandwich 4 days later (I forgot about it in my coat pocket.) Like a piece of petrified pork poop. The bacon is brittle after being frozen and thawed so many times. Mmm mmm mmm.
We were all pretty exhausted after 12 hours in the field, but the weather was good and we wanted to take advantage of it, so we were back in the air by about 9 p.m., this time to a site called Brimstone Peak. Brimstone is about the same distance away from McMurdo as Westhaven, only to the north. The site install went well (although we will need to go back to finish up one more item) and the weather was great again. About -20C and not too much wind. Really ideal conditions for 7,500 ft. but still tiring to move all that equipment….quick lesson for those who don’t know…the way oxygen works at altitude is that as you get higher, the pressure decreases. Basically this means that your body has to work harder to pump oxygen from your lungs into your blood. That’s why it’s harder to breathe when you are at high elevations. So here’s the catch: the barometric pressure decreases as you move away from the equator, and guess what, Antarctica is about as far from the equator as you can get. So in short, the pressure is much lower here, which equates to being at higher elevations. That means when you hoof around 75 pound batteries at 7,500 ft. here, you get pretty winded. The above photo is from Brimstone Peak. It shows Eric (on the right) and Joe installing the monument that now holds the GPS antenna.

For both Westhaven and Brimstone, we had to stop at fuel and equipment caches. The equipment weighs too much to take with passengers to the sites, so it must be put out near the site first, and then picked up along the way. Fuel is stored in 55 gallon drums throughout the Transantarctic Mountains for when aircraft need to refuel away form a base on long trips. This requires digging out the fuel drums, rolling them over to the aircraft, tipping them up, and fueling. Each drum weighs about 450 pounds. At the start of the day before getting to Westhaven, we were all moving the fuel drums without any real difficulty. But by the last fuel cache some 20 hours later, I could barely even budge one. I felt like a cripple! It was ridiculous. I was shocked. It’s just so exciting to be out there, and so great to be getting the work done, you don’t realize how sore your body is getting. I couldn't even open the bathroom door the next day! I had to turn around and push it with my back. It really was a long haul, but absolutely fantastic. It was wonderful to be back out at a site again, and of course incredible to get to see the mountains from the helicopter. This photo is of us at a fuel cache, gives you an idea of the size of the drums. Dustin, the pilot, is shown on the right, and that’s me by the fuel drums.

2007-05-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Buon giorno! I am now working in Italy until about mid-August. There is a research group here who has a GPS network in Antarctica just to the north of ours. The purpose of my time here is to jointly process our two networks, and interpret horizontal bedrock motion patterns related to the rifting and faulting in the region. Italy is beautiful! My apartment is great, and has a fantastic location. Just outside my door is the Piazza Grande. The architecture is stunning, there are fresh markets every morning, people socializing, riding bikes, people playing the accordion. It’s like just out of a movie. This is a photo of the duomo (the white church on the left, not all of it is shown, including the large tower) where I sit on the steps and use the internet. Wireless service is provided by the city for free (other than an initial charge of 1.5 Euro for a username and password.)

2006-01-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

I’ve been getting some questions about the types of rocks in Antarctica. This photo shows alternating layers of Beacon Sandstone and Ferrar Dolerite, two types of rock that we see at many of our field sites. The Beacon is Devonian in age (ball park 380 to 400 million years old) and is the lighter stuff in the photo. The Ferrar is Jurassic (150 to 180-ish million years old) and is the darker stuff in the photo that has intruded the Beacon. The Beacon is pretty poorly cemented, so it makes great ventifacts. I put a picture up earlier in this blog of me sitting on a really cool small overhanging ventifact (if you click on the November link under the archives section in the right hand column of this page, that will take you to the overhang photos). That was also the Beacon Sandstone. I took this photo through the window of the helo, and although it is stunning, it doesn't do justice to the actual beauty of the formation. Every exposure out here is like eye candy because there are no plants or soil coverages hiding the rock. Really incredible.

2006-01-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a meteorite!!! I actually got to touch it (and obviously photograph it.) All of the meteorites they find in Antarctica are biologically studied (they are looking for any organic material), so normally you are not allowed to touch them. However, someone accidentally sneezed on this one, so you can actually touch it now! How cool is that??? I photographed the shiny side, which is the fusion crust side. Fusion crust forms on the outside of the meteorite when it is heated by traveling through the atmosphere. This photo shows the meteorite on my field notebook. If I had been thinking, I would have stuck a scale in there. It is about the size of a baseball. I was really enthused to hold it. I’ve never held anything that has been 4.6 BILLION years old!!! Wow. I talked to one of the meteorite guys, and he said they have only found 67 this year. In previous years they have found 1000-1500. However, they are doing reconnaissance work this year looking for new sites, so I’m sure if they went back to known sites of high populations they could have found more.

In the States

2006-01-10T01:27:00.000-08:00

I am now back on the ice. I got to go back to the States for Christmas, which was really nice. It was such a treat to see my family and Steve and his family. Here is a picture of Steve wearing the Antarctica sweatshirt I brought back for him. He is so dashing. :)

2006-01-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

This picture brings a tear to my eye. While I was back in the States, I went to Tommy’s pizza with my mom and my sister, so much fun. Tommy’s is my FAVORITE pizza place. I had been craving pizza for months, and when I was finally able to have some….WOW. I had to take a picture. I look at it often now, and dream of the foods to come when I get back to the States….Thai, Indian, more pizza, Greek, sushi….oh my goodness sushi. So sad. At any rate, I took this photo with my cell phone, so sorry for the low resolution. Actually, speaking of that, all of these photos are a pretty low resolution, probably not good enough to print out. If anyone wants the higher res versions, drop me and email (skonfal@hotmail.com) and I’ll send you out a better copy.

2005-12-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

This was a night flight, I think. We all got to the site, and set up, and then everyone scattered to find their own space on a rock. I found this lovely little rock and took the opportunity to bask in the warm sun. The weather was perfectly calm. No wind. I remember lying on this rock and listening to the ice shelf crack. It’s a fascinating sound, like a muffled snap, only deep and powerful. There are so many amazing features in this place, so many sounds, smells, colors, textures. It’s like an enormous playground for all of your senses. I distinctly remember the feeling of sitting on that rock, the warm sun, the cool crisp air, the immense ice shelf cracking in the distance. I love Antarctica.

Fun in the field

2005-12-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

We conduct what is called a “footprint” survey at many of the sties we visit. This involves putting out several receivers within a close proximity to the main mark. These sites are occupied for an hour, and will show if the main site is unstable. When we get to a site that is being footprinted, we set the equipment up, and then while the receivers record data for an hour, we have time to look at the local geology, explore, or in most cases, goof around and have fun. Everyone in the group likes to explore, but Paul, one of the pilots, is my favorite person to run around and play with. He is like a mountain goat, always dashing around everywhere and thinking of fun things to do. At this site, Paul noticed a peak of snow and decided to run up it (which is so much fun at 8-10,000 ft. elevation in 20 pounds of clothing…it’s an incredible feeling to get to the top of a hill or cliff and be totally out of breath and exhausted, especially in Antarctica…the fresh cold air filling your lungs…you just feel so alive and happy!) At any rate, I saw Paul at the top of this hill, diving on his belly and sliding all over the place, and I thought to myself “What an extraordinary idea!!!” So, of course, I ran up and joined in the fun. The snow is the perfect consistency for sliding. It’s not ice, but rather packed snow that’s been sheared smooth by the wind. We found intermittent patches of this smooth snow to slide on, all the way back down to the bottom of the hill. The peak in this photo was a beauty, nice and steep. Mike Starbuck saw us sliding down it and decided to come join in the fun. How could you not?!? He was the one that ended up taking this photo. Thanks Mike! The photo shows Paul standing with his legs apart, and me sliding down the hill on my belly right before I went through Paul’s legs. Outstanding fun!

2005-12-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Another favorite activity while waiting for the footprint to finish is rock bowling. This involves pushing precariously placed boulders over the edges of cliffs. Or, in some cases, this involves smashing, shoving, and coaxing quite happily placed boulders into submission, which means, again, getting them over the edge of a cliff. Here is a photo of Mark and I trying to push a massive boulder over the edge.

2005-12-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

And…success! The bounder is jarred loose. It’s amazing the noise these beasts make when the go over. It’s stunning. Sometimes you can get a good 5 or 6 second free-fall.

2005-12-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a shot to give you some idea of the cliff scale. This doesn’t even come close to showing the whole thing, but you get the point! In this photo, you can see us standing in our big red parkas at the top of the cliff. Imagine throwing a boulder over that puppy…now that’s some fun bowling!

2005-11-25T23:41:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-25T21:12:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

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.

More photos from the field....

2005-11-09T23:02:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

Can you say….Grand Canyon on steroids?

2005-11-09T05:31:00.000-08:00

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.

Field Work

2005-11-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

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…

2005-11-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

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.

McMurdo

2005-11-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

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.

Antarctica!!!

2005-11-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Travel

2005-11-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

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!

2005-11-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

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

New Zealand

2005-10-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

New Zealand was beautiful. In the short time I was there, I fell in love with the place. We stayed at the Windsor, a charming little bed and breakfast in Christchurch. This is a picture of the Windsor.

2005-10-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

There was a dog at the Windsor named Miss Winny Windsor. She was adorable. One of those hotdog dogs. She would sneak into the dining room looking for food and petting. She was clearly “well fed” and living the good life. Miss Winny….well….she just IS. I have to say I fell in love with her. She would trot around everywhere, kind of a cross between a wobble and a jog. Her body is so dense and round and long, she looked like a cute little sausage with itty bitty legs. Here is Miss Winny busy at work, just existing.

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Miss Winny again, ten minutes later that day. She is a busy little thing.

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There are a significant number of bed and breakfasts in the area, more so than larger hotels. There was at least one major hotel that I saw, kind of an eye sore compared to the incredible architecture in the area. The overall feel is quite unique, sort of an old world English meets Classical French Caribbean. There are lots of proper and ornate English style buildings mixed in with some colorful, almost tropical style houses and structures. There were also several churches and towers in the city with a fantastic gothic style. Lots of parks, fountains, squares, etc. Here I am standing in front of one of the Cathedrals. It's almost a shame to see the massive modern buildings in the background.

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This is a photograph from part of a fountain within the city. It is composed of tiles that were painted by the local school children. I thought it was beautiful. Can you find the tile with the volcano? That is one of my favorites. I also like the yellow kiwi bird.

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I went to an open market on Sunday. Lots of good food…Indian, Greek, Chinese, Hungarian, Lebanese. Fantastic woodworking, pottery, sweaters, candles, everything. I bought a pair of boots. Yikes. I had to. I have tried on pairs of Ugg boots in the US, the ones that are made out of sheep wool, incredibly comfortable. But, I have never wanted to pay for them, just because the celebrity association has made them so expensive that the pricing is ridiculous. Well, I found a booth with boots MUCH better than the stupid Ugg brand, made with local sheep skin. Absolutely gorgeous, hand-made, much higher quality than Ugg. Plus, they were only $100 New Zealand, which is $70 US. Those boots would have been over $200 in the States. I love them. Very comfortable. So far I have worn them almost every day in the lab (if you didn’t catch that by now, I am writing this as an update, many days after the fact. So, don’t pay attention to dates, I am just sticking in arbitrary dates so the photos will fall in the right order. I didn’t have email access in New Zealand, at least where I could upload photos, and the first week on the ice was filled with activities like snow school and the first busy flight days….more on that later.)

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I went running in and around the Botanical Gardens and another close park. It reminded me of the scene out of Mary Poppins, where she held that ridiculous ruffle umbrella while she hoped over that bridge and then floated on that turtle. I literally ran over a gorgeous bridge over a river with willow trees and flowers everywhere, just like the one in the movie. I didn’t see any turtles though. Shucks. This photograph is of a small park in the city showing a typical fountain and flower patch.

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I got an incredible amount of joy just from waking around the city in the warm sun, looking at all the beautiful flora and shops. I had the best coffee of my life at a little place called the Yellow Rooster, or something like that. Medved discovered the place on an early morning walk in the square. My coffee was so beautiful I had to photograph it, and Medved’s as well. Liz got tea, which came as full loose leaf, it smelled wonderful. Lots of mint. This photograph is of Liz, Myself, and Medved.

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This photograph is of my beautiful coffee. I will definitely be returning for another.

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In short, New Zealand was lovely, at least from what I saw of Christchurch. I can see why my advisor is moving there after she retires. They (Terry, my advisor, and Peter, her husband) have a house not too far from Christchurch. Mike says it is a 2 hour drive, but only because the roads are all small and winding. I hear it is lovely. Hope to see it on a return trip.

I just read over what I have posted thus far, and realized I have used the word beautiful an excessive amount of times. A bit ridiculous really. I will try and be more creative in the future…..lovely, picturesque, scenic, delightful, charming, wonderful, exquisite, pleasing, superb, magnificent. Look for these words in the near future.

September 13, 2005

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This is a test to see if my blog page is working!

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