November 4, 2009

My new Ride

This week I finally finished the training for proper safety for riding in the helicopters and now am able to travel to some field camps that are a little further away. Today I took my first ride and it was awesome! Flyin in these things are pretty damn cool. There's two main types of helicopters we fly around in down here, the A-star and one they call the 212 (which is bigger - it can carry more cargo and passengers). The A-star fits maybe 6 people total, but probably only 4 comfortably (including the pilot). The A-star is pictured above.

Me in my helmet:

Today we flew to two different sites in the dry valleys. The dry valleys are actually on the mainland of Antarctica (not on an island - McMurdo Station is on Ross Island). The dry valleys have stricter environmental rules because they are protected areas and are classified as an Antarctically Specially Managed Area (ASMA).

A brief description of them is that the Dry Valleys "are the largest expanse of ice-free ground in Antarctica. They contain cold desert soils millions of years old, unusual biological communities, special geological features and minerals and spectacular scenery...The region encompasses a cold desert ecosystem, whose climate is not only cold and extremely arid, but also windy. The landscape of the Area contains glaciers, mountain ranges, ice-covered lakes, meltwater streams, arid patterened soils and permafrost, sand dunes, and interconnected watershed systems...thirty percent of the ground surface is largely free of snow and ice."

Our (meaning the envt. group that I am working with) purpose for visiting was to do an envt. evaluation of two field camps in the dry valleys. To make sure they have the proper secondary containment around fuels and waste, are dealing with solid and liquid wastes appropriately, to test the drinking water supply, to look at camp footprint, to document any issues regarding camp life, to follow-up with any past issues, etc. We visited Blood Falls and Lake Joyce camps.

Here's a picture of our ride flanked by mountain ranges and a frozen lake. The A-star landed next to the first camp, Blood Falls, that we visited. Near Lake Bonney and Taylor Glacier.

Here's the same setting, but from a different angle with the frozen lake, glacier, and mountain ranges in the background.

This is a picture near the next camp we visited. Taylor Glacier is in the background and the foreground is actually Lake Joyce, frozen over. Portions of the Lake melt at different rates as can be seen somewhat in the picture. The lake in the foreground is melting quicker, partially because there is soils and rocks that have blown onto that part of the ice. The white area in the background that abutts up to the glacier and is smoother is actually still the frozen lake. Actually I believe the lake never (rarely?) completely melts but is generally characterized as having a thin overall surface layer with a watery moat that forms on the outer edges later in the summer season.

This is the A-star landing at the Lake Joyce site.

Here's a panoramic video taken from Lake Joyce-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGJD9p8czRI

Some of the research that was being conducted at one of the camps (Blood Falls) involved cutting an ice tunnel into Taylor Glacier using chainsaws. This is a picture of my coworkers outside the ice tunnel:

This is a picture of the tunnel into the glacier:

This is the back end of the ice tunnel that opened up into a little room, where the researchers cut out chunks of ice to take back for research. I believe this group was looking at the living organisms in the ice. The brownish band in the wall is the soil and rocks.

Here's a pic from the heli flying above Taylor glacier, looking towards Lake Bonney.




These are cold shot glasses that the researchers made out of chunks of glacier ice.

This is a picture of some other modes of transport. The first one is of the Baslars. I think they were brought in mainly to try and get flights to the South Pole from McMurdo earlier in the season. The second picture are the LC-130s Hercs that are used later in the season, and I guess maybe they are harder to land logistically at the Pole until later in the season. Maybe because of plane weight and/or landing gear and ice conditions?

Here's a picture of "Home" or McMurdo Station...

November 2, 2009 - Discovery Hut and My First Seal

So after the last post of Halloween- here's a more serious post.
Some Antarctic History.


Went for a hike/tour of Discovery Hut, which is a ~15 minute walk from McMurdo. Discovery Hut was used by the early explorers of Antarctica (erected in 1901 by Robert Scott and the Discovery party) and many remnants of these expeditions still remain. See the date imprinted on the crate in the first picture above. Here's some pics.

Boxes of food stuffs:


This is a toilet... (FG and CH would be screwed!):






I bet they probably ate these at points:




This is the stove they had with a kettle of seal blubber chunks still in it - I believe they ate these as well as used them for heating/fuel:

My first seal! Kind of, but not really. Mummified. Was right outside of the Hut:

One interesting thing about the hut was that there was anthrax cultured from it. This was not considered a serious health threat, but warning was given and we weren't allowed to touch anything and must clean out boots when entering/exiting the hut.

October 31, 2009 - Halloween

So I am admittedly about a week or so behind in the posts...I have a plethora of excuses of why, but hopefully will do som catching up in the next few days.

Halloween - Fell on a Saturday nite, which was nice because Sunday is most people's one day off per week. Although either way I think they would have had a big party on Saturday nite. I had been given notice that Halloween is a big party down here. And it was. A lot of people came out some with very creative, some with very elaborate, and some with very simple costumes...

Here is mine-
Full Name: Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking
Short: Pippi Longstocking

There was a couple of really great group costumes. One group made little cars out of cardboard boxes that they wore over their shoulders and dressed up like Mario Kart (only thing missing was the Tupac)... Here's the X-men:

Here's MC Hammer complete with lines in his hair, Ghost (? something from cartoon network's Adult Swim), and a vampire. The first two I play volleyball with and the vampire is my coworker.

Here's a Banana (he's missing his peel) breakin' it down. His costume was actually really good, he fashioned some cardboard into a peel and wore it over his head. I need to learn his dance moves.

The party was a good time. There was a costume contest, dancing, socializing, and drinking.

October 26, 2009 - Day 18

Sea Ice Training
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Random Pics
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An Iceberg (first one I've seen - beautiful blueish tones)


Me in front of iceberg - to give some perspective on size

Some island.

Me in front of Mount Erebus (still active). You can see it smoking/steaming.

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Went to my last major training - “Sea Ice.” So today I really learned what sea ice is. With the exception of the sea ice runway, what I probably referred to as sea ice before was not in fact sea ice. For example, the “Happy Camper” course was not on sea ice as I previously thought, but on the frozen Ross Ice Shelf – basically frozen water and snow on the Ross island shelf. Sea Ice is actually frozen ocean or sea water. McMurdo Station is located on Ross Island and is completely surrounded by sea ice and the frozen ice shelf. The sea ice and the ice shelf melt, but dependent on conditions only certain portions may melt.

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We learned how to identify and assess cracks in the sea ice, such that when we travel over sea ice we can determine if they are safe to cross. Cracks are caused by tidal forces, temperature, winds, radiation, etc.

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Identification of cracks are mostly visual. Assessment involves assessing the depth (thickness) of sea ice and how wide the crack is at the crossing point. The general guidelines for assessment are: To clear the snow off the ice to visualize the crack Auger holes through the sea ice over the width of the crack and at the ends of the crack Put these holes in approximately 18 inches apart With the type of vehicle we were using a crack could be 24 inches wide and it would be safe to cross (determined by track length on vehicle).

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Taking a measurement of sea ice thickness/depth after hole was augered through to ocean water.

A line of auguered holes taken on the edges of a crack and in the crack.

Two picture of cracks:

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If the sea ice is thicker than 20 feet that particular section is considered safe and not part of the width of the crack.

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Here’s a pic of the Haaglund that we rode in.

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Hope to add a video here of us augering into the sea ice and pushing through to the ocean water.

(Part of assessing safety of crossing crack)

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We also learned how to make anchors (i.e., tents) in the ice and visited an ice cave. Here is a video of the ice cave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-makL6iaiY

October 2009 - Happy Camper Videos

The video was too big to post here - so check it out. Hope it works.

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The squeaking in the video is the sound of the ice/snow as one walks or moves around. First you'll see the outside of the Kwinzi (or Quinzie -spelling?) that I helped build and slept in for a night with 3 others, then the camp. Surrounding area, Mountain tents, cooking area/galley, Scott tents, and then me entering and exiting the Kwinzi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0OADBPCZQI

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This video was taken by a fellow camper on the morning after we camped out on the ice. I am the third of three people that you see wearing a black jacket appearing around :10-:11 seconds in. I'm not sure if the video does the actual scene justice, but it'll give you an idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da15DU53ccY

Day 12-13

October 20-21

HAPPY CAMPER

FYI- time zone. We are 4 hours behind California time, but one day ahead OR 20 hours ahead - however you want to look at it.

So Tuesday and Wednesday were very interesting days. Starting Tuesday morning and going to Wednesday afternoon I attended a course called Snowcraft I, or better known by its nickname "Happy Camper." This course is sort of a survival course in which students are taught safety and awareness of working and being at locales that are not near McMurdo Base. Thus if we are caught in harsh conditions, we have the knowledge, experience, tools of how to survive and how to stay warm. Some of things that we were shown:

• MSR Whisperlite Stove (a backpacking stove, how-to-use, how-to-maintain)
• Safety/Awareness/Ways to Prevent being cold-frostnip-frostbite
• Proper personal gear to wear (PPE of sorts)
• How-to-build shelters in the ice and how-to-erect mountain tents and Scott tents (more on this later)
• Use of VHF and HF (like a Ham radio) radios
• Went over some safety videos for boarding/deboarding helicopters

Me personal geared out.

Three instructors led the twenty students in the class to an area maybe 30 minutes from McMurdo. This area was on the sea ice, i'm guessing 3-4 miles from the base. Sort of seemed like a valley amid mountains, although in the late morning when we arrived the visibility was poor and we couldn't see any of the surrounding mountains. (wikipedia defn of Sea ice - is largely formed from ocean water that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs at about -1.8 °C (28.8 °F). Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs, which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean. Icebergs are compacted snow and hence fresh water.). When we got there, we had lunch...which consisted of stiff sandwiches and hard candy bars. We then were prepped for camping out the night on the ice - thus "Happy Camper." The instructors gave us some directions and showed us some techniques for creating shelters and a camp and then left us to our own devices while they went over to stay in an enclosed tarped "Jamesway" type shelter that was heated - this was maybe a half mile from where our camp was.

Things we did/learned how to do...

More traditional shelters:

Put up Scott tents - Teepee like shelters but with 4 corners, fairly large. Put up Mountain tents - Normal 4-season backpacking type tent

Less traditional shelters:

Create a Kwinzi - Native american origin, sort of ice cave, igloo-like, shelter Create ice trenches - trench/passageway underground to try and stay out of wind/trap hot air. (You could get creative with these, but were a lot of work digging.) Create ice blocks - simple to do, but a decent amount of work. For use in shelter construction and creation of walls for wind blocking. Hand saw and a shovel are only tools needed.

Other things:

• Hold water bottle inside jacket and upside down to help prevent freeezing
• Best methods for cooking
• Best methods for staying warm (minimizing sweating, layering, moving around, looking out for each other, Sleep with a hot water bottle, fit as many people as possible into shelter, venting tent to prevent ice crystals from forming inside, not consuming alcohol contrary to popular belief) Changing socks to avoid trench foot
• Safety plans
• Pee bottle - a nalgene that you can pee in so you don't have to go outside. For women there is some sort of attachment or funnel that you can use. Is awesome for not having to go out in cold. I haven't had need to use yet though. Clearly Marked with a P on the lid and PEE written on the outside so not to get confused with drinking bottle.

I slept in the Kwinzi with four other people. I have a video of the overall camp that I'm trying to post but it hasn't worked yet...

Night
So, the night. Went to sleep early around 8:30ish, although I wasn't tired, but unless I was moving around my feet and hands would get real cold. So decided to go to sleep - I climbed into the Kwinzi, tucked into a fleece blanket and then into a mummy bag that was sitting on two mats (for insulation), wearing just my baselayers, switched to clean, dry socks, pulled on my beanie and tried to go to sleep. In the Kwinzi, i had one of the spots that was close to the wall so the walls of the cave were a little tight on me. I few times I tried to sit up and adjust my laying down position and my head would scrape the top of the wall and chunks of ice would fall on me. It actually was decently warm in the bag, it was in no way comfortable though. But passable. I don't feel like I slept at all, but had my eyes closed for many hours. At least two of my Kwinzi-mates slept well though, b/c I could hear their light snores within 10-15 minutes.

Morning

The morning. Upon wake up, the camp plan was to make and boil water for hot drinks and oatmeal and then pack up camp. But upon exit of the Kwinzi we found that the visibility was really bad, it was crazy windy, and really, really cold. So alternate plans- everyone starting just packing up camp - there wasn't really anything else you could do. This was a mess. Things were blowing around, vis sucked, there were all kinds of little potholes in the ground from our camp that people would step in and fall, and it was really, really cold (did I already say this?). One of the worse parts was trying to remove the rainflys from the mountain tents. These were attached by little black plastic clips that have to be squeezed on both sides and then slid out (normal type of clips on backpacks and tents). With big gloves on this was impossible, so you would have to remove your big gloves and then just wearing liners try to do this. But this was hard to do even with just liners on. I tried to squeeze one and I had to take multiple tries and had to use lots of effort just to pop off this small little clip. This was b/c the coldness had stiffened up my hands really bad. It was really, really cold. Clothes, neck gaiter, gloves, etc. would stiffen if they were wet at all. Chunks of ice would get stuck on your eyelashes. It was quite a scene and a mess. But we managed to get it all packed together and put away into the storage units adjacent to the campsite. During this morning fiasco, I wasn't wearing goggles because they had gotten a little condensation on them and then the condensation had froze making the visibility thru them horrible. But I was wearing a full balaclava that covered my nose and mouth and head (with the exception of some breathing/vent holes) to protect my face. Near the end of the cleanup someone noticed that I had some whiteness on my cheeks (an early sign of frostnip), and I was given someone else's goggles to don for a while. My cheeks were definitely cold, but there had been no other signs that caused me much concern. The ice chunks on my eyelashes sucked and the winds blowing in your face sucked, but I wasn't losing any sensation or anything. But my feet and hands hurt a lot from the cold. (Note: the next day, the tips of two of my fingers are a little hard and kind of numb - some light frostnip effects I guess)

Here's a pee block (Urinal for the males) that is outside and next to the outhouse. Kind of disgusting.

Anyways we got it all done and completed our training, but here's a picture of my frostnip/windburn (it's actually a lot darker then it looks in the pic):

No one else really had this problem...and as if I didn't stand out enough already (being asian and with long hair). HA! It sort of just feels like a sunburn right now (dry, tight skin, and a little sore). Happy Camper was an awesome experience...

If I can get the video to post...First you can see the mountain tents and some people cooking in the established kitchen and eating area and then the two tall (teepeeish) Scott tents and then me entering and then exiting the Kwinzi that I slept in.

Day 10

First Week of Work on the Books
So finished my first week of work last week. Work week is Mon-Sat, 0730 to 1730. We get two 15-minute breaks and a 1-hr lunch. The days don't feel so long, its that additional day that makes the week seem much longer. The week included lots of trainings for vehicle usage and for traveling to restricted areas. Ski-doo (snowmobile) training was definitely the funnest. After a 45-min to 1-hour classroom safety and maintenance training, we got to drive the ski-doos around for 40 minutes.

Food
Food here is pretty good. Some meals are really good, others are mediocore. Although there seems to be only "freshies" - meaning fresh fruit and vegetables only 2-3 days of the week so far. When there are freshies, there is usually a big rush and longer lines. People often take extra food when there are meals that they really like - they'll either saran wrap a plate or bring in tupperware. Everyone has a refrigerator in there room to store drinks and or food. Meals are at set times: 0500-0730 for breakfast, 1200-1300 for lunch, 1730-1930 for dinner, and a 2400-0100 midnight meal called "midrats" (this meal is for nite shift workers, but is open to everyone after 2430). PB and J sandwich making materials and cereal are available at any time.

Pictures
Here's some more pics:

The Logo. The crosshairs near the middle of the continent is the South Pole.


Map to help show positioning in world with pen pointing to where McMurdo is.


Overview of most of McMurdo Station. Taken from Observation Hill.


Here's a plane on the sea ice runway, if you look close you can see a red-orangish speck in the top left of the picture, that's a helicopter. We are scheduled to fly in the helis later. The runway supports C-5, C-17, C-141, C-130, LC-130, and Twin Otter aircraft.

Here's some pics of some of the vehicles out here. There are many vehicles out here that look really fun to operate/drive. I kind of feel like a kid in the sandbox playing with my tonka trucks, looking at all of them and thinking how cool they are. I think I'll be limited to the piston bully, ski-doos (snowmobiles), ATVs, and trucks. (Although I don't have one complaint - these all are going to be sweet to use, with the exception of the truck being the norm)

This is Ivan the Terra Bus. Its used as a shuttle to and from the airfields. Its huge, there isn't really a frame of the reference in the picture, but the tires are very close to my height 5-6 feet tall.

This is a Piston Bully.

This is a Challenger. Its mostly used for transporting cargo. Two pictures.