The morning started with a 4:40am wake-up call! After driving around town in the Super Shuttle picking up other passengers headed to the ice, we arrived that the CDC to change clothes into our ECW gear and get our luggage put on the plane. After receiving our boarding pass, it was time for a nice hot cup of coffee to get us ready for the 5-hour flight south.
Now for a play-by-play. . . A trip on a C-17 Globemaster III is something not very many people get to do in their lifetime, especially flying in one to Antarctica. So let’s see if I add details to the imagination. . .
You are in a plane that has a wing span over 51m (169ft), a length of over 54m (174ft), and a height at the tail of over 16m (55ft). The fuselage diameter is over 6m (22ft), has a payload capacity over 77,000kg (170,...
Some of us are home, so of us are on the way home. With various weather delays last week, our flights to the ice sites at the top of Byrd Glacier above two subglacial lakes were canceled three days in a row. And with the overcrowding currently at McMurdo, it was decided that half our team would head back to the states, while the other half would stay through the weekend and try once more to get out on the Twin Otter. Mike, Kristin and Brandon began the long northward trek while Peter, Leigh and Gordon all stayed behind. The plan was to place the three remaining summer ice sites near the base of The Byrd (1 additional heli flight) and the two winter-over ice sites at the top of the glacier (Twin Otter flight).
Those of us that left early just received word that the remaining crew did...
We've had two more days of canceled flights to complete our work. The only remaining units we have left to deploy are two summer ice sites and the end of the glacier on the Ross Ice Shelf, and two winter-over ice sites in the catchment basin at the top of the glacier above two subglacial lakes.
Station is quite overcrowded at the moment so three of us are actually headed north this afternoon/evening (weather permitting). The other three will remain in McMurdo in the hopes of finishing our deployment before they begin their trek north next Wednesday. All in all this has been a very successful trip with an extensive deployment of 26 GPS units up and down The Byrd. We'll be back in February to retrieve 23 of them and begin the data processing!
In the meantime, we are in the process of...
We flew our third and likely final heli day yesterday. We installed three winter-over ice sites and an additional four summer ice sites. That brings our grand total so far to 27 GPS sites! We are slated to fly on the Twin Otter this morning to install our final two winter-over ice sites on two subglacial lakes on the upper plateau of The Byrd. Right now we are holding for weather clearance.
More pictures posted soon!
We’re flying! OK, not at the moment, but we’ve been flying the past 2 days! I can attempt to describe the process; however, I think pictures will do the most justice in this case.
The team headed out to the heli of our first day of flying, Nov. 18. Photo credit: Brandon Gillette
We begin our flying days with two helicopters and an hour and thirty minute ride out to the Roadend fuel cache Kristin and I visited nearly a week ago. Here we load up as much equipment as can fit into the heli while the pilot and heli tech are refueling. Then it’s another 15-40 minutes to our landing sites, depending on our targets. One team has spent the last two days installing year-round rock sites. The sites help to act as a control against which to measure the movement of the GPS units we place on...
So we've been out of contact for a couple of days, and unfortunately the only reason is that there hasn't been much interesting news to share. We loaded up a truck to transport our gear down to the heli pad yesterday where it still sits. Gordon, Mike and I were all geared up, wired up, and sitting in the helicopter yesterday morning, rotors spinning, only to get word that there was a bad connection on the engine temperature gauge. They spent about 45 minutes try to fix it but to no avail. Outcome: our flights were canceled.
We got placed on the flight schedule again today, loaded up our personal gear and began the walk back down the hill to the heli pad again. We were met by Jack, one of the helicopter pilots, only to have him tell us the weather report at our destination was...
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here, but it's at least worth explaining what we did all day yesterday. The morning started out with some indoor training. We reviewed several different knots commonly used while climbing, as well as the physics of pulleys and mechanical advantage in helping to extract someone that might have fallen into a crevasse.
Mike pulling Peter up using a 6 to 1 MA. Photo credit: Brandon Gillette
After training indoors, it was time to move to the snow. We rode out to the Ross Ice Shelf in a Piston Bully. There is a training crevasse about 20 feet deep we used for the afternoon to practice various forms of extraction including self-extraction.
Brandon, Kristin, Leigh and Gordon after just being dropped into the crevasse. Photo credit: Mike Roberts...
Members of our team here in Antarctica, Leigh and Gordon are featured in a NY Times article about their research in Greenland. Take a look!
http://tinyurl.com/3anm9es
Our work here has finally settled down a bit. We've really had a chance to enjoy the weekend. With Antarctic weather somewhat unpredictable (like in most places), flights are canceled and rescheduled all time. Yesterday morning we arrived in the office for a slow paced work day. Leigh had just taken a call from the fixed-wing office saying it was a fly day for us!
Recall that we have to move over 10,000 pounds of cargo from here in McMurdo to Byrd Glacier. A fuel/equipment cache has been setup for us at Darwin Glacier, about an hour plane ride from McMurdo. We weren't scheduled to have any flights until at least Monday, but when the call comes in, you go! We had just a few hours to discuss how to organize the cache site once we arrived to make the final 75 miles to Byrd Glacier a...
Yesterday was a day of leisure, then work, then some more leisure time. We started out just checking email, relaxing enough. Then it was off to the aquarium. There is an aquarium in Phase III (bottom floor) of Crary Lab. They study creatures that live all around McMurdo Sound. One of the more abundant fishes, various species of genus Trematomus, are held in a variety of 200+ gallon tanks with sub zero sea water. Isaac and Sandwich gave us a short tour explaining some of the science being conducted on the fish.
Trematomus are found in the sub-freezing (-2 C) waters of McMurdo sound. One of the major studies taking place is understanding physiological responses to increases in water temperature. Isaac and Sandwich will raise the water temperatures in small increments all the way up...
In McMurdo you have to take a training class for everything. This is probably for good reason but some of the training seems a little overkill. Yesterday four of us took light vehicle training so that we are able to use the station trucks to drive around town and move our equipment without having to wait for someone to do it for us.
Mountaineers, Mike and Peter, also took a training class on how to drive a Piston Bully. We’ll use this on Sunday when we head out to a local crevasse field for training. We’ve met with the helo techs and pilots a number of times over the last 48 hours to make sure all parties involved are on the same page for landing on Byrd Glacier.
The weather here has been really spectacular by Antarctic standards, clear skies, calm winds and relatively warm (30+ F...
A logistics nightmare! OK, not really, just VERY complicated planning has been taking place, and rightfully so. We are walking on snow no one has walked on before.
Yesterday, members of our team met with the helo techs and pilots 3 different times. As more information becomes available, new options come up and plans have to be altered. We are attempting to move 31 GPS units (50 pounds each), over 200 miles. That doesn't include all the batteries, solar panels, wind generators, framing, etc. that we also have to take into the field.
Kristin and Gordon analyze how to move and organize all of our equipment. The Royal Society mountain range in the ice runway are in the background. Photo credit: Brandon Gillette
We are working nearly 20 hour days, some a little longer, some a little...
The Byrd Glacier team sitting at the USAP terminal waiting for boarding. Photo credit: Rob Bauer
Brandon and Kristin enjoying first class on-board the Airbus 319. Photo credit: Rob Bauer
First attempt and we’re here! If you’ve ever read another blog from someone traveling to or from Antarctica, it is not uncommon for flights to get delays by a few hours or even several days. In fact, sometimes you can get in the air and have to turn around because conditions on the ice have deteriorated. It’s about a 5 hour flight south from Christchurch on a C-17 military aircraft, or in an Airbus 319. I sorted of feel like we got cheated out of the true Antarctic experience (ok, not really), but we had the rare opportunity to fly down on the Airbus! FIRST CLASS! We even had in-flight beverage...
In the last 48 to 72 hours, my senses have been hammered. It started the night before leaving town driving through the Waldo/Brookside area of Kansas City. It was sunny with a nice gentle breeze, the temperature hovering around 60 F. With the windows down, every so often you could catch a nice big whiff of fall. You all know what fall smells like, right? The crisp cool air with the hint of freshly fallen leaves? Such a soothing aroma!
Less than 24 hours later, all that changed as we made our way to the airport and through the big cities of the US on our way to New Zealand. Jet fuel just doesn't have that pleasing scent that one might like to enjoy on an autumn afternoon.
From the smell of jet fuel to the sweet smells of fresh blooms and flowers in blossom during the New Zealand...
There are only two ways to get to Antarctica, by plane or by boat (maybe a few others if you are really creative, but these are the two most efficient). Our LONG journey began around lunchtime on Thursday, November, 4 in Kansas City. We had a 'short' flight to Dallas (just over an hour), then a longer flight (about 3 hours) out to Los Angeles.
A look from above of the International Terminal at LAX airport. Photo credit: Brandon Gillette
Here we met Gordon and Kristin traveling in from Maine. They had a similar trip after leaving from Bangor earlier that afternoon. At 11:30pm PDT, we boarded our flight to Auckland, NZ where we arrived at 9:30am NZST (nearly 14 hours later) on Saturday, November 6. WAIT?!? What happened to Friday? When flying west from the United States you will...
Well, we leave in two days, and I have to tell you, things are getting busy. It's a little tough trying to keep everything straight (what to print, pack, leave behind, etc.). So while I'm trying to figure all that out, why don't you read a little excerpt from 'The Antarctic Sun' about our upcoming trip. . .
From 'The Antarctic Sun':
Finding a glaciologist excited to talk about the weird and puzzling behavior of a glacier during a meeting of scientists focused on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet isn’t very hard.
Except the conversation is about Byrd Glacier, a massive river of ice that cuts through the Transantarctic Mountains and drains the East Antarctic Ice Sheet into the Ross Ice Shelf.
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is the higher and colder cousin of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet,...
Antarctica is a very harsh and extreme environment though is very rich in wildlife due to the high productivity of the Antarctic Ocean during the summer months. The high productivity is driven by long days providing abundant light and nutrients brought to the surface layers by the upwellings at the Antarctic Convergence.
Animals need to have a wide range of specializations in order to survive these conditions. There are many adaptions depending on species. We will take a general look at some of those adaptations most relevant to living in Antarctica.
Most penguins have a compact shape (low surface area to volume) to prevent heat loss. Adelie penguins have dense, specialized feathers for insulation on land and a fat layer under the skin as insulation in the water. Emperor penguin...
We all know that Antarctica is a very cold place, and the scientists who work there are not the only ones who have to worry about staying warm. The animals that live in Antarctica have to protect themselves from the frigid conditions on a year-round basis. In order to keep heat they produce from escaping into the environment, these animals are typically well insulated.
Over the next several days to a few weeks leading up to and during our deployment to Antarctica, we'll be taking a look at how animals and humans stay warm in such harsh environments such as the Arctic and Antarctica. We'll also explore the methods of heat transfer as well as the science of warm weather clothing.
This is Part I in series of journal entries on 'The Science of Staying Warm.' Your thoughts and discussion...
With just two weeks left before deployment, the packing process has already begun. I can already tell you that this time around will be much easier than in 2007. Just a quick background on my last trip to Antarctica. In 2007 commercial airlines allowed 70 lbs of luggage per traveler on an international flight (depending on the country). Then flying to McMurdo we were allowed 75 lbs of luggage per traveler. This had to include all of the ECW gear (we’ll get to this a little later) and all of our personal belongings. You may have seen pictures of the big orange bags issued at the clothing distribution center (CDC) in Christchurch, New Zealand. At that point in time I was under the impression that ALL or our luggage had to fit into the two orange bags AND weigh 75 lbs or less. Baring...
It's official, we will be deploying from Kansas City International Airport on November 4, 2010! We expect to return just in time for Thanksgiving. We'll spend a few days in New Zealand before heading down to McMurdo Station. McMurdo will act as our home base for the duration of our stay in Antarctica. From there we will take day trips to the field via a dual helicopter tandem as we travel nearly 200 miles to Byrd Glacier. Here, our work begins. Howling winds, sub-freezing temperatures and lots of ice!
The overall aim of our proposed work is to improve our understanding of outlet glacier dynamics in East Antarctica through an in-depth field study of Byrd Glacier. We seek to test several hypotheses:
1. Byrd Glacier experiences variability in flow speed at a variety of timescales (daily...
Introducing a new web site as part of the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS)! If you still don't have your fill of polar science after following all the amazing expeditions part of the PolarTREC program, you can swing on over to the 'CReSIS in the Field' blog and follow members of the CReSIS team as they travel to Antarctica and Greenland.
https://www.cresis.ku.edu/iceicebaby/
