On the ICE

Day One: Jan 4, 2008 (NZ time)
A loud crack sounded over the intercom and heads all around me snapped up from books and papers as 70 sets of eyes found their ways to the window of the cockpit. “Uhh,” my heart raced, I wondered if the plane was about to boomerang, “Uhh, we’re going to circle until the fire station clears the runway…there’s a penguin out there.”

Smiles cracked all around me, even the old timers who have been to the ice 15 or more seasons laughed, this is what happens here, in this strange new place. That is not to say that getting to McMurdo was a synch, the base is 9,500 miles from Portland and planes are often forced to return or boomerang back to New Zealand due to harsh weather (one group had 7 such boomerangs before eventually landing on the ice), so I was relieved and ecstatic.
I am not sure what to say about my first step off the plane. For the thirty minute bus ride to the base I didn’t say anything at all, the snow pack and -5C temperature along with Mt Erebus literally took my breath away. As we boarded the bus people shouted about penguins and the cold, but I had eyes only for Erebus. Standing at 12,500 feet Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica and we were directly in its shadow. Its sharp icy ridges and continual plume of thick milky smoke make it look even more formidable and it is therefore no wonder that early explorers named it after their valiant ship that was the first to conquer the journey to the Antarctic.

LAB 1:Currently I am located at the main Crary lab in McMurdo (photo shown left is from the top of Observation Hill). This lab is very large and has all of the common conveniences. However, within the next week my team and I will be leaving the comforts of McMurdo and heading out into the felid where the real science begins.
Doing research can mean anything from stepping outside into the yard and collecting rain water to taking a helicopter plane two hours away and camping for up to a month at a time. Here in Antarctica we are doing the latter of the two… This gives an entirely new meaning to preparing for the field.
Usually in science you will prepare to be out in the filed for a day or two of sampling but you will be able to return to the lab to analyze your data. Here it is a completely different story. We will be without things like: containers, sinks, WATER, chemicals, cleaning solutions, zip lock bags, and everything else unless we bring it. Therefore, for the next week before we leave we are all planning, cleaning bottles, washing equipment, and packaging everything in bubble wrap so that it is safe for the 2 hour helicopter ride. Apart from all of that we are planning all of our meals (to feed 5) for the next two weeks and bringing that food with us to the field camps too. So there is a lot of work to do and when we are not in classes or lectures we are in the lab preparing. While doing so however we are all repeating the mantra that soon the grunt work will be over and we will be heading out to sample.
One thing at a time though. Each bottle must be washed then rinsed three times, labeled with tape, packaged, boxed, and sent out to the hanger before we go.

Facts about the Frozen Desert:

LOCATION: Antarctica is found at the bottom of the traditional globe, is called the most southern point of Earth, and houses the magnetic field of the South Pole. Some people even wonder whether everything is upside down at the South Pole....

But, no, sadly everything will NOT

be upside down south of the equator.

Gravity will prevail--even in the south...

Furthermore, strictly speaking Antarctica has not always housed the South Pole. No, just like all continents Antarctica has drifted throughout history, so much so that at one point (500 million years ago) it was near the equator and dinosaurs inhabited the land that is now present day Antarctica.

SIZE: Antarctica is the fifth biggest continent on Earth and it is roughly 1.5 times the size of the US.

GEOGRAPHY: 98% of Antarctica is covered by a sheet of ice that averages 1 mile in thickness. The majority of the central part of the continent lacks ice completely and constitutes the biggest desert in the world. The ice sheet contains 87% of the world's ice. A general increase in technology has allowed scientists and geologists to generate a picture of the land mass as it would look without the surrounding ice. (Keep in mind that if the ice was really removed the oceans would rise by hundreds of meters and the land mass itself would rise due to the removal of the depressing weight of the ice.) view image

CLIMATE: "On average, Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents" (Wikipedia) Average temperatures are the coldest on Earth. On average only 6 days a year are above freezing.

Winter* temperatures range from -112 to -130 degrees F.

(*winter in Antarctica is the summer in the US)

Summer temperatures range from 0 to -40 degrees F. (these

are the temperatures that I will be faced with in February)

POPULATION: Antarctica has no permanent residents (aside from penguins), although 1,000 people in winter and roughly 4,000 people during the summer are present.

ANIMALS:

Antarctic Krill: Small crustaceans that are eaten by many animals, including baleen whales. (photo right)
Arctic Tern: A small bird that flies from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again each year. (photo above left)
Blue Whale: A baleen whale that is the largest animal that ever lived on Earth.
Emperor Penguin: The largest penguin; it lives on

ice packs in Antarctica. (photo left)
Humpback Whale: A long-flippered baleen whale that sings and frolics in the water. (photo right)
Minke Whale: The smallest baleen whale. It sings and has a white band on each flipper.
Octopus: Octopi have eight legs and live on the sea floor.
Orca or Killer Whale: A toothed whale that lives in small pods.
Penguin: Penguins are birds that swim very well but cannot fly.

Sea Star: Sea stars, another name for starfish, are animals that live on the ocean floor. (photo left)
Spectacled Porpoise: A porpoise (a small toothed whale) from the Southern Hemisphere.
Sperm Whale: The largest toothed whale, over 50 feet long. It eats giant squid.
Squid: The squid is a fast-swimming invertebrate with ten arms.
Weddell Seal: The Weddell seal is a large, nocturnal pinniped from Antarctica. (photo right)

POLITICS: Antarctica has no government and belongs to no country. In addition, many different countries have signed the Antarctic Treaty System, which states that Antarctica will remain a scientific preserve and has banned all military activity on the continent. To date 46 countries have signed the treaty, this map shows the original claims.