Weather delay #2...

So we got the call to head to the helo pad - we got all of our gear weighed, got our helmets on, and were about to head out to the helo, when the fog rolled in again and our flight was put on a weather hold yet again. So, we're now hanging out, checking our email again, and updating our blogs. Hopefully we'll get out sometime in the near future (my hopes is before noon local time - it's 10:35am now), and start this season already!


Mark

Weather delay...

Our flight has been delayed due to fog. We're hoping to get out in a few hours, but that all depends on how long the fog sticks around. My guess is that our flight will get out in the early afternoon, but I really hope that all of our gear can make it out today as well. If not, we may be spending a pretty chilly night in the dry valleys before the rest of our camp gear can be brought out to us. Pray for clear skies! Talk to you all in a few months!


Mark

Goodbye for Now!

Just got the helo schedule for tomorrow - we leave McMurdo at 8:45am for our first camp location in Lower Wright Valley. We should be in Lower Wright for a little over a week before moving on to Victoria Valley, which is one of our primary research sites for the season. There are some spectacular sand dunes in this region, and we hope to be able to sample some of them to better characterize the material that they are composed of.

After Victoria Valley, we head to a transition camp in a valley called Bull Pass. This is where our other two team members will join us, in addition to our big group splitting camp into two smaller camps. We are only going to be in this location for a little over a week, but while we're there, we have a trip planned that will take three of us (I'm one of those three) out of the valleys and onto the polar plateau. We are going to a small nunatak (an island amongst a sea of ice) that is about 2 km by 2 km large, where we will collect samples. This is cool because it will be my first time up on the plateau - I'm sure the views will be spectacular (pictures to come!)!

Then, well finally all move to Taylor Valley, which is the "busiest" of the dry valleys. While we'll still be camping, there are several established and permanent camp sites in this region, so we should hear our fair share of radio chatter and see quite a few helos fly in and out of the valley on a regular basis. We'll be here for two weeks at the most, before we head back to McMurdo to clean our gear and get back to the US!

Anyway, I'll miss you all, and I'll be sure to post as soon as I get back. In the meantime, let's see if Brian remembers to update you all with my status!

Best,

Mark

PICTURES!

Just adding some pictures for your entertainment!

The USAP logo at the airport in Christchurch.

Just after de-boarding the aircraft. Mt. Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano, is the large mountain in the center of the frame. You can also see the patterns etched into the ice to help the aircraft grip the runway and tarmac better.

We've been having some bad weather at McMurdo the past few days. Nothing too crazy, but cloudy skies, low visibility, and moderate winds have kept helicopters from flying.

This is Sylvain, our stereotypical French team member. He took a liking to the touch tank in the science building's aquarium. He liked to touch everything. Sylvain is a lot of fun and will make the field season a really fun experience.

I can't have Antarctica pictures without including at least one helicopter picture! This was one of the first helicopters to take off after the weather started to clear, but you can see all of the snow being kicked up by its rotors.

I'll try to add some more pictures later! Bye for now!


Mark

DELAYED

Our flight out to our first campsite was delayed 24 hours because of weather, despite the fact that currently the sun is out and the visibility is > 20 miles, and we're more than 36 hours away from our originally planned departure. It turns out that we were bumped because the weather has been bad, not because it is bad or it will be bad. A bunch of different research groups were delayed over the past few days, so they get to fly out before we do, and as it is currently scheduled, that would put our camp move into Tuesday morning as opposed to sometime on Monday. I'd normally be mad, and I really do want to get out of McMurdo, but an extra day to sleep in and relax just sounds so good at the moment!

More updates to come soon - that's just the latest.


Mark

SNOW!

If you had any idea how stressed I get about food shopping for a single week, you wouldn't believe how stressed I get when food shopping for an entire field party for an entire field season. 15 lbs of ground beef, 30 sticks of string cheese, 60 Slim Jims, and 228 chocolate bars, to give you an idea of the quantities that we're dealing with. And we fully expect to be resupplied with more food and supplies about 2/3 of the way through the season. Grabbing our food today was the first time since coming back to Antarctica that I felt like we were actually going to be isolated for nearly 2 months, seeing all of that food lined up in front of our gear, ready to be packed away only to be opened when we get out into the field.

Amidst the meetings and field preparations, I've had very little time to update the blog or to keep in touch with people. I truly apologize. Today, we had an environmental briefing to discuss our impact at the various camp sites, a meeting with the communications center here at McMurdo to go over our radio communications with the base, the details about our daily check-in, etc., and our "food pull", where we meander through the narrow aisles of a seemingly post-apocalyptic food rationing station and take as much food as we think we will need for the field season. In total, we took 597 lbs of frozen and non-frozen foods, which should last us a good portion of the next two months. To be perfectly honest, even though I'm the one who decided on how much food to get, I have no idea how long it's going to last. The only thing that I can do is keep close track on all of our supplies, see what is going fast, and order more resupply as soon as we get close to running out... I'll just keep track of things and stay on top of our stock to make sure nobody starves to death!

We've had great weather here in McMurdo for the past few days - clear skies and calm winds, although the temperatures have been a bit cold (near zero degrees Fahrenheit or so). Today we got our first bit of bad weather - some low visibility, light snow (which accumulated to a little more than a dusting or so), and some fairly gusty winds coming out of the north. Fortunately, the temperatures have warmed a little bit (they're now around 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit), so it's not all that bad. I just hope things clear up before we leave for the field on Monday. I don't want to stay in McMurdo too much longer.

I forgot how bone dry the air is here! My lips have never been so chapped before in my life (and yes, I am applying Chap Stick regularly)! It's so cold, in fact, that when I roll around in my bed at night, the static electricity that builds up in the dry air is enough to create quite a spectacular light show. It looks like a distant thunderstorm - lots of little flashes but no sounds. It's pretty cool, despite the fact that my throat is constantly dry, I constantly cough, and my hands are chapped like it's nobody's business!

So tomorrow we have a pretty light day. We need to continue to pack and organize all of our gear, and we also have a tour of our lab facilities to make sure that, in the case of a fire, we know which direction to run and scream. We also need to confirm that all of our hazardous cargo (propane tanks, fire extinguishers, gasoline, etc.) has been cleared to fly in the helicopter with us. Then, on Saturday, we need to move all of our gear down to the helicopter pad, where they will confirm the weight of everything and develop plans on how to fit all of the gear and us in as few helicopter trips as possible. The people down here at HeloOps are fantastic at planning and can make even the wildest requests a reality. We also need to pick up our satellite phones, HF radios, and VHF radios as well and make sure that they are all working properly too. Then, we have all of Sunday off (as does the majority of McMurdo), and then we leave on Monday morning, assuming the weather is good! Then, it will be just over an hour-long helicopter ride into Wright Valley to our first camp site. The five of us will be dropped off first along with some of our essential gear, and then the helicopter has to turn around and pick up the remainder of our gear and then bring that back out to us as well. The camp put-in will take the better part of the day, and we can expect to do no additional work then - we'll have plenty of time to work in the coming weeks!

It's just about time to go grab a quick drink, read a little, and then head off to bed. McMurdo runs on a very early schedule (breakfast ends at 7:30am), so we have to get up early and go to bed pretty early as well. (To give you a hint, it's not even 8pm here yet). Anyway, take care, and I'll update soon!


Mark

The Ice...

There's a high-pitched hum coming from directly over my head that I just can't seem to escape, despite how loud Andrew Birtd's whistles and violin are playing in my ears. It's coming from one of the massive pipes that emanates from the rear of the aircraft and travels along the ceiling until just before the front bulkhead, where it branches into two smaller pipes and disappears into what I can only imagine is another set of confusing tubes that are obscured from view. I think the closest I can come to pinning down its source is that something is rattling against something, and that it's loud and high-pitched. That's as good as it gets.

Sgt. Ruth Beyette is sitting against the interior cabin wall to my right across a narrow cargo aisle (I know her name only because it's stitched onto her uniform). She's been reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for the past 3 hours. Some of the other crew members on our C-17 are talking about how well the Steelers have been doing this season, while others are watching movies on their laptops and iPods, and one is asleep in a sleeping bag on the floor at the rear of the aircraft. If I've learned anything on the flight down to the ice, it's that 1.) there are A LOT of crew members on each C-17, and 2.) there's not much for them to do once the aircraft is in flight.

We were told that our flight would depart at 9:00am and would last approximately 5 hours. We took off at 8:58am, and we landed at 2:00:24pm. I'll forgive them for the slight miscalculation in departure and flight times. You could tell that it wasn't your standard commercial flight because of the rate of descent coming into McMurdo. Let's just say that I wouldn't have been surprised if I had keeled over in pain when nitrogen started bubbling out of my blood.

We were welcomed to sub-zero air temperatures and -40 degree wind chills when we stepped off the plane. Remember that I volunteered to come back.

Now I need to take a few online tests to teach me how not to download or install viruses on the network, and how to recycle plastic bottles separately from glass bottles. Wish me luck.


Mark