On the Shelf

I'm a bit behind on my adventure posting....Thanksgiving resulted in both celebrations and long days at work so I have been trying to catch up after the holiday. More about Antarctic Thanksgiving in another post. I will also be making the change to working days early next week which will be a big deal for me. I've never actually slept at night and been awake in the day since I arrived, as the moment I got off the plane I started transitioning to working nights. I hope it will expand my world as much as it sounds. It will be nice to be able to take part in town life more, and even enjoy simple joys like eating breakfast after I wake up. A few of us galley folks got to tour Scott's hut that was constructed by his 1902 Discovery Expedition. The Discover Expedition was Robert Falcon Scott's first trip to Antarctica, and was the first British expedition in 60 years. Scott's second expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition, was an attempt to be the first person to reach th...

I was lucky to get on a Pressure Ridge Tour last week. It was a great experience getting to see some unique views that you can only see in places like Antarctica. First of all, what's a pressure ridge? Pressure ridges are huge ice formations that appear between floes of sea ice. Currents and winds create stress that causes chunks of ice to form and be forced up above the surface. The result are dramatic, huge "sculptures" of ice. Another bonus of touring pressure ridges is that seals are all over the place. Thin ice exists near pressure ridges, making it easier for seals to surface. Right now is pupping season for seals, so they spend considerable time hanging out on the ice, giving birth to and nursing pups. Here are some pictures from our time. The biggest pressure ridges near McMurdo are on the sea ice near Scott Base, the Kiwi science base that is a mile away from us. There is a road that connects the two bases, and lots of positive cooperation exists between the...

One cool little feature of living at McMurdo in the summer is the "Ob Tube" which is basically a tiny observation tube inserted into the sea ice so you can climb down and view the life under the frozen sea. You can go basically any time you want, and once you climb down, there is a 360 degree, up close view of icy marine life, complete with the serenade of Weddell Seals. Here are some pics of the tube! Here is what the tube looks like. It's just what it sounds like, a metal tube drilled down into the ice. You have to have the cover on while viewing so the surface light doesn't interfere with your viewing under the ice. Here's what it's like to crawl down the hole. It wasn't all that scary, it's an easy climb down. But it would be hard for a really big person or someone who is nervous about small spaces.  View from the bottom of the tube, looking up towards the top. This is about how far down you are. The tube opens up a little a...

A few days ago, someone kindly organized a special tour of the Crary Lab here in town for those of us who work in the kitchen that might not be able to make it to the weekly tours of the heartbeat of McMurdo. We had a great time getting a better picture of what our work supports. The scientists that shared their knowledge with us were eager to talk about their work and we learned some interesting things from them. Sometimes in the day to day it's easy to forget why we are here; to support the science that goes on in the continent. Here are some pictures of our time.  This poster is a listing of all the current scientific projects that are ongoing for this summer season. Included on this list are research projects on geospace, ecosystems, tech development, earth science, glaciology (study of glaciers), oceans, and atmospheric science. We were told that sometimes people come to study volcanology (study of volcanos) but this year there aren't any projects going on right now. ...