Dec 12: Penguins!!
Today’s day started with another EAGER radar meeting with John and Knut. Ellen and I walked through the setup together with John and Knut on Zoom in the background so we could verify that we knew the procedure before starting acquisitions in the deep field.
We also saw penguins for the first time!!! During the meeting, we were notified that penguins were making their way across the ice sheet, through the line of seals perpetually lounging out there. We all headed up to the telescopes in the library to have a look. I took some terrible pictures of the little Adiéle penguins wobbling and sliding on the ice. They were adorable and were excited to see more penguins wobbling through town in February when the sea ice melts.
We met with Nick at EarthScope to bother him yet again about GNSS and other instruments. He taught Ellen and I how to program our EarthScope battery box motherboards for each firn observatory. Ellen and I then rushed to pack up the rest of the science gear for SciCo – hopefully our last time entering things into the cargo stream.
After dinner, the team headed to Scott Base, home of Antarctica New Zealand. Scott Base is comprised of one building (with a beautiful view of Erebus, Terror, and Terra). Only about 100 people are living at Scott Base right now and it’s quite different from McMurdo. The building is clean and new, compared to McMurdo’s ~200 buildings which are generally dusty and older. We got a of the base from Sam, a colleague and friend on the SWAIS2C team, with whom we spent a lot of time bumping into in Christchurch since the team was on our plane. Sam took us through the small building to the movie room, game room, bar, and some of the science labs and supply rooms. It’s crazy that you can stay inside all day at Scott Base; at McMurdo, there are so many buildings that you are forced to walk between all the time. It’s nice to get some fresh air but the buildings at McMurdo generally don’t have many windows (if any) while Scott’s one building had ample sunlight.
We chatted with some of the Kiwis about Scott Base and their work. Forest and Elliot had a fantastic time comparing drill bits with the Kiwi rock drillers… SWAIS2C plans to drill through an ice shelf and 200 m into sediment below the shelf. The team is extremely bored since they’ve been having flight delays every day for 2+ weeks. Their traverse team is already at the Crary Ice Rise, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Fingers crossed that our flights (expected to depart on Tuesday and Thursday this week) depart on time!
Dec 13: HF Radio
This morning, we finally got to take a breath since our to-do list has been sufficiently whittled away. I did some work on my own research; the Taylor Dome project is not actually part of my dissertation – I am just a lucky participant on this project. I’m working on a few proposals and applications to glaciology summer schools that I should submit before their deadlines approach in January and early February, when we’re still in the deep field.
Forest and Elliot’s roommate, Stephan, is delayed with his flight going home to Christchurch. He was working on an oil tank as a contractor for the past two weeks and is anxious to get home to his son and fiancé, particularly before his birthday on Thursday. It started snowing after lunch, and visibility dropped significantly, so it’s quite likely that the C-130 that left from Christchurch this morning will boomerang and Stephan will be delayed another day.
We discussed the order of operations for the firn observatory setup according to the aerial map of Taylor Dome, the potential hazard sites identified by CRREL, and Ed’s historical work at Taylor Dome. Zoe is going to be conducting ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys with Ben, who is out at Taylor Dome with the FAST team. They’ll be looking for crevasses and other hazards above and below the surface with the GPR to flag safe roads for ski-doos to ride between sites. Crevasse detection must happen before we start work at the firn observatories so it’s imperative that we figure out how to do this most efficiently.
Then, the team headed to high frequency (HF) radio training. Our HF radios is one of two devices that we are given (along with satellite phones) for daily communication with McMurdo and morale! I am a HAM radio amateur so I was particularly excited for this training. We set up the radio on the basketball/soccer/pickleball court and learned about different antenna setups. On weather days, we might be able to get BBC or other radio stations for entertainment. Apparently, there is a tradition of Christmas caroling between field camps so we’ll have to get to work warming up our collective vocal chords.
Dec 14: Craft fair
For the first time in three weeks, the team got to sleep in and take a full day off. We slept in this morning and Ilyse and I went to the gym. We enjoyed Sunday brunch before watching the runners of the Hut Point 10k. The day after we arrived in McMurdo, there was a Turkey Trot 5k that Forest and Zoe both ran. Today, they did the Hut Point 10k! It was quite cold and windy this morning so the 10k runners were extra impressive.
Scott’s hut was also open for tours today. It was built in 1902 for the explorers who came here in the race to the South Pole. Scott and his crew stayed here and some of them ended up getting stuck and overwintering for 2 seasons. The hut itself was built for the Australian Outback so, naturally, it was not suited for an Antarctic environment. It was ~10º F colder inside the hut than on the vessel so the crew slept on the vessel, instead. Wood for the hut was cut and partially assembled so that it would fit together like Ikea furniture when the crew arrived on continent. It’s a historic monument and has been preserved by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the cold weather. There’s a dead seal out front that has likely been in the same state for 100 years.
Inside the hut, it smelled like rotting meat, horses, and soot. There are a few small windows but it’s mostly a large wooden square. There’s a stove where the explorers burned blubber to cook food and stay warm but the burning blubber lined the walls with soot. There are some remnants of food like Cabin Bread, salmon, tuna, cocoa, dog food, and some meat. There’s a large pile of blubber in the hut that makes the scene entirely less appetizing.
The early explorers raised £90,000 (equivalent of $13 million today) to buy a vessel to sail down here, supplies, horses, and salaries for the crew for 3 years. They learned their lesson taking horses out here and eventually tried sled dogs, instead. There are a few other huts on the island and I admittedly don’t know their history. Still, it was cool to see the inside of Scott’s hut. We could see where the team signed their names on the wall and where their bunks were, what clothes they wore, and some type of gravity experiment they were conducting. They also had a butchering room where they kept sheep, penguins, and seals. Everything is quite well preserved.
I also heard rumors that the hut wasn’t preserved until the ‘80s or ‘90s; until then, people would throw parties in the hut and steal things. The hut itself was definitely set up to look as pretty as it could be but everything was quite well preserved due to the persistent freezing conditions.
After the hut tour, I took a nap before heading to the highly-anticipated craft fair. There were lots of vendors there selling Antarctica-themed items. Many vendors sold postcards, knitted or sewed hats and scarves, prints, jewelry, paintings, and other art. The craftsmanship was incredible and it was hard to decide where to spend the little cash we had. Last year, the ATM apparently ran out of cash the day of the craft fair.
Everyone perused and bought things from the fair. It was great to see people from SciCo, the galley, and other work centers and their work outside of their day job. The community at McMurdo is super unique and everyone is incredibly multifaceted. There were multiple live music acts, too!
After the craft fair, we all headed to Crary to snag some unlimited science wifi and call family and friends. It’s been tough to find time to call people because of the 10-14 hour workdays these past few weeks. The team grabbed dinner together and chatted with Ethan, one of Forest and Elliot’s roommates who is a heavy machinery operator headed to WAIS divide. He’s been delayed for a few weeks now and will likely compete with us for the next Basler flights. We learned that Stephen, Forest and Elliot’s other roommate, got on a plane back to Christchurch today! He’ll be happily reunited with his family just a few days before his birthday. At dinner, I accidentally made an Emperor penguin in my pudding bowl since I ate with a fork. The Taylor Dome team is incredibly lucky to have me on it.
We ended the night by either going to the science talk in the galley or watching the best movie ever, I am Number Four. It reminded me that I need to reread the books for the fourth(?) time, now.
Dec 15: Hannukkah
At our typical morning meeting, we had a quick break for a chemical training with Danny. The drillers have ethanol and propylene glycol for their drill pieces so everyone got the training. Then, the team chatted about plans for the day and week and what will happen if (when) our flights get delayed. It sounds like we’re competing with a few other teams (Allan Hills and WAIS Divide) for flight priority this week.
Ellen and I worked on checklists and standard operating procedures for our various ApRES surveys while Dylen and Ilyse did the same for their narod temperature measurements. We grabbed lunch and one of the stewies mentioned my Emperor penguin pudding art – I’m starting to become famous here at McMurdo.
After lunch, we had some more meetings going over radar plans, strain gauges, and camp chores and dynamics. When Zoe, Forest, and Elliot arrive at Taylor Dome tomorrow, they’ll start work almost immediately. Zoe and Ben (a FAST team member who is already at Taylor Dome) will conduct crevasse detection surveys and Forest and Elliot will plan to set up their drilling equipment once Zoe and Ben flag a safe route there.
We relaxed the rest of the night, with everyone doing their own activity to decompress. Dylen went to yoga where they ended the session with an essential oil-infused head massage then headed to hula hoop jam, Ilyse relaxed by chatting with friends and family, Ellen headed to Christmas Choir where she helped the tenors, and I went to the gym and watched Freaky Friday on the stationery bike. We all met up in our dorm room and stayed up later than usual, chatting. Tomorrow, we can sleep in and skip our morning meeting since part of the team will (hopefully) be arriving at Taylor Dome!
Dec 16: Haircuts
This morning, the only event I had on my calendar to attend was Ellen’s haircut! She wanted to get it under control in an easy style before going to the field so I hung out with her and the hairdresser, Ruby, giving amateur stylistic advice as Ellen got her big chop. We saw on the flight schedule that the other two flights had been cancelled and that the Taylor Dome flight had likely gone out, woohoo!!
Dylen, Ilyse, and I wrote some postcards and Dylen sent a few packages home from the post office. We all spent some time doing laundry and sorting through our messy dorm room to pack for our departure in a couple of days. Memphis, a stewie in the galley, had a hand pan performance and an enormous live art piece up in the galley today though I had to leave early for my haircut, sadly. I saw Ruby again for my last taper fade for a while and I left the barber shop with my neck feeling extra cold.
Everyone worked on other last-minute research for the rest of the day before dinner. I have three proposals to submit – ideally before we go into the field, Ilyse had a paper in submission to edit, Ellen had a conference abstract to write, and Dylen had some emails to catch up on. Right before dinner, Ellen and I saw an email sent to everyone in McMurdo with the title “Incoming Storm.” There was a warning that a storm will be passing through tomorrow and Thursday, right when we’re supposed to fly to Taylor Dome. Ellen was excited at the prospect of a Con 2 or maybe even a Con 1 day – hunkering down for a storm seemed fun. But, at the end of the day, we are already delayed by over a week so we are crossing our fingers and toes that we’ll get to Taylor Dome on Thursday.
Dec 17: Storm?
Good morning! We are not getting to Taylor Dome on Thursday. The “storm” has not reached town as of noon today but it looks like two of our cargo flights have preference in the system over myself, Dylen, Ilyse, and Ellen getting to Taylor Dome. This is because there was supposed to be a cargo flight on Tuesday after Zoe, Forest, and Elliot’s put-in flight but said cargo flight was delayed. Flights have been cancelled today and yesterday so the flights are all piling up and our put-in flight is currently fourth in line to depart tomorrow. Things are always up in the air, but we should know by 7pm tonight whether we’re scheduled to fly to Taylor Dome tomorrow morning. Of course, even if we are scheduled, we could very likely run into weather delays.
Despite perpetual uncertainty here, we all worked on our non-Taylor Dome work, including proposals, abstracts, and papers, as if we will be leaving for the deep field tomorrow morning. It’s nice to have a bit of extra time to procrastinate even further but we’re all anxious to join Zoe and the drillers out in the field.
Every day, we like to joke about our flight status – the superstition around McMurdo is that, the day that you’re totally prepared to fly is the day you won’t fly. For example, people don’t remove their sheets from their bed on flight days until the last minute. If you remove your sheets too early, you won’t fly and you’ll have to make your bed again. Ellen was convinced that we would leave before her scheduled haircut date, and I’m convinced we’ll leave right when I’ve accumulated enough dirty clothing to justify a load of laundry. We’re all getting a bit stir crazy here, can you tell?
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of the National Science Foundation, the United States Antarctic Program, or the University of Washington. This blog is for entertainment purposes only.
OMG, I am having an “I knew her when ” moment with the pudding art!!
Tough as hell.
Loving this journal 🥹