First sample from ANDRILL SMS

Yesterday afternoon the first sample of the project came in. It was a greenish looking piece of compacted sediment with a hint of cross-bedding (formed by currents on the sea floor?). The material looked volcanic. Volcanoes are very common around this area. Ross Island on which McMurdo Station lies is a volcanic island with 3 volcanoes: Mt. Erebus, Mt. Terror, and Mt. Byrd. Across the McMurdo sound are two more: Mt. Discovery (in the photograph) and Mt. Morning. It is very likely that we will find more material of volcanic origin in the core that will come later.

The science team is now almost complete, because during the time we were at Snowcraft course a Hercules and a C17 came in. The planes also brought salad and fresh vegetables, a real treat when you are here. Tomorrow we will probably learn to use the technology involved in describing the drill cores that come up. More later....

Snowcraft I course

I returned back to McMurdo Station yesterday after two days out on the McMurdo Iceshelf. To be able to fly in helicopters around here we were required to take a Snowcraft I survival course. What you learn is to survive for some days after a helicopter crash (or if you get stuck with some other snowcraft) using the standard survival gear that is present on every snowcraft. We were camping on the McMurdo iceshelf with a group of 18 people and were left by the instructors for the night. We manhauled our equipment to the site on sledges. We built a snow wall to stay out of the wind, pitched tents, got the burners going and made hot water. At night the temperature dipped to -22F/-30C and we were all cold. Some got up to walk around to stay warm in the middle of the night. We used our skills that we just learned to get through the night (it never got really dark). I ate a lot of candy bars and cookies, drank my water that I had taken into my sleeping bag and closed my sleeping bag so that only my nose was sticking out. I slept a few hours, but not much: I would wake up shivering and then I had to eat and drink some more. Hydration improves circulation in extremities (hands and feet) and eating gives the body energy to burn (=heat). All was far from comfortable, but in the end we all did survive and that was the point!

To the right a picture of the cold weather clothing I used on the trip: several layers of insulation, two layers of underwear, one midlayer and an outer windtight shell (Big Red and windpants), three hats, neck gator, several types of gloves and mittens (including large sledge mittens), goggles and mucklucks (big blue boots).

On the science front things are gearing up: core is expected this Sunday and we need to convert to night shift soon. We have a lot of meetings at the moment to discuss procedures and data storage. Some of us are also involved in teaching. More on that soon.

The photo at the top is by Diane Winter (my camera did not work properly, unfortunately).

Wind and snow

Yeah, that's me in the picture. It is starting to warm up a bit after a snowy morning, but we still have to wear our Big Reds (the big red down coats). Tracy and I went to the Berg Field Center to exchange some clothing for a better size. I got new windpants that are long enough (I got my Grandma's long arms and legs). I will need fitting wind pants when I get out on snow survival camp in the next two days. We will be camping overnight on the ice shelf.

The Hercules plane that should have brought the last batch of scientists is not coming (the C17 has a mechanical problem: things break down easily in these conditions). Wind and snow are the greatest enemies of operations, because the combination of the two has a bad effect on visibility. Notice in this picture here how everything on base is tied down with big concrete blocks to keep it from blowing away. Hopefully the weather will improve shortly and we can continue preparations for our work ahead.

Adjusting to the cold

The temperature will stay below -15F/-26C today. My colleagues and I are still adjusting to the cold. It means you feel a bit more tired than usual. Coming from Summer in the northern hemisphere to this is quite a shock to the body. It is also very dry here, a polar desert with low humidity, so we have to drink a lot of water. Fortunately the station is heated, but it is still not comfortable with drafts coming off the windows. After a week or so, we will not notice it any more, but now we still do. Here is a picture of some of the people I will be working with on nightshift later on: Sonia Sandroni, a petrologist from the University of Siena, Italy, Tracy Frank, geochemist, and Chris Fielding, sedimentologist, from the University of Nebraska. Some of the ANDRILL core curaters (who make sure the core stays in good condition) are visible in the background. The picture was taken on the plane.

No Boomerang: in Antarctica!

We arrived yesterday after a 5 and a half hour flight. We landed smoothly and were greeted by a howling 30 knot wind. When I took this picture this morning out of the window of the Crary Lab in McMurdo Station the wind was still there. The Transantarctic Mountains are visible in the background. We landed on an airstrip on the sea ice beyond those huts in the foreground. Now a depression has moved in and snow is blowing horizontally, blocking the view. Some of my colleaugues are currently on a sea ice training course. I hope they stay warm. I will have training somewhere next week too. This afternoon we had our first science briefing. All is well at the drillsite and on schedule with the first core arriving in a week or so. We are currently setting up our labs and sorting out our computer issues. The weather forecast for tomorrow is not looking good: it has cooled off and wind is blowing from the ice sheet, so those who can stay indoors.
More information on McMurdo Station can be found here

Packing the Boomerang Bag

Clothing issue of Extreme Cold Weather gear (ECW) was as usual this morning: hectic and I almost had to exchange everything for a larger size (The ladies helping us out said everything shrunk in the laundry: they are so nice!). I am now packing my "Boomerang Bag". That is the bag we will get for the night in case we don't make it to Antarctica tomorrow. What will happen then is that they will leave all our gear on the plane for the next try, the next day and we are only allowed to take off the Boomerang Bag. We need to report to the airport at 6 AM tomorrow and will fly by C17 to McMurdo at 9 AM. We saw the plane this morning when returning from clothing. We need to put on some of our ECW gear on, on the flight tomorrow. For info on the C-17 see the link here.

In Christchurch New Zealand

Some of my ANDRILL (Antarctic Drilling Program) colleagues and I have arrived in Christchurch New Zealand this morning with a large group of science support personnel. This afternoon I took a walk along the river Avon and took another look at Scott's statue. He lost the race for the South Pole to Roald Amundson, but he is a British hero. He passed through Christchurch many times on his way to Antarctica, which was then a far more dangerous journey than it is today.
Tomorrow we will be issued our Extreme Cold Weather gear (ECW) and Friday we will try to get to McMurdo in the Ross Sea region by military aircraft. Landing on the airstrip on the sea ice requires visibility (no radars present) and the weather can change rapidly so close to the icesheet, forcing pilots to return to Christchurch when they can't land. Let's keep our fingers crossed! More soon..