These are the final batch of student questions and answers for this season. Some questions may have been paraphrased...
1. Why all the costumes for the New Years Party? Isn't that more of a Halloween thing?
Well, folks tend to dress up in costumes for all of the parties at the South Pole. I haven't been there for a Halloween Party yet, but I imagine it'll be similar. Basically folks at Pole work very hard, normal is a six day work week and typically more than eight hours per day in a harsh environment. So when it's time for a party, folks go all out. The bright, anime-like, wigs seem quite particular to Antarctic parties, not sure about their origin, but they were popular the first time I was on the ice, in McMurdo, in 2002 so it's not a new thing.
2. Who gets to go to Antarctic for these experiments?
Within the experimental groups, there are some folks who obviously want to go to Pole, and others who will do anything to avoid it. So you take the former group of people, trying to match skills to tasks that need to be done on the ice. Some people get into the habit of going each year, either their job really is tied to work on the ice, or they enjoy it. Most of the people at the South Pole aren't working on a specific scientific experiment, they're there to work at the station. They're hired by the contractor which runs the station, through this season it had been Raytheon Polar Services Corporation and in the future with be Lockheed Martin. These folks could be cooks, vehicle mechanics, heating repair people, dishwashers, computer network technicians, or a host of other jobs. The job gets them to the Pole.
3. Beards?
They are pretty common on guys in Antarctica, though you have to start off with "academics" and "rock-climbers" as the stereotypical groups of people headed down there, and beards are more common with those groups than with the average person. Then add into it, "keeping your rather delicate cheeks warms" and perhaps some level of "two two-minute showers per week" and beards seem more reasonable.
4. What's up with all of the weird rings and stuff around the sun?
A number of solar phenomena are much more common at the South Pole than they are elsewhere. In the same way in which rainbows, and double rainbows, are common in Hawaii, sundogs, solar pillars, and solar arcs are common at the Pole. These solar lighting phenomena are caused by light scattering from ice crystals that are relatively close to the viewer. At the Pole where "blowing ice crystals" is a common weather description, these light displays are also relatively common, though super-impressive. See Wikipedia (this article and links from this article) for more information.
5. If I wanted to go to Antarctica, what should I do?
There are basically four routes to the ice:
- Science: A few undergraduate students get to go to Antarctica on research projects, but by and large it's graduate students and more senior researchers. So to get there via this route requires dedication to a research topic that happens to involve work in Antarctica.
- Support: This one is easier, there is a job fair each year (Raytheon previously, Lockheed in the future) with jobs ranging from GA (general assistant, typically 18-20 year old with no particular work experience) through the skilled crafts (carpenters, HVAC, mechanics, computer help desk...) and through management (shop foreman, station manager...). A good fraction of people are primarily interested in Antarctica above and beyond the job particulars.
- Tourism: Yes, you can hop on a boat and see the Antarctic Peninsula (the part below South America, it's a lot warmer than the rest of the continent and has more wildlife on it), or book a flight through one of the adventure tourist shops and fly into the Pole. Or fly to sixty miles from the Pole and ski the rest of the way in. Or parachute out over the South Pole. It's not cheap, but plenty of folks are doing it.
- Exploration: You're not going to be first to ski in to the South Pole. But no one has bicycled to the Pole yet (oops, looks like it happened a couple of hours ago). Driving to the Pole (in a Toyota pickup) is a normal thing now, but no one has made it in a hovercraft or driving a 2CV or behind the wheel of an art car. Find a niche, find some sponsors, and don't forget to bring a satellite phone with you in case things go horribly wrong.
Showing posts with label McMurdo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McMurdo. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Out of Antarctica
Well, I've been back in the States for well over a week, need to finish up my Antarctica blog postings a touch off of real-time. I'm going to blame the SOPA protests for the latest of these entries.
To fly away, we first caught a Herc from the South Pole up to McMurdo. The flight was a day late due to mechanical problems with another Herc the day before. In this shot we're just landed in McMurdo, and the plane is being onloaded. The ski-do will take away the pee jar from the plane.
Hours later, our next ride comes into town. A C-17 air force transport bringing people and gear into McMurdo, and will take us north to New Zealand by morning.
Good-sized crowd of folks waiting for the plane out. Including some people who had been expelled from the continent for bad behavior. Long story...
Cargo on our flight included this prop blade assembly for a Herc. There wasn't an obvious problem with it... And in the foreground some biological and water samples marked "do not freeze" and "keep refrigerated." They were...
Partway through the five hour, 35 degree F, airplane flight. Folks hiding and trying to sleep in their parkas. But green, warm, damp New Zealand awaits!
To fly away, we first caught a Herc from the South Pole up to McMurdo. The flight was a day late due to mechanical problems with another Herc the day before. In this shot we're just landed in McMurdo, and the plane is being onloaded. The ski-do will take away the pee jar from the plane.
Hours later, our next ride comes into town. A C-17 air force transport bringing people and gear into McMurdo, and will take us north to New Zealand by morning.
Good-sized crowd of folks waiting for the plane out. Including some people who had been expelled from the continent for bad behavior. Long story...
Cargo on our flight included this prop blade assembly for a Herc. There wasn't an obvious problem with it... And in the foreground some biological and water samples marked "do not freeze" and "keep refrigerated." They were...
Partway through the five hour, 35 degree F, airplane flight. Folks hiding and trying to sleep in their parkas. But green, warm, damp New Zealand awaits!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Questions (and Answers): Part 1
Here are answers to some of the questions I've received from back in the States. More forthcoming soon...
1. I know there are no polar bears in Antarctica. Why not though?
There are no large, land-based predators in Antarctica at all. I'm not an expert, but believe that it's basically because there are no land-based animals at all. The penguins do nest on shore, but must go into the water to feed, and there there are seals and killer whales (orcas) that fill the top level predator niche that the polar bear fills in northern lands. The Antarctic waters (Southern Ocean) are filled with sea life.
2. What do you wear outside? What did Amundsen wear?
If I'm only going to be outside for a short time, I wear wool socks, hiking boots, pants that are somewhat windproof, shirt, fleece jacket, gloves, sunglasses, and hat. Not too different from what I might wear outside in the winter back in the States. If I'm going to be outside longer, then one starts to think about three layers: an inner layer that allows moisture to escape (important if I'm working hard and sweating), insulation layer, and an outer, windproof, layer. So for a full day working outside, I wear polypropylene sock liners, wool socks, extreme cold weather (ECW) boots, polypropylene underwear, insulated & windproof overalls, fleece jacket, fleece neck gaiter, fleece hat, googles, two layers of gloves, and a big, heavy down coat. And we take little chemical heat packets to put in our gloves and boots if needed.
Amundsen studied what the Inuits, the folks who live in the far northern Arctic regions, wore. He went with reindeer skins as an outer layer, and then multiple woolen inner layers. He had felt boots that were stuffed with straw to absorb moisture. He understood those same three layers from outside to inside: windproof, insulation, and water-repelling.
3. How does your drill work?
We drill by using hot water to melt a column of the Antarctic ice down to the depth we're interested in. We have a large, insulated hot water tank, a snow melter, and a series of six diesel-fired water heaters to heat water. There's a long hose on a hose reel that feeds down the hole as it melts and at the end of the hose there is a set of nozzles that spray the hot water.
4. What do you do for fun at the Pole?
Well, in the station there is a gym with popular volleyball and basketball games. There is also a weight room, exercise room, musical practice room, arts and crafts room, movie room, game room, and some limited outdoor running and skiing. I brought a guitar with me, but I haven't had much time to practice or play with others. Been keeping busy with work. The work week here is six days per week, maybe nine or ten hours per day. At the moment our drillers are working twelve hour days with no days off.
There's an arts and crafts fair tomorrow, also I'm giving a science talk to everyone on the station tomorrow, and maybe people are keeping blogs or photo journals while they're here. Also, there are lots of interesting people to chat with here...
5. What is the military plane like? How did you get in the cockpit?
Loud. Earplugs are required or hearing damage could take place. I take big earmuffs so that I can slide my earphone from my mp3 player in under the earmuffs during the flight. The plane can also be cold, especially the smaller LC-130 (ski-equiped) Hercules planes we fly between McMurdo and the Pole. It's a cargo plane, so a lot of the space is taken up with pallets of cargo. That cargo could be food, vehicles, scientific equipment, or most anything else that is needed on Antarctica. I flew one time on a plane with a helicopter in the back. There are rows of paratrooper jump seats along the walls of the plane, you sit on strapping, and stick your carry-on bag under your seat. Sometimes on the larger C-17 (and the older C-141 and C-5 transport planes) they load pallets with old airline seats on them.
Often the pilots will announce that at some point in the flight, anyone can come up and take a look, but just a couple of people at a time. It used to be that commercial airliners would do that too, especially for children to let them take a look at the cockpit and out the windows. That isn't done any longer due to security concerns. On the military flights it's especially nice because the windows in back are few and pretty small. (See previous post for some photos.)
6. Why do you travel through New Zealand?
The main US base in Antarctica is McMurdo Base on Ross Island and that's more or less straight south of New Zealand. So it makes sense to fly (commercial airlines) down to Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand, and then take the military flights south. All of the cargo and people (who often feel like they're treated as cargo also) for the US Antarctic Program travels that way for McMurdo and South Pole. There's also a US station called Palmer Base which is on the opposite side of the continent and there the logistics are done through Chile instead.
South Pole Station runs on New Zealand time while Palmer, and the tourists down here, run on Chilean time since that's where they came from back in the "civilized" world. At the South Pole, it doesn't matter much which time zone you pick, just need to be consistent.
1. I know there are no polar bears in Antarctica. Why not though?
There are no large, land-based predators in Antarctica at all. I'm not an expert, but believe that it's basically because there are no land-based animals at all. The penguins do nest on shore, but must go into the water to feed, and there there are seals and killer whales (orcas) that fill the top level predator niche that the polar bear fills in northern lands. The Antarctic waters (Southern Ocean) are filled with sea life.
2. What do you wear outside? What did Amundsen wear?
If I'm only going to be outside for a short time, I wear wool socks, hiking boots, pants that are somewhat windproof, shirt, fleece jacket, gloves, sunglasses, and hat. Not too different from what I might wear outside in the winter back in the States. If I'm going to be outside longer, then one starts to think about three layers: an inner layer that allows moisture to escape (important if I'm working hard and sweating), insulation layer, and an outer, windproof, layer. So for a full day working outside, I wear polypropylene sock liners, wool socks, extreme cold weather (ECW) boots, polypropylene underwear, insulated & windproof overalls, fleece jacket, fleece neck gaiter, fleece hat, googles, two layers of gloves, and a big, heavy down coat. And we take little chemical heat packets to put in our gloves and boots if needed.
Amundsen studied what the Inuits, the folks who live in the far northern Arctic regions, wore. He went with reindeer skins as an outer layer, and then multiple woolen inner layers. He had felt boots that were stuffed with straw to absorb moisture. He understood those same three layers from outside to inside: windproof, insulation, and water-repelling.
3. How does your drill work?
We drill by using hot water to melt a column of the Antarctic ice down to the depth we're interested in. We have a large, insulated hot water tank, a snow melter, and a series of six diesel-fired water heaters to heat water. There's a long hose on a hose reel that feeds down the hole as it melts and at the end of the hose there is a set of nozzles that spray the hot water.
4. What do you do for fun at the Pole?
Well, in the station there is a gym with popular volleyball and basketball games. There is also a weight room, exercise room, musical practice room, arts and crafts room, movie room, game room, and some limited outdoor running and skiing. I brought a guitar with me, but I haven't had much time to practice or play with others. Been keeping busy with work. The work week here is six days per week, maybe nine or ten hours per day. At the moment our drillers are working twelve hour days with no days off.
There's an arts and crafts fair tomorrow, also I'm giving a science talk to everyone on the station tomorrow, and maybe people are keeping blogs or photo journals while they're here. Also, there are lots of interesting people to chat with here...
5. What is the military plane like? How did you get in the cockpit?
Loud. Earplugs are required or hearing damage could take place. I take big earmuffs so that I can slide my earphone from my mp3 player in under the earmuffs during the flight. The plane can also be cold, especially the smaller LC-130 (ski-equiped) Hercules planes we fly between McMurdo and the Pole. It's a cargo plane, so a lot of the space is taken up with pallets of cargo. That cargo could be food, vehicles, scientific equipment, or most anything else that is needed on Antarctica. I flew one time on a plane with a helicopter in the back. There are rows of paratrooper jump seats along the walls of the plane, you sit on strapping, and stick your carry-on bag under your seat. Sometimes on the larger C-17 (and the older C-141 and C-5 transport planes) they load pallets with old airline seats on them.
Often the pilots will announce that at some point in the flight, anyone can come up and take a look, but just a couple of people at a time. It used to be that commercial airliners would do that too, especially for children to let them take a look at the cockpit and out the windows. That isn't done any longer due to security concerns. On the military flights it's especially nice because the windows in back are few and pretty small. (See previous post for some photos.)
6. Why do you travel through New Zealand?
The main US base in Antarctica is McMurdo Base on Ross Island and that's more or less straight south of New Zealand. So it makes sense to fly (commercial airlines) down to Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand, and then take the military flights south. All of the cargo and people (who often feel like they're treated as cargo also) for the US Antarctic Program travels that way for McMurdo and South Pole. There's also a US station called Palmer Base which is on the opposite side of the continent and there the logistics are done through Chile instead.
South Pole Station runs on New Zealand time while Palmer, and the tourists down here, run on Chilean time since that's where they came from back in the "civilized" world. At the South Pole, it doesn't matter much which time zone you pick, just need to be consistent.
In the cockpit
This is in the cockpit of the C-17 (Globemaster) enroute from Christchurch to McMurdo. They let the passengers up to the cockpit one or two folks at a time. The US Air Force flight crews don't have to follow civil aviation rules, and are quite friendly in general.
The cockpit is a mix of modern, glass instrumentation and big olive drab levers and buttons.
View out of the side of the cockpit window, broken sea ice on the approach to McMurdo. This was probably 30-40 minutes, maybe 200-300 miles, out of arrival.
The overhead panels was a solid wall of olive drab and black buttons and indicators.
Open water channel quite a ways from McMurdo still.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friends and colleagues in Antarctica
A number of my friends and colleagues are also in Antarctica, both McMurdo and South Pole, and have interesting blogs to follow as well.In McMurdo, working at the Long Duration Balloon facility (though judging from the blog entries, perhaps not working so hard...) is my old ballooning colleague Scott Nutter and his blog Astroparticle Physics in Antarctica. There's a lot of good information in there about recreation and around McMurdo Station. Good pictures too! Though let's not tell him that he hasn't actually been to Antarctica since Ross Island (where McMurdo is located) is off to sea from the actual continent of Antarctica. Okay, it depends on your definitions I suppose!
Although he left this season before I got here, John Jacobsen has an excellent website for his work and art, along with a blog of his South Pole trips from 2006 through 2011. Great photos and a number of posts that I wish I had made. :) Last year we overlapped a bit at the South Pole and then again in transit headed north through McMurdo.
Here at Pole right now is Laurel Bacque, the IceCube press liaison and general PR person (which I mean in a good way!) who keeps a blog called Chica en Uruguay (though obviously the Chica is en South Pole right now). Check out the excellent "South Pole Myths" and "How to use the women's restroom on an LC-130" in particular.
There's also some of the skiers headed to Pole posting on the Adventure Blog. Hope to see these folks soon.
For a different, darker and colder Antarctica, check out the Winter-Over blogs of Freija and Christine from this past winter season. More links can be found at the unofficial South Pole Station website.
Monday, December 5, 2011
In flight from McMurdo to South Pole
Passengers in the paratrooper jump seats.
Our cargo, stowed on the rear ramp of the plane.
Stunning views (albeit through small windows) of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.
Some spots not covered completely with snow and ice.
And something familiar, cargo that I packed months ago, enroute south with me.
A slight rewind...the flight from McMurdo to the South Pole
Out of McMurdo we fly south in an LC-130 (Hercules transport plane equipped with skis to land at the Pole). They're operated by the New York Air National Guard, and are a rather friendly and laid back group (compared to the Air Force folks flying the C-17s).
We boarded the plane, took off, and almost immediately turned around and landed again. There was a failure in the bleed air system which takes engine air and ducts it into the plane for, among other things, a deicing system on the leading edges of the wing. It was that part of the system which had failed.
There were DVs (Distinguished Visitors) on the flight though, so the ground crews scrambled, offloaded all of the cargo, and we got another plane. The DVs were taken back to town for food, but the rest of us were dumped on the runway to wait for ninety minutes or so for the new plane to be ready. These DVs made up a Presidential Blue Ribbon panel looking at US facilities in Antarctica.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
McMurdo arrival
So, you've flown from home all the way to Christchurch on the south island of New Zealand, felt saddened by the earthquake damage, been issued your ECW (EXTREME Cold Weather) clothing, and flown on a load, crowded military transport for hours. Now what?Well, you hop off the plane into the brilliant sunlight (sunshine plus reflected sunlight off of all of that ice), feel some wind and surprisingly warm air (it is Antarctica, but it's summer, you're on the coast, and it's probably around 20-25F). What's next?
A slog of bureaucracy. Load up and go to the NSF Chalet HQ and hear about safety, recycling, rules, regulations, changes in the rules, and then you explain what you want to do when you leave Antarctica (for the travel office) and then you get a room key. Drop your stuff off in the room, go to the laundry facility and get some sheets, drop off the sheets, find some food. Then your bags arrive on the base and you go haul those off to your room.
And for those of us heading on to Pole, we turn our bags back over to the cargo folks, get ourselves weighed again, and prepare for another flight. Hopefully the next morning.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
My old colleague Scott Nutter
He's in McMurdo (which isn't quite the bottom of the world, but you can fly nonstop to there) working on the CREST experiment and has a rather nice blog of life in McMurdo. Do check it out!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
More on the Oden
Top view of the lifeboat.
Looking out over the bow deck. The containers on board have the science experiments that were conducted during the cruise inside of them. Breaking ice, the Oden can spray water from the bow to "lubricate" the ice breaking process.
The broken-up ice where the ship entered port.
HUGE, wide bridge with a conference table in the background. Excellent all-around views.
The interior of the ship was quite nice, lots of woodwork. This is a shot in the door of the library.
The icebreaker Oden
The US Antarctic Program contracts with the Swedish Polar Programs to have an icebreaker clear the McMurdo Sound and bring the tanker and cargo ship into port. (The dock is a floating mass of layers of ice and dirt, the near one is the current floating dock and the farther one is a ten year old dock.) The Swedish icebreaker Oden has been doing this duty for a number of years. Previously I had seen it out in the Sound, but this year (thanks to Mark Krasberg!) we got a tour of the ship.
It's a big, blocky ship, about 350 feet long and probably a good 120 feet or so wide. Quite pretty in a serious way. It's also beautifully kept up with nary a spot of rust, even after a hundred day cruise down from Scandinavia to the Southern Ocean.
Lifeboat and wing of bridge.
Our informal tour group on the gun turret mounting. The Oden was originally built for the Swedish military.
More Oden info can be found at Wikipedia and some pictures from a 2007 cruise on Wired.
Monday, December 20, 2010
In McMurdo, more news and photos to follow
It's been a tiring day, going to get to bed a bit early. Got lots of good photos, and will post some soon.
Arrived McMurdo early afternoon, after the (long,slow) drive into town and many dull briefings, we got our room keys, linens, and bags. Then after dinner redeposited bags with cargo to load tomorrow's airplane, and explored a little. Realized that the coffeehouse is closed on Mondays. Went and looked for interesting fish in the fish tanks, but there weren't any fish, just some invertebrates.
Off to the Pole tomorrow...
Arrived McMurdo early afternoon, after the (long,slow) drive into town and many dull briefings, we got our room keys, linens, and bags. Then after dinner redeposited bags with cargo to load tomorrow's airplane, and explored a little. Realized that the coffeehouse is closed on Mondays. Went and looked for interesting fish in the fish tanks, but there weren't any fish, just some invertebrates.
Off to the Pole tomorrow...
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