ROSS IN THE POLES ... tales from the Arctic and Antarctica: Deployment Mission(s): Complete

Weddell seal enjoying the sunshine

Dear regular blog readers,
I apologize for leaving you hanging the last couple of days. It has been non-stop go recently as we have been trying to deploy our two towers. Since my project summary blog post has yet to be written, suffice it for now that my goal is to collect blowing snow (which Antarctica is kind enough to supply with ample quantities). Where to begin? So much has happened (this is a good thing) except for sleep (this is a bad thing). I've also realized that I will be unable to cover everything in one post. Thus, I plan to spend the next few days organizing pictures, remembering stories, and catching you all up to date. Let's start with the fun stuff first.... we saw our first Antarctic wildlife!

Scoping the Ross hiking trail system

Rachel and I went for a short walk down to Hut Point, so named after the historical hut still standing that had been built by the Antarctic explorer Robert Scott and his team during their 1901-1904 expedition. Enjoying the views from the top of the cliffs, we then looked down only to see nearly a dozen seals lying out on the sea ice. The ice near the point is quite fractured, providing multiple breathing holes for the seals. The seals enjoy taking naps out on the ice and waving to scientists. After quite some time, the wind drove us away and I decided to take an adventure in the opposite direction. Separating the New Zealand base (Scott Base) with McMurdo Station is Observation Hill (Ob Hill). To prevent everyone here from going crazy (scratch that... we already are, and in fact they sell t-shirts stating so), there is a trail system for hiking/skiing in the area, with one path going straight up Ob Hill. I took an evening hike up and was reward with incredible 360 degree views of Ross Island, our volcano Mt Erebus, and Ross Sea (more pictures coming). Enough recreation... onto science.


Our original site is better for swimming

Pancake ice (yes, that's the scientific name)

One of the sweet benefits of our project is that it requires helicopter access to reach our 2 field sites. The original plan was for Site 1 to be somewhere near Cape Bird, which was chosen after Rachel's careful analysis of the prevailing winds (and the fact that there is a penguin colony nearby). Our helo ride was a breath-taking trip, passing right by Mt. Erebus, vast snow fields, and menacing crevasses. We flew to the north side of Ross Island and excitedly looked down. However, rather than spotting the sparking white expanse of sea ice, we realized we should have brought the bathing suits as the entire bay was open water. As we circled Cape Bird, we sadly realized that there was no solid sea ice to play on, nevertheless land a helicopter. Do not be alarmed (I know you were) that this is all due to global warming. Rather, it is primarily a result of movement of a large (the world's largest) iceberg that had been blocking the Ross Sea for the last decade, keeping lots of sea ice near McMurdo. We had been forewarned though, and were prepared with plan B. We then flew along the ice edge across McMurdo Sound towards Marble Point. We stopped several miles offshore of a lovely place called Butter Point that satisfied our site requirements. Long at last, we erected our first tower complete with the Ice Kid keeping a watchful eye. The Ice Kid even captured tower setup, which John has converted into a fun movie (available soon at stores near you and from this blog, but temporarily findable from my facebook page). Anchoring the tower and the Ice Kid required all hands (our field/ice safety specialist, the pilot, the helo-technician, Rachel, and I) as we had to make some last minute adjustments. Nonetheless, it was an excellent mission, and as the Ice Kid shows, our tower is now successfully collecting blowing snow.

Site 1: Butter Point

Beautiful valley south of site 2

Sweet iceberg next to tower 2

Completely exhausted, we returned to our dorms with the assumption we would do sea ice training Thursday and deploy the second tower Friday. Surprise! This is Antarctica and plans are always fluid. If you are given helo time, you take it because you never know when the weather is going to change. An email informed us that we were going to setup tower 2 on Thursday, immediately following our training. I ran back to the lab, unpacked and repacked all of the equipment, and caught a few hours of sleep. Today's sea ice training was fun, but could not compete with the joys of the afternoon deployment. Once again we had a magnificent helo ride out to our new site, north of Butter Point towards a place called Cape Roberts. After a great recommendation from the pilot, we decided to setup alongside an enormous iceberg that would block westerly (continental/non-sea-ice) winds. This setup went a little faster as we had more ice screws and we now were all seasoned experts in blowing snow tower deployments. The site (particularly the iceberg that must be over 100 ft tall) is absolutely stunning, and I promise more photos will be forthcoming. However, just as we were finishing up (and before we took our photos), we received word on the radios that a storm was coming. Very kindly, the pilots encouraged us to finish up now and get into the helo. By Murphy's law, this was also when a crimp decided to break, dropping the mast of the tower. I begged for another 7 minutes and was able to give it a quick fix, so tower 2 is now successfully deployed. The ride back to McMurdo was highlighted when we overheard the pilots say, "This is going to be interesting" and "I think I'll just close my eyes." However, based on the smoothness of the landing, you would never have known there were any winds. As it turned out, the storm hasn't quite materialized yet, and we arrived with plenty of time. We thus were able to enjoy the evening, knowing that our 2 towers are out there ready to collect all of that blowing snow!