McMurdo Life

My dorm is the building furthest to the right

As a scientist, I really am excited to share my research with you all.  However, more likely than not, your first question to me will be, "What is life like in Antarctica?" rather than "Where were the bromide ions located microstructurally and stratigraphically in the sea ice cores?"  Thus, my long-awaited project summary blog will be pushed back a little further.  Let's start with the most obvious questions.  No, I have not seen any penguins.  They are closer to the sea ice edge (near where it becomes open water), but we hopefully should be able to see them when we go out to Cape Bird.  There are several seal colonies nearby, but the seals don't wander down the streets of McMurdo.  One of the few research groups here though arrived early with us to tag the new born pups since it is currently birthing season.  They will be establishing a field camp closer to the colonies, accessible by snowmobile.

Rachel next to some serious trucks

Recycling with some sweet views

If you were magically transported to McMurdo, you might mistake it for a mining site, other than for the weather and blanket of white everywhere.  Many of the people who work here rarely leave the station.  This summer (that is Dec/Jan for you northerners), the population will reach just over 1,000, of which only 144 are here on NSF grants to do science.  The rest have jobs ranging from mechanics to air traffic controllers to firemen to logistics to communications to lab techs, etc.  One of the best things though about McMurdo is that since we all eat and live together, you get to know the community very quickly.  Isolated from the rest of the world, there is a huge effort to offer a variety of evening activities (and there are even people here devoted solely to recreation).  I've been loving the fact that basketball, volleyball, and ping-pong are some of the most popular sports.  In fact, there are several people here that can destroy me in ping-pong.  For those of you who know me, that is NOT something I admit readily, but what else can you say when you lose 21-5.  Although the majority of people work regular business hours, McMurdo operates 24/7, and thus a significant percentage of the population works nights.   For those stuck on station, there are some nice recreation routes right out of town although many are still closed since we are early in the season.  The good news though is that there are beautiful views right from town.

Snowmobile training

My cargo arrived!

So far, Rachel and I have been going from training to training.  The biggest difference I've noticed between the Arctic and Antarctic is the logistics/paperwork/bureaucracy.  In Barrow, I was kind of just given the keys to the snowmobile and told not to kill myself.  Today, Rachel and I just completed a 3 hour course on first safety and then driving snowmobiles around a preset obstacle course.  The instructor was pretty easy on us since it was clear we had experience, but you do feel incredibly safe with everything you do down here (that line is for you, mom).  All of the trainings have also been a great way to meet all of the crew running McMurdo.   In our free time from trainings, we have been busy collecting and gathering all of the gear and supplies we will need for the field.  Shockingly, all of the cargo I shipped back in early August arrived undamaged.  Most of the gear though we had reserved in our 62-page SIP (Support Information Package).  Through an incredible logistical miracle, that gear was all labeled and ready for our pickup down here.  They also didn't complain too loudly when we asked for more stuff.  The next two days we will be completing "Happy Camper" training, a crash course on survival where we will camp out on the ice preparing ourselves for a real emergency.  After that, we have a specialty course on sea ice, as that is where all of our research occurs.  We hope to finally setup our research station on Tuesday, the first day the helicopters fly scientists.  I hope to return to you all soon, officially as a Happy Camper.

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