ROSS IN THE POLES ... tales from the Arctic and Antarctica: Arriving to the land of ice and snow

One excited researcher

There is no other way to say it: I'm in Antarctica! We all showed up the International Antarctic Centre at 5 am to pack up our bags. I had 110 lbs of IceKid, 27 lbs of ECW (extreme cold weather clothing), 40 lbs of my own bag, 231 lbs of me dressed warmly plus my carry-on (which contained the most important items, such as my laptop and 2 bottles of scotch). Rachel didn't have as much of the equipment, so together I think we stayed under the 300 lb cutoff, but they never checked. The first half of the flight was uneventful. Then we reached the beginning of the ice and my face became glued to the window. One of the benefits of taking the Airbus rather than the C-17 is that we had windows on our plane. The weather could not have been nicer: clear skies, no wind, -20 temps so the landing on the ice was quite easy. We all put on our ECW, exited the plane, and walked into a world like no other.

Antarctica International Airport

It's pretty clear who the newbies were since our eyes were wide open (despite the polar sunglasses) and our cameras out. The veterans tried their best to herd us like cattle onto the monster truck that shuttled us from the ice to McMurdo Station. As we were leaving, we had a glimpse of the other monster truck (named "Ivan the Terra bus") that was shuttling people leaving McMurdo. Those guys were on the winter crew and many had been there since February or earlier. As we were driving, one of the veterans asked when I had my "WOW" moment, that instance when you realize you are actually going to Antarctica. For me, I think it was when our plane was on the runway leaving Christchurch and I knew there was no turning back (unless of course we boomeranged).

Fata morgana

As you might expect, there is a lot of snow and ice, with constant cold temperatures. Since you are generally quite bundled up, your field of vision is often just white. However, considering that the sky was clear and temps were only -20, we actually had some pretty sweet views. I learned a new term: fata morgana, which refers to a mirage in really cold areas. It was really disorienting looking across the sea ice and seeing it. I was told to appreciate the nice weather now since it won't last.

McMurdo from the plane

Arriving to McMurdo kind of felt like a reunion, except Rachel and I were on the outside, as one of the few newbies and the only scientists. Most of the people in Antarctica have been coming for years and were reconnecting with old friends. Since we were the first "mainbody" flight of the year, everyone on station hadn't seen new faces in 5-6 weeks. There was only one other research team already on site, so we had a great opportunity to get to know everyone who makes the station run. It also meant that we were guinea pigs for all of the orientation (which changes slightly every year, but more-so this year as a new contractor is running all of the logistics). These few days are pretty much filled with different trainings and the like, so no science yet. However, we have temporarily setup the IceKid, so you can get regular glimpses of McMurdo from the IceKid website.

I could go on and on about life at McMurdo, but I have 6 weeks and plenty of blog-space to fill. Thus, I will just leave you with a few more fun images from the plane (which is really all you wanted anyways). Enjoy! I know I am.