Back to the Ice once more

If you are reading this, then you know I have gone back to work another season in Antarctica to support science for the United States Antarctic Program. In the past, I worked at McMurdo Station on the coast as a PC Tech. This time, I am going to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for the winter season with ~42 other folks. (In the summer, there are around 150.) There will no planes in or out from around February 15^th until November 1^st. I will be indirectly supporting the science there as a senior system administrator.

 

 

 

 

Antarctica is the world's largest and driest desert. Yet, over 97% of the continent is covered with ice, containing an estimated 90% of the earth's freshwater. Its area Is about 1.5 the area of the United States. At this time, no country owns Antarctica because of the 1961  Antarctica Treaty. The treaty is recognized by 54 countries. It reserves the area south of 60° latitude for the peaceful conduct of research. 30 countries currently have around 80 permanent bases in Antarctica. The United States has 3 permanents bases: Palmer Station (since 1968, 64°46' S, 64°03’ W), McMurdo Station (since 1956, 77°51' S, 166°40' E) and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (since 1957, rebuilt a 3^rd time in 2008, 90° S). 

 

 

 

To get to Palmer Station, you fly to Chile and then take a 4-5 day boat journey across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula. Crossing the Drake is one of the roughest boat journeys in the world. When most folks take a cruise to Antarctica, the peninsula is the area that they go to. It is a bit warmer and teeming with marine wildlife.  To get to McMurdo Station, you fly commercially to Christchurch, New Zealand and then to McMurdo in a military plane (C-17 or LC-130). On a C-17, the flight takes about 5 hours to cover the 2,378 miles to McMurdo, located on the southern tip of Ross Island, where the southernmost navigable harbor on Earth is (important for getting supplies to the bases). To get to South Pole, you take another 850-mile flight from McMurdo. This can be on a bunch of different propeller driven planes including the LC-130, Twin Otter, or Basler. If you are lucky, none of your flights get turned around due to bad weather, which is called boomeranging and is not fun.

My journey back to the Ice started on a red eye flight on Thursday, February 1st.

I'm slowly learning how to write this type of stuff again, more to come.