Christmas at McMurdo

Just because we are spending Christmas on the harshest continent doesn't mean that we can't celebrate in style. After four days of Christmas festivities, we finally have returned to work. I'm definitely not ready to be at work yet.

Two story gingerbread houses make for good treats!!

My Christmas celebration unexpectedly started on Saturday night when the Housing department asked me to help them decorate for their party. Their theme was Christmas morning. They did a great job of getting everyone there in their pajamas and serving up a great Christmas morning breakfast. You can't buy presents for everyone, so they did a white elephant gift exchange where every ones gets a turn to pick a present from under the tree or steal an already opened one from someone else. Presents ranged from chocolate bars to hockey sticks to dancing penguins. Fun stuff. After the Christmas morning festivities, things changed into a more normal night at hut 10 - dancing and drinking. It was a school night though so it didn't run too late.

Christmas morning at Hut 10!

Sunday, every department was supposed to work their full day. Few did, including mine. We got off early enough that I wanted to do my distance run for the weekend on that afternoon instead of on a day off. I thought it would be a good idea so that I wouldn't be as tired on my days off. 25 miles in 4 hours and 10 minutes. Surprisingly enough, I spent the rest of the weekend with a slight limp and a lot of tired. Who would have guessed it? I even manged to spend enough time in the sun that someone called me out on having a farmer's tan!!!

Santa at the holiday party!

Christmas goodies that were sent out as door prizes at the VMF party.

Holiday decorations and Santa's sleigh.

After a failed attempt at napping, I was off to the holiday party. They emptied out the vehicle maintenance facility and did a great job decorating. It was like any other Christmas party - drinking, dancing, egg nog, etc. There were a couple cool differences. Santa rides a snow machine instead of a sleigh in Antarctica. We also had different pictures projecting on the wall of things we might be missing. Favorite themes were friends, family, dogs, greenery, and beaches.

The Abominable Snowman!

Pictures to give you a warm fuzzy on a potentially lonely holiday

A candy cane pole to help find a friend who can give you a warm fuzzy on a potentially lonely holiday

As I understand it, Santa may not have been able to work the entire night . . .

Inspired by Calvin & Hobbes?

Fireside on Christmas morning

After some of the more basic holiday events happened at the party, it was back down to the usual shenanigans. Drinking, dancing, and revelry. The holiday party is famous for being the second party of the year where people find someone to hook up with because by this time a lot of the Halloween inspired relationships have fallen apart.

Dave and me at the holiday party

Martin from the help desk gets down!

Usual shenanigans.

After being up way too late at the party, I got myself into bed. Christmas eve day came way too soon. I went for a run to get the ache out of my legs. It helped a little bit, but exhaustion was definitely the theme of the day. After a long day of lounging, I worked in the kitchen to let a dining assistant (DA) be off work for an hour. Even though most of the base is off, they aren't. They may have the toughest job on base. When I was done washing dishes to the Temptations with Meg, it was off to get prettied up for dinner. Some people ate in the galley. Others do more private affairs in converted work areas.

Christmas dinner in the galley.


The kitchen crew who makes it all possible

There were four separate dinners that the kitchen staff had to prepare. When the final day dinner was wrapping up, the evening festivities were winding up. There was a dance party in one bar and live band karaoke in one of the departments meetings room. I'm continually amazed at how they can transform a work space into a play area. At live band karaoke, they don't have the usual music or videos. The singers have to know the words or download them off the Internet and sometimes the band has to download tablature too. It worked really well.

Sky singing at live band karaoke.

Christmas day still to come . . .

Boondoggle!!

Last week was a big work week for us. While most of you were probably doing less and less because people were disappearing for vacation, everyone down here was getting signed up for a seven day work week. Normally, we have a six day work week, but they wanted to give us a two day weekend that included actually having Christmas off. Instead of having our usual Sunday off, we had Monday and Tuesday. I didn't have to work all seven days though. I was offered a boondoggle on Wednesday.

A boondoggle is a slang term for a morale trip. I believe it is a left over from when they Navy ran base. A morale trip is basically any trip that takes you outside of your normal job. My one co-worker manned a dive hole. Someone else secured a rare trip to go to the Cape Royds penguin colony. Others even made it onto helicopters. It reminds us of the beautiful place we are in.

My boondoggle was a working trip. I was told I'd be going out to Cape Evans to pull up the flagged route in a pisten bully. A pisten bully is a cramped tracked vehicle which moves pretty slow. It would also be one of the last trips out onto the sea ice since it was closing up, hence taking out all the flags that mark the safe routes. I'd been out to Cape Evans a couple times already so I almost passed up the trip so someone else could go. Since morale trips are so uncommon (maybe one a season), I decided not to hold out and hope for a better one in the future and that turned out to be one my best decisions for the week.

Instead of taking out a pisten bully, we took out snow machines. That is snowmobiles for those of you, like me, who though snow machines are for making snow. According to my Alaskan friends, snowmobiles is the 'tourist' term. I've never driven a snow machine, let alone ridden one. After a couple hours getting ready in the morning, we took a shuttle over to the snow machines. We had to fuel them up which includes someone turning a crank while someone else tries to look in the dark hole and see how full the tank is. I ended up spilling because I couldn't see a thing down the hole.

Sean and Becky fueling up a snow machine.

The other five people on the trip had gone to snow machine and sea ice training classes. I hadn't been to either. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have been allowed to go on the trip, but I wasn't going to ask questions. After a quick lesson, I was allowed to drive the snow machine. It was definitely similar to a teenager learning to drive. Too heavy on the gas and jilting with the brake. I got the hang of it on the way to our first destination.

The first flags we had to pull were in front of our own base. On our way over, we passed my first penguin, an Adelie. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out and was only able to get this shot of it in the distance. It is there, honest. It's the little dot between where the two mountains meet. Very cute. Their arms flap while they walk so it looks like they are always late for a very important date.

My first penguin, an Adelie.

The biggest problem we would face all day was melt pools. A melt pool is formed when the ice on top melts, but can't drain out into the ocean. It just collects into a pool. We'd be driving across it, walking through it, and trying not to get stuck in it. We got to see heavy machinery working in some of the melt pools, but that didn't alleviate my fears any when I had to walk over to flags where the snow machines couldn't go and saw the top layers of ice cracking beneath my feet. The most my foot ever sank was up to the ankle and there was 3 more feet of ice below where it finally stopped, but still very freaky.

Heavy machinery crossing a melt pool.

Flag pulling!

We worked in two groups - each with two snow machines. One would pull the flag out of the ice or cut it out if it was stuck and then throw it into a sled the other snow machine was towing. Repeat for six hours in the sunshine without wind and you have for a beautiful day.

A beautiful day!

As we got farther out to Cape Evans, we had to break off onto side roads to pick up other flags. This took me on to terrain I hadn't been on before and thinner ice. The one area we entered had to be drilled to check the thickness of the sea ice (stuff you learn in sea ice training). They used a gas powered drill.

Checking the sea ice depth.

After the sea ice was determined safe, we headed out to pick up the flags. Along the way, we got pretty close to some sunbathing seals. Every other time I've seen seals down here, they just lay there. These ones actually wiggled a little bit!

Basking seals in front of Mt. Erebus

Another basking Weddell seal.

Towards the end of the day, we were running out of time so we didn't get all the way out to Cape Evans. It didn't bother me though because I had already been there. Also, that meant another trip would have to go out and allow others to go on a boondoggle. On the way back in, we didn't have any flags to pick up so we floored it. I went at least 80 km/50 miles per hour. It was weird to be going that fast on a snow machine. The machine shakes a little bit, but you get used to it.

An island I can't remember the name of . . .

Mt. Erebus with some great cloud formations.

We ate lunch out on the ice and all took turns switching in and out of the various jobs. We moved quickly, but didn't rush. It was simply a great day. It let me get on a snow machine for the first time, showed me my first penguin, and reminded me of why I was down here. I didn't think my morale was down, but it certainly showed me how to pick it up. Yeah for play dates and Merry Christmas to everyone reading this on 25th. I'm already at work on the 26th!

Sea Ice

The sea ice in McMurdo Sound freezes each year. During the summer, it usually melts all the way up to base. McMurdo's site was originally chosen because it is the furthest point South that a ship can navigate when that sea ice melts. If the ice melted more they could go farther.

A Bassler plane on the sea ice runway.

We use the sea ice for roads and as a runway. Each year, those roads and runway are reestablished. We have another runway on the glacier for after the sea ice melts. We don't use it all the time because it is much farther away and therefore more costly to operate.

Mt. Erebus in the background. The sea ice runway road in the foreground.

Annual sea-ice thickness varies seasonally between 8 and 11 feet by the end of the growth period. Thinning by bottom melting starts about mid-December and continues until breakout in late January or early February. We usually move the sea ice runway out to Williams Field as soon as the melting starts.

A radar bubble on the sea ice runway.

While the sea ice is being used as a runway, the minimum thickness is 70 inches for a C-17 to land on it. The minimum length of the runway is 10,000 feet. There is a 69 page document that goes on and on about the smallest details of what needs to be done. It is more complicated than you'd ever guess. The maximum parking load is 600,000 lbs for 1 hour or 490,000 lbs for 3.2 hours. The most important thing we are monitoring is sea ice temperature because as the temperatures increase the weight of the aircraft is adjusted lower. They also have a surveyor measuring how much the sea ice bends every time a plane lands on it. If it bends too much, they'll decrease the weight on the next plane or close the entire runway.

More buildings that make up part of the sea ice runway facility

What other numbers do I have for you ... The average water temperature is -1.9 degrees Celsius or 28.58 degrees Fahrenheit.

The sea ice runway closed three weeks ago. However, until this week we were still using the sea ice as a road network out to field camps. This map shows our surrounding area and details about the sea ice thickness in early December when we were closing the runway.

Sea ice thickness map.

So I wanted to write about this to convey just how amazing and strong the sea ice is. I'm not sure if I did that, so just think about it again 600,000lbs of plane on eight feet of sea ice equates to 187.5 2008 Toyota Tacomas!!

Next blog should be about my trip out onto the closed sea ice!!

Under the sea

The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?
('Under the Sea' from the Little Mermaid)

First up, I want to thank Bruce Miller for posting all of his underwater photos. Every photo in today's blog is compliments of him. It's a treat to see photos of a place that so few of us ever get to go. I bet more people have been to the South Pole (about 7,000 I think) than have ever been diving under the sea ice in Antarctica. I tried to limit the number of photos, but there were so many great ones I kept more than I deleted.

These creatures live under the sea ice year round. They don't migrate for the winter. I have no idea how much light can penetrate eight feet of snow covered sea ice, but I can't imagine it is too much. Yet, so much still thrives. I've heard that once the ice starts to melt the plant life begins to bloom and visibility drops from 500 ft (?) down to 10 ft so winter is actually the best time to explore the sea floor.

I, unfortunately, don't know what most of these creatures are so I am mostly just posting pictures. Enjoy!!

Tritonia

Octopus. I'm not sure if the other two legs are underneath it or not.

Weddell seal coming down from a hole in the sea ice.

Lots of life here. There must be a source of nutrients under that pile.

Two starfish doing the Unstuck.

Underwater pill bug?

Big Brother seal is watching you.

Sea fairy?

The end of a riveting game of hide and go seek.

0xygen meter and underwater note taking

It was THIS big!

This is how you make fish lips.

Arts and Crafts

Antarctica is filled with people that have amazing talents. I figured it would be filled with a ton of people who were a little bit unusual, but the sheer talent that likes within this community is amazing. It extends from open mike nights at the Coffee House to full on jam bands at Ice Stock to our most recent Arts & Crafts show. It's really the same as any show you would have back in the states, but I'm just amazed that people find time to create these things down here.

Setup.

Joe Harrigan setting up his photography.

One of the curious things was that there were 4 major photographers at the show. They certainly all have a ton of ability, but I think the key to them doing so well at the show was their jobs. One guy worked in FSTP as a field trainer and also took groups of people into the field. Another was the head of science support. I'm assuming she heads out with scientists from time to time. Two others were members of the Search and Rescue team. So, it isn't just talent, but also location, location, location. There are definitely a couple other great photographers on base, but they just don't have the opportunity to head out into the field as much. I might need to switch jobs.

More arts and crafts goodness.

Even more arts ands crafts.

Pottery made in Antarctica? Yes.

I'm not too inspired today so we'll keep this one short. This past weekend, I finally cleared 20 miles for my marathon training. I've lost my training rhythm so I'm not running as much as I should, but at least I'm still getting in my long runs. About five weeks to go until the real thing.

Also of note for anyone reading this from EEDRville, I was working on creating reports today. Still am. Where ever you are, Charley, thanks for a little training. I might not be your back up over there very well, but it is still coming in handy.

Ruffles have ridges

I've sent out quite a few lifestyle blogs recently, so I thought I'd return to some of the beauty that surrounds this continent today. Pressure ridges. When ice bodies collide with each other, they form pressure ridges where the ice is forced up into the air to alleviate the pressure. Two days ago, I went to a pressure ridge tour at Scott Base (the local Kiwi base). In fact, it is the only base we can get to without flying hundreds of miles.

Pressure ridges (photo by Kevin O'Connell)

At Scott Base, the Ross Glacier is coming off the continent to crash into the sea ice that resides in McMurdo sound. The glacier moves about a meter a day so the ridges are changing each and everyday. The tour guides say they can notice substantial changes from one day to the next. We are only allowed to take a tour out to the pressure ridges because some moron from a few years ago thought it would be a good idea to harass the seals that were pulled out of the water over there. Consequently, the Kiwis only let us (the Americans) come over in official tour groups. Where is this guy and how about we sick some starved leopard seals on him since he enjoys wildlife so much?

Pressure ridges (photo by Kevin O'Connell)

Kevin O'Connell, who took the two pictures above, is a phenomenal photographer. My photos were all overexposed. I wasn't in the mood to get my camera adjusted right and quite simply, it shows. I need to take a class on this stuff so I can do less figuring out and more taking pictures.

After the pressure ridge tour, I stuck around Scott Base for trivia night. My team brought it all home. We won our choice of key chains, lanyards, and candy. I took the candy. Yum yum.