Special Blog for Joleigh  (Part I)

Joleigh, this is a tricky quiz for you, but I know you are a very smart young lady and that, with a little help from Grey and Mommy, you'll have a very good answer!

So, Little Button! Can you guess what's happening in these pictures?

So, why do you think they are putting this tube into the ice, Joleigh?

(Scroll down if you would like to have a hint...)



(Look carefuly!  What do you see in the 2nd and 3rd pictures?)

Special Blog for Grey

Dear Grey,

We have lots of very intersting vehicles here in Antarctica!  I thought you would like to see some of them.  They are all very helpful for all the jobs that have to be done here.  Can you guess what each machine is used for?

Grey, this is the biggest tractor and snow plow Daddy has EVER seen!!

This bus is very tall!  Do you know what makes the bus so tall?

This one is very tall, too!  Why do you think this truck needs to be so tall?  What do you think this truck is used for?

This looks like the one above, but it's back is flat.  Can you guess why?

Grey!  What happened to this truck's tires??  This truck looks funny without tires, doesn't it?  What does it have instead?

This is called a Piston Buddy.  I don't know why they call it that, but I call you my Big Buddy and this made me think of you.  Why do you think the Piston Buddy has tracks intead of wheels?

The wheels here are very big!  Can you guess why?

What different machines can you see in this picture?  What do you think each machine's job is?

There's two more different machines in the back.  What do you think their jobs are?

These are BIG tractors, aren't they?

What are on these tires, Grey?  Why do you think they are there?

These two machines look very different from each other, but they do the same job!  Do you know what that is?

What does this van have an electrical cord plugged in it?  Is this an electric van?

Can you guess what is happening in this picture?

This Piston Buddy is very special.  It has a snowplow in front, and in the back it has a workspace.  This machine is used on the South Pole Traverse.  It leads the way for the tractors behind it and uses a special radar to help them find their way around crevasses in the glaciers they have to cross!

These tractors are very, very BIG, Grey!!  They are also used on the South Pole Traverse.  They pull very big sleds loaded with fuel drums and cargo all the way to the very bottom of the world!  Can you guess how the tractors get here to Antarctica?

I hope you liked looking some of our different trucks and tractors, Grey.  They are very fun to watch!  You would reallly like to watch them!  I have some videos of some of these machines on a disc for you.  I'll mail it to you so you can see them in action!

Can you draw a picture of your favorite tractor?  I would like to see which one you like the best!

I miss you very much, Grey!

Love, Daddy.

PS:  Tell Joleigh I will have some pictures for her to see, too!

The Way I See It...

My 2nd night in Antarctica - what a sight!  Sunset over the Royal Society Range across McMurdo Sound.  We won't have too many more nights like this as we start moving closer to the 24-hour sun.

Rare sight of nacreous clouds.  Nacrous clouds form above the troposphere, between 60,000-140,000 feet above the earth in the extreme polar latittudes.  While I took this picture in the afternoon, because of their altitude nacreuous clouds will reflect the sun's rays after sunset, continuing to glow well into the evening - often with a shimmering iridescent hue.

Dusk, looking northwest over McMurdo Sound.

The same sunset, looking back to the southwest.  There weren't a billion stars all around, but it is the desert - and it was a peaceful, easy feeling...

The Arrival Heights, on the northern edge of town.  The angular contrast between the fine snow and the black volcanic rock is so striking. 

Weddell seals on the sea ice.

I tried to capture the ice and the Royal Society Range reflecting in frosty windows of Scott's 1902 hut.  The picture didn't come out the way I had hoped but you get the idea, I'm sure!

McMurdo Station at the base of the Arrival Heights.

The view from the top of 6 feet of sea ice.

35 below zero.

The Arrival

First Look



Downward Bound!

Finally, a moment to post the first of my Antarctic pictures!  Our flight out of Christchurch was to have been on Monday, the 3rd, but was put on a weather delay of 3 hours due to strong winds and blowing snow on the ice runway in McMurdo.  We were scheduled to fly down on a chartered Australian Airbus, with a USAF C-17 following later in the day with our luggage (SO MUCH LUGGAGE...!!!) and the first of countless more cargo loads we'll be seeing from on out.  With the delay, we were told we would be remanifested onto the C-17.  But the weather never broke and both flights were postponed for 24 hours.  The weather leaving Christchurch early Tuesday morning was wet and chilly.

The flight down was cramped, cramped, cramped...!!!  With all the layers of clothes we all had on and carry-on and personal bags, there was no room anywhere.  For four hours, we were (VERY) well insulated sardines.  The weather was overcast, too, adding to what I had begun to believe would be a disappointing first-time arrival into Antarctica. 

I was in for a great surprise...

Checking in for our flight at the US Antarctic Program's passenger terminal to clear New Zealand Customs for the outbound flight.  This began what is not-so-affectionately referred to as the Bag Drag.

The Bag Drag becomes self-explanatory...

Waiting in the passenger terminal.  We had to report at 0400 for our 0700 departure.  (Note the large cargo sled on the back wall.)

Finally boarding!  The van on the left was packed full of our lunch sacks, which we would grab on our way past.  They were entirely filled with all kinds of sandwiches and snacks!  Between all tha,t and the food served later on the flight, I had a lot of leftovers to take along with me!

We had three flight attendants.  Was the first time I ever had a flight in which the flight attendants were wearing ski clothes!

Ski pants and insulated vest.  It's a requirement that all passengers and crew members wear ECW gear on flights to/from Antarctica.  As the flight progressed, the ladies would don more and more layers, until they began to look like one of us!

Nearing the continent, the cloud deck suddenly began to break up!  Was excited to see my first view out the window!  Pack ice, about 2 hours out from McMurdo!

Large plates of pack ice.  Keep in mind, this picture was taken from over 30,000' - gives you an idea of how big those sheets of ice must be!  The ice has been extremely active this year.  Much of the ice in the Ross Sea broke up last season and drifted out to sea.  This winter had been unseasonably warm, so the ice never really set back in like it usually does and has been the cause for quite a bit of concern here in McMurdo.

About 90 minutes out, the Captain announced the first sign of land - a large mountain ridge to our east in northern Victoria Land.  The beginning of the Tranantarctic Mountain Range.  At 2200 miles long, it is the world's 5th longest and divides Antarctica between east and west.

The same mountain, continuing along this long ridgeline, ending in the abupt cliff at the end.

A large crack in the ice and overflow (water pressed up onto the ice by the weight of the ice above it).  This crack extended for miles and miles.

Two large glaciers merging in the middle of the photo.

Another glacier.  Note the pressure ridges.

Close-up of the pressure ridges and crevasses.

The continent coming more into view now!

(This is a neat picture to zoom in on, I think.)

A massive glacier.  It and the one in the valley above it, both emerged out on the frozen sea at the top of the picture.

Yet another glacier.  I thought the crevasses around it were amazing.

Large blocks of ice entrapped in the sea ice (again, taken from 30,000+ feet above)!

The light-bluish shape in the center of the picture is the shadow cast by a large iceberg.

By now, our flight attendants had on insulated coveralls and snow boots!  I wasn't able to get their picture later, but each time they came down the cabin it was funny to see them adding more and more layers.  They almost doubled in size by the time we landed!

Approaching McMurdo. Mounts Terror (on the left) and Erebus (tall one on the right), named by Sir James Ross after the names of his two ships.   He named McMurdo after his Captain of the Terror. 

Mt. Erebus is 12,448 ft tall and is the southernmost active volcano in the world.

Dunno what caused this river of ice blocks, but it was neat to see.

Finally landed! On the ice runway about 2 miles out of McMurdo. This runway will only be in use for another couple of weeks or so, before the sea ice becomes too thin. The ice must be at least 6 feet thick for aircraft operations. They say the ice here is usually somewhere around 10-12 feet thick; this season, it is *right at* six feet - just barely enough!  Each day they take measurements to ensure the thickness of the ice, and crews are constantly working around the clock to maintain the airfield, piling snow over it by day to help insulate it from the warmth of the sun, only to push it all off again at night to groom the runway for the next arrivals.

The McMurdo international "airport".

Our ride into town waiting for us.

It was a balmy -2 when we arrived, with a -20 windchill.  Granted, we had a lot of clothes on but, surprisingly, it didn't feel all that cold.  Actually, I thought it felt GREAT!!!!  Just as I was boarding our shuttle into town, I turned to see our flight attendants "kitted up", as they say, in their full ECW dress in an all-out snow ball fight!  For them, they may not make another trip back down to Antarctica and they were enjoying the most of their chance of a lifetime too!

Mt. Erebus, actively venting steam.  There's a lava dome in the caldera that scientists routinely study.  Because Erebus is able to freely vent, there is little concern of it erupting.

The winds were really whipping!
(Another neat picture to zoom in on.)

Packed in the "Terra Bus", on the ride into town.

Ivan.