Kiwi Grad Class

A common theme in several of my previous posts, including the preview to the season, was all of the digging that we would be doing during this field season. All along, the location that concerned me the most was the Willie Field Antarctic Precipitation System (APS) site. One of the big reasons for this concern was because we had twice as many instrument towers and power systems to be removed from this site. That means twice as much digging. Just as critical is that the Willie Field site had nearly twice as much accumulation of snow. The anticipation is that we'd have to spread the digging out over two to three days, or to get some assistance with the digging.

Scott Base, the main base for the Antarctica New Zealand program, is about three miles from McMurdo Station. In a previous entry, I shared how I had dinner at Scott Base with a colleague, Adrian, from the University of Canterbury. Adrian is also one of the instructors for a graduate class at the University of Canterbury to experience Antarctic field research. Going back a couple months ago, Adrian was talking to me about having the students visit the APS so they could see a working science instrumentation deployment in the field. I commented to Adrian that by the time the students would arrive, our plan was to have all of the equipment removed. Adrian then suggested that he might be able to work it for the students to help us with the digging and removal of the instruments. Naturally, I liked that idea. He felt it would be a good "real" Antarctic field experience for them to gain.

Adrian, the two other instructors, and the students were at the Sunday Lecture at McMurdo this past Sunday. We were able to review their schedule as they had arrived into the area later than anticipated due to the C-17 delays. We had originally talked to them about helping with the digging on Tuesday and we agreed to shift it to Wednesday. It may or may not have helped that one of the other instructors is another person that I know as she was at McMurdo a year ago and she had an office near our lab. I emphasized being accommodating to their schedule while also stressing the need for their assistance. If indeed they were going to be able to help, then it was no problem to delay the digging until Wednesday. However, if they were not able to help in the end, then we'd be in a very tough spot with our field season ending next week.

One of the instrument towers at the Willie Field APS site. It is a 13 foot tower and only about 6 feet are above the surface.

The Kiwi (nickname for people from New Zealand) grad class was in the field as they were doing an Antarctic survival training (also referred to as "Happy Camper School") at the start of the week. Because of that, communicating with them was difficult but doable. They would call by satellite phone to the McMurdo communications center (Mac Ops), and then Mac Ops would patch the call through to our office. We were able to finalize the plan for digging on Wednesday through this multi-step communication method. However, the weather on Wednesday was snowing and the winds picked up in the afternoon, making the digging difficult to complete. We agreed to push the digging off to Thursday.

Scott, Thomas, and Josh working on the removal of the power systems. You can see some of the batteries in back of the truck. The tracked wheels of the truck are also seen in this photo.

The good news is that everything came together for Thursday afternoon. I took a shuttle van ride to the site because we were not able to get a truck at that time to get to the site. I arrived at 1:30. An hour later, Thomas, Scott, and Josh were able to arrive in a Mattracks (tracked wheels) truck. About 15 minutes later, the Kiwi grad class arrived in their Haagland, which is a common tracked vehicle for Antarctica New Zealand to move people around the region. Out of the Haagland emerged the three instructors, the eight students, and their field trainer. We had a team of 12 to help with all of the digging at the Willie Field APS site. 

Six of the members for the Kiwi grad class working on digging out an instrument tower and the snow anchors for the tower.

Two of the students celebrating the success in digging out the snow anchor for this instrument tower. The hole was deeper than the height of both of these students.

Group shot of the Kiwi grad class just before they loaded into the Haaglands to go back to their field camp.

It was a great afternoon at the Willie Field APS site. The temperature was in the upper 20sF and there was little to no wind. With all of the digging that was involved, much of the time was spent wearing only long sleeved base layer. The students were able to be at the site for over four hours. They were a HUGE help in removing three of the four towers and all of the snow anchors. All of the efforts by the Kiwi grad class allowed Scott, Thomas, and Josh to concentrate on the removal of the buried powered systems, which are mostly batteries (38 - 70 pound batteries) and solar panels. The fourth tower had only been installed one year ago so that removal was not nearly as much work as the other three. About halfway through their efforts, Adrian had the class take a break so that I could give the class a lecture on the APS project with a description of the instruments that used to be on the towers and the significance of the project toward bigger picture climate questions. The Kiwi class left around 6:30 PM and I was thrilled to have all of their help.

The Kiwi grad class leaving the Willie Field APS site in their Haagland.

Me in one of the holes that had to be dug to remove an instrument tower for the precipitation gauge. Most of the work in digging this hole was done by one student.

Unfortunately, our work was not complete. The weather was forecast to be bad  the next day (Friday), we have a two-day Thanksgiving weekend, and our flight north is scheduled to leave on Tuesday. Add all of that up and it was critical that we finish our work at Willie Field APS site on Thursday. We were able to complete our efforts around 9:30 PM and head back to town with all of the field work completed for the season and the current APS project.

Leaving the Willie Field APS site at the completion of removing the power systems and instrument tower. This photo shows the sun lower in the horizon with it being 9:30 PM but the sun will still not set for another three months.

Cape Hallett

Today was a busy day around town as we worked on disassembling the large wooden wind shield that was removed from the field last year. There was also work done to further tear down the hardware that has been removed this year and prepare if for the northbound vessel cargo departing in January. Today turned out to be a perfect day for all of this work around town as the temperature was in the low 30sF and light to no winds all day. I'll also include my frequent disclaimer. Yes, those temperatures are relatively warm but don't lose track that it is summer here and we are approaching the warmest time of the year in Antarctica.

I'm going to keep most of this post brief as I'll let the photos take up much of the space. This past Friday I went on a Twin Otter flight to the Cape Hallett automatic weather station (AWS) site. Four of my previous trips to Antarctica were with the AWS project and this flight was to assist with the AWS group. Cape Hallett is located on the edge of the Transantarctic Mountains and almost to the northern extent of the continent in that region. I've included the map below to put the location in context. As I described in my previous post, the best way to think of Cape Hallett is a penguin colony surrounded by majestic mountains.

We left Williams Field Ski-way on the Twin Otter around the normal launch time of 8:30 AM. A fuel stop was required with the Twin Otter since the flight to Cape Hallett is so long. The fuel stop was at a fuel cache at Cape Reynolds for both of my visits to Cape Hallett in 2015. Fuel caches are setup at different spots around the continent to give planes a chance to refuel where they otherwise may not have a chance. A fuel cache is often a collection of barrels of of fuel that are frequently buried, or partially buried, and have to be dug out. For Friday's trip, we stopped at Mario Zuchelli, which is the Italian station located at Terra Nova Bay, about an hour and 20 minutes from Willy Field. We landed at their airfield. An Italian fuel truck and a pump truck pulled up next to the plane and transferred the fuel. The pilot signed the receipt, we reloaded the plane and were back in the air for another hour and a half flight to Cape Hallett.

The Twin Otter flies along the Transantarctic Mountains for much of the flight. During the last half hour or so the plane flies over the mountains to arrive at Cape Hallett from the south. During this time there are amazing glaciers, old avalanches, and mountain peaks that we pass.

The Twin Otter circled overhead to decide on where to land on the sea ice. Because the Twin Otter is equipped with skis it can land nearly anywhere on snow or ice that is safe. For Cape Hallett, we landed on the sea ice with giant icebergs locked into the ice not far away.

We were a little surprised when we got to Cape Hallett to find a camp of scientists already at the location. There were seven tents setup and a more permanent building. The camp was a part of the South Korean Antarctic program and their main base is at Terra Nova Bay. This group of South Korean scientists are there studying the Adelie penguins, which make Cape Hallett their summer home and where their chicks are hatched. I talked to one of the South Korean scientists and he told me that they are studying the size of the population, the survival rate of the chicks, and whether the hatch rate is different if the nest is on land versus on snow. Cape Hallett is also an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (APSA), which means you are required to have an approved permit in order to visit. We had an ASPA permit in order to repair the AWS at this site. It turns out that it was a bonus for us to have the South Koreans at Cape Hallett. One person from their contingent was on a snow machine and he greeted us after we landed. He also volunteered to tow the sled with tools, batteries, and spare parts to the AWS site. It was about a one mile hike from the plane landing spot to the AWS. This hike also involved walking around the periphery of the penguin rookery. The hike went extra slow as I was also frequently stopping to take photos.

The AWS is located fairly close to the South Korean camp. The AWS that we were visiting had stopped transmitting over a year ago. In the end, I was not needed as the main AWS field engineer did most of the work and troubleshooting. Instead, I stood around and took photos and photos and photos.

The penguins seemed more curious this year in comparison to 2015 and we had many that would walk right up to us and check us out. Unfortunately, I was not able to get as close to the nests this time around, nor did I get to see two penguins fighting over a rock for their nest. The AWS repair took about an hour and a half and it was transmitting again by the time that we left. Then it was the hike back to the Twin Otter. Again with numerous photos along the way, as well as the South Korean scientist towing the sled with the tools and gear back to the Twin Otter.

The return trip was the reverse of the flight to Cape Hallett. We stopped again at Mario Zuchelli for fuel. We were a little disappointed that we were not invited up to their station for coffee or a bite to eat. Such a more extended visit has happened at times in the past with some of my colleagues. The flight from Mario Zuchelli back to Willy Field was brutal. We were flying into 85 knot head winds and the plane was moving all of the place. The flight that took us an hour and 17 minutes earlier in the day was instead an hour and 49 minutes. I highly doubt that I've been on a plane the moved around that much for such an extended period of time. Up, down, side-to-side, continually being pushed around by the winds. Oh well, we still made it back to Willy safely.

The Week Around Town

We are continuing to make progress with the project and removing all of the instruments and equipment from the field sites. We took a truck to the two local sites yesterday to remove the remaining instruments at Phoenix and to remove all of the instruments and wind shields at the Willie Field site. The only items that remain in the field are the towers and the power systems. It will take a large amount of digging to remove these items. I have estimated that it will take a 6 to 7 foot hole in the snow to remove three of the four instrument towers at the Willie Field site. I am putting out feelers to see if we can find people interested in helping with the digging.

The Willie Field APS site with the instruments and wind shields removed. The only remaining items are the instrument towers and power systems.

We are starting to work on packing the instruments and equipment into crates and shipping cases for the cargo to be transported back to Colorado. The retro cargo will be placed on the vessel in late January. From there it will be transported to California by the ship. It will get to California in mid to late April and then I will arrange for the cargo to be shipped to Boulder. 

There continue to be a collection of news and updates from around town that I'll share. Some of these items were previewed in my last post.

A lenticular cloud at the summit of Mount Erebus on Ross Island.

Power Outages:
While we were out on the Twin Otter flight to remove the Lorne site last Friday, the town was suffering through numerous power outages. I am not entirely sure what happened but it was clear that there was substantial issues with the power generating capacity. Even after we got back into town, about 8:30 PM, we were around to experience some power outages lasting a few minutes. The electrical power is provided to McMurdo Station through a power generator plant using diesel generators. Late Friday night some efforts were done that shutdown the power to McMurdo Station for about an hour. Along the way, some facilities and critical functions were placed on backup generators. Requests were made to everybody to remove non-essential electrical devices. This impacted our dinner that night. We got back from Lorne after dinner. That is typically not a big problem because they serve pizza 24-hours a day so we were expecting a pizza dinner. Except with the power problems the pizza oven was shutdown, leaving us with making cold sandwiches.

Water Restrictions:
One of the fallouts of the power outages was that they shutdown the water production system that creates the potable water from the sea water in the bay. The result of this is that the water storage reached a level where water restrictions were put into effect. These restrictions included: no laundry, one 2-minute shower per week, using paper plates and cups for meals, and no unnecessary mopping of floors. The water restrictions lasted for less than 48 hours, during which the stores of water returned to normal levels.

Removing the Willie Field APS equipment and loading the truck on the Phoenix Road.

Mass Casualty Incident Training:
If last week wasn't busy enough with the power outages and water restrictions, it was also the week of the mass casualty incident (MCI) training. The medical facilities in McMurdo are limited with a few doctors, PAs, and nurses. This means that if there would be an event that would require a mass response, the community has to contribute to the response effort. Each year there are people who volunteer to be on the MCI team and with that comes a training incident to take everybody through their roles. Last week's incident was a mock helicopter crash. In addition to the MCI team, there are volunteers who play roles, such as those injured, in the training exercise. The exercise typically lasts a couple hours and not much is noticeable except fewer people in their normal jobs and the radio traffic is set aside for the MCI training.

Sunday Science Lecture:
Much of the McMurdo Station community are not scientists but personnel that are here in support of the science through a collection of responsibilities and jobs across the station. There are two public lectures, Wednesday and Sunday evenings, that are provided to connect the support contract workers with the science that is being done. The Sunday Science Lecture is held in the galley, which is really the largest space for gathering people in McMurdo. This past Sunday, Scott, my colleague on the project, and I gave the Sunday Science Lecture on the Antarctic Precipitation System project. The goal of this lecture is to keep it very informative and also on a basic level for the non-scientists in the community. We had given a Sunday Science Lecture two years ago, at the onset of the project, and this year's lecture was for the close of the project. We were fortunate to have a full audience and I was happy with how the presentation went.

Scott Base:
McMurdo Station is the largest US station in Antarctica. About two miles away is Scott Base, the largest station for Antarctica New Zealand. However, the two facilities are much different in size. The current station population in McMurdo is 975 while it is 86 at Scott Base. Other than the Scott Base store, and American night at the bar, Scott Base is off limits to the USAP participants for no other reason than it could be quickly overwhelmed. The exception to this is if you have an invite. Earlier this evening I was able to have dinner at Scott Base while visiting at colleague from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. I brought two colleagues working with me at McMurdo, and he had two of his colleagues as well. To no surprise, the dining experience at Scott Base is much more family-style and similar to what is experienced at deep field camps. It was a good dinner and a fun visit. There is also a chance that we were able to line up about 10 graduate students to help us with digging out the towers at the Willie Field site early next week.

The dining hall at Scott Base for dinner.

Cape Hallett:
We are done flying for the precipitation project but there is a chance I might get in another flight with the University of Wisconsin automatic weather station (AWS) project. Four of my eight trips to Antarctica have been with the AWS project. This morning we were on the flight schedule for a trip to Cape Hallett. I visited Cape Hallett twice in 2015 and it is possibly my favorite place that I've been to in Antarctica. Most all of my best photos from Antarctica are from Cape Hallett. The quick description is that it is a penguin colony surrounded by amazing mountains. This morning's flight was cancelled due to bad weather at the destination. We are on the flight schedule again for the morning. 

Twin Otter Flights

Many times, the breaks in my posts are because not much has been happening and there is not much to write about. Other times it is because of a flurry of activity that results in things not getting done along the way, including posts. This latter explanation is the reason for this latest delay. 

At the end of each work day, the Fixed Wing Office, which is in charge of the US Antarctic Program non-helo flights on the continent, posts a schedule for the Twin Otter and the Basler DC-3 planes. Currently, there are three Twin Otters in McMurdo, and a fourth when including the Twin Otter for the Antarctica New Zealand program. In addition to the primary mission for each plane, there are multiple backup missions that are also planned. Frequently, the primary mission is not able to happen because of bad weather at the destination. In fact, it is common for the backup missions to not be able to fly as well.

Two DHC-6 Twin Otter airplanes at the Alexander Tall Tower site.

Getting the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) field camp put-in team to WAIS has been one of the primary Twin Otter missions for the last two weeks. They are roughly two weeks behind schedule for the camp open due to routinely bad weather at WAIS. This past Wednesday, we were on the Twin Otter flight schedule to Lorne as a backup to the WAIS flights. WAIS did not happen and neither did our our flight because of bad weather at the destinations. The same scenario happened on Thursday. For Friday, we were a backup mission to fly either to the Lorne or the Tall Tower sites. The primary mission was cancelled because of weather at the destination. That bumped us up to priority and we were put on a weather delay. The weather at Lorne and Tall Tower for the morning was messy and the forecast was for it to clear at Tall Tower later in the day. The flight schedule to Tall Tower included two planes to take us to the site. We knew that we'd be retro'ing about 3000 pounds of gear and equipment, including 1540 pounds in batteries. The second Twin Otter would allow us to retro all of the cargo in a single flight. As the day unfolded, it was determined that the weather at Tall Tower was good and that we'd take-off at 1:30 PM. There were some delays in getting us and all of our gear to work on the sites. By the time we loaded the plane and took off it was closer to 2:30 PM. Shortly before the flight the weather was determined to be good at Lorne site and the flight plans were modified one more time.

The Lorne Antarctic Precipitation System when we arrived on site. The power systems are entirely buried and there is about 40 inches of accumulation with the towers and instruments.

Snow accumulation, from blowing snow and precipitation, is something that is an accepted part of field work when having instruments installed in the field. Therefore, we knew that there would be a lot of digging of snow to remove all of the equipment. Going to Lorne was myself, my colleague on the project, Scott, two colleagues with UNAVCO that have worked with us a lot on the project, and two other people from another project who had a spare day to help us. One of the benefits of two Twin Otter planes is that we also had two flight crews with each plane having two pilots. I never expect, or plan, for the pilots to help us in the field. If they decide to help, at any level, it is a bonus. Last Friday we had a big bonus as the four pilots all helped and worked really hard in digging out the equipment. After we landed, I was asked for the expected ground time and I guessed four hours. I was thinking I was possibly being too optimistic. We ended up leaving almost exactly at four hours. In between was a lot of work by everybody at the site. The wind shield was lowered and disassembled. The instruments were removed from the instrument tower. The cases and 22 12V batteries (70 pounds each), similar to in your car except using a gel-cell, were dug out from several feet beneath the snow surface. All of the towers and snow anchors were also removed. Once we were done, we loaded the planes with the 3000 pounds of equipment and returned back to William Field Skiway and then onto McMurdo by a van.

The disassembly of the wind shield and the precipitation gauge.

Digging out two 3-watt battery systems, including 22 batteries, with the help of the Twin Otter flight crews.

We didn't get into McMurdo until around 8:30PM due to the late start to the day. We were all hungry and tired from all of the digging. We also learned that the town was having power outages, which I'll explain in another post. Dinner was no longer being served so we had to make sandwiches at the deli in the galley. Our thoughts started to shift to how we'd spend the next day unpacking and sorting through all of the equipment we had pulled. It was around then that we learned that we were on the flight schedule for next day with a 7:30 AM departure from the lab. This not only sounded exhausting, because we'd have to do the same work again in removing the Tall Tower site, but there were also two issues. The tools, and some of the gear, that we need to remove the site were in the cargo system and returning from the flight that we had just completed. We didn't have access to the tools and gear and we didn't know when we would. On top of that, the two people from the other group would not be able to help us with Tall Tower. I wasn't sure how the four of us would be able to do all of the digging to remove Tall Tower, because again, I never expect the pilots to help. I stayed up late that Friday night sifting through all that happened while we were in the field that day, and working through our options for the flight to Tall Tower the next morning. I ended the day by sending an email to Fixed Wing informing them of our issues in needing the cargo from Friday's flight, as well as a concern about having enough help to get the job done. Part of me wanted to remove ourselves from the flight schedule but my general rule is that you don't pass on flights when they are given to you.

The Lorne APS sites after the removal of all of the equipment leaving only the holes in the snow. The next storm that comes across the area with 20+ mph winds will quickly fill in those holes.

I got up at 6:15 Saturday morning to be available when Fixed Wing started to organize and make final decisions on the day. I hadn't heard from them by 7:20, and breakfast was about to end, so I quickly left to get breakfast. We were placed on a flight delay and I was guessing it was because of the issue with tools and gear in cargo. After returning from breakfast, I was asked by Fixed Wing for our status in being able to leave for Tall Tower. I clarified that we needed to find where our cargo was from the trip the night before. I walked across town to find our cargo. I also found a loader operator to deliver the Lorne APS cargo to the lab. The delivery was completed and we were able to sift through the cargo to quickly ready ourselves for that day's work. In the meantime, I also learned that they were able to get four boondogglers to help with the digging. This was another trip into the field where we had two Twin Otters. Things started to fall into place and we were ready to be picked up from the lab by 9:30 and we were in the air by 10:15. It was a whirlwind of an early morning but everything had fallen into place.

Working on the digging out and removal of the Antarctic Precipitation System site at Alexander Tall Tower with the assistance of the flights crews and the boondogglers.

The removal of the Tall Tower site was roughly the same as the removal of Lorne the day before. The boondogglers and pilots weren't as good as the digging as the crew we had the previous day, although at Tall Tower we had two more people. I think it also required less digging for Tall Tower than there was at Lorne. We again hit the four hour ground time, almost to the minute. 2500 pounds of cargo were loaded on the planes and we made it back to the Williams Field Ski-way by 3:30 and into McMurdo well before 5:00. We completed our first full week in McMurdo and the field visits to the two sites that required flights were completed. That puts us in a very good position to complete the season ahead of schedule. However, I am always cautious to think that way because you never know what might come up to set you behind by a week or longer.

Unloading the cargo from the Twin Otter plane into cargo boxes to be transported to the lab in McMurdo Station from the William Field Ski-way.

Updates From Around Town

I have now been in Antarctica for a little over five full days. A general rule of thumb that has been used in the past is that it takes a week to get out into the field after arriving into town. Given that we have two sites that are accessible by truck, located about 7 miles and 13 miles from McMurdo, it is a little easier to make it to those sites. We made it to the Phoenix Airfield site earlier today and we were able to do about 75% of the work that we'll need to do to remove that site. We had two men from another project that volunteered to help us today and that was a big difference with all of the digging that was done. We are on the Twin Otter (a small, twin-engine, turbo-prop airplane) schedule tomorrow as a backup mission. However, the primary mission has been delayed for the past eight days so there is a good chance it will be delayed again. If/when we fly to the Lorne site, the goal is to remove all of the equipment in a single day. The cargo that we are retro'ing to town is so much that it will take two return flights. Fortunately, each leg of the flight is no more than 45 minutes.

There is nothing too significant that has happened thus far into the season so I will instead share with you a collection of updates and snippets of information on life here.

Standing over what used to the be location of the precipitation gauge installed at Phoenix Airfield.

Boondogglers:
For that flight to Lorne site tomorrow, we'll have four "boondogglers" on the trip. When extra assistance is needed in the field, or sometimes if there are available seats on a plane or helicopter, a request is made to the station administration. Work centers have a running list of workers who have been doing a good job and they are rewarded with "morale trips". The station administration contacts the work centers and volunteers are provided for our flight. This is a HUGE deal for the contract workers because most of them never get out of town during their 4 to 5 month contract. Depending on the boondoggle, it could easily be one of the highlights to their season. We also specify what is needed of the boondogglers and for the trip to Lorne we specified "hearty shovelers" to help with all of the digging.

The work being done in digging out the precipitation gauge and mounting hardware at Phoenix Airfield.

C-17:
Do you remember the three-day mechanical delay that I had with the C-17 to get to McMurdo Station? That three-day delay is now looking minor. They have yet to get in another flight since I arrived five days ago. There are three or four flights that are now backed up in Christchurch.

Cargo:
As big of a deal that it is that passengers are getting backed up in Christchurch, the situation with cargo is likely just as critical. Once a year, in January, there is a cargo resupply vessel that makes its trip from California to McMurdo. Most of the supplies that are needed for the next year and forward are shipped on the vessel. A year-plus of food for the entire station has to be ordered and shipped on the vessel. Anything that does not go on the vessel, has to arrive by the military cargo planes, at a much greater cost. A large share of this cargo going by plane is the equipment and supplies for the scientists to do their work in the field. Because of this backlog of C-17 flights, the cargo is also getting backlogged in Christchurch and it has reached the levels where some groups are at a standstill because they are waiting on their cargo to arrive. Fortunately, the only thing that was shipped for my project is empty shipping cases so we can wait another week or two until we need to use those cases.

Good Weather:
What makes things worse with the mechanical issues with the C-17 flights is that most of the main body season has had excellent weather. For this time of year the temperatures have been relatively warm and there has only been one minor snow event in something like the last month. Generally, whenever there is a stretch of great weather like this, it is amazing the amount of work that gets done in a short period of time. Except that is not quite happening this time around because of the C-17 delays and the backlog of personnel and cargo. A running comment among people in McMurdo is that eventually the C-17 will get fixed and then we'll have a stretch of bad weather that cancels the C-17 flights.

The view towards the north Phoenix Airfield. It is Ross Island in the distance, with Mt. Erebus as the dominant peak towards the left, and the Ross Ice Shelf leading up to the base of Ross Island.

Stickers:
During much of the first week, our time is spent going around town and attending various briefing and trainings. For example, this afternoon we had a training with "MacOps", which is the radio dispatch center for the station and all of the field camps. During this training they go through all of the protocols and methods of communication that we are to use while we are away from McMurdo Station. We are assigned a VHF (hand-held) radio and an Iridium satellite phone. When we are near town we are able to communicate by VHF radio and we have the Iridium to use when we are outside of radio range. Two years ago, I designed (with the assistance of a great friend) and created a sticker for the project. Most all of the time whenever we are meeting with people, I will give them a sticker for the project. I am always amazed how much people appreciate getting a sticker and the value that the stickers hold in this community. The image below is that of the sticker for the project. The "O-456" is our event number and for many people that is what we are known by in their dealings with our project.

McMurdo Rebuild:
I'll do an entire post on this in the future. The quick update for now is that Congress has funded a rebuild of McMurdo Station and that rebuild is starting during this main body season. The first major task is constructing a building that was originally thought would be built about a dozen years ago. The presence of the rebuild is being noticed throughout the town. There are a number of construction workers as a part of the population, and some of the cargo that is backed up in Christchurch is for the rebuild. Starting over the winter and into next main body season, the rebuild will increase in scope. Earlier I said that there is a single vessel resupply ship each year. For this year, and likely coming years, there will be two vessels bring the necessary equipment and supplies for the rebuild.

Those are some of the minor updates of life around McMurdo Station during my first week in town. I am still seeing and catching up with friends from recent seasons, which always makes me happy. I have yet to really start to meet new friends. That always seems to take at least half of the season.

Made It to McMurdo Station

Hello, from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. This post is coming at the end of a typically long day involving the transit from Christchurch to McMurdo. We received notice yesterday afternoon that our flight was scheduled but with a two hour later start than normal. That later start had me a little concerned because I felt it was saying that they were not certain the plane would be ready. I got up at 6:30 AM and was ready for the 7:15 AM shuttle to the airport. With no morning updates, I concluded that the flight was ready to go. To no surprise, the check-in process went a little faster and smoother this time around with everybody having to repeat what they did three days earlier. We got on the bus to take us to the plane at 9:45 AM and this time we got off the bus and loaded the plane. Two minutes before the scheduled departure of 11:00, we started taxiing and we were in the air less than 10 minutes later.

The flight to Antarctica was similarly drama free. The flight was in a C-17, which is a large U.S. Air Force cargo plane. I view flying in the C-17 as luxurious, especially in comparison to the C-130, and the C-141 was worse. I was able to get a seat along the side of the plane. These seats are my preferred location as there is more room to stuff your bags and you have all the leg room you could ask for to stretch out during the flight. The seating is rather simple but I've never found it uncomfortable. The C-17 pilots were also very welcoming in allowing us to get in some views of, and from, the cockpit. The flight took five hours. We landed at 4:00 PM without any issues.

Getting off the plane for the first time is always one of the highlights of my field season. Antarctica is an extremely unique place and it is easy to forget what it is truly like until it is laid out in front of your eyes. The Ross Island region (McMurdo Station lies on the southern tip of Ross Island) is particularly beautiful with the Transantarctic Mountains in the distance, as well as Mount Discovery, White Island, Black Island, and Minna Bluff making up the scenery. We get off the plane and I was able to take a number of photos. Personally, I am always baffled by the people who walk directly from the plane to the large transport vehicles. I probably looked around and took photos for less that five minutes and I was one of the last people to load the vehicles for the transport to McMurdo. With 90 passengers on the flight, we had the large "Cres" passenger carrier, and two "Deltas", to get everybody into town. It was about an hour drive from Phoenix Airfield into McMurdo, a drive of approximately 16 miles.

Once we got into McMurdo it was the Arrival Briefing. For decades this briefing was done by the station manager and this year they upgraded the presentation to be done by video. The briefing lasted about a half hour. After getting our lodging assignments, we were free to go and we went to start unloading things in the lab as well as grabbing dinner.

To no surprise, one of the enjoyable parts of getting back to McMurdo is seeing and connecting with many colleagues and friends from past field seasons. When we got off of the Delta, two friends, who have spent a lot of time with us in the field, were there to greet us as well as take our carry-on bags into the lab. Throughout dinner, as well as walking around town, I was able to see a number of familiar faces and receive nice greetings welcoming us back into town. As odd of a a place as this is, it definitely has a feeling of "home" for me.

Field Season Preview

I have not received any official updates on the status of the C-17 flight delay. I have heard a little more information regarding the plane and it appears that it is no guarantee that we will fly on Thursday. I was able to get out and do a hike this afternoon. I took a city bus to the Christchurch Gondola, which is the start of the "Bridle Path" hike that goes up and over a pass leading to the port city of Lyttelton. Once in Lyttelton I grabbed dinner and then took the city bus back to Christchurch.

The view looking into Lyttleton from the midway point on my Bridle Path hike this afternoon. 

My trip to Antarctic for this field season is for the Antarctic Precipitation System (APS) project. The APS project is a National Science Foundation grant to develop methods to measure precipitation in Antarctica. The measurement of precipitation in Antarctic is extremely difficult due to the low quantity of precipitation and the frequent occurrence of high winds that makes it difficult to distinguish between blowing snow and falling snow (precipitation). The APS project is similar to most NSF funded projects in that it has a three year duration. The instrument systems were installed during the first field season, November 2017, they were serviced and maintained in the second field season, November 2018, and this year the instrument systems will be removed from the field. To no surprise, the removal of the instruments will be a discouraging experience. My plans are to submit a new proposal, in about three months, to renew the APS project for another three years. If the proposal is funded, and it takes about 6-12 months to receive an answer if it will be funded or not, the APS instruments would be deployed again in the future.

The webcam image from the Lorne APS site on October 5, 2019. This site, in addition to the three other APS sites, will be removed this month.

The actual work to be completed during this year's field season is quite simple. We will visit the four APS sites and remove all of the instruments, instrument towers, and power systems. Two of the four sites are accessible by truck and we'll start working on removing those systems about 3-4 days after arriving into McMurdo. One of the sites will be accessed by helicopter and the other by Twin Otter, a small, twin-engine, prop airplane. We have requested to fly to these two sites in the second week of the field season. Any delays, due to weather or flight availability, in getting to those two sites are the biggest uncertainties in this field season. After removing all of the equipment from the field, we will pack everything into crates to be shipped back to Colorado. The one piece that I have not covered is that this field season is going to include a lot of digging in the snow. There is about one to two feet of accumulation of snow every year, depending on the site. Additionally, we learned last year that the APS installations resulted in abnormal drifting around the equipment. In order to fully remove all of the equipment, we will need to dig down to the original installation height. I am already working on efforts to get people from McMurdo to help us with the digging to be done at the four sites.

The difference in height of the snow at the Willie Field APS instrument tower from November 2017 and November 2018.

Since this is the last year for the project, it is also my last known field season in Antarctica. This is my 8th trip to Antarctica and fifth year in a row with a field season. However, in theory, this could be my last trip to Antarctica. I do not have any current or future funded projects that involve Antarctic field work. Given the difficulties in getting funding for such projects, it would not be a surprise if it was my last trip. Then again, I have twice fully left Antarctic field work for 10 years, only to make it back. The likelihood is that I will never know when it will be my last trip to Antarctica. I have always tried to treat each trip as my "last trip" to maximize the experience and to not lose the appreciation of the unique and incredible opportunity I have to go to Antarctica. With trips each of the last five years, including three years in a row at the same time of year, it has made it more difficult to maintain that "last trip" mentality. One of my goals, and challenges, for this field season is to once again maximize the excitement and fun offered with such an opportunity as traveling to Antarctica.

One of the advantages of going to Antarctica for five years in a row is developing a strong connection to the community in McMurdo and the many friendships that have been formed over the years. Each season has its surprises with people and friends that have moved onto different careers. Yet there are also many bonds that are renewed with those that have returned for another year "on the ice". I know that I am looking forward to hanging out with several of these friends over the next month. It is also much easier to navigate the logistics of getting things done around McMurdo when you know who to contact and you are a known face. Spending a month with a community that has become very close is probably the biggest thing that I am looking forward to with this field season.

Getting ready to have Thanksgiving with a group of friends in McMurdo.

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