Antarctic Passenger Terminal

I am writing this message from the Antarctic Passenger Terminal in Christchurch. This is where we wait for the final flight briefing and then to board the airplane. They were able to get an Airbus and a C-17 out yesterday. There are rumors (accurate information is sometimes scant) that an Airbus went this morning and we are scheduled for a flight on a C-17. Provided that the weather does not change and there are no mechanical problems, I will be leaving at 7:30 PM Colorado time and arriving at Pegasus Runway approximately 5 1/2 hours later. From there we will board a vehicle to take us into McMurdo Station. We will be landing at night. This will also be my first experience of seeing darkness in Antarctica. All of my previous trips have been with continuous daylight. Tomorrow is Sunday, the one day off each week, so we might be greeted with a quiet day immediately after our arrival.

The Antarctic Passenger Terminal for the United States Antarctic Program in Christchurch, New Zealand.

All of my gear for my six weeks in Antarctica. Everybody is limited to 85 pounds on the flights to/from New Zealand, not including your carry-on bag.

After your bags are checked in there is a waiting game until being brought to the airplane.

When it comes time to load the plane, we go through a security screening fairly similar to that by TSA at an airport in the United States.

After the security screening we are transported by an old school bus onto the tarmac to load the airplane.

The United States Antarctic Program works with the Air Force to provide some of the cargo flights to / from Antarctica and New Zealand. This is the C-17 and it is a pretty nice ride with a reasonable flight length at about 5 1/2 hours.

Seasonal Confusion

The last two days have had cool and overcast conditions in Christchurch. Given that I just came from a reasonably hot summer in Colorado, it has made me feel like it is fall. I had a very nice run yesterday where it felt like one of my favorite fall runs. Except it is not fall in Christchurch as it is instead early spring. In a couple days I will eventually be making it to Antarctica where it will feel like a bitterly cold winter, as the season there is changing to spring. Then in six weeks I’ll be returning to Colorado where it will be fall. Such contrasts in weather can make for confusing conclusions about the current season.

I am still in Christchurch and will continue to be here for at least another 36 hours. The current schedule has me flying south on a C-17 military cargo plan on Friday morning. Today was another day of weather delays due to weather in McMurdo and we have also slipped to a later flight to arrive closer to our cargo. Thus far all of our delays have been of the 24-48 hour variety. Such delays are considerably easier to handle than 24 hour delays when you go to bed expecting to be leaving first thing in the morning. Instead, you wake to a phone call saying 24 hour delay.

The Botanical Gardens in Christchurch is always a great place to visit. However, with it being at the end of winter the gardens are not the typical green paradise that I see when traveling to the ice later in the season.

The center rose garden at the Botanical Gardens is showing its winter colors, or lack there of.

Some tourist kayaking on the Avon around the Botanical Gardens.

Flight Delays

I am still in Christchurch, New Zealand. The original schedule had me flying to Antarctica on Monday (remember, I am 18 hours ahead of mountain time). It will now be Wednesday at the earliest that I will make it to Antarctica. I wouldn’t call such a delay as expected but it certainly does not come as a surprise.

This time of year is referred to as “WinFly” for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). WinFly is short for winter fly-in, which occurs at the end of the winter and at the beginning of the transition to spring. WinFly is a special period where there are a series concentrated flights to increase the personnel at McMurdo Station in preparation for the main body season, which starts at the beginning of October. WinFly also used to be the first flights to McMurdo Station since the station closed in late February. However, this past year they started doing mid-winter flight and they have had a flight approximately every six weeks. There are three flights using an Airbus and two flights using a C-17 military cargo plane that are scheduled for this year’s WinFly. Once those flights are completed, that will be the end of flights into or out of McMurdo Station until the start of the main body season on October 3. The first Airbus flight was scheduled for Saturday and I was scheduled to be on the second flight for Monday. The weather at McMurdo Station (actually, the airfield - Pegasus Runway) precluded the initial Airbus from traveling on Saturday and Sunday. The reports that I heard today were that the weather had cleared but they needed a day to get Pegasus Runway in groomed conditions for the Airbus to land safely. The plan is now for the initial Airbus flight to go on Tuesday and if all goes well, I will get out on Wednesday.

After the initial training and briefing we go the Clothing Distribution Center where extreme cold weather (ECW) clothing has been pulled for us. At the CDC we try on the ECW clothing to verify fit and that we have all that is necessary.

I arrived into Christchurch Saturday afternoon. Much of Sunday was spent at the USAP Clothing Distribution Center going through some training and orientation, as well as being issued our extreme cold weather (ECW) clothing. They had us come back to the CDC on Monday to go through some more training, which eliminates some of the training to be done when we get to Antarctica. Tuesday will be the first day with no formal activities to be done related to the trip to Antarctica. I have spent some time doing touristy activities around Christchurch, as well as trying to relax and catch up on life. Things were really busy the days leading up to my departure. Generally, the delays when we know well ahead of time that we are not flying are easy to handle and can be relaxing. Once we are scheduled to fly the next day, then any delays can start to be wearing. In 2005 I had seven days of 24 hour delays, including one day where we flew half way and then returned to New Zealand. Hopefully, I’ll avoid any similar experience this time around.

Two of the key components of the ECW gear are the bibs and the "big red" parka. "Big red" can be your friend and comforter in extremely cold conditions.

Returning to the Ice - 2016

Hello, again! I am currently in Christchurch, New Zealand on my way for another trip to Antarctica. This trip will be much different from last year in that I am flying in at the end of winter, during the period known as "WinFly". The work will also be be different as I'll be part of a project flying small UAVs (unmanned aircraft vehicle), or you can think of them as small drones, to take observations of the lowest part of the atmosphere during the transition from winter to summer. I'll be sending out a more in-depth description of the project and the unique conditions I'll be experiencing during this late winter to early spring field season in a day or two. Similar to a year ago, I'll be using this email list to provide updates on the trip. If you are NOT interested in receiving the updates, please follow the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of this email. I'd much rather you unsubscribe than be annoyed every time you get a message from me. Otherwise, you will be automatically included in this year's trip. If you know of anybody else who would also enjoy following allow on the journey, they may subscribe to the email posts with the following form. Please let me know if you have any questions.

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Photos

Hello again and Happy New Year! I am back and reasonably settled into my life in Colorado. I am slowly getting back to a more consistent daily routine this week after the rush of the holidays and a conference in New Orleans last week. 

I have also completed the photos from my recent trip to Antarctica. In the end I took 656 photos during the 9+ weeks that I was away from Colorado. I have placed 240 of the pictures in a web photo album that includes captions. You can view these photos at: http://foehn.colorado.edu/seefeldt/antarctica-2015/

If 240 photos seems like too much to you, which is reasonable, I have created a smaller web photo album with my 80 favorite photos. You can view this smaller album at:
  http://foehn.colorado.edu/seefeldt/antarctica-2015-sm/
(If you saw my album on facebook, this smaller collection is the exact same.)

This album brings this year's trip to a close. I am scheduled for a return visit to Antarctica in late August. I will send an email shortly before that trip to see if you are interested in following along with another journey to the coldest, driest, and windiest continent. Thanks for joining in with me on this year's journey!

Last Day in McMurdo

I have made it successfully back to Christchurch and I am currently in Sydney en route to Colorado. I will be arriving in Colorado Friday afternoon. I was one of 37 passengers that made it northbound on an LC-130 (ski-equipped herc) Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, there was not much more on the herc than the passengers and bags so it wasn't nearly as cramped as I anticipated. The skis result in more air resistance and the LC-130 is not as fast as the C-17 that I took to go south. The result is that it was about a 7 1/2 hour flight as opposed to 5 1/2 hours on the C-17, and that was with a strong tailwind. I should add that the weather went bad at WAIS not long after our med evac flight left. It is not an exaggeration to conclude if it was not for the med evac flight, I would still be at WAIS.

My last day in McMurdo was a flurry of activities. The day started at 7:15 AM with a phone call asking me if I could get all of my gear together in 20 minutes so I could fly out that day on the med evac flight taking Jim to Christchurch. It took me a split second to answer with a "no". Much of the day was spent going around town and saying good-bye to, as well as thanking, people who were instrumental during the eight weeks of the field season. I also spent some time returning some of our gear, unpacking field equipment from WAIS, and organizing the lab. There are two additional co-workers that will be arriving in two weeks to continue the AWS field season. Lastly, it was unpacking my clothes, doing a little laundry, and then packing my gear to go back to Colorado. It was a very busy day and I was up late again making sure that everything was done. I also tried to slow down at the end to absorb some of my last few hours in McMurdo. Before going to bed, I took a picture of the sun at the same time as the last sunset that was seen on my second night in McMurdo. It has been amazing to see how much things have changed during my eight weeks in town.

A picture of the sun at 12:30 AM at approximately the lowest point in the sky on my last night in McMurdo, December 16th. 

This is approximately the same view as the above picture but on my second day in McMurdo, which was the night of the last sunset. The key is to notice the difference in the angle of the sun between arriving and leaving McMurdo.

I am flying "first available" back to Colorado, which means I was booked on the earliest flight back to Colorado leaving me only 12 hours in Christchurch.  One of the things that is always immediately noticeable are the colors, smells, and sounds that your experience in Christchurch after having been removed from so much while in Antarctica. I went for a long walk around town and I was able to spend some time in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, which is a favorite thing for me to do after getting off of the ice. Then by mid-evening I saw a sunset for the first time in nearly two months. From this point forward I have two more flights to get back to Colorado. After over a dozen Twin Otter flights and five military cargo flights, the comfy airline seats are quite a luxury.

A stop at the Rose Garden at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens on my one night in Christchurch prior to returning to Colorado. I saw my first sunset in nearly two month about a half hour later.

Return to McMurdo

I have made it back to McMurdo Station from WAIS after a seven day delay from our originally scheduled flight. Unfortunately, it was not the flight that we were hoping for as it was a med evac flight for one of the heavy equipment operators. We were originally scheduled for a herc flight arriving at around 1:30 AM. There was some doubt in that flight due to a possible storm moving into WAIS. At around 10:30 AM there was a call on the radio by the operator calling for medical. When asked if he needed medical assistance he said yes. When asked what the PA should be bring he calmly said “I think it is a basic lower leg fracture”. The camp spun into rapid motion at that time and he was eventually brought to the medical tent. By 11:30 AM plans were being made for a med evac flight. An afternoon herc flight to another field camp was rescheduled for WAIS. The herc arrived at 4:30 PM. After transferring some fuel, loading the passengers and the med evac, we were on our way back to McMurdo, with a mostly empty herc. The herc landed at Willy Field and we were then transported to McMurdo arriving at 9:45 PM. The crazy part in this story is that yesterday this operator was commenting on the lack of herc flights to WAIS and joked “I’ll break my leg if I have to, to get a flight in”. In the end, I spent 14 days at WAIS.

The herc at WAIS Divide camp offloading fuel before loading the med evac and passengers to return to McMurdo. The camp manager is waiting for the completion of the fuel offload.

Jim on the stretcher waiting to be loaded onto the herc for his med evac flight.

Sleeping and reading on the herc on the med evac flight back to McMurdo.

From this point forward we are in pack and go mode. First on the list for the morning is to shower and do a load of laundry for the first time in two weeks. We are scheduled for a northbound flight to Christchurch for Thursday afternoon. We will “bag drag”, when we check our bags for the northbound flight, this (Wednesday) evening. In between now and then it is unpacking from WAIS and then packing for the return to Colorado. I will also do what I can to sift through email messages and internet sites after now having regular internet access, albeit super slow, for the first time in two weeks. Thursday will be a fairly quiet day until it comes time to transport to Pegasus Runway sometime in the mid-afternoon. The last tasks that need to be completed will be walking around McMurdo saying good-byes and thank yous to many of the people that we have worked with over the last eight weeks.

One last item from WAIS that I forgot to describe is the plumbing, or limited amount of plumbing overall. The bathrooms are handled by a row of outhouses between the tents and the cargo lines. As far as running water, there is running water only in the “Wash Mod” and in the “Kitchen Mod”. Keep in mind, access to liquid water is fairly non-existent. In order to get water, snow has to be melted. Outside of the Wash Mod and Kitchen Mod is a plastic barrel and shovel dedicated to snow melting. Throughout the day, anybody and everybody, at the camp is filling a barrel with snow and then dumping it into the snow melter. The snow melter gradually melts the snow and the water is eventually transferred to a holding tank for use in the Wash Mod or Kitchen Mod. I didn’t keep track of how many barrels it takes a day to keep the camp going, but I would estimate it on the range of 10-15 for each snow melter. Because of this limited resource of water, water conservation is essential. Showers are suggested to only be once a week and even then lasting for only two minutes of running water. It is suggested that you dump one barrel of snow if you want to take a shower and two barrels of snow if you want to wash your clothes.

Clearly, my trip to Antarctica is starting to come to a close. I hope to update the blog with all of the posts from WAIS as well as including pictures with each post. If all goes well, I’ll get that done prior to my northbound flight.