More Life in McMurdo

We were originally scheduled to fly out to the CTAM (Central TransantArctic Mountain) base near the Beardmore Glacier Friday December 3.  But weather delays have pushed our scheduled departure until next Monday, December 6.  Part of that is weather related, but because the ice runway is scheduled to be moved this Saturday, that essentially pushes us back to Monday.  So, we will spend another weekend in McMurdo Station.

Here are some more photos from around the town:

Click on the photos for a larger view.

Tim Briggs, a long time friend from Grand Marais, Minnesota is working in McMurdo supervising the installation of the new power plant here.

Tim and the new Cat generators

The RO (Reverse Osmosis) system for desalinating seawater or McMurdo's water needs 

Tim with one of the control monitors for McMurdo power

This screen shows the integration of the 3 large wind turbines on Ross Island.  As you can see from the screen each wind turbine is generating over 300 Kw and in total is supplying 50% of the island's energy needs at the moment this picture was taken.

Fresh water holding tanks for McMurdo's water needs.

View of some of the McMurdo dormitories as seen from Hut Point.

The Coffee House (aka wine bar).  This is a very pleasant place to hang out at the end of the day and catch up with people.  TThe Coffee House is in one of the old style "half pipe" quonset hut buildings.  In fact this is one of the longest standing structures at McMurdo Station.  But the interior has been apportioned nicely with wood panelling and other additions to give it a warm feeling.

The other end of the Coffee House.

Crisis in McMurdo Station--the general store ran out of beer!  Resupply eventually came, but the McMurdo natives were getting restless.

A few buildings from Scott Base, the Kiwi Station ~ 3 km away from McMurdo.  Black Island is in the background.  Not the large pressure ridge just beyond the buildings.  These are pressure ridges built up between the sea ice and the much thicker shelf ice.

This sign shows that Antarctica is a long way from anywhere in the northern hemisphere.  Closest place (other than the South Pole) is Christchurch, New Zealand.

Hubert Staudigal, back in McMurdo Station from field work at the top of Mt. Erebus.  Hubert and his group is looking at microbial-rock interaction (the "rock bottom of the food chain") at Mt. Erebus. 

View Hubert's link

Snowmobile shakedown

We rode out of McMurdo to get a little more time on snowmobile before heading out into the field.  We will be driving on blue (glacier) ice, much of it on slopes, and Dylan wanted all to be comfortable driving the skidoos on icy slopes.  So we headed down the sea ice north of McMurdo to drive on the ice sheets coming off of Ross Island.

Please click on photo for a larger view.

Fueling up the skidoos.

Getting off of the Sea ice and onto terra firma

Tanya and Mark and their skidoos

Dylan demonstrates the advanced one-handed backward riding technique

Tanya "Hot Rod" Dryer carves a turn on the slopes.

Tanya didn't have much opportunity to ride snowmobiles growing up in South Africa (none obviously), but learned quickly and did a great job on the snow and ice.

A storm was moving into the area and the winds were whistling

The temps were in the teens but the wind was blowing 25-30 knots making it a bit nippy

Getting ready to head back for McMurdo after finishing training on the icy slopes.

A Weddell Seal was largely disinterested in our activities.

On the sea ice, heading back to McMurdo.

Helo Flight to the Warren Range

Dylan Taylor and John Goodge planning the route with the Helo pilot.

Dylan Taylor and John Goodge, checking the route.

Jeff Vervoort, enjoying the fantastic terrain

A lateral moraine on the  Koettlittz  Glacier.

Moraines on the Koettlittz glacier

The Pyramid refueling cache.  In order to support helo trips from McMurdo, refueling is essential.  Several refueling caches are maintained for this purpose.  Bring your own fuel pump!

Rolling a barrel of fuel to the helo

At the Pyramid fuel cache.

Looking at the rocks in the moraine at Pyramid Point.

Mt. Discovery near Pyramid.

Large crevasses in the  Koettlittz Glacier south of Pyramid.

Huge claw-shaped crevasses.

Side glaciers flowing into the Skelton glacier

Side glaciers flowing into the Skelton glacier

Side glaciers flowing into the Skelton glacier

A lateral moraine trailing off of Mt. Darbyshire

A lateral moraine trailing off of Mt. Darbyshire.

John Goodge looking at the rocks of the Mt. Darbyshire moraine.  The rocks here appeared to be all locally derived, and dominantly clasts of the Ferrar Dolerite.  Temperature here was about -20°C (-5°F), but with a stiff wind blowing off the polar plateau that made it feel much colder.

Dylan Taylor picking his way across the blue ice near the helo landing spot.

Rocks of the Beacon Group with Ferrar dolerites exposed along cliffs of the Boomerang Range.

Clasts in the moraine trailing from the Boomerang Range exposures.

John Goodge and Dylan Taylor scouring the moraine for clasts mixed in with the more locally derived material

Mark Fanning looking at the moraine material

The moraine near the Boomerang range.

Snow filled ablation scours in the blue glacier ice with a few scattered clasts.

John Goodge and Tanya Dryer in the Boomerang Range moraine

Boomerang Range moraine

Near the Koettlitz Glacier.

Near the Koettlitz Glacier.

Near the terminus of the Koettlitz Glacier.

Near the terminus of the Koettlitz Glacier.

Patterns in the sea ice between Koettlittz Glacier and McMurdo Station

More sea ice patterns. 

More sea ice patterns. 

More sea ice patterns. 

More sea ice patterns. 

More sea ice patterns. 

Flying over the ice runway on the return to the helo pad.  The ice runway is schedule to be moved from here after Dec 3.