Weddell Seals

On the trail of the elusive Weddell Seal.  The southernmost breeding mammal in the world.  Out with the helicopter and several researchers from Montana State, our group conducted counts of seals from McMurdo Station northward along the west coast of the Ross Sea up to the Italian Antarctic base Terra Nova.  The pics and videos below are from that day, and needless to say it was amazing.

Parking on the sea ice near colonies of seals that had come up through cracks in the ice to birth their pups.  Crossing ice cracks with fathoms of water below.  Seals coming and going through holes and cracks.  Pups days old.  Some of the old seals coming onto the ice one last time to birth, and in some cases to die.  So loud.  Barking, groaning, whining pups, snorting, huffing.  You name it, and these huge animals make the sounds.  Pups can weigh up to 300 lbs in only 30 days.  Adults weighing up to 1,100 lbs.  We set down in several places along the coast.  Near a place called Devils Punch Bowl, we were awed by a 2,000 to 3,000 ft ice fall from a glacier.  This place never ceases to amaze you with its natural beauty, scale, and diversity.

Our stop at Terra Nova was wonderful as we were treated to a full tour of the comparatively small and efficient base, a full course lunch meal complete with hand made breads, cheeses, and huge rolls of salami with seafood pastas and wine on every table.  Things are a little different in Italy.  We began and finished the tour with fresh espressos from a more beautiful machine than I've seen in any Starbucks.  Modern science and exploration is not without its select creature comforts.

The seals were being checked for tags, and if tagged seals were found, they were retagged.  If the female was with a pup, the pup would be tagged on its flippers to identify it along with its mother.  Some of the mothers were pretty protective and would slink along behind you wailing.  This was their way of chasing you off, which worked, but the heavy females are slow on the ice and easy to avoid.  Most of the time the seals remain docile and are easily approached as they have no natural predators on the ice.  Tagging is accomplished by throwing a large dark bag over the seals head (adults only)  and then climbing aboard to ensure that the bag stays on.  The pups are simply held and tagged.  Bites are possible which have serious consequences.  Commonly referred to as seal finger, a nasty antibiotic resistant bacteria carried by several species of seal including the Weddell can infect a bite or a cut (if you were to get injured during butchering a seal) resulting in a systemic infection, and commonly the loss of the affected digit or appendage.  So, don't get bit.  And don't get rolled over on either as I mentioned in a previous blog.

Well, enjoy the pics and vid.  Miss you all.  Happy holidays.  I've celebrated my 34th birthday and several other holidays here so far.  All memorable in new and unique ways.  The loss of my last grandparent, Virginia Ingram ushered out the last of an amazing generation of my family that I was blessed to have for so long.  Rest in peace grandma, I hope you can see this place through my eyes, for you're the reason I'm here.  She would be 92 today.
I wish you all the best to you and yours in the new year.  See you in 2012.

Byrd Glacier

Its been an exciting few weeks.  We've all flown hundreds and hundreds of nautical miles in the last few weeks and supported the opening of several camps that will support scores of scientists over the course of the season.

I've flown Mt. Erebus again on an even better day this time.  Less steam and calm conditions made for incredible viewing of the lava lake and observation into the caldera.  We were flying two communications workers to repeater sites, and one gentleman has worked here for 14 seasons but has never looked into the volcano.  It was my second time viewing it that day.  This is truly a privileged  position.

The helo here is our sister ship that had been stranded on the glacier for 5 hours waiting for us to arrive with mechanics.  They were considering busting out the survival bags for the night, but we were able to make it with parts and pros to get them turning again.  The area was heavily crevassed, so the flags were used to show a safe route.  This is where one of my coworkers was slightly injured in a crevasse fall.  You'll notice we land right in the skid marks of the helo that that person had been on.  Didn't want to stray far from the bird at all.

One of the more notable experiences from last week and the week before were trips to Byrd Glacier.  This massive body of ice is the second largest glacier in the world.  Near the bottom where it Meets with the Ross ice shelf it is nearly 30 miles wide and 3000 feet thick.  At the head (top)  I've got no idea how wide it is, but it is measured at 3000 m thick.  4000' of the glacier is below sea level as the weight of the ice on the continent has depressed the land mass.  This scope and magnitude of this massive dynamic body is hard to grasp even when you are looking at it.  It completely dwarfs the Grand Canyon.  And all this ice moves at a rate of at least 800m per year.

You're looking nearly 100 miles.  The glacier is more than 30 miles wide at the opening in the valley you see here.  Some days its possible to see 150 miles or more.  The irregular surface of the glacier are ice chunks more than 2 stories high here, with holes and crevasses large enough to land the 212 in.

Confirming that the crevasse extends underneath the helo.  Im standing on the skid taking the pic, pilot's side.

This pic above is a 1' wide, who knows how deep, crevasse we exposed that the helo landed on.  We never knew it was there till my co worker plunged into it.  Yeah, watch yer step.

The reason for the trips to this place more than 250 nautical miles away is to study its movement.  With two helicopters, two mountaineers who, two PHD students, and dozens of gps and seismic units we head for Byrd to establish three stationary gps sites on bedrock on the north and south side of the glacier, and numerous sites on the ever shifting and treacherous glacial mass.  Just to make it to Byrd one way he have to stop to refuel. Refuel means that 400 lb fuel drums need to be dug out of snow (in condition 2 weather in this instance) and transferred one at a time with a electric pump, opening and closing the the two plug barrels by hand.  After each barrel is emptied, another is opened, the pump exchanged, and the empty secured at the site as loose barrels end up miles away or lost on the ice shelf in winds up to 80 knts.  This process is repeated until you have what you need.  If you're lucky you may only have to do this one more time during the day, or not at all.  Not at all would be unlikely.

Roads end fuel cache, nearly 200 nm South of McMurdo.

The glacier is quite dangerous.  High winds, slick ice, and difficult flying resulted in a close call for one of our ships and crew at one site.  The helicopter began to slide towards a crevasse due to slope and high wind. As the pilot attempted to reposition the helo, the lack of weight on the skids increased the speed of the slide towards the crevasse.  After an attempt or two the bird was running out of rotor real estate, but one more all balls effort with the cyclic buried to the knee with a lot of power got the ship off the ice, and into the air with little margin for error.  All's well that ends well.  For this project we've landed on this crevasse ridden hulk dozens of times.  Three folks fell into crevasses those few weeks with only one minor injury, even after professional mountaineers probed all around our work site.  I was glad not to be one of them since I and one other tech visited the glacier more than any of our co-workers.

R3 GPS site, south side Byrd Glacier on 400 million year old exposed limestone.  A rift in the tectonic plate exists near the middle of the glacier.  The rock found on the south side differs from that found on the south.

At the rock sites (the stationary sites along the north and south of the valley), we were afforded lots of time to shoot pics, look at 400 million year old cambrian rock where you could find exposed fossils in sedimentary limestone and enjoy the scenes as time and weather allowed.  In all cases, it was safe to say I was treading ground that no other human has ever set foot.  These are powerful and thought provoking experiences.  The next piece is nearly done and was from a great set of flights right after our time on Byrd.  Hope everyone is well.  I've turned 34 out here on Nov 21.  One of the more memorable Ive had in a while.  Chipping 2000 yr old glacier ice into your birthday scotch makes for a special drink.  Cheers and enjoy the pics and vid.

Life Around Town

Today is Con 2 in town, and Con 1 everywhere else.  15 F, Windchill -10, winds gusting to 52 knots.  This is day two of this and has meant a second day off with no Helos flying.  We'll pay for it on the other end when we start catching up all the missions we've had to put off.  Going to watch a band tonight at the coffee house (Con Fun is their name) and head to bed to hit the workout facilities in the morning.  There's a band room with amps, guitars, mics, keyboards etc.  This place has it all, its not quite like Scott and Shackleton had it down here.  We celebrated Halloween here the other day.  You see some pretty amazing costumes with no limit to the creativity but a premium on supplies.  There'll be a few pics below.  Some new video posted below too.  Mt Erebus caldera with a brief glimpse of the lava lake (black, steaming maw of death),   some glacial shots of the dry valleys (the oldest exposed ice in the world), and a trip into the Observation or Ob tube.  Went ice fishing for science last week with some folks studying the antifreeze properties of the fish in the area.  We had some luck.  Wasn't much different than the days I used to fish for perch, blue gill, and crappie on muskrat lake with grandpa.  Only here, seals pop up in your fishing hole.  Speaking of seals, a poor girl we were flying to different projects was tagging seals and got rolled over on.  Tore here knee up and ended her season here.  Funny in hindsight I guess, and a comic strip was posted about it.  Got to watch out for all sorts of strange things down here.  Including the last unicorn.  No the purple dress isn't me.  He's a professional mt. climber/guide from Denali who will be doing the South Pole traverse this year.

The Conditions

Currently we're in condition All Black.  There is some excitement regarding rugby, and that the New Zealand team, the "All Blacks" took the world cup vs the French (the Blues I believe).  Congrats to them.  The Kiwis here are rather stoked on this fact and I get to see just how much as they belittle and berate my French pilot Flo.  I don't think he really gives a shit, but they get him anyways. 

So the definitions of condition ratings is as follows:

Con 3 (Nice outside)

• Winds less than 48 knots, and
• Visibility greater than or equal to ¼ mile, and
• Wind chill temperature warmer than -75°F.

Con 2 (Not so nice outside)

• Winds 48 to 55 knots sustained for one minute, or
• Visibility less than ¼ mile, but greater than or equal to 100 feet sustained for one minute, or
• Wind chill -75°F to -100°F sustained for one minute.

Con 1 (Your ass better be inside)

• Winds greater than 55 knots sustained for one minute, or
• Visibility less than 100 feet sustained for one minute, or
• Wind chill greater than -100°F sustained for one minute.

I've only seen Con 3 and 2 so far.  Summer is coming here, up to 3 F this afternoon with light winds, so may not see Con 1, but never can tell. 

News here is that first load of folks went to the south pole today to open up for the season.  Its prob -40 F there right now.  Always real cold there.  Up at 9'000', but pressure altitude is closer to 11'000.  Playing some music.  I have a jam with some fellas tonight.  Doing some sewing and making a costume for Halloween.  Hard to explain what it its.  Kinda 80's pro wrestling thing.  Lifes good here.  Had an amazing day flying Saturday.  Pics and videos to come. 

This is serious...

Well, said I'd do it, n' I'm doin' it.  The blog.  I thought for a minute about doing the Facebook thing and thought better of it when I realized what it would mean when I was found after years of queries and invites to join.  No way.  I don't even know at this point who I don't want to find me, but I don't want em to find me.  So its this, and if you're reading it you were probably invited.  Hope this proves to be a good link to my friends and family interested in this place what, goes on down here in the name of science, and what experiments I am personally conducting.

I'll start basic and slow, and with any luck I'll provide some pics, video, maybe some music and prose, but a journal like thing that even I will be glad I made.  Check out www.usap.gov for more info and a web cam to see the current view and how nice it is here.

Arrived New Zealand Oct 3.  A 2.5 hr drive McCall, ID to BOI, 3 hr plane to LAX, 9 hr layover, 12 hr plane to Auckland, NZ, 2 hr plane to Christchurch, NZ.  Gear issue, overnight in Christchurch, 6 hr C-17 flight on the biggest damn plane I've ever seen.  Planes, helos, trucks all fit in this thing.  Fat like a guppy, and me in its belly over the sea, ice and eventually a landing on the sea ice in McMurdo sound at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.  A warm day compared to what I've seen since at around 2 deg F.  Several days to get settled, lots of training, and lots of jet lag and acclimation (physical and social) to deal with.

I've worked the helicopters for a while but this is something else.  The temps, the tempo, the terra firma, and the terra not so firma  are something to behold.  Rigging loads I would have never imagined.  Learning a lot and meeting some incredible folks.  Scientists, divers, drivers, pilots, professors, tradesmen, and all sorts of other supporting persons.  Full community here.  1,100 workers this season to make this thing happen for the United States.  Kiwi base is only a short distance from here on this island but only 34 people there.  US presence is the largest.  Tracked vehicles, huge wheeled vehicles, snow machines, forklifts, heavy equipment, ATVs, helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, trucks, vans, fire trucks.

Happy camper meant survival training in below 0 temps and lower wind chill in survival structures, tents, whatever for nearly 48 hours.  Sea Ice training meant going out on the sea ice to test cracks and general sea ice thickness and condition for safe travel.  Drills, depth measurements and you better believe your ECW gear.  Thats short for extreme cold weather gear.  It was -20 ambient temp but the wind was sustaining 20 to 30 mph and gusting more.  I don't know where that put the wind chill, but it was serious.  All that stuff you've heard about exposed skin in those conditions comes the closest to all the warnings you get in winter I've ever seen.  10 to 15 seconds with a glove off and you're a hurtn' unit.  If you left it off for a minute, the hand wouldn't work, probably damaged.  Permanently.  The wind is the issue.  It bites, it gnaws, it gnashes its teeth and gets through enough clothing to build a mongolian yurt from unless you've got a windproof layer over it all.  It seems to all come down to the wind.  There was another cold day just the day before yesterday.  Real cold.  I've noticed there aren't random thermometers around.  In fact I haven't seen one yet.  No one cares.  Fact is, its cold as shit outside.  All we care about is weather it's condition 3, 2, or 1.  I'll explain that.  Condition 3 is nice.  Like right now its con 3, its -4 with a wind chill of -15 winds are calm.  I'll give more info on the conditions and their parameters another time.  More on the job later too.

Lets see, about the rest.  Food's good, there're bars, coffee house, gym facilities, craft room, labs, equipment issue places, internet, auto shops, paint shops, airstrips (on the ice), a store, movie rental, housing dept, fire dept, welding shop, carpentry shop, REI type place called the BFC (some guy's name, but we call it building full of chicks)  sewing machines, gear borrow/rental with music instruments, skis and other things.  All sorts of sports, a ski tow rope on the Kiwi side (must get invited) and much more.  A big operation, and all to maintain higher morale than Shackelton, Scott (whose was so low he died), or Aemundson had in the name of science.  Well thats all I can take for now.  Feel free to write, I'll get back to you when I can.  Wish you all well from the bottom of the earth,
McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica.