Dispatches From the Hinterland

Had a busy day at work today on the Dayshift. That's right. I said busy! There is much more activity on the dayshift than on graves. Most of the activity centers around answering phones but I actually had a "real" call today! We had a LC-130 take off from here to fly into a field camp at Pine Island Glacier (aka PIG) and shortly after takeoff the tower came over my radio to declare that the aircraft has a hydraulic problem and was returning to the skiway. (A little background, the Sea Ice Runway is now closed - the ice is no longer thick enough to hold large planes. That runway was about 1.5 miles from the station. Now all aircraft are flying in and out of Pegasus Airfield which is about 15 miles from town. It consists of a runway on ice and a couple of skiways - planes have to have skis to land and take off from there. This will be the airfield that I will fly out of when I go home. I flew into the Sea Ice Runway when I got here.) I asked the tower if they had an "In Flight Emergency" and they said, "Back at you". I had no idea what THAT meant! All I know is is that having problems with hydraulics on a large military aircraft, a problem so bad that they were going to return to the skiway MUST be bad so I toned out the station and treated it like an IFE! They had a plane fuel of cargo, 1 passenger, 9 crew members and gasoline and propane and an "issue" with hydraulics! Of course I pissed off the tower by treating it this way because they didn't SAY there was an IFE. Whatever. My chief and my boss said I did the right thing because as it turns out they circled the airfield for 40 minutes trying to get things to work (and burn off some fuel if the gear/skis could not come down and had to belly land). The plane landed safely on the skiway.

Also today and yesterday they have been setting off explosives to bust off corners of the ice pier to get it ready for first the fuel ship and then the supply ship to come in. Here is a link to view yesterday's blast:

https://s-static.ak.facebook.com/rsrc.php/v1/y2/r/5l8_EVv_jyW.swf?v=295306620590734&ev=0

As you can imagine I had to do a bunch of stuff at work before the blast like make announcements over all the radios station-wide and send the crews out to make sure no one gets hurt. I could feel and hear both blasts in the Firehouse. Pretty wild!

Our television and radio service is provide by the Armed Forces Network. We have a radio station and a TV station here where people volunteer to spin records and the TV station has 2 channels that show movies, another channel has announcements about happenings going on, i.e. travelogue times, science lecture info, what the hours are for medical, what's for lunch and dinner, etc. and then 4 other stations that show football games, news and some network TV. They have a contest each day to guess the common theme of the movies shown on one of the movie channels and if you win they show your picture and give you some candy. I won yesterday! Here's what was shown on TV:

 And finally for today, I am missing some things. I am missing 2 ply toilet paper, nighttime at night, my animals and as Laurie K. mentioned, Egg Nog Shakes from Jack in the Box. Thanks for bringing THAT one up L2! But today before I left work the chief sent us all an e-mail about redeployment! It looks like it will start around February 15th! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I am one of the first ones on the first flights back home!

The Transitition

I am writing this from the Coffee House - my favorite place in town down here! It is 8:45 am on Saturday 12/08/2012 and I have the day off! I got off work yesterday morning at &;30 am and am going to DAY SHIFT!! I am more than a little happy about that! I don't mind working all night or even sleeping durning the day - it is ALWAYS daylight here so that doesn't play into things. What does make me unhappy is that I like to go to the science lectures. They are on Sunday and Wednesday nights and usually start at 8 or 8:15 pm and I never get to stay for the whole lecture as I have to leave at 9 ish to go to work. Now I will be able to stay for the whole thing! YAY!! Speaking of science lectures, they are amazing! Last Sunday we had a lecture given by a Shuttle astronaut, Dr. Stanley Love and on Wednesday the lecture was about Europa, a moon of Jupiter and how it's made of of ice and resembles Antarctica. OthersI have been to included WAIS Divide Drilling Project, Weddell Seals,  and  the Ecology of Antarctica after all the dumping the military did through the years. I'm such a geek!

So the "Transition". I was up every hour on the hour last night. No surprise since I've been on Graves for 3 months and then trying to force my body to sleep when it is not used to doing so at that time. I only slept 5 hours yesterday when I got home thinking I'd be tired enough to sleep in the evening. I even went out for an hour and a half last night to the...bar. WHAT?! The Geek went to the bar?! It was one of the Captain's birthday and the guys are constantly asking me to meet them there so I broke down and went last night. I did get to meet and talk with the scientist who gave the lecture on Europa and she was thrilled that a non- "Beeker" was at her lecture! Anyway, I got there at 8:30 and left at 10 and drank 2 Diet Cokes - with caffeine so I'm sure that didn't help things. So I have been up since 6 am doing things...like laundry and the gym and some Christmas decorating of my room. Oh and speaking of my room, my roommate left for the South Pole for 5 weeks so I am again roommate-less. It has been nice having the place to myself for a couple of days and I am stressed out as to who (or what) I may get. At least I am on day shift and will not have to worry about trying to sleep when the roommate is off work on the weekend. I hope I can sleep tonight as I have to be at work at 7:30am tomorrow!

Ice Runway and Skiway

I don't know if this will work but the Pegasus Ice Runway and Skiway were closed today because of weather. View the video and you will see why! It is a video from one of the firefighters down here.

https://s-static.ak.facebook.com/rsrc.php/v1/y2/r/5l8_EVv_jyW.swf?v=4182905091727&ev=0

Fata Morgana

What is "Fata Morgana"? It's not a fat chick named Morgana. It is a mirage that occurs usually in polar regions. Here's what Wikipedia says about them:

A Fata Morgana is an unusual and complex form of superior mirage that is seen in a narrow band right above the horizon. Fata Morgana mirages distort the object or objects which they are based on significantly, often such that the object is completely unrecognizable.
This optical phenomenon occurs because rays of light are bent when they pass through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed.^[1] (A thermal inversion is an atmospheric condition where warmer air exists in a well-defined layer above a layer of significantly cooler air. This temperature inversion is the opposite of what is normally the case; air is usually warmer close to the surface, and cooler higher up.)
A Fata Morgana is most commonly seen in polar regions, especially over large sheets of ice which have a uniform low temperature. It can however be observed in almost any area. In polar regions the Fata Morgana phenomenon is observed on relatively cold days, however in deserts, over oceans, and over lakes, a Fata Morgana can be observed on hot days.

Here's some pictures of Fata Morgana. I have taken some but they are not as good as these. I was trying to explain it the other day to LK and would have taken a picture but I was in my room and the window was filthy!

Fata Morgana

C-130 Tails Distorted From a Fata Morgana

Facts About Mt. Erebus

Mt. Erebus, is the furthest south active volcano in the world. Here are some interesting facts:

Erebus is the world's southernmost active volcano and one of only a handful with active convecting lava lakes. Although it is not a major threat to McMurdo Station it offers a unique opportunity to study eruptive process from lava lakes and is monitored year round.

In 1979, Mount Erebus, 3,794 meters (12,448 feet) in height, was the site of a plane crash that claimed 257 lives on a sightseeing and photographic flight over Antarctica.

The last eruption was in 2011.

Here's a cool website that has cameras and information about the research being done at Mt. Erebus:
http://erebus.nmt.edu/

Mt Erebus From the West Near Scott Base - Pressure Ridges in the Foreground

Mt Erebus From the Area of the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) Launch Area

My Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello! I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and got some shopping in this weekend! I actually had Friday and Saturday off. The Station celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with a turkey dinner that was outstanding! But I am getting ahead of myself! I got off work Friday morning at 0730. I went and had breakfast to fuel up for a hike on the Hut Point Ridge Loop Trail - 2.63 miles. I went with firefighters - Pat, Michael, Jesse and my roommate Rachel. We couldn't have asked for a better day! It was sunny, no wind and about 30 degrees! We started at Hut Point where Vince's Cross is Scott's Hut is located, past "Roll cage Mary", all the way to Arrival Heights, an area restricted to foot traffic and used for science. ( I think it is some kind of secret military thing going on up there!) We saw seals - even a female in labor, and plenty of Skuas. It was an awesome hike and I was thoroughly exhausted afterwards! I slept really well!

A View of Hut Point From High on the Trail

"Roll Cage Mary"

Me Standing at the Edge of the World - the Trans Antarctic Mountains are in the Background

Having Fun at the Top of the Trail with a Dome

On Saturday I had my turn to tour the Pressure Ridges at Scott Base. The pressure ridges we explored here form where a large mass of sea ice buckles under pressure as it makes contact with land (in this case, Ross Island where McMurdo Station and Scott Base are located). The wind, tides, and sun are all variables that constantly change these ridges. It was almost like a moonscape only it was made of ice! We walked a trail that was about 2 miles long and weaved our way through ice chunks reaching some 50 feet high! Again the weather was perfect - it was the same as the day before! It was the highlight of my time here!

Pressure Ridges

Me in Front of Some Smaller Pressure Ridges - Notice my "Yak Tracks" On My Boots

Our Group

Thanksgiving dinner was really good! We had turkey with all the fixings! People dressed up for the occasion, some men in suits and ties - even my boss was in a dress! I wore dress slacks and a sweater. Along with the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, we had jalapeno - cranberry dressing, asparagus and king crab legs that had so much crab in them - I've never seen anything like it! For dessert we had pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheescake, fudge and pecan pie. It wasn't quite like home, but it was pretty good all the same!

SPoT

What is SPoT you ask? That would be the acronym for the South Pole Traverse. Every years a group of 9 to 10 people drive huge pieces of equipment loaded with fuel and assorted other items from McMurdo to the South Pole Station. Here is a website to read more about it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole_Traverse



Here is a picture of some of the conditions they have to drive through. This year there are 2 teams making the trip - SPoT1 and SPoT2. This is what the SPot2 check in message looked like for today:



SPoT2 Daily Check in

November 21, 2012

Number in Party: 9

Temp Am:Storming(not measured but over 40mph)PM: 12F SE@13mph

Elev. 284

Position (Lat/Long): S83 49.826  W172 54.933

Station (way-point + milage): RIS1JW+48.4

Milage today:  33

Messages: Fun event filled day of 0-100'viz. Wx improved in afternoon,
becoming right now, downright nice. A few mechanicals on tractors and
gen
shack.

Intentions: fly me to camp 20, let me play among the stars, let me see
what spring is like on....(name that artist)

SWoD: Corona e espanola

pic: our generator (her name is Genny)

Genny - SPot2