Strange Vehicles in Antarctica!

Do you think that an average car would work well in Antarctica? McMurdo Station is on a volcanic island called Ross Island. The “roads” are made up of ground-up rock, sometimes covered by ice and snow. The vehicles also drive out over the sea ice and ice shelves. Here is a glimpse of some Antarctic vehicles.

This is a Delta. Deltas are used to travel over ice an snow. The trailer on the back is used to carry people or cargo. This is the vehicle I traveled in to go out to Happy Camper School. Notice the big treads on the bottom to help the Delta grip the ice and snow!

This is a bulldozer. They are driving around the streets of McMurdo Station ALL the time! They carry materials from one place to another, and often transport different kinds of waste materials to their proper location. All waste is transported off the continent, and it all needs to be sorted.

This machine is called a Caterpillar. It has many different uses depending on what attachments are put on the front. This one looks like it was just plowing snow.

A haglund is a really cool vehicle. It is actually amphibious - meaning that it can float on water! This is a great vehicle to take out on the sea ice, in case the ice breaks through into the sea water below. The front haglund holds up to 6 people. The trailer on the back can carry people or cargo. This is the vehicle I took out to Sea Ice School.

In and around McMurdo Station, you can often see helicopters (helos) flying around transporting people or equipment. There are different sizes of helicopters, each of which has a different carrying capacity. The ANDRILL cores are carried from the drill site to the Crary Lab by helicopter. They are also used to carry people and supplies out into the field, for Search and Rescue missions, to do reconaissance flights trips prior to departure of a field party, and many other missions. I will be flying in a helicopter tomorrow to get out to my field area, around 100 miles away.

Pisten Bullys are very important vehicles in Antarctica. They are very stable on the sea ice, and many field parties use them for travel. The only problem is, they are extremely bumpy and noisy, and they go very slowly. It takes a long time to get anywhere in a pisten bully, and when you get there, your body is all shaken up!

Here is a cool picture of the gears in a pisten bully.



Many vehicles in Antarctica get plugged in to keep them warm while they are not being used. That sure makes it easier to step inside and start them!!


This is an enormous forklift - the biggest on in McMurdo.This is the forklift that picked up our Thunder Sled which weighed at least 2,500 pouds, and carried it down to the sea ice for the aover-ice travers to our field area,. It's a huge, strong vehicle.Check out how big these wheels are!

Imagine riding in this vehicle. It is called a terrabus and it holds a lot of people and transports them over the land, or over the ice.


Finally, here is a snowmobile. I can't wait to get out onto the open ice and drive a snowmobile. It is the only vehicle I am trained to drive here - I actually had to go to Snowmobile School for a day! I haven't driven one yet this trip, but I expect to as soon as I get out into the field.




Which is YOUR favorite vehicle?

Working on the ANDRILL Core at McMurdo Station

I am spending a bit more time in McMurdo than I had planned to. My
field party, which was initially scheduled to go out into the field on
October 16, has been quite delayed. First, some drilling equipment
was delayed. Then a decision was made for half
of us to drive the equipment out, and the other half to fly out by
helicopter. I was scheduled for the helicopter. But in the process of
getting all of the equipment ready, I strained my back - and was told to
rest it for a week. Meanwhile, the weather has been very
unstable and no helicopters have been able to head into our field
area for the past 4 days! The overland survey headed out two days ago,
and one of their big vehicles had some mechanical trouble. Since
no helicopters can fly, due to the weather, they will have to wait
for another day to get a mechanic out there to fix the vehicle!

These are the realities (and occasional frustrations) of doing work in Antarctica!

On the brighter side, I have had the thrill of speaking to students at
two schools in Ann Arbor. I spoke with some of the fourth graders at
Logan Elementary school on Tuesday, and with ALL of Bach School this
morning. I had sent a powerpoint showing some of the images of where I
am, and of the project I am working on - and was able to have a real
time connection with hundreds of students while we all looked at the
same images! It still awes me that we are able to use technology in
this way and share such experiences. Since I will be in McMurdo, I can
continue to arrange these phone calls with interested parties. Once I
leave for the field, I may still be able to make phone calls, but I
won't be able to send powerpoints. Please let me know if you are
interested in setting this up!!

Thank goodness, my back is healing nicely. I'm not
quite up for shoveling snow for, but I expect to be able to do this within
the week, and be cleared to go into the field. I am VERY EAGER to
get out there!

Meanwhile, I have been very busy learning a new job working on the
core itself. I am helping to curate the core and cut samples from the
core using rock saws. Every morning the scientists gather around the
core that was brought in a day or two previously, and they decide
where they would like samples.
Those sample locations (depths in the
core, and size of samples) are then logged into the computer, and then
they need to be cut.Yesterday we took 150 samples from 30 meters of core, and that took all day!

At the drill site, we have just passed the 200 meter mark! The core
barrels coming up now have nearly 100% recovery - meaning that we are
not losing any rock. A meter section of core barrel comes back with a
meter of rock inside. It's very exciting to walk backwards in time, as
we burrow into the past. Thus far in the core we have seen numerous glacial
events, separated by periods of warmer, interglacial events. We are
now down to approximately 5 millions years before present.

Each morning, different geologists are giving us (the ARISE team)
short courses on different scientific disciplines. Today we were
learning about various methods for geologic dating. It's fantastic to
have a short course, and then get busy on the core, putting the
lessons to work. Yesterday's lesson was on geologic processes and
their resulting sedimentary structures. We can infer so very much
about the environment in which a rock is deposited by the structures
left behind. The core just comes alive when you know what you are
looking for!!

So - despite my disappointment of not being out in the field, I am
happy not to be out in bad weather, and thrilled to be having the
chance to roll up my sleeves and work on the core.

I will keep you all posted with news from McMurdo, the core, and the
status of my departure for the field.

Heading for the Field

As I write, the last preparations for the field are getting made. Food is has been packed up, trailers have been filled with seismic equipment, fuel, sleepingbags, tents, ice axes... Stoves have been tested. The drill was oiled and tested. It is remarkable how much needs to be done to prepare for work in the field!

Today is Sunday, October 21. I was scheduled to head off into the
field today on an over-ice traverse involving 4 vehicles all pulling over-stuffed trailers and sleds. I am so very excited to be in the field in the Granite Harbor area, close to the terminus of the Mackay Glacier. I am ready for the long awaited site survey, to begin exploring subsurface rocks of the area and to learn about these geophysical tools.

However, I was rather dreading the
trip, as it was going to be in a very bumpy vehicle called a pisten
bulley, which bumps along at a very slow pace and is very jarring and
tedious in a cold metal box. The traverse is expected to take 24
hours, which will be done in one continuous marathon.

A few things have changed (to my delight!) First, I will one of the
priveleged ones to head into the field by helicopter! I promise to
take pictures and videos of that 100 or so mile trip out to our field
are (around 100 miles north of McMurdo Station). Secondly, a big storm is brewing out there as I write
- and, from my window in the lab, I can see helicopters and
snowmobiles and other oversnow vehicles racing in to be secured before
the onset of the storm.

There are 3 weather conditions in Antarctica. Condition 3 is fine,
good visibility, and mild winds. Condition 2 is a deterioration in the
weather with blowing winds, minimal visibility, and no permitted
non-essential travel. I believe we are heading for Condition 2 as I
write.

Condition 1 is zero visibility. White out conditions. In these
conditions, you are not allowed to leave the building. You can
literally get lost walking between buildings, or get blown away by the
wind. These are also known as "herbies" and they come howling in from
the south.

So I am feeling quite cozy in a warm building as I watch this storm
build up outside. Our departure has been postponed until Monday.
The over land traverse (6 people with 2 trains of vehicles
pulling MANY sleds of gear, and 2 snowmobiles) will also leave Monday and
arrive Tuesday (weather permitting). and the folks traveling by
helicopter (5 of us) will arrive early and set up camp.

We have a mountaineer with us who will oversee everything and monitor the weather and ice conditions. We will set
up the tents to withstand extremely strong winds. And there are
already carpenters at our site setting up two larger tents that are
like quoncet huts, which will be our cooking/eating area and our
science area. Remarkably, both tents will have electricity from generators.
Stoves and heaters will run off of propane. So the common areas of our
remote field area will be quite comfortable. We will be sleeping in
Scott Tents, two people per tent. These measure about 10' by 10' and are identical to the ones we slept in during Happy Camper School. I just hope I stay a ilttle warmer than I did in Happy Camper School! Wish me luck!

When I am in the field, I will not have any internet connections. Though I won't be blogging as often, please continue to check out the blogs of my colleagues. I
will be able to make occasional phonecalls from an iridium phone (a
satellite phone) and hope to call in to McMurdo to dictate some blogs from there.
Occasionally a helicopter will fly into camp, and I will be able to
send out a CD with new blogs that my colleagues can post to my blog
site.

I expect to be back in McMurdo on Thanksgiving, and will certainly have a great deal of news to share. Meanwhile - stay tuned and keep warm!