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Week 7 – December 8th to December 11, 2000

Date: 12/11/00
Latitude: 78 degrees, 26 minutes South
Longitude: 115 degrees 55 minutes West
Temperature: –18°C( 0°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –27°C( –16°F)
Wind direction: Northeast
Meters of ice collected: 191 total, 2 new

Notes on daily life:

We have arrived at site 3 after a 12 hour drive. We did not have any problems and stopped twice for short breaks. The ride was rather rough, making it very difficult to read or write but the long break was restful. We took the opportunity during one of the breaks to recharge our batteries so that Steve A. and Gordon could continue to collect radar and GPS data while we drove.

Steve A.'s ice penetrating radar was especially successful during the drive and he collected data continuously along the 100 kilometer (60 mile) route from site 2 to site 3. After he compiles his data, he can see the annual layers of snow and ice down to 120 meters (420 feet) below the surface. He has found that individual layers of snow and ice are continuous across most of West Antarctica. For some layers we know the exact dates they were deposited. For example, he is particularly interested in a layer that contains dust particles from the 1815 eruption of the Tambora volcano in the Philipines. The dust material from the eruption was present in the atmosphere for about 1 year and was slowly deposited over the Earth. Thus the snow layer in Antarctica that contains dust from that Tambora eruption must have been deposited in 1815. It means that you can calculate the accumulation rate for layers based on the amount of snow deposited between layers of known ages. As we get closer to the coast the accumulation rates are higher; it snows more. At Byrd camp and site 1 the accumulation rates are less than they are here. At this location we will have to drill deeper to reach layers that were present closer to the surface at our first site. All of our science work is tied closely together and helps us interpret whether the West Antarctic ice sheet is increasing or decreasing in size, possibly as a result of global climate change.

We managed to get to bed at 3 am. This morning we got up at 9 am to a pancake breakfast courtesy of Brian. We then started to unpack our gear and get started on our science work. During the day we also helped recover the fuel drums that were air dropped by the New York Air National Guard for us at this site. The New York Air National Guard is the wonderful group that flies the C–130s here in Antarctica.

Mark, Gordon, Benjamin, and Zach recovered more 2" ice core, Markus started to collect more atmospheric data, Steve A. worked on the data he collected during the drive, and Bob worked on the GOES satellite system. About 2 pm Paul and Steve N. took off in the Caterpillar Challenger to deposit a loaded fuel sled to our next location, site 4.

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Date: 12/10/00
Latitude: 78 degrees, 44 minutes South
Longitude: 111 degrees 30 minutes West
Temperature: –20°C( –4°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –25°C( –13°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 61 today; 189 total

Notes on daily life:

Having been in Antarctica over a month we are getting used to the low temperatures. However, as soon as the wind blows we all feel the biting cold through our clothing. We are about ready to pull up stakes and move on sometime before noon tomorrow. It is 9 pm Sunday night and everyone, has had dinner (burritos) except Steve A. and Brian who are out collecting radar data. Most of us are a little stunned by the "early" dinner and are not sure what to do with ourselves for the rest of the evening. Working outside until 9 or 10 pm has been the standard for the past few weeks.

Steve N. and Bob have returned from dropping off fuel and gear at site 3 and we are happy to see them return safely. Our next location, site 3, is at 115 degrees 55 minutes W longitude and 78 degrees 26 minutes S latitude. We plan to spend 3 to 4 days at that location before moving on again. Our site 4 is located at 120 degrees 05 minutes W longitude and 78 degrees 05 minutes S latitude. The distance from here to site 3 is 100 kilometers (60 miles) and we expect that at the rate of about 10 kilometers (6 miles) per hour we ought to arrive by 10 pm tomorrow night.

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Date: 12/9/00
Latitude: 78 degrees, 44 minutes South
Longitude: 111 degrees 30 minutes West
Temperature: –12°C( 11°F)
Wind speed: 4 knots
Wind Chill: –15°C( 5°F)
Wind direction: South
Meters of ice collected: 25 today; 146 total

Notes on daily life:

After a couple weeks in the field, everyone knows what needs to be done so our set–up time at this new site has gotten shorter. Today Mark, Paul, Benjamin, and Zach used a different ice coring drill that collects a 2 inch diameter core. The drill that we were using at the last site collected a 3 inch core. This 2 inch drill gives us a core that will be used for collecting samples for chemical analysis instead our usual method of digging a snow pit and hand sampling. This is experimental, and if it works, it will save a lot of time at each location. Markus set–up his air monitoring experiment and collected his snow density samples from a shallow snow pit that was dug so that he and Chris could collect samples. By about noon, Steve N. and Bob took off in the Caterpillar Challenger tractor to take everything to location #3 that we do not need here. It is 100 kilometers (60 miles) to location #3 and we expect that Steve N. and Bob will be able to make the round trip in about two days. That is just enough time for us to finish our work at this site. We will then hook up the rest of the train for the trip to site 3. Shuttling the loads works well and is the only way that we can get all of our equipment from one location to another with our remaining tractor.

Everyone is well and with all the good food I doubt that any of us will have lost weight by the end of the expedition. In a few days, we are expecting a Twin Otter plane to bring in two new expedition members, Leigh Stearns and David Schneider. Chris, Bob, and Gordon will fly back to McMurdo. This crew switch was organized months ago before we arrived in the field. Chris and Gordon will be returning directly to the United States. Bob plans to take almost a year to travel through Asia and Africa before he returns to the United States.

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[a RASCAL]  [Automatic Weather Station]   [A Scott Tent]
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Date: 12/8/00
Latitude: 78 degrees, 44 minutes South
Longitude: 111 degrees 30 minutes West
Temperature: –30°C( –13°F)
Wind speed: 2 knots
Wind Chill: –31°C(–14°F)
Wind direction: South
Meters of ice collected: 121 total: none today

Notes on daily life:

We arrived at our new location (site #2) about 8 pm after an uneventful 6.5 hour drive. Markus and Steve N. drove the Caterpillar Challenger while Brian rode in his enclosed radar sled, and the rest of us rode in the blue room science shelter or the kitchen polar haven. This is the first time that many of us have had a chance to read, nap, or relax in over a week. About five days ago, Steve N. and Bob picked up fuel from a prior airdrop and delivered it to this location. We were able to travel at an average speed of 13 kilometers per hour (8 miles an hour) because we were not hauling the heavy fuel sledge. It is great to be working at a new location, even though it looks exactly like the old site. When you are working as hard as we are, a little change is good.

After we unpacked and sorted gear we sat down to a delicious macaroni and cheese dinner complete with mixed vegetables. We were finally in bed by midnight ready for the next two days of work.

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