- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2006
- 2007
Week 9 - December 23rd to December 29, 2000
Date: 12/29/00
Latitude: 79 degrees, 8 minutes South
Longitude: 122 degrees 16 minutes West
Temperature: –21°C( –6°F)
Wind speed: 6 knots
Wind Chill: –28°C( –18°F)
Wind direction: Southeast
Meters of ice collected: 668
Notes on daily life:
Let's hear a "Yea!" with an "Oh Well" added on. Our science is done and we will be heading back to Byrd camp tomorrow. We are happy to be almost home but we are sorry that our adventure will be over soon. It was a very successful day and we accomplished quite a lot. We celebrated our last day of science work with a fabulous Mexican meal cooked by Markus. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and only a gentle breeze. Steve and Brian are back from Byrd camp with the Caterpillar Challenger and the rest of us are slowly starting to pack up our gear. While at Byrd, they groomed the airplane runway and prepared the Jamesway. A Jamesway is a canvas covered shelter used widely in Antarctica, that can hold two dozen people . Tomorrow we will be packing the last of our gear and heading out to Byrd about 110 kilometers away (66 miles).
Date: 12/28/00
Latitude: 79 degrees, 8 minutes South
Longitude: 122 degrees 16 minutes West
Temperature: –16°C( 3°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –21°C( –38°F)
Wind direction: Southeast
Meters of ice collected: 635
Notes on daily life:
Today has been a great day with blue sky and a slight breeze. We will spend three days at this site so we have plenty of time to finish the last of our science work. By Saturday morning everyone will easily be ready to move on to Byrd camp where we hope to spend only a few days before we catch a flight out to McMurdo.
Today Dave finished his snow pit with help from Markus and tomorrow Markus will finish his snow pit with help from Dave. Leigh finished her "coffee can" experiment (for more info see earlier daily reports) with help from Cobi. Paul, Mark, Benjamin, and Zach drilled another 34 meters of ice core. Brian and Steve N. are still at Byrd preparing the camp before they return here tomorrow evening.
Date: 12/27/00
Latitude: 79 degrees, 8 minutes South
Longitude: 122 degrees 16 minutes West
Temperature: –16°C( 3°F)
Wind speed: 14 knots
Wind Chill: –34°C( –28°F)
Wind direction: Northeast
Meters of ice collected: 601
Notes on daily life:
We arrived here at our last site with only occasional stops due to the deep soft snow. We did not arrive until 2 am due to the delays and we were all asleep by 3. We slept in until about 10 am before we started the day. Today's work included a 20 meter core for Gordon and Leigh's experiment, and a snow pit for experiments by Benjamin, David, Markus, and Zach. There was a great mac and cheese dinner, cooked with left over ham, prepared by Cobi and Mark. Brian and Steve N. have already taken off in the Caterpillar Challenger for Byrd camp with the fuel sled in tow. They will be gone two days and not only drop off the fuel sled but do a little preparation at Byrd camp before they return here to collect us and the gear. Two more days and we will be finished here. We will then travel back to Byrd camp after 44 days on the traverse. We still have a lot of work here with more experiments and another 60 meters of ice core to recover.
The countdown now is for showers. By the time we get to McMurdo we will have gone approximately 48 days without showers. We do brushed our teeth everyday and have even washed our hair once or twice, but 48 days is a long time without a good scrub. I wonder if they would let you on the airplane in New Zealand after that long without a shower?
Date: 12/26/00
Latitude: 78 degrees, 9 minutes South
Longitude: 124 degrees 55 minutes West
Temperature: –18°C( –2°F)
Wind speed: calm
Wind Chill: –18°C( –2°F)
Wind direction: Southeast
Meters of ice collected: 581
Notes on daily life:
Wow, what a meal! We hope that everyone had as great a Christmas dinner as we had. After a full day of work, we feasted on ham, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Tomorrow we can rest as we travel to our next site 100 kilometers away. You can bet that instead of the usual crackers and cheese we have on travel days we will have ham sandwiches and lots of leftovers. We should arrive at 122 degrees16 minutes West longitude and 79 degrees 08 minutes South latitude. This will be our final science site this field season. From there it is only 100 kilometers (60 miles) to Byrd camp. We plan to celebrate New Years Eve at Byrd before the C–130 Hercs fly in and take us back to McMurdo. Everyone is in great health and doing well.
Date: 12/25/00
Latitude: 78 degrees, 9 minutes South
Longitude: 124 degrees 55 minutes West
Temperature: –19°C( –2°F)
Wind speed: 10 knots
Wind Chill: –25°C( –13°F)
Wind direction: Southeast
Meters of ice collected: 541
Notes on daily life:
Happy Holiday everyone. We all wish you the very best.
On Christmas eve we worked all day and then had burritos for dinner. Not as festive as at your place perhaps, but a wild place to wait for Santa. Our Christmas ham is thawing and the pumpkin pie has been prepared. We are having a white Christmas this year.
Today on Christmas we will work some more and prepare to move tomorrow. Our next site is 100 kilometers (60 miles) from here and 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Byrd. Yesterday Steve A. and Steve N. drove the Caterpillar Challenger, with the fuel sled in tow, to our last and final site. We expect them back sometime early today in time for Christmas dinner. We have all made our Christmas wish lists which include our personal flight schedules from "the ice" to our homes. If everything continues to go well, will this have been an excellent field season and we will all be home on time.
Date: 12/24/00
Latitude: 78 degrees 9 minutes South
Longitude: 124 degrees 55 minutes West
Temperature: –16°C( 4°F)
Wind speed: calm
Wind Chill: –16°C( 4°F)
Wind direction: not given
Meters of ice collected: 500
Notes on daily life:
Well here we are again. Snow, white, 24 hours of sun, cold temperatures, but it is Christmas Eve! So that makes this the Christmas Holiday edition of ITASE 2000. We all want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas especially our love ones. We will be having our Christmas feast tomorrow night. We arrived earlier (about 10 pm) than we usually do at our new sites and as a result we accomplished quite a lot tonight. The ride was a little smoother than in the past and some of us were able to process a little data. Steve A. is always busy on the drives as he collects data of all the subsurface snow layers down to a depth of 90 meters over the entire traverse route. It is amazing that the same layers extend across hundreds of kilometers. The continuity of these layers enable him to calculate accumulation rates over hundreds of square kilometers of West Antarctica. Last night, Leigh was also able to finish her Global Positioning Satellite system (GPS) map of our new site. These maps show minor variations in elevation in a 2–3 kilometer radius around each site. Our elevation here is 1683.5 meters (about 5,200 feet) above sea level, which is approximately 200 kilometers lower than our last location. Today is business as usual with everyone getting as much science done as possible. We hope to drill another 80 meters of core at this site. We have gotten more people onto the drilling team including Leigh, Brian, and Dave. With this much help we should finish drilling in record time.
Date: 12/23/00
Latitude: 77 degrees41 minutes South
Longitude: 124 degrees 0 minutes West
Temperature: –15°C( 5°F)
Wind speed: 6 knots
Wind Chill: –23°C( –10°F)
Wind direction: North
Meters of ice collected: 500 total (this total now includes all the ice cores recovered for everyone's
projects)
Notes on daily life:
It has been a nice couple of days here. The sun is out, the clouds are gone, and the wind has stopped (almost). As a result, the views of Mount Sidley have been stellar. We have all remarked how much more exciting it is to have a mountain to look at, even if it is 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. At the last couple sites it was flat white snow scape all around.
Everyone has been very busy trying to finish their science work so that we can move on to the next site. On Wednesday and Thursday Steve N. and Zach drove the Caterpillar Challenger and towed the fuel sled to the next site 70 kilometers (42 miles) away from here. The next site is very much the same as this site including the view of Mount Sidley. The new location is only 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Byrd camp. We will be at this next site (124 degrees 55 minutes west longitude and 78 degrees 9 minutes south latitude) for our very white Christmas.
Towing the fuel sled with the Caterpillar is a great way to spend two days. The cab of the Caterpillar has large windows on all four sides and the sun shines in warming the inside. The windows also give the riders a 360° view of the landscape. It is also great just to get out of camp and away from your regular duties for two days. Originally, the cab was designed to hold only one person, but one of the carpenters at Byrd camp built a jump seat to accommodate a second passenger. On all trips out of camp we send two people for safety. While one person drives the other can rest and keep the driver awake. In the warm cab on the long drive (at 15 kilometers per hour for the 5 hour trip) it is easy to sit and enjoy the scenery. Steve N. is a terrific guy to spend a couple days with because of his easy going manner and his many stories of life in Wyoming. This is Steve N.'s 10th season in Antarctica and when he is not here, he is in Wyoming fighting forest fires and running pack trips.
Back in camp tonight we feasted on stir–fry vegetables with brown rice and chocolate pie for desert (some of us eat a lot of chocolate here). Everyone will have their science equipment cleaned up and be ready to take off for the next site in the morning. It has started to cloud up and snow lightly. It should be a nice day for a 70 kilometer (42 mile) drive .