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Week 9 - December 23, 2001 to December 29, 2001
Date: 12/29/01
Latitude: 79.10 degrees South
Longitude: 105.00 degrees West
Temperature: –14°C( 7°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –20°C( –3°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 771
Notes on daily life:
By evening we had passed Site 3. The last few days have been very calm and quite mild. We have all come to enjoy our driving shifts because it is a chance to be alone and watch the landscape go by. Very little relief in this part of West Antarctica so the ride is quite smooth. There is always the feeling that there is something over the next hill, and there is – more snow. This is an unbelievably big place. The closest people are probably 500 km away at Patriot Hills (near our old Site 5).
Just how big is Antarctica? About 1.5 times the size of the US. The average ice thickness is about 2000 m. It doubles in size during winter when it is surrounded by sea ice.
For many years scientists thought that this massive continent was effectively stagnant – no change in thousands, if not millions of years. In some ways it is – ice has covered Antarctica for millions of years. When one is driving across the ice sheet, the feeling is that it is unchangeable. But it does have a very dynamic (changeable) side. This includes: sea ice, atmospheric circulation, precipitation, ocean circulation and coastal and marine wildlife. In the ice cores collected by ITASE is a record of much of this change.
Date: 12/28/01
Latitude: 78.07 degrees South
Longitude: 95.37 degrees West
Temperature: –16°C( 3°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –22°C( –8°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 771
Notes on daily life:
We drove all day today as usual on 6 hour shifts. In between we ate, read, and slept. By midnight we were within 80 km of Site 3 – the last site where we pick up fuel and ice cores.
From Site 3 it is 300 km to Byrd Surface Camp. It should take us about 48–60 hours, considering our travel speed of 10–12 km/hr plus stops for changing shifts, fueling, and stocking up on food.
It is an interesting existence moving along 24 hours a day. We have been on the go since Christmas Day. There is really no such thing as day and night for us because it is, of course, light all the time, but also because the 6 hr shifts end up rotating around the clock, offset by a few hours each day. All we count on is getting enough rest between our shifts. It certainly does contribute to the timeless character of the Antarctic.
Onward.
Date: 12/27/01
Latitude: 78.07 degrees South
Longitude: 95.37 degrees West
Temperature: –17°C( 1°F)
Wind speed: 10 knots
Wind Chill: –26°C( –15°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 771
Notes on daily life:
After finishing the packing at Site 4 we proceeded to Site 3, 100 km from Site 4, where we once again loaded up cached fuel for the return trip and ice cores. Unlike Site 4 we had cached, at Site 3, a large number of empty and full fuel barrels and quite a bit of ice core. The total number of barrels to be picked up on the return trip is 142 (each weighs ~70 lbs empty and 500 lbs full). We also have 771 m of core to transport as we travel along. It is a good thing that we mostly have empty barrels and that we ate enough food to help offset a bit of the new weight. Just putting all of these things somewhere was quite a trick. It took all 12 of us working several hours to rearrange sleds and loads. A great team effort.
While recovering some air dropped fuel drums at Site 3 needed for our onward journey we discovered a small package. It was a present from Craig Roebuck, one of the Hercules C130 pilots. Like several of us he is from Maine and each of the last two years he has given us a Maine treat. Last year it waslobster pate when we were stepping off the plane upon our arrival at Byrd. This year an even more unique delivery, via air drop. Inside a small package marked "do not drop, do not freeze" (good one Craig) were toy lobster claws and a can of genuine Maine wild blueberries. What a treat – thanks Craig. What service – ski–equipped air transport, air drops and blueberries. The 109th Air Gaurd is great and it is good to have friends like Craig.
Once packed we continued on to Byrd – round the clock in 6 hour shifts until we get there – perhaps 6 days total. On this next leg of our trip we hit a few bumps and Steve Arcone was awoken from his sleep on the second level of the Blue Room as he slid in his sleeping bag out of his bunk and downward to the floor. Somehow he managed to gracefully end up standing upright in his bag on a chair.
Onward.
Date: 12/26/01
Latitude: 77.36 degrees South
Longitude: 92.13 degrees West
Temperature: –12°C( 10°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –17°C( 1°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 771
Notes on daily life:
By evening we reached Site 4 – approximately 200 km from "storm camp". Once there we had a nice supper of Mexican food. After dinner we loaded fuel drums and ice cores that we had cached at Site 4 – in preparation for an early start the next day.
While at Site 4 Lynn Peters and Steve Niles did some routine maintenance and repairs on the Challengers. These vehicles have done a superb job – pulling close to 40,000 lbs each.
We will try to travel round the clock until we get to Byrd Surface Camp, with breaks in travel for picking up caches and some hot meals. The driving is divided into six hour shifts – two people per shift (one each to drive the Challengers). At the end of driving shifts the vehicles are fueled. In between shifts sled loads are checked on a regular basis.
We are now in the second full day of travel back to Byrd. The entire trip will probably take between 5–8 days. As each day passes into the next it gets harder and harder to differentiate the days since each seems so much like the previous day. A good time to catch up on reading and sleeping in between 6 hour shifts.
Date: 12/25/01
Latitude: 77 degrees South
Longitude: 88.47 degrees West
Temperature: –12°C( 10°F)
Wind speed: 5 knots
Wind Chill: –17°C( 1°F)
Wind direction: East
Meters of ice collected: 771
Notes on daily life:
Christmas morning we woke to find clear weather for our return trip. We started with a breakfast of fresh eggs (delivered with our freshies) and pancakes. We also had Christmas stockings hung in the kitchen. Friends from the University of Maine (Ann Zielinski and Debbie Seymour) sent the Christmas stockings and enclosed presents. The presents turned out to be ideal – a pair of socks for each member of the team. At this stage in the season clean socks were the ideal gift. All of the socks had either moose, bear, or wolf patterns – good cold weather socks!
Within a couple of hours we were on our way back to Site 5. The trip from Site 5 to "storm camp" had been particularly rough because of sastrugi, but as luck would have it the storm brought so much snow that most of the sastrugi were buried for the return trip. We were able to travel at our usual speed of 10–12 km/hr, pretty slow by most standards, but fast compared to the 5–6 km/hr we travelled in this area on the way out. So not only did we have snow for Christmas (about 10cm, with drifts of 3m and a base of 2000m), but we also got presents – socks and most of the sastrugi buried.
By evening we reached site 5 (about 100 km travel). There we picked up the ice cores we had cached several days earlier and the fuel cache needed to move closer to Byrd Surface Camp. Still rested we decided to travel on another 100 km to Site 4 where more ice cores are cached.
Date: 12/24/01
Latitude: 76.15 degrees South
Longitude: 88.59 degrees West
Temperature: –14°C( 7°F)
Wind speed: 15 knots
Wind Chill: –24°C( –11°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 771
Notes on daily life:
The forecast is for 24–36 hours of calm weather and sure enough the storm is subsiding. By late morning the sun was back out and the winds decreased to about 15–20 knots.
After a few days of very stormy weather and the promise of a new storm we decided not to waste any time. The Challenger with the snow blade was excavated from a 3+ m drift and then free to help with snow removal. Even with the Challenger free, however, there still was a great deal of hand shoveling around the sleds. The whole excavation of the traverse line took 12–14 hours.
While some people were digging out others were starting the science program. We decided to do a limited program in order to have plenty of time to leave the area before the storm. The science ended up being a short period of atmospheric sampling, a snowpit, a GPS survey, and 3" drilling. We had hoped to drill all day but the circuitry for the drill was heavily snow packed during the storm. Even the spare circuitry system was snow packed. Net result, we finished the site with only 18 m.
The 18 m will be extremely valuable, however, because it is the first chance we have had to sample this close to the Antarctic Peninsula.
Much of the science for this season is now complete except for the radar survey to be undertaken during the 825 km return trip to Byrd. The ice core drilling was a great success with a total of 771 m. Last season we drilled 664 m.
Tomorrow we plan to get up early and start back to Byrd. It will be a nice Christmas present to all of us to start the homeward trip.
Date: 12/23/01
Latitude: 76.15 degrees South
Longitude: 88.59 degrees West
Temperature: –14°C( 7°F)
Wind speed: 35 knots gusting to 65 knots
Wind Chill: –29°C( –19°F)
Wind direction: West
Meters of ice collected: 753
Notes on daily life:
The second storm arrived and appears to be even more intense than the last. The current forecast is for calmer weather by tomorrow – some blue sky and a reduction in the wind speed down to 10 knots. If the storm subsides we plan to try and get some of the science done with half of the team and have the other half dig out the vehicles and sleds. Right now we have 2 m drifts on either side of the upwind Challenger. The two traverse lines are parked side by side, separated by about 15m. The space in between is a mixture of drifts and non– drift hardpacked areas. We will get alot of digging in tomoroow if the storm calms down.
Late today there was a small shift in the wind which makes the snowdrift configuration also shift. In some places it helps, in others it causes even more drifting.
We are about 150 km from Siple Station. The station was abandonned in the mid 1980's and it was one of the US's most remote Antarctic Stations. The winter– over team was often only four people and the weather was notoriously poor. It was not uncommon for flights in and out of Siple Station to be delayed many days (up to a month) due to the weather. We are no doubt getting a taste of Siple Station weather. Today Siple Station is many meters below the snow surface.
Once we finish our science and digging out we will be turning back toward site 5 and the 825 km return journey to our base at Byrd Surface Camp. Along the way we will be picking up ice cores, empty fuel drums, and the full fuel drums needed for the homeward trip. At each fuel airdrop we took approximately half of the air dropped fuel for the outward journey, leaving the other half for the return.
Let's see what tomorrow brings.