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Week 10 - December 30, 2002 to January 4, 2003
Date: 01/04/03
Latitude: 88° 59' 56.04" South
Longitude: 59° 58' 27.84West
Temperature: –25°C( –13°F)
Wind speed: 2 knots
Wind Chill: –28.6°C( –19.5°F)
Wind direction: Southerly
Meters of ice collected: 920
Notes on daily life:
After driving for approximately 14 hours through soft snow, hard snow, and sastrugi fields, we arrived at the 100k drill site. Apart from the sastrugi fields there was not much to see along the way. The sastrugi were very impressive, some were over one meter high and very hard. The wind carves the sastrugi into all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes and it is hard not to be mesmerized as you drive along. Despite the beauty of the sastrugi, they actually become quite a barrier to fast travel as their spatial density increases. The field we traveled through was so densely packed that it was impossible to steer the train around them. As a result we had to reduce our speed to less than 8 km/h. Thankfully, the sastrugi field only lasted for about 15 km, after this we could speed up to an impressive 11 km/h.
The site itself did not look like anything special, it was chosen purely based on its accumulation rate. The scenery was flat and white all around. The one welcome feature that we all noticed was the blazing Sun. Yet again, the Sun did not let us down; it shone and shone and shone. It is very important to have clear conditions and sun while traveling through sastrugi fields, otherwise all the ground detail disappears and it becomes impossible to dodge any of the sastrugi. The Sun continued to keep us warm throughout our 8 hours of drilling and snow sampling and we were in such good spirits that we drove back immediately upon finishing work. A couple of cloud banks rolled by us as we began our journey back to the Pole. Luckily, these had cleared by the time we reached the sastrugi fields. I was so impressed by the beauty of the sastrugi that I had to stop and take several photos. It seemed as though we were driving over a frozen ocean (in fact we were!) and the sastrugi were the waves, each one carved into it’s own unique shape and all breaking in the same direction. The drive back took 14 hours; so all in all, the 100 km traverse took us 36 hours to complete. It was so quick and easy because the train was light and the weather was amazingly good.
The 100 km traverse was a complete success, not only did we collect almost 20 meters of core but we did it in record time too. It won’t be long until we are all back in McMurdo and then winging our way back to civilization.
Date: 01/03/03
Latitude: 90°South
Longitude: 0° West
Temperature: –26°C( –14.8°F)
Wind speed: 3 knots
Wind Chill: –31.5°C( –24.8°F)
Wind direction: Southerly
Meters of ice collected: 890
Notes on daily life:
Today Paul, Carl, Dan and Susan, accompanied by videographer Mark Sturm, departed for a 200 km round trip traverse in the direction of the Pole of Inaccessibility (the most remote site in Antarctica from the coast). We plan to collect a 15 m ice core that will be used as a pilot study for the next phase of US ITASE which we hope will start in 2 years.
Before we left we received the following message. We would like to share it with you.
Message from Dr. Julie Palais (Glaciology Program Manager, Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation) to Dr. Paul Andrew Mayewski (Leader of ITASE). The message is partially borrowed from a message sent to Major Havola (Leader of Byrd–Pole Task Group 43.3) upon his arrival at South Pole 11 January 1961 by Admiral Tyree.
"Was pleased and proud to receive the report of your safe arrival at the South Pole. I wish I could have had the privilege of greeting you at the end of your long historic trek in which you blazed a new and important trail across the Antarctic ice and snow. This marks too the first American party in over forty years to reach the Pole by ground travel. You and your men and women are to be congratulated for the outstanding manner in which you conducted your science. The skill and efficiency with which you conducted the hazardous operation is a matter of great pride to the entire United States Antarctic Program. Well done to you and your splendid crew."
Date: 01/02/03
Latitude: 89°, 54', 42.10" South
Longitude: 147°, 34', 00.80" East
Temperature: –26°C( –14.8°F)
Wind speed: 3 knots
Wind Chill: –31.5°C( –24.8°F)
Wind direction: Southerly
Meters of ice collected: 890
Notes on daily life:
By Dan Dixon
Today was our first full day at The South Pole, actually we are not directly over the Pole (as our coordinates will tell you). If we were directly
over the Southern Pole of the Earth’s axis of rotation our coordinates would be 90° S, 0°E. Funnily enough, someone (the United States
Geological Survey) has erected an actual metal pole over this precise point so we cannot park our trains there. We are currently parked at a site
called SPRESO, 8 km away from the South Pole station.
SPRESO is short for South Pole Remote Earth Science Observatory; it is part of an experiment run by the USGS to determine the interior structure of the Earth using seismic waves. At the SPRESO site sensitive seismometers are being buried 300m deep in the ice sheet. In order to get the equipment into the ice at this depth a 300 m–deep hole must be drilled. Terrance Gacke is the head driller on the SPRESO project and he agreed to carefully bag and pack each meter of ice from one of these deep holes and give it to ITASE to complete the Byrd to Pole ice core transect. A core of this depth is extremely valuable and may contain climate data over 3000 years old. ITASE greatly appreciates the efforts made by Terry and all of his crew.
Today has been a very good day. The weather warmed up to a scorching –22 degrees Centigrade! And there was no wind: a quintessential summer’s day at Pole. Our first task this morning was to take apart the trains and prepare all our science gear for the long journey home. The mood was a happy one, but there was also an air of sadness as four years of challenging exploration finally comes to an end. Later in the day Susan, Dan, Markus, and Paul drilled several more meters of core using the 2–inch drill, Markus and Betsy set up the atmospheric sampling tent, and Paul, Carl, Dan, and Susan prepared the Weatherhaven sled and a Berko for the 200 km mini–traverse.
The ITASE 2002 South Pole traverse may be over, but before this season in Antarctica is out there is still more work to be completed for many members of the group. Mark has several more 3–inch cores planned, Gordon and Blue have to return to Byrd Surface Camp to retrieve a GPS base station, Markus and Betsy will be busy sampling the South Pole atmosphere, and Paul, Carl, Dan, and Susan still have a 200 km mini–traverse to complete. The work is far from over!
Date: 01/01/03
Latitude: 89°, 53', 32.60" South
Longitude: 157°, 28', 53.40" West
Temperature: –24°C( –11°F)
Wind speed: 0 knots
Wind Chill: –24°C( –11°F)
Wind direction: Southerly
Meters of ice collected: 584
Notes on daily life:
By Paul Andrew Mayewski
11.59 p.m. 1 January 2003. Immediately off in the distance we can see a bright haze appearing on the horizon directly below the Sun. Within that glow
is South Pole Station and we are just 10 km from it.
I thought it best to write this log entry just before we got to Pole, during a short stop, while we are shuttling the second to last of the sled loads, because once we get to Pole the adventure will change. We will see new faces, a 10,000 foot long runway and the complex of buildings that make up the station. Here just on the edge of Pole the last four field seasons of US ITASE will blend back into civilization.
It has been an extraordinary expedition. This season we traversed 1250 km from Byrd Station, completed all of our scientific goals and met a number of challenges along the way. Most recently deep snow that has forced us to ferry loads 10 km at a time.
Looking farther back in time over the US ITASE years we have covered more than 5000 km over West Antarctica and into East Antarctica. In all it has taken close to six months to complete our traverse and to set the stage for what we hope will be the basis for understanding recent climate change and change in the chemistry of the atmosphere over West Antarctica. With our other international partners ITASE will change Antarctica from a poorly understood continent, climatically, to perhaps the best documented in the Southern Hemisphere. This phase of the ITASE adventure is nearing an end, but the scientific adventure has only begun. From our work there will be new ideas about how the climate of the Southern Hemisphere operates and we hope new capability for predicting future climate. From our work new avenues of exploration will emerge. We will return to Antarctica with a new appreciation for the continent and what it holds.
We thank you all for being part of our adventure. Having the opportunity to speak to all of you on a regular basis has been a valued part of our daily routine. In our final few logs of this season we will describe the wrap up phase of our trip. Part of the wrap will be to put our Challengers and sleds on a cargo line at South Pole. It is or intention to return to this traverse equipment in about two years. At that time we plan to start up phase two of US ITASE from South Pole to the north along the Transantarctic Mountains. By then we will have analyzed and interpreted the information collected during phase one.
We thank the Museum of Science for being a such a wonderful partner in our adventure, the Office of Polar Programs of the US National Science Foundation for their encouragement and support, Raytheon Polar Services for logistic support, Ice Core Drilling Services and Glacier Data for drilling expertise, and the 109th Air National Guard for getting us and our equipment to and from the field.
See you on the next round of US ITASE!
Date: 12/31/02
Latitude: 89°, 11', 35.98" South
Longitude: 111°, 36', 12.32" West
Temperature: –22°C( –8°F)
Wind speed: 0 knots
Wind Chill: –22°C( –8°F)
Wind direction: Southerly
Meters of ice collected: 584
Notes on daily life:
By Daniel Dixon
Today is New Years Eve, and what better way to spend it than driving to the South Pole. We are still on the road and are about 90 km away from Pole.
Everything was running smoothly until about 20 km ago. It was there that we encountered conditions similar to those that we experienced ~40 km from
Byrd at the beginning of the traverse – deep soft snow, and lots of it. We were not expecting to run into this so close to the Pole, perhaps it could
be a consequence of the current El Niño. These conditions are extremely bizarre to say the least, over 12 inches of soft powder (a skier’s
dream and a Cat driver’s nightmare), no wind, and 360 degree white clouds. The whole situation seems very surreal. While standing 100 m away
(doing surface snow sampling) and looking back at the trains, it seemed to me that they were just floating in midair – very strange! The clouds and
horizon blend so perfectly that it is nearly impossible to see the ground. The Sun is diffused to such an extent that no shadows are cast
the white snowy ground seems perfectly flat, even when the Cats leave 1–2 foot deep tracks! Just walking a few meters can turn into an adventure.
The deep snow makes pulling heavy loads difficult for the Cat tractors and the tracks spin often. To overcome the problem we have had to split the
trains. This makes the loads lighter but means more trips to and fro with the Cats which uses up more fuel. It also means that each segment of the
train has to have its own survival and communication equipment in case it gets stranded by a storm. This shuttling of loads takes up a lot more time
than usual but we are still confident that we can reach the South Pole by January 1st or January 2nd.
Happy New Year to you all.
Date: 12/30/02
Latitude: 88°, 22', 01.13" South
Longitude: 108°, 32', 11.15" West
Temperature: –24°C( –11°F)
Wind speed: 0 knots
Wind Chill: –24°C( –11°F)
Wind direction: Southerly
Meters of ice collected: 584
Notes on daily life:
By Betsy Youngman
It sure looks like a Circus around here.
One of the unique features of the ITASE expedition is the fact that it is a combination of many science disciplines working in a coordinated effort
to understand the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheet and climate patterns, both past and present. Among this team of 15 individuals there are four
distinct disciplines of science. These disciplines include deep and shallow radar, atmospheric chemistry, ice core drilling and analysis and precise
GPS mapping. The data collected by each group helps to complete the
"bigger picture" of the history and future of the ice on the Antarctic continent. Thus, on any given day, one can look around camp and see
the drilling team securing ice cores containing greater than 200 years of historical data, the radar and GPS teams preparing their sleds to survey
the ice and bedrock around the area, or the atmospheric chemistry team collecting samples of the air and snow for real time analysis of the recent
atmosphere.
It is a fascinating sight to see the science equipment emerge from the train to be set up on the snow surface like the three rings of a circus. The sight of people walking about in colorful (and funny looking) clothing and hats, helium balloons, yellow snowmobiles, giant drills on sleds, large boxes, colorful flags, and even a kitchen with wonderful smells wafting from the roof vent give our camp the look and feel of a small traveling circus. But behind this colorful facade, serious science is taking place at an intense pace.
The large helium balloon that is attached to the atmospheric chemistry tent is an example of one of the fascinating and fun looking implements of science. By carrying small instruments called sondes, this balloon allows us to sample atmosphere as high at 20 kilometers above the surface of the earth. From the information gathered by the sonde and sent back to our computers by radio transmission we are able to know the temperature, air pressure, relative humidity and ozone concentrations throughout a vertical profile from the ground level to the stratosphere (at approximately 20 kilometers). The ozone sonde, a small pump contained in a small protective Styrofoam package, samples the air for ozone. When running, this pump makes the sound of a little cat purring. The purring pump draws air into a cylinder filled with a salt solution of Potassium Iodide. Once inside the cylinder the ozone in the air reacts with the salt solution creating a current. The amount of current created by the reaction is recorded and transmitted by a small computer chip attached to the pump. This information is passed through a set of wires to the Viasala weather sonde taped onto the outside of the ozone pump package. The weather sonde, exactly like those used at McMurdo and other weather observing stations worldwide, collects the temperature, relative humidity and air pressure data. This instrument, in a small box the size of a one–liter milk container, also contains a radio transmitter. Without the radio transmission scientists would have to chase down and find the sondes, which often travel hundreds of miles in their two–hour data collection flights (a near–impossible task). However, we have the luxury of receiving our data by an antennae and receiver located just outside our atmospheric chemistry tent. These radio signals are translated by a modem and computer into a graphical (visual) format allowing us to monitor the data on a computer screen as it is being received. Each flight of the weather and ozone–monitoring balloon brings us an enhanced understanding of the atmosphere. Without the balloon one could only sample the atmosphere close to the earth’s surface, with the balloon a much larger area becomes within our reach.
So, while Betsy and Markus looked up into the sky today, following the flight of the weather balloon to 18,000 meters, the drilling team pushed down into the ice another 9 meters for a total depth of 54 meters. Meanwhile, in the Blue room, Brian and Jim prepared their radar to seek out the ice layers all the way from the surface to the bedrock some 3000 meters below us. In all, on any given day, this traveling science team can look at a profile of the Earth from bedrock to the stratosphere. And, like the circus, we are having fun while doing our work and traveling from site to site.
We are now traveling again and are within one hundred miles of our final stop on this tour, the South Pole. We hope to arrive in time to celebrate the New Year and to complete our work at the last science site. Looking back at our struggles to get started, it is incredible to be this far in our journey. With five sites now completed, we are all very excited to finally be nearing our destination.