Date: December 2, 2006
Location: Taylor Dome
Latitude: 77 degrees, 47 minutes South
Longitude: 158 degrees, 43 minutes East
Temperature: −21°C (−6°F)
Wind Speed: 11 knots
Wind Chill: −32°C (−25°F)
Elevation: 2,365 meters (7,759 feet)
Meters of core collected: 100
Written by: Lora
Well the storm is gone. We woke up to a sunny day with tons of visibility. Brian and Josh headed out in the Pisten Bully to take deep radar lines. The environmentalist crew came over to our camp to dig out pallets and count cargo straps. McMurdo is short on both pallets and Cargo straps and want an inventory of what we have here at Taylor Dome and what we need. The environmentalists are also waiting for the flights to bring in carpenters who will help break down their camp. They are going to be leaving next Wednesday. Joe and I set up my radar and collected some more data and conducted some experiments. We tested the radar to see how much snow it could look through. We put different size blocks of snow if front of the radar and took measurements. The good weather allows us to get a lot done.
Date: December 3, 2006
Location: Taylor Dome
Latitude: 77 degrees, 47 minutes South
Longitude: 158 degrees, 43 minutes East
Temperature: −21°C ( −6 °F)
Wind Speed: 20 knots
Wind Chill: −35°C ( −31 °F)
Elevation: 2,365 meters (7,759 feet)
Meters of core collected: 100
Written by: Lora
Don’t go out!
I woke up last night to a strange pounding on the roof above my bunk. The wind was blowing so hard that is was rattling panels on the roof. I fell back asleep knowing that another cold day was ahead. Andrei came into the kitchen in the morning announcing that the wind chill was −51°C (−58°F). I didn’t want to get out of bed. I finally got up, put on multiple layers and sprinted to the outhouse and back to the kitchen. The wind was brutal. Not much we can do on a day like this but stay indoors and keep warm. I spent the morning backing up data and folding origami. Others are tying knots with rope to make zipper pulls, listening to music, reading, catching up on sleep and Mike has carved a special wooden needle and is using it to make a net. Mike is quite skilled at woodworking and all things dealing with boats.
After lunch Josh and Brian will take the pisten bully, which is completely enclosed with a heater, to the drill site to take a shallow radar line. Those of us staying in camp are planning on watching the third Harry Potter movie. We will probably invite over our neighbor camp over for the movie. We may even make popcorn.
Yes we have popcorn along with a lots of other good food. The food is mainly packaged, dry or frozen. When the flights come in they bring fresh food or "freshies". Freshies include loaves of bread, fruits and vegetables. They have to stay indoors so they will not freeze. Freshies generally last about a week. For breakfast we often have eggs, sausage, pancakes, toast, we do have a toaster, and cereal with dehydrated milk. Since today was Sunday, we got a special treat of Sarah Lee pre–wrapped Danishes. Ymmmm. For lunch we either have leftovers from dinner the night before, soup or wrapes. We only have sandwich bread when the flights come in, so most of the time we make sandwiches with tortillas or pita bread, both can be easily frozen and last a long time. One of our favorite lunches is pizza made with the pita bread. For dinner we generally have a type of meat, or tofu for vegetarians, a grain like rice and a frozen vegetable.
The food is stared in large boxes called tri–walls. These boxes are huge. I could easily fit in them, about 4 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet. We still have over 5000 pounds of food for the rest of the traverse. We are actually not using food as quickly as we thought because so much of the team is still in McMurdo. The food boxes are all labeled with what is in them and they will be loaded on one big sled. There is also a big box of food that is the emergency cache. This food will only be used in an emergency situation and can support all the people here for a week. It also included fuel and small camp stoves. When the traverse trains are made, food will be stored on each train. This ensures that if anything happens to one train the other train always has food on board. There is always food in each building and vehicle, just in case a white out comes and you are stuck in a building for a few days.
On indoor days we focus on drinking lots of water. It is so high and dry here in Antarctica that it is easy to get dehydrated, especially when you work all day and forget to drink water throughout. Today I will try and drink about 4 liters of water plus 4 or 5 hot drinks, like spiced cider, hot chocolate or tea.