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2007

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Date: November 7, 2007
Location: McMurdo Station
Latitude: 77 degrees, 51 minutes South
Longitude: 166 degrees, 40 minutes East
Temperature: −18°C ( 0°F)
Wind Speed: 48 knots
Wind Chill: −36°C (−33°F)
Elevation: 50 meters (164 feet)
Written by: Dan D.

It feels good to be free! That is the thought that keeps going through my head as I battle my way through the wind. I spent much of the day running errands again.

At one point, I was sitting in the Crary Lab office working on my computer when I felt the building shake – Oh, I thought, they must be doing blasting up the road again (they have been blowing up some rocks near the entrance to town to make space for a new fuel tank). Then I took a look outside the window, it was completely white! Normally, I can see the SSC building out of the office window, it is about 100 yards away – when you can't see 100 yards for the blowing snow in town, you know the weather has taken a turn for the worse.

As the evening rolled on the weather became progressively worse until, at around midnight, a condition one was declared in town. This is a serious warning, it means stay where you are and do not attempt to move to another building. Luckily, at this point I was back in my room, lovely and warm tucked up in bed.

Date: November 7, 2007
Location: ITASE Winter Over Site
Latitude: 80 degrees, 18 minutes South
Longitude: 144 degrees, 41 minutes East
Temperature: −34°C ( −29°F)
Wind Speed: 9 knots
Wind Chill: −47°C (−53°F)
Elevation: 2191 meters (7189 feet)
Kilometers Traveled: 0
Ice Core Drilled: 0 meters
Written by: Nicky

Today is the day.  We're driving the Piston Bully! This is exciting for just about everyone in camp because many of us have never driven the PB and those that have enjoy it.  Here again Kasey takes each of us out to show us what the machine can do and how we should treat it.  This machine is a little less straightforward to drive than the Fork CAT.  For example, there is a clutch, and an accelerator, but no brake pedal.  There is a gauge showing you the RPMs that has a grey mark around 17 RPM.  This is where we're supposed to keep the RPMs at all times in order to get the best fuel economy.  On the steering wheel is a white dial numbered 0 through 9 which allows you to increase your speed.  The PB is designed to be able to hit bumps that the Challenger can't.  So, in order to get a feel for the machine and how it feels as you track up a hill and come over the crest (a little frightening) we each get to hit a few bumps.  I hit mine a little to fast, but no harm done.

Other than PB training the day is again spent doing little tasks. Luke and Luci continue conducting weather obs as we wait for our scheduled flights.  They have been doing hourly observations since 3AM (6 hours in advance of our first expected flight) only to have that flight delayed (14:40PM arrival!).  When the plane arrives, just like last time cargo is quickly onloaded and our alternative energy specialist, Brian (from the MEC in McMurdo) is gone before we know it.  Our cargo includes lots of drill, gps, and radar bits, so Brian and Mike are especially pleased.  We melt more water (the plan is to have all of our jugs filled before we pull away).  And then comes a bit of bad news.  The radiator and the fan for the Challenger have proven difficult to find.  There are only two of the fans available in the world and they won't be here until the 14th.  In addition, Josh is still sick and has been put back into quarantine until next Friday.  Looks like we'll be here awhile...but it's okay, we'll be really ready to go when the time comes.

 

Date: November 8, 2007
Location: McMurdo Station
Latitude: 77 degrees, 51 minutes South
Longitude: 166 degrees, 40 minutes East
Temperature: −9°C ( 16°F)
Wind Speed: 46 knots
Wind Chill: −22°C (−8°F)
Elevation: 50 meters (164 feet)
Written by: Dan D.

The morning weather started out quite nice, the wind died down somewhat and the skies cleared. The McMurdo Ice Runway Crew quickly resumed operations, they had their snow blowers out clearing the landing strip and pretty soon had flights leaving for the South Pole. My three roommates were on one of the South Pole flights and they must have been quite relieved to finally reach their destination only two weeks late! But that is the nature of things here in Antarctica. The weather changes so fast that you have to be prepared for the worst AT ALL TIMES. It does not matter if the Sun is shining and there is no wind – you ALWAYS carry your ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear with you when you travel off base.

In classic Antarctic style the weather changed back to condition 1 by the end of the afternoon. That meant no C–17 flights in from Christchurch. Many scientists have been waiting back in New Zealand for over a week! In some cases, weather delays like this can spell doom for a science project – I just hope that everyone currently waiting in Christchurch has time to spare.