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2007

Date: October 28, 2007
Location: McMurdo Station
Latitude: 77 degrees, 51 minutes South
Longitude: 166 degrees, 40 minutes East
Temperature: −23°C (−9°F)
Wind Speed: 21 knots
Wind Chill: −37°C (−35°F)
Elevation: 50 meters (164 feet)
Written by: Dan D.

Today is very quiet on station. There are no flights on Sundays so there is very little hustle and bustle. Most people that I see are moving around very slowly... probably as a result of last night's Halloween festivities. Brunch begins at 11am and is a wonderful spread of fruit, baked goods, cheeses, and whatever other breakfast delicacies you can think of. Mike, Dan, Nicky, Elena and I meet up in the galley for a lovely feast and afterwards head over to the Science Cargo building to examine our issued gear. We unpack our cage (each science group on station has their own locked cage in the Science Cargo building where their gear can be stored) and begin putting together our sleep kits.

A typical deep-field sleep kit consists of an Arctic Storm sleeping bag (–40 rated), a thick pile sleeping bag liner, a small camp pillow, two ensolite sleeping pads, a thermarest, a Nalgene water bottle inside an insulated sleeve, and a P–bottle. Unfortunately, this year the BFC (Berg Field Center – the department that issues most of our field gear) is running low on ensolite pads and they have only issued one pad per person. So, to make up for it they have issued each of us with two thermarests and this proves to be quite a challenge to stuff into our sleep–kit duffle bags. Eventually, after much grunting and huffing, we manage to zip up our bags. These bags are very important because the gear inside is all that we will have to sleep in for over two months on the ice. After packing our sleep kits we carefully re–stack everything back into our cage – thanks to the size of our group and the huge amount of gear we need, this is no easy task.

After running several other small errands we all wander back to our Crary Lab office where we have internet access (albeit very slow) and email. Sunday dinner is yet another endless feast, and with full stomachs the lure of bed is hard to resist...

 

Date: October 29, 2007
Location: McMurdo Station
Latitude: 77 degrees, 51 minutes South
Longitude: 166 degrees, 40 minutes East
Temperature: −26°C (−15°F)
Wind Speed: 19 knots
Wind Chill: −41°C (−42°F)
Elevation: 50 meters (164 feet)
Written by: Nicky

Today is the day (or one of many) of Science Cargo. All of the ice core boxes and all of the equipment in our cage needs to be given tracking control numbers (TCNs). A TCN is a unique identifier which allows the holder to know where the item is, what the item is, and possibly where that item will go in the future (psychics!). In the case of the ice core boxes, this first requires printing a variety of labels. One indicating the address it should be shipped to in the US upon being filled (the big storage freezer in Bangor) and another indicating that it should be maintained at −20°C. Elena and I sit with the printer in the Science Cargo office making sure that each of the 440 labels prints clearly (easier said than done) and also doing a little decorating of each shipping label (think: draw a shark, draw santa claus,...).

Next, each pallet of boxes (6 per) must be brought inside from the lower yard on the forks, and each box must be opened to determine the number and size of the tubes inside. Additionally, two box straps are thrown in each box for good measure. The size of tubes needs to be written on the outside of each box and then each box must be outfitted with shipping labels, keep frozen labels, this side up labels and TCN labels on each end. The TCN labels and the 'this side up' labels aren't partial to the cold and thus require an additional layer of spray adhesive. The TCN labels on the individual boxes are a little different than the ones that go on all the other equipment being sent to the field because they are northbound labels (or rather those that will be used to keep track of the box once they're sent back to McMurdo FROM the field). The six boxes are banded together on a pallet, weighed, measured, and then labelled with a unit TCN for thier trip to the field. You'll forgive me if this reads like an instruction manual, its important because once you've read it you'll have a better feel for what really goes into organizing a trip like this. Elena and I do 11 boxes and close the place down after being generously helped by Juan, Connie, Matt, Keith, and Lisa - the excellent Science Cargo crew. We develop our own rythm and despite the monotony, enjoy the autonomy of having a tangible task. Only five boxes left, but Dan D. will take care of those. Tomorrow Elena and I head off to Happy Camper School.