Quick Post

Hello all, sorry about not blogging for the past couple days.  We have been working hard. Yesterday we covered 105km by skidoo and completed six measurement sites.  Today we covered 80km and completed three measurement sites.  The days have been a bit long as a result of the distance, and on top of that I am sick. I probably should have stayed back today but I don't like doing that so I went out, and it was nice to have gone.  I got some great pictures which I will have time to shrink and post tomorrow I hope.

Again, sorry for the lack of posts and the lack of photos.  I promise to post more soon.

Cheers


Justin

Condition 2

Another exciting day in McMurdo Sound and Scott Base today. Last night we were informed we would be scheduled for a helicopter flight today, but that the weather would likely be poor. As predicted the weather did not improve overnight and so we did not do a helicopter flight. However, we had planned for this and departed Scott Base at 9 this morning to do more on ice measurements. The idea was that if conditions did improve we could always head back before our scheduled helicopter flight.

During the day it was quite pleasant, very warm but with some wind. As we continued our measurements the wind increased and the visibility then reduced as the fresh snow we have had over the past two days started to blow around. Let me assure you, it is very difficult to lay out a 30m long tape measure in a straight line when the wind blows. Unfortunately the pictures never seem able to capture the amount of wind.

Pictured above is also the sled that I ride on each day, it gets a bit tiring, but is also quite comfortable and fun. But can be tricky when the light is flat and there are lots of bumps, or when the wind picks up and starts blowing the snow and obscuring the surface, as happened today.

After our final measurement site that we completed today, on the way to another measurement site the wind increased and the snow started blowing around. Visibility was really reduced, was hard to see the skidoos just 100m or less behind me, but we are glad for GPS technology as you can basically navigate by it and don't really need landmarks.

This evening after supper the winds increased at Scott Base and visibility dropped dramatically. It was about -10 but with 25knot (45+km/hr) winds, so felt like -30. Here in Antarctica they use a three level system for weather and activities, Conditions 1,2,3. Condition 3 is the best weather, good visibility, temperatures above -55C and low winds. Condition 2 is when you have temperatures below -55 or higher wind, or reduced visibility, and Condition 1 is when it is really really bad ). You can see the weather for Scott Base at http://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/weather/SBweather/sbweather.html. As a result of the worsening weather conditions here, they changed the weather condition from 3 to 2; this limits outdoor activity to on base and with permission, at least for those of us at the base.

Well that is all for today. Tomorrow will be another measurement day, unless of course the weather improves and we can fly, though conditions are again not predicted to improve.

Mush, Mush, Mush

Well despite the title we did not have sled dogs, but it felt a little like it as I was again on the sled behind the skidoo today. We covered another 50kms with our EM sensors and performed measurements at three sites. The measurements we conducted included snow depth, drill hole thickness, EM31 measurements, ground penetrating radar measurements and snow density. We are trying to gather accurate measurements to calibrate and validate the ability of the GPR to measure snow depth, and maybe ice thickness. We are also calibrating and validating the EM31 retrieval of ice thickness and hopefully platelet ice thickness.  We are also collecting valuable information on the properties of the snow and ice for the validation of the Cryosat-2 satellite, which aims to measure changes in the thickness of the sea ice using information on changes in the amount that the ice sticks up above the water surface (called freeboard).  This height is related to the density and thickness of the ice, but is affected by the snow density and depth (weighs down the ice) and by the low density platelet ice layer (what platelet ice is will be explained in a future post.
I only took one photo today, on the way back from our last sight. Just like the other day the weather closed in a bit and visibility dropped. It was not too bad, I quite enjoy it but it does really make you appreciate having a GPS to navigate.

Someone asked yesterday what the weather/temperatures are like. It is usually only -5C to -10C but it is often windy (today was between 10-20 knots at times, so quite windy, at times with the wind chill today it was below -20C. However, I gather that Edmonton has been much colder that past couple days.


Well that is it for today, we did not have a helicopter flight because of the weather. We are scheduled for a helicopter flight for tomorrow but the weather looks like it will be poor tomorrow as well. In any event we will go out on the ice in the morning and if the weather turns out to be good, head back early enough for a bird flight.

Well I should go, it is now midnight and in 6.5 hours I need to get up for another day!

GPS Deployment and Methodology Check

First I want to apologize for missing the blog posting yesterday, and for not being able to keep up with all the things I want to talk about, hopefully this will be rectified in the coming days. Things here have been quite busy and the Internet has been extremely limited in terms of speed so it has not been possible to post the photos I want, and I don’t have time to prepare the stuff I would like to.

Greg checking his GPS on a laptop inside the jacket tent.

Yesterday we deployed two GPS stations on the ice.  This involved three skidoos and sledges as we also towed the two EM31 ground based electromagnetic induction sensors.  We travelled 75km by skidoo, which means that I travelled 75km while standing on the back of the sled.  This was difficult at first but as we crossed West and farther south in the sound there was more new snow which softened the surface. On the way back we went to the ice shelf edge; the edge of the glacial land ice that is floating in this sound.  As you can see there is a lot of rocks, dirt and debris on this ice. Towards the end of the day visibility was dropping quickly and we were essentially travelling by GPS positions only.  Despite being able to easily see the lead skidoo from my position at the back, I know that from the front skidoo it would have been difficult to see anything at all and when I looked sideways or behind it really felt like you could only see a couple hundred meters at most.  Your sense of scale, distance and time completely disappears here without landmarks to reference yourself, and even with them I find it very hard here.

Ice Shelf Edge

After supper yesterday we had a meeting about our activity today and then Christian and I spent time putting the helicopter electromagnetic induction sea ice thickness sensor (“bird”, “HEM”) together.

Scott Base seen from the sea ice today.

Today, we had a full group meeting and went out to the ice to discuss measurement procedures and to familiarize ourselves with the under water camera systems we have to look at the platelet ice. This evening I had a rushed early dinner so that some of the other people could dine with the King of Malaysia who is here visiting the base until sometime tomorrow.  This evening we looked at some data, and did some more work with our HEM system to make sure all is working as we may have a helicopter flight tomorrow.  If we do not fly tomorrow we will be in the field doing measurements.

Well that is what I have been up to.  Last thing, as some of you know I have decided to participate in Movember.  In November, men across the world grow mustaches and collect money for prostate cancer research and for men’s health.  Prostate cancer causes many deaths and has a high treatability rate when caught early.  So far I have raised over 100 dollars but I am hoping some of my blog readers would want to donate some money to this cause. HOWEVER, I completely understand that this may not be a cause you support, or want to support, or that you support another cause, or only support causes you have fully researched, or that you do not know enough about the program (check out http://ca.movember.com). However, if you feel like donating, you can go to my MOVEMBER page (http://mobro.co/JustinBeckers and donate some money. If not, well no harm done in me asking I think, as it is for a good cause.

Sightseeing Anyone?

Well today we went to Cape Evans and the Scott Hut. This was a recreational trip. We journeyed to the site using a Hägglund. A Hägglund is a Swedish tracked vehicle that is also amphibious meaning that it can go through/over water. You see a lot of these vehicles in Antarctica, and I don’t know if you see them many other places. The tracks mean that per square inch of track they put less pressure on the snow than a skidoo, but they can carry about 10 people or 5 people and a lot of gear. The Hägglund has a front and rear compartment. Below is the Hägglund near an iceberg on our way to Cape Evans.

 

The Scott Hut we visited was built in 1910 and was used as the base for Scott’s expedition to the South Pole. This is a historically important hut and so has been preserved. There is old food and many artifacts inside the hut and outside. The hut still has the original asbestos and mercury. It always strikes me that either the men were smaller in this time or just made small beds for themselves out of necessity.

Nearby is the Barne’s Glacier which flows down off of Mount Erebus. Our guide drove us closer to the glacier so we could have a look. I feel this is your typical Antarctic glacier ending, in that it is a sharp drop.

On the way to this point and near where we camped yesterday is the Erebus ice tongue, which in the satellite imagery I have showed in previous points looks very impressive and dramatic, but when seen from the endpoint is much lower and unimpressive than I had expected.

Well that is all again today, sorry for the lack of science info, but it has been very busy again today, and the internet here has been excruciatingly slow, probably due to the weather we have been having. Tomorrow we head out on skidoos and sleds to cover 70+kms with the EM31s and set up two more GPS stations. Talk tomorrow.

Best Campsite EVER!

Hey All,

Well it is now 11:45pm and I have some time to write this blog. So yesterday we had a morning of Antarctic Field Training theory. This consisted of getting familiar with their standard operating procedures for things like safety, responsibility, sea ice travel, radios, etc. Then in the afternoon we were to meet at 3:30 to be ready to go to our field site.

Our excellent guides allowed us to combine some science with our practical training so we went out with three skidoos and a Hägglund (pictures of this and some of the other awesome equipment around will be in the posts). We towed our two EM31 ground based electromagnetic inductions sensors behind two of the skiddos. These are mounted on Nansen sleds and measure the total thickness, or snow plus ice thickness. These require a sled passenger to operate a foot brake that drags in the snow and slows the sled down. On the way out there, I was the sled passenger for one of the sleds. This was a lot of fun as you have some control of the sled by moving your body weight, but you need to hang on tight, especially once you get off the established trails. However we had some problems with one of the EM31 instruments as it kept losing the data connection between the data logger and the sensor.
Around Scott Base and McMurdo Stations there are a lot of trails that are marked and checked. These connect important places like the runway on the sea ice, research huts and so forth with the rest of the base. These trails get marked with flags that indicate where you can travel, where there are dangers such as cracks, holes, or thin ice or where there are pipelines/wires. The colors of these flags are red/green, black, and blue, respectively. The red/green flags that mark routes indicate that 5m to each side of the flag is known to be safe.
Upon arrival at our field site near the end of the Erebus Ice Tongue, we set up camp including some nice mountaineering Mountain Hardware Tents, and some Scott tents (Scott Polar Tents). These tents are really excellent, but are very heavy (30kg or so). Here you can see my tent (shared with Christian) and in the background is Mount Erebus, a mountain/volcano on Ross Island. Definitely one of the best camp spots I’ve ever had.

After cooking a delicious supper consisting of dehydrated campers food, I had the Beef Pasta Hot pot which was very good, Dan, Ken and I took a little walk to the ice tongue just to see it up closer. We were asked by the supervisors and field trainers not to go up onto the ice tongue because of crevasse (ice cracks) danger. Here you can see our camp out on the sea ice.

This morning, we took down camp, and then put up a GPS station near the camp, this involved some basic shoveling of snow, drilling a hole through the ice (to get the water level), and setting up a couple of tripods, one for the GPS unit and one for the solar panels to charge the battery.

Then we headed back to the base, after our amazingly beautiful weather on the first day we had some wind in the morning that really picked up during our trip, making the ride back much less pleasant, with reduced visibility and blowing snow. However we traveled in a close convoy and visibility was not terrible. However I still enjoyed it, nice to see what the wind is like here.

One interesting thing about Antarctica is that because of all the cold ice here, the air moving over it cools. Since cold air is denser than warm air it begins to move downhill as a result of gravity, and as it does so you get a wind called katabatic winds.

Once we got back to Scott Base we had to DEMOB (demobilize) our Antarctic Field Course material. Here at Scott Base the scientists are far more responsible for cleaning up after themselves and helping with base operations (such as helping in the kitchen, with dishes, etc). We had to unpack all of our gear, wash the tents, hang sleeping bags, do some laundry, and so forth. After that we had some more discussion of our training, mostly on things to improve, things to watch out for and other suggestions. We then finished with a practical scenario, in which one member of our party was injured, and another was wet and the other members in the team had to identify the critical issues, delegate and deal with them. This was really good as it forces you to think quickly and carefully. By the time this was all done it was supper time.

After dinner, Dan and I walked along the ice ridge recreational route near the base. Weddell seals area everywhere in this area as they come up through cracks/thin ice and maintain their holes. They come up onto the ice to sun. It must also be calving season as there are several baby seals on the ice. Here in Antarctica you are supposed to maintain a 10m distance from wildlife while on foot, but you should not put yourself in a dangerous position to do so. In this case, the route is flagged and so you cannot stray to far from the flags. We tried to maximize our distance from the animals but this still gets you quite close in some cases.

By Scott Base, there are some very large pressure ridges where the sea ice has collided with the land has has been forced up onto it, forming immense ridges of ice.

I had hoped to have some more scientific information ready to present to you, or an interview with one of our group members, but I haven’t had time. We have been quite busy so far, and this will hopefully get better over the next few days, so maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Dan, Ken, Christian and I are going on a tourist trip organized by the base to Cape Evans and the Terra Nova hut (I actually don’t know the history here but will try to find out for you guys). This will take all day, but I’ve been told to go so no arguments. I also hope to have some pictures of some of the vehicles here, but maybe not as I will have the trip to talk about. But we will see, am really hoping there will be penguins at the site as I have heard that there may be.

Well until next time, hope you are all doing well, especially my lovely wife.

Skidoo Training

After an excellent nights sleep last night and a quick shower (navy style, get wet, turn water off, soap up, turn water on and rinse off: targeted water use is less than 3 minutes), I have had a good day.

After breakfast this morning we had our event “In Brief”. Every science campaign is called an event, and the briefing this morning was between our team and the base coordinators to make sure both groups know what the other wants, expects, etc.

After that we started preparing equipment such as the EM31, our ground based electromagnetic induction sensor.  We have two here, one of ours ( a short version) and the standard version from Wolfgang.  There were also two ground penetrating radar units to set up (Wolfgang’s and Pat Langhorne’s) and numerous GPS stations.

We also started to work on our airborne electromagnetic sensor (HEM bird or Rosie) but discovered that whoever tightened the bolts last really put them far too tight and several needed to be drilled out to get them out.

In the afternoon, we had skidoo training, getting people familiarized with how they work, some simple maintenance tasks and a little driving session.  It was nice to get back on a skidoo.

Our Antarctic Field Training course begins tomorrow and will involving skidoo and  camping out on the ice and learning about some of the safety aspects of our work and some survival training. We will use the field training activity to visit one of the sites where we wish to deploy a GPS station to monitor the tides during the duration of our visit.  We will also tow the two EM31 sensors ground sensors along with us, and maybe more equipment as well.  It will be good for people to get used to pulling the sleds holding our equipment and a good way to familiarize/refresh people with the equipment.

This evening we quickly tested the EM31s on the sleds, and we are ready for tomorrow.  Unfortunately I haven’t had time to write any science or get anyone to write about what they do.  There are 9 people in our team, and I hope to get all of them to write a short blurb about what they study, why they are here and what their favorite thing about Antarctica is, so stay tuned.