Dry Valleys wrap-up

to view the full Lake Bonney photo album, click here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30396637

Lake Bonney was a blast.  My boss, Barb, informed me that Dry Valleys gigs were really special for GA's, since usually the BFC girls get to go there, not our department.  I do feel very fortunate to get to go on this gig, as I got to spend a week with some great people in a beautiful place, learning lots of new stuff.  For example, I can now drill holes in really deep ice and melt them to a preffered diameter using special equipment.  I can safely drive a 4-wheeler on said ice and remain in control (huzzah!) and carry passengers and cargo.  I can pack and wrap a helicopter slingload using cargo straps and cargo nets.  I can, indeed, sleep in a tent and not shower for a week with little loss of face, seeing as everyone else smells as bad as I do.

To those of you at Lake Bonney, thanks for the great week and letting me be involved in your scientific research, if only in a small, labor-mule type way.  Good luck with the rest of the season!

My life in Mariokart

Nash, Geoff, and BK: this is for you.

For the last few days, my mind has kept going back to Friday nights in college, where all my runner friends had practice the next day and couldn't drink, so we played video games like Donkey Kong and MarioKart.  I have nothing specific to say about Antarctica with respect to DK, but holy shit, I feel like I am in a MarioKart game.  Right now I'm at a field camp next to a frozen lake, the middle of which is very bumpy and hard to walk/ATV across.  However, the edges of the lake melt seasonally and stay completely smooth.  We use ATVs to get around on the lake, and though we have chains on the tires, we fishtail around every corner of the jagged shoreline and spin cookies when we park.  It feels exactly  like a MarioKart racetrack, and you guys would love it.

Our work site is about 2 or 3 miles from camp, and we take the ATV's from camp along the edge of the lake to the site in the middle of the far side of the lake.  I have to go back and forth several times a day, and each time it's like doing my own little virtual reality of those Friday nights at C of I.  When I get back, I'll be able to kick ass at MarioKart!

to view the full Lake Bonney photo album, click here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30396637

Lake Bonney Day 3

Highlights include:

• Dragging some generators back and forth again, due to either mechanical problems or hoses being melted into the ice
• Chipping out hotsy hoses from the ice (in conjunction with turning them back on) to be able to remove them from the ice
• Visiting the Blood Falls camp, where we were informed that there would be extra food and drink we could bring back once they packed up their camp.  Much excitement.
• moving the portable Hotsy (in 3 boxes, plus the generator) from West lobe LTR to East lobe LTR sites. It took a few trips on the 4-wheeler and banana sled.

Also, I've been trying to figure out how to describe what it's like to be surrounded by a bunch of glaciers.  The glaciers in Taylor Valley look like merengue, or semi-molten marshmallows, pouring over the ridges.  Not completely molten, b/c it has crusts and cracks in it, but it looks like it was in the middle3 of being thick slush when it decided to freeze....

Lake Bonney Day 2

Highlights of the day:

• Moved a shit ton of fuel barrels
• Moved a generator from bot hut to the LTR (Long-Term Research) hole in the ice, discovered that the bot hole had frozen up too much to let the bot into the hole, and had to move it back to the bot hut.
• Started drilling at the West lobe LTR site, but did it with a dull drill bit, so it took us 45 minutes to drill about a foot into the ice (we should have been down two feet or so by then).  Then it was suddenly dinner time, and Maciek and Jim went back after dinner to drill out the rest of the hole.

The Dry Valleys

to view the full Lake Bonney photo album, click here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30396638

On Saturday afternoon, just as I was about to finish my afternoon of data entry, my boss Barb called me and asked on short notice if I'd be willing to fly to the Dry Valleys for a week to help out in the Lake Bonney camp.  One of their support staff strained his back and had to fly to McMurdo.  He'll be back in camp while I'm here, but needs to take it easy, so I'll be his workhorse and follow him around to do all the heavy lifting.  So this morning (Monday), I got on a helicopter, flew across McMurdo sound and into the Dry Valley region.  The pilot, Dustin, flew me by the Dailey Islands and pointed out Uberuaga Island, the one named after Jules!  It was really neat to put a face island to the name.

Holy hell, it's so cool here.  I'm in the Taylor Valley, just on the coast of mainland Antarctica. The Taylor Valleys are in the Dry Valley area, so called because they're situated in a way that only the mountains (and glaciers) around us get snow, and the valleys themselves are full of frozen lakes, but they're all just volcanic soil deserts and foothills.  I'm currently sitting in the Jamesway of the Lake Bonney camp, which is a couple of semi-permanent buildings right next to the lake shore, with small mountain tents scattered around the hillside.  The hillside reminds me a little bit of the final scramble up to Mount Dhoom in LOTR, where Frodo and Sam throw a blanket over themselves to hide from the Orc army passing by.  

Aaaaaannnnnywho, nerd parenthesis aside, the Dry Valleys are the shit.  Pictures to come soon, but since I didn't know they have WIRELESS INTERNET (!!!!!) here, I didn't bring my laptop.  The scientists have solar-powered wifi routers that I'm assuming connect to a satellite.  This proves that McMurdo doesn't have to be as lame and internet-retarded as it is, they just choose to have it that way.  

Today I got to assist with a dive into Lake Bonney.  We cut an 8ft diameter hole into the ice (12 ft deep), and Vicky went down in her scuba gear to scope out the hole.  The ultimate plan is to put in the team's huge underwater robot (the same size as the hole), so the robot can scope out the lay of the underwater land.  This AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) is a possible first step in making a similar one to go and scout Jupiter's moons for fresh water.


We'll see what tomorrow brings!