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!