Last week was a blowout when it came to using the twin otters — until Thursday. Then we split into three teams. Two teams managed to get a seismic site and two GPS sites in on Thursday while Abel, Mitch and I went north on a helicopter to do a tie on Brimstone Peak on Friday night. As a night flight things got a bit colder and we were dodging low clouds all the way up through Victoria Land, passing flights of raised beaches on the way. We landed in a swirl of cloud and snow on the south side of Brimstone, and lugged our gear over to the tie.
The tie will mean that old data from a nearby site can be connected to the new data coming from the continuous station to provide a more valuable, longer time series. It’ll let us get some science return faster.
It was pretty cold at the site, maybe about -20°C with only a breath of wind. When the sun went behind a cloud the temperature dropped rapidly. None of us were uncomfortable though, -20 isn’t that bad, it’s often colder in the Midwest of the US.
After an hour the clouds started coming down and we figured it was time to get a move on. We loaded up the helicopter and headed south to the Odell Glacier, an ex-blue ice runway. The runway had been occupied and unused for a few years. Two people used to spend the entire season in this tiny hut, waiting for a diverted emergency plane. After about five years of this, with no planes heading their way, the NSF decided the project should end. Of course, at the start of this season a Basler aircraft could not land at McMurdo due to bad weather and was diverted to, you guessed it, Odell. Where the runway was unmanned, snowed over and indistinguishable from the air. I hear they landed about 8km short. Still, everyone was okay. The flight back was into the low sun, which was pretty lovely. We also saw the odd seal and whale, the first animals I have seen for a month.
Anyway, that was 6 days ago. So we’ve been back in McMurdo for 16 days now and only managed to get two sites in. We still have 5 more to go and its getting colder and colder and colder. Time is passing and nothing much is happening. Either someone else is using the aircraft or the weather is just trash. I must admit I loathe this part of the season. We are one of only two or three science groups left at the station and all the support staff are also very ready to go home, so things just feel, well, uncomfortable.
Oh well.
Mike
