After a short stay in New Zealand, and meeting some very interesting people, I have endured the long flight back to California. It was great to come back to school to a warm welcome. I cannot thank Mrs. Waters enough for taking such good care of everything!
While in Christchurch, I had the pleasure of spending time with Mr. Art Brown, the NSF Representative, who extended an invitation for dinner along with the former president of Slovakia, Rudolf Schuster. President Schuster was fascinating and gracious as he shared stories from his past experiences as the major of Kosice and the second president of The Slovak Republic. We also talked about the future of international sharing in Antarctica. Meeting Rudy was an honor for me and having time to visit with Art was great!...
Our project is in the final stages. We have completed the seismic experiment and are now in the process of collecting and packing all of the seismometers for return to New Mexico Tech. Two of the largest factors that we were afraid may work against us this season turned out to be non-problems. The weather was the first concern. Last year the group encountered high winds and low temperatures, which made the work much harder and it took much longer. This year we have enjoyed good weather. Even though the average temperature around the hut was -20 degrees C, the winds stayed fairly calm. This made working outside much easier for all of us. It took us over two weeks to deploy the seismic stations around the upper mountain, which is pretty good timing. However, because the weather was...
Dr. Clive Oppenheimer has been sampling the gases from the volcano and among other observations, he has been using a thermalimaging camera to collect data on the surface temperatures of the lake itself. We have taken some of the images and put them together in a short movie. The movie shows images that were taken 10 seconds apart. The surface of the lake shows a constant flow of convection with the hotter, lighter colored material rising to the top. This material then cools and becomes darker in color and then sinks back down in to the lake. About half way through the movie there is a de-gasing of the lake and a large bubble reaches the surface and bursts, throwing lava out and around the edges of the lake itself.
[video]
While we have been working on our seismic experiment, we have taken a few hours to explore some of the fantastic landscape and features on the volcano. Some of the more interesting and beautiful features that we see from time to time are the ice towers.
The ice towers are beautiful tall structures that are formed over fumaroles. These are vents coming from the ground in which heated gases and water vapor are released. As the gases escape from the ground and hit the cold air, the water vapor cools and freezes around the vent and begins to build on itself. Over years, the result is a tall and at times a thick tower of ice that can rise twenty feet or more. The shapes and sizes are infinite, and they are all special in their own way.
One of the other cools things...
Mt. Erebus is unique in being the world's southern most active volcano. What also makes this volcano special is the long lived lava lake that has been in the crater ever since people have been looking there, and probably much longer. The lava lake in Mt. Erebus is similar to only two other volcanoes on earth, Nyiragongo, in the Congo and Erta'Ale, in Ethiopia. But the formation of the crystals on Erebus is similar to only a couple other volcanoes, including Mt. Kenya. And to make it even more confusing, Erebus has a composition of lava that is similar to one of the deadliest volcanoes on earth, Mt. Vesuvius! You can begin to imagine why Mt. Erebus is such an interesting place to study.
The lava lake sits about 200 meters below the crater rim. One of the most interesting...
At this time the experiment is moving pretty well. All of the seismometers are in place and ready to go. Omar Marcillio is trouble shooting any of the stations that need attention.
The drillers, Jay Kyne, Matt Zimmerer, and Terry Gacke, have been drilling holes around the summit area in preperation for the blasts that will take place in the next week or so. We have discovered that the blasts for the long line, the seismometers that are positioned across the island, did not all go as well as expected. Two of the three blasts did not put enough energy in the ground mostly due to the fact that there was too much snow around the explosives and not enough ice. Dr. Zandomeneghi and Tim Burton are figuring out if we have enough explosives to try those two blasts again. They are also...
We have made it to the top of Mt. Erebus! It is one of the most breathtaking sites I've ever seen! As you come up over the edge the crater opens up in front of you and you feel that you can look down in to the center of the earth! The fumes rise from the inner crater hiding the molten lava lake for most of the year.
Mt. Erebus has been studied for the past 36 years by PhD Phil Kyle from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The stratovolcano stands over 12,400 ft. and contains a continuous lava lake that consists of anothoclase phonolite magma. The magma in the lava lake moves by convection currents with temperatures reaching 1000 degrees C. The lake degasses so violently at times that it will erupt bits of molten material known as volcanic bombs. Mt...
Since we have arrived in McMurdo it has been non-stop training and getting ready for the trip up the volcano. McMurdo is a well-organized town with people to help you with anything you need. Having not been here for 20 years, its great to see the new buildings and operations. It is also good to see the familiar structures and see some old friends and scientists from before. The new Crary Lab building is amazing! I will take some photos of this place and try to create a tour so that everyone can see what an outstanding facility this is.
In the meantime, our team was sent to Altitude Class where we learned about the types of illnesses that can occur when you are high above sea level. We also learned that at the poles, the altitude is even higher than what you think! Then our...
The Antarctic exhibit at the Canterbury Museum is a wonderful place to visit if you are headed to the ice. The museum is located in Christchurch, New Zealand and is housed in the old Canterbury University buildings. It is situated at the front of the beautiful botanical gardens in Hegley Park. Right now the roses and many other flowers are in bloom. I even took the time to play some lawn tennis in the park.
Sorry, flash is not available.
What an amazing day today! Landing in Christchurch, New Zealand this morning was beautiful. This land has been a jumping off place for many an Antarctic explorer throughout history. Along with a statue of James Cook, in the square, you can find the figure of Robert Falcon Scott standing by the Avon River.
Today I met the rest of my research team. Our official event number is G-081. I will be introducing you to these folks over the next week or so. We all met while we were being issued our extreme weather clothing.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to announce the winner of our “Design a Flag” contest. Michelle Bui from Talbert Middle school turned in the winning design. The district office had a very tough time choosing a winner, but were very impressed with the simple yet...
The students have turned in their projects and they are outstanding! They were asked to use their imaginations and a lot of creativity. The only rule was that the project had to be able to fit through the classroom door! Some of them almost didn't fit.
I picked a few samples to represent the different classes. The first two samples show the different claims that nations have made on the continent. Some of the students learned about the treaty nations and a bit of the history. The third project is about the race for the south pole by Amundsen and Scott. It shows the routes that each took and pictures of the teams at the pole. The next photo is a cleaver model of the Antarctic continent with the ice cover and without. The top...
My position with the Erebus Volcano group was approved kind of late, so this is my first journal entry. I really want to thank all of the students that have been writing to me in the, "Ask the Team" section. There is a lot of great science going on out there, so make sure that you thank your teacher for all of the hard work!
Last week I jumped on an airplane and flew out to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT). What a great place! There are many groups looking at volcanoes around the world and trying to understand how they work. I was introduced to five members of my research team. In the first picture you can see Ms. Pnina Miller on the left. She is a seismologist. Next to her is Dr. Daria Zandomeneghi, who also studies seismic waves...