Measuring East Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability Journals
Hey everyone, sorry for the silence but we've had an incredibly intense field season in the icy south with the ICECAP project (and a bit of my NASA-funded Mars analog work). I've just departed, currently in Hobart, Tasmania on my way home. A contingent of our group remains at Casey Station, an Australian base, until Feb. 2nd carrying out the remainder of the work.
We spent three weeks (or was it four? or a hundred?) in McMurdo configuring and testing our new airborne platform, a beautiful old (1942) DC-3 converted to a Basler BT-67 with modern turbine engines, new avionics, skis and a whole slew of upgrades. We installed and flight tested our equipment there until Jan. 6th when a small subset of us set off for the other side of East Antarctica (Duncan Young, Dusty Schroeder and myself...
Every first year person down here has to go through a survival/emergency training that goes from the very basic things to the more advanced blizzard training.
First is some classroom time where they introduce you to the equipment: tent, shovel, ice pick, snow saw, emergency rations... Things you'll need in the deep field. The class was a combination of survival training and that for camping in Antarctica. Pretty soon the team was in a "Delta" headed down to the sea ice. This vehicle is huge; even the wheels are almost as tall as a man. From the drop off point it is a hike to the I-hut, or information hut, where the team was briefed on what was coming up. The guide/instructor was quite good with a wealth of information. The training was great and taught a lot.
Thanks to...
The aircraft needed some changes and installations before being ready to do all the research in Antarctica.
First it had a visit to Basler where installations of hardpoints for the VHF radar antennas and cutout for laser and camera.
Next the aircraft took a visit to Kenn Borek Air, Ltd. where installation of mounting points and hydraulics for skiis, preparation of the plane for the tailboom, and installation of GPS antennas on wings and tail tip.
Its final stop was at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Austin, Texas, USA) where the rack and tail boom installation occurred.
The aircraft was finally ready to start its exciting journey to Antarctica.
The research team went to Antarctica through Churchchrist, New Zealand. In Churchchrist they had to get their ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear issued. This gear includes all the clothes, coats, gloves, boots, hats, etc. that will be needed in the cold environment of Antarctica.
The UTIG research team had to wait for great weather before leaving Christchurch and flying to McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Isaac, a member of the UTIG research team, describes his first experiences in Antarctica:
We arrived safely on Friday to McMurdo Station on Ross Island. It is a beautiful place, and there is no lack of ice. Among the most remarkable things is Mt. Erebus smoking silently in the background. On the opposite side, South, there are about 30 miles of perfectly flat sea-ice followed...