Sea Ice and Happy Camper Fun

Nicolas goofing around on top of his water bottle. It was his idea to take this shot - not mine. But I jumped at the chance. Mt Erebus is in the distance to the left.

I feel like I am back in college again. I live in a dorm room. I have a roomate. His name is Paul. He is an electrician. I eat in a cafeteria. I have lots of classes I have to take. I am doing homework at night, trying to become an expert in things that I never presumed I would have to be an expert at. Like HF radios. Or how to get to an outhouse in a whiteout. Or how to drill holes in sea ice to measure its thickness and decide what vehicle can drive on it. Or how to step out of a helicopter if it is dropping me off on a sloping hillside. Or how to cut open a helicopter with the intention of removing anything living from the inside of it. Or where all of the radio repeaters are. etc. etc. etc. I have taught (or "helped" teach) my second "happy camper" course. These 2-day classes are great. We often hear that they are some of the most fun experiences the "students" (often PhDs, camera crews, divers, helicopter pilots....) have while down here. Well, at least to this point.

I won't elaborate. At least not now. Its late. Let the pictures tell the story....

To some, Erebus was the greek god of darkness, son of Chaos, who lived in the underworld of Hades. To us, it is the southernmost active volcano on earth. And it is on Ross Island, the same Island that McMurdo station is on. It is very photogenic.

"...yeah, I think I dropped my contact somewhere around here, or maybe over here...." The kiwis out training with their Hagglund. The lower slopes of Erebus are in the distance.

The Barnes glacier from McMurdo Sound.

"....So then this blond Lawyer walks into the bar...." Joe and Nick, two guys who I shared the flight with from Denver to LAX to Sydney to Christchurch to MCM. I stole the idea from these guys for the photo at the beginning of this post. Nick on the metal bottle.

More shots of the son of Chaos.

Mt Terror - the neighbor to Erebus. A radio repeater is placed there seasonally. The tiny little buildings in the foreground are the "I-tent" and storage jamesway where we teach our happy camper courses at. I shot this photo from the lounge at the New Zealand Scott Base during a SAR meeting.

The happy campers setting up burly Scott tents (the canvas pyramids at right) and some more traditional shelters at left. They get the privilege of sleeping in their shelter of choice for a nice, cold, antarctic night in the name of training.

Another view of the happy campers with Erebus smoking in the distance.

One of the funnest parts of the Happy Camper course is "Bucket Head". If you ever get the chance to visit McMurdo, with the intention of traveling off base for research, etc. You will wear a bucket on your head too. We use them to simulate whiteout conditions, and challenge people to develop a plan for searching, getting back in a building, etc...

The laughing Elephant

What do you see when you view the image above? The ubiquitous logo is visible on anything USAP-related. USAP stands for United States Antarctic Program. The U.S. ironically holds no claim to any territory in Antarctica (unlike a whole other host of countries who shouted "dibs" a couple decades ago - yet the USA puts more personel and gear on this continent than any other nation combined. And since the Antarctic treaty was signed in 1961, everyone has been playing nice. 

We work with the Kiwis, and our collaboration with them facilitates a lot of mutual chumminess, their presence as #2 most populous on the continent at times. 

The program is administered by the NSF (National Science Foundation) which has contracted Raytheon Polar Services (the company who signs my paycheck) to "make sure all the magic happens". 

Anyway, back to the image above. It is Antarctica of course, and - at least within our program, it is always oriented in this same direction. One might ask "why?". "Which way do maps face in Antarctica"? "Every direction from the South Pole is North, right? . Well, the map orientation depends whether or not you are on the ground or in the air. For most of us, "north" is oriented along the prime Meridian, which is the Zero-deg longitude line. For pilots, its almost opposite, as they often use a kilometer grid system, but thats another story for another time. It still baffles and confuses me. Since, by convention, we have agreed that we will call the prime meridian the only true reference to "north", then we can spin the continent around until that line of longitude extends from the south pole upwards out of the map, as a vertical line. The international date line goes straight south. Since we have established a "north" to work from, we can then call everything on the left side of the continent "west Antarctica" and everthing on the right side "east Antarctica" Another way of thinking about it is that West Antarctica comprises most lands on the continent which fall within the western hemisphere, and the same goes (well, nearly) for the east (or "greater") side as well.

Well, I digress. I meant to talk about the laughing elephant. I have seen this symbol everywhere. And maybe its because my brain has turned to oatmeal because of lack of sleep or inundation of job-related material or whatever, but damn, I really think that symbol looks like an elephants head, looking left, with his mouth hung open for a good chuckle. I tell people around me that observation and they laugh at me. But then they see it.... Well, I just hope its a Donkey - not an Elephant - thats doing the laughing come November 4th....

Below are a few photos and disjointed descriptions of life down here, while working (training) for (with) the FSTP (Field Safety Training Program) down here. Our job is to train scientists and support staff (including deep field carpenters, electricians, cooks, dive-techs, you name it...) in extreme winter camping and survival skills so that they can take care of themselves in harsh Antarctic environments. We also instruct these folks in techniques for traveling on sea-ice, GPS techniques, and more mountaineering-specific skills like crevasse-rescue, etc. We (at FSTP - or "F-stop" for short) are also trained as "field mountaineers": we accompany scientists to remote field locales in order to facilitate their research goals and to act as risk managers. We are also part of the SAR (Search and Rescue) team down here in case the poo-poo ever collides with the rotary oscillator....

I used to think that "Fata Morgana" was a word from the middle east. I didn't realize it was Italian. It describes the "mirage" optical phenomenon seen here, where light is refracted between a cold microclimate just above the snow surface and warmer air a few meters above. It can make objects appear much closer than they really are. MUCH closer. I will put up some more mirage shots of our airfield soon... 

Someday I would like to get a bumper sticker some day that says: "my other car is a Hägglund". These are our commuter vehicles for travel on sea-ice, shelf-ice, and big playgrounds of snow. 

A hägglund with more Fata Morgana in the distance. 

Looking west from McMurdo across the frozen McMurdo sound, one can see the Royal Society Range. That black dot on the right is a Weddell seal - probably a female, chilling out near a crack in the sea ice.