We started the morning with more training lectures: lab safety (we heard some info for the second time, which was a bit much, but there are just so many new groups coming in and so many scientists trying to get training done so they can get down to the business of science, that things just get a bit hectic), Dry Valley videos (we had to watch 3 videos on the sensitivity of the Dry Valleys and the proper behavior to have while there. We are not even sure we will be able to go to the Dry Valleys, but we are cleared to go now just in case. A note on the Dry Valleys of Antarctica: this region is a desert, like most of Antarctica, with the exception of the Peninsula, and thus there is very little snow or ice cover here. Part of this is caused by the Katabatic winds (that can blow up to 320 km/hr) that flow down over the continent off of the polar plateau. The Dry Valley region spans approx. 4800 km2 and the floors of the Valleys are covered in gravel that forms at the ends of the glaciers that descend into the Valleys. That gravel is technically from something called terminal moraines that are the accumulated soil and rock that is the debris from material not consolidated into the glacier-? I’m sure the geologists I have met here would cringe at that explanation. I think I will be able to give a better description in a week or so… This region is really unique and sensitive so there are specific protocols for any activity you might do there….I have never been so specifically instructed on how to deal with human waste.
After this training we had a lecture from Donal on the history of Antarctic exploration, and it was fascinating. Apparently he is a real Antarctic exploration history buff and enjoys learning about this subject, so he has tons of cool stories and anecdotes to share about the various expeditions because he has read so many of the diaries of the men who first set foot on this icy continent. I have written in previous posts about some of this history, but one thing I learned that was cool to me was that in 1908, Shackleton came back to McMurdo Sound after having been sent home from Robert Falcon Scott’s 1901-1904 expedition on the Discovery. Apparently on that trip, Scott and Shackleton had some trouble, and after a grueling trek to the furthest point South up to that point in time (it was Scott, Edward Wilson, and Shackleton who accomplished this feat), Shackleton’s scurvy left him weak, and while he was pushing onward, he was physically incapable of keeping up with the slightly less scurvy-laden men, Wilson and Scott. This created a giant rift between Scott and Shackleton that lasted for the rest of their lives, but did not hold Shackleton back. So, back to the story, in 1908, Shackleton returned to McMurdo Sound and reached the newest furthest South point on the brutal Beardmore glacier at 88o23’ S in Jan 1909. He turned around when only 97 miles from the South Pole (this was 3 years before the Pole would be reached by Amundsen), and wrote in his journal that it was “better to be a live donkey than a dead lion.” The truth is that Shackleton was far from being a donkey.
After lecture we had what I like to call snow/ice survival school (but it is officially called “Happy Camper School” here) over with the Search and Rescue folks at “FSTOP” (Fun Stop). Our instructors were Greg and Paul, both hardcore, full on mountaineers that, among other things, guide trips on the top of Denali, and Billy, an incredibly tough and graceful Kiwi mountain woman. She is a climber and it was fun to talk to her about her many trips around the globe….and one of her favorite spots…Tuolumne (yeah California). We had a few lectures that covered cold weather injuries that can be common here (frostbite, trench foot, hypothermia, etc.), how to prevent them, and how to treat them. We also learned about sea ice, how to travel on it, what the different types are, and how to determine the thickness of the ice as you move across. We learned about features to look for on the ice (cracks, different types of drifts, etc.). Then we learned about helo safety (there have been a few crashes here so this part, well all of it really, was pretty serious and full on). After lectures we went out on the ice and practiced the ice travel procedures: walk across the ice with a shovel or breaker bar, prodding the ice, watching out for features. Then we practiced what to do it you have to move across some area where you believe there is a crack: shovel off the snow so you can see the ice, drill into the ice using the Kovacs drill to determine and measure the crack features (and steps… basically from a “crack forming-water rising-refreezing cycle” you get cracks that form like stair steps, and the details of the steps are important to figure out). From there we learned about the stoves that are kept in the survival bags. SIDENOTE: Each time we go out into the field we have to carry 1 survival bag/2 people. What is in these bags is enough to keep 2 people alive for 3 days (emphasis on “SURVIVing, not THRIVing”). These survival bags contain 1 tent, 2 sleeping bags, 2 bivy sacks (for over the sleeping bags), dehydrated food (just enough for 2 people for 3 days), a MSR Whisperlite stove, a shovel …you get the picture. So, it was sweet to have the stove course because that is actually the stove I have, and I found out all the tricks to using it, and how to repair it in the field (super easy, I probably should have read and figured out how to do that when I got the stove….it would have made some frustrating times in the past not so bad). We found out the best/most efficient way to melt snow to make water, etc. Then we learned all about putting up tents on the snow and ice, and the proper way to stake out the tents – tents should look like grapes and not raisins when they are properly erected. If in snow, you dig a “dean man” or a “T-slot” as the Kiwis call it to bury the stake with nylon cord wrapped around it. If on the ice you use an ice screw to drill two ~10 cm deep holes opposing one another into the ice, which makes a notch/tunnel in the ice that you can feed the nylon cord through. Pretty sweet.
Here is a picture of me on an "Antarctic motorcycle" outside of FSTOP. The picture was taken after snow survival school, and I was feeling particularly tough. It is cool to know that this version of a motorcycle works in Antarctica.
After training we had some free time and Idan, Damien and I walked up Observation Hill again (once per day), and got a really good view of the icebreaker that has been carving a path in the sea ice for the container ship and fuel tanker to come in for the one time this year (so these boats always come in at the end of the summer).
After the hike we had dinner, and headed back to our space in Crary for 3 talks from 3 of the “TAs” of the course. One of the TAs is Dr. Wes Dowd, who earned his PhD in the UC Davis Ecology Graduate Group, and we overlapped a bit while he was still there. Now he is a post doc with Dr. George Somero.
Another amazing day in icy paradise.
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