Out to Lake Vanda

Anne, Devin and I flew out to Lake Vanda in a US Antarctic Program 212 helicopter.  We flew in a US helo because AntNZ only has one helo this year, and it was busy flying a giant radar over the sea ice to measure its thickness.  The US pilot was happy to fly us to Vanda; it’s his first season, and he hadn’t been out there before.  Thus, we did a bit of sight seeing over the Asgard Range.  


We flew into Wright Valley, which hosts Lake Vanda, from the south and swung back east to camp.  That gave me a great view of our science and diving tents on the lake ice.  They are the tiny spots just above the grouping of three islands, in the shade from a cloud.


We landed near the NZ huts at the east end of the lake, and that is where our main living camp is.  One hut is a kitchen and the other two are for storage and science.  We sleep in the individual mountain tents (Tango tents from Mountain Hardware).



The camp on the ice has two tents, one on either side of the future dive hole.




One tent is for dive gear and dive prep.  The other is for sample processing and analysis.  It is extra large because another group will need a large tent later in the season, and it saves helicopter time and fuel if we use their tent first.  We are still setting up.


With all this gear, we need transportation between our living camp, our lake science camp and various drill holes in the ice. 


One of my first jobs was marking ropes and lines in 5 m intervals so we can see how deeply we’ve put various pieces of gear into the lake. 



It was a great job for a warm, mostly wind-free day.  


In fact, the weather has been very warm, with many of us going down to only a layer or two and gloves optional much of the time.  This makes it more comfortable, but it also means that the ice is already melting, which will soon make the work more difficult.  I’m hoping the weather turns colder soon!

This was posted by Bill Sumner for Dawn.   
Information was emailed to me by Karl Drury and included this note from Dawn:

Dear Dad,

Things are going very well.  On our third day out here (4th for Ian and Tyler), the tents are all up, the first dive hole made, many water samples, and some equipment deployed.  I just set up the microscopes and started playing with the photography system.

It’s going to be a great field season!

Love
Dawn

Popular posts from this blog

Day 14 in Antarctica

Image
December 10, 2013 Today was sunny all day with 25 knot katabatic winds in the afternoon.  It was warmer. I spent all day on microscopy, photography, and sorting photos.  It was a very productive day. The quad bike quit starting, and Devin, Anne, and Tyler pushed it back to camp.  None of them new what to do to figure out what was wrong.  I got ready to help when Ian came back to camp.  He has a lot of experience with engines, and once we found the tool kit and pulled the spark plug, we solved the problem:  the plug was fouled.  A new one fixed the problem.  We can add "engine repair" to the list of field skills needed! Our only means of transport besides walking is a quad bike (ATV).  We have a sled to help carry gear between the huts/sleeping tents and the science tent and dive hole.  It is also good for carrying the drill and other gear around the lake.
Read more

Toothpaste Freezes

Image
There are so many little things I didn't think of before the first time I went to Antarctica that make a difference.  I like having clean teeth, so brushing twice a day is very important to me, even in the field.  I can handle dirty hair, but not dirty teeth. It's hard to brush your teeth when your toothpaste is frozen into its tube. That small hole at the top requires the toothpaste to deform to get out. And that part gets cold the fastest, often getting clogged with a plug of toothpaste ice. This isn't so much a problem in December in the Dry Valleys, nor was it a problem at Lake Untersee, because although the temperatures are often below freezing, sunlight heated my tent sufficiently during the day that the temperatures inside could be up to 20°C (70°F!).  However, in October at Lake Joyce, I couldn't get any toothpaste out of a big tube without warming the top of the tube against my stomach. There is a little secret, though: small tubes warm up faster.  ...
Read more

Footwear, including New Boots!

Image
My new Glacier Sorel boots arrived!  With extra liners.  Plus liners for my old, less warm Sorels. They go with my skirt! The Glaciers are rated to -100°F or -73.3°C. I find the increase in the number of significant digits after a unit change amusing. Are they really rated to exactly -73.3°C? I'm sure that if it gets down to -73.4°C, my feet will get cold! I typically wear size 8 women's shoes.  However, I bought size 9 men's boots.  One of the key things I have found for foot comfort is to be able to wear a couple of pairs of socks and still have my boots loose around my feet.  That allows good blood circulation to my feet, which is essential for keeping them warm, particularly when standing around handling lines for divers under the ice.  However, I think most people would think that the boots feel way too big.  They do have good laces at the ankle, and I can tighten them down so they won't fall off.  And my feet and ankles are very...
Read more