Dawn in Antarctica

Dawn marking a coaxial cable for the drop camera with duct tape and a sharpie. November 30, 2013 After settling in the prior evening, it was time to get down to work.  I marked out 3 lines at 5 meter intervals so that we would know how far we were lowering our equipment into the lake.  We drilled some holes in the ice and collected our first conductivity-temperature-depth profiles.  We got our first scientific result: Lake Vanda was a meter higher than it was in 2010!  We also got started on melting the dive hole.  And it was warm - most of us were down to one layer on top. We drilled 3 holes in the ice with a Jiffy drill and then lowered a copper coil filled with antifreeze into the hole.  The equipment shown here heats the antifreeze and pumps it through the coil to melt the hole.

Don Juan Pond and the Dias, west of Lake Vanda, from the helicopter November 29, 2013 I realized we didn't have a US-style extension cord or power strip.  I got a ride over to McMurdo first thing in the morning to pick some up.  While I was there, I caught up with Meghan, our coordinator for the cancelled USAP part of the trip.  She said they were just getting things caught up, and it was really good that I pulled the Lake Joyce project this year.  We would have been competing with a group putting in several camps on the Taylor glacier with 30,000 pounds of equipment!  It was really hard to get them all in. That afternoon, Anne, Devin and I flew out to Lake Vanda!  The entire team was in the field on our 3rd day in Antarctica!  The flight out was beautiful, of course.

November 28, 2013 Devin and I came back from camping after Ian and Tyler flew out to Lake Vanda.  Anne was still at Scott Base, coordinating things from her end.  We cleaned up our gear from the overnight and started helping Anne.  Things were mostly done, so there was time to take some pictures of the base.

I spent last night in a polar (Scott) tent on an ice shelf in Antarctica. It was a "required" snow school training event since I haven't been to Antarctica with the New Zealand program before. It was warm - just below freezing - and there was no wind for the entire afternoon, evening, night and morning.  Two of those on the school (Devin - part of my team - and Karl - a photographer, videographer) slept out, completely out!  Karl complained that his nose got sunburned over night. Today is Karl's 22nd birthday, and he is thrilled to have started it sleeping out in Antarctica.  Here he is in the back of a Hagglund (I looked on a vehicle to spell it approximately right...). We took a drive up to Castle Rock in the evening. This is me with Mt. Erebus in the background.  (It's the southernmost active volcano in the world and overlies a hot spot.) And here is our field trainer Matt (left) and fellow student and reporter Deidre (right). ...

Photographer Karl, trainer Matt, and Devin enjoying a chat after setting up camp. November 27, 2013 Our first day focused on training.  Anne, Tyler and Ian got to just take the refresher training because they had previous taken Antarctic New Zealand Snow Skills, whereas Devin and I had the full overnight experience.  Anne, Tyler and Ian started working on sorting gear after their half day, whereas Devin and I went out for camping on the snow.  It was very warm with no wind.  It was loads of fun, whereas the others were hard at work collecting the remaining gear, trying to figure out what had already been shipped out in the field, etc.

Typical view of the inside of a C-17 on its way to Antarctica.  The blocks strapped down in the foreground are cement construction blocks.  The thing that looks like an airplane propeller is one. November 26, 2013 We returned to the boarding area at 7 am (since we had already checked our bags), and this time there was only a short delay before I was seated in a jump seat on a C-17! We landed on the ice runway and were greeted by Scott Base personnel.  We had a great briefing, started dealing with field gear, and started working out the logistics for getting our gear from the US program and organizing to send our samples and gear back through the US program. Anne at the ice runway.  Beautiful weather!

Tyler, Devin, Ian, Anne, and I all made it to Scott Base yesterday on our C17. The flight was fine - I'll post some images later.  We then went into a flurry of field preparations. Tyler and Ian will go to Lake Vanda tomorrow with the rest of us following of Friday. Devin and I spend the night out in a tent as part of field training tonight. I'm not likely to post again  until we're back from the field in late Dec or early Jan unless the weather goes bad.  Until then...