Time in New Zealand

Today we were outfitted with all of the gear we need to wear while in Antarctica. The board in the top picture shows the variety of clothes they give us: everything from long underwear and socks to coats and hats. We have to try on all of the clothes we're issues to make sure everything fits. I practiced my "ninja look" with the polypropylene base layer we're given. We also have to make sure that all of the layers fit overtop one another comfortably. Underneath that big red parka and the windpants, I am wearing 2 pairs of long underwear, fleece pants, a long undershirt, and a fleece jacket. I was very toasty warm!














Our flight to McMurdo will be tomorrow at 9 AM (New Zealand time). That means we have some extra time to spend around Christchurch. My favorite place to go in is the Botanical Garden. It's summer here, so all of the flowers are in bloom. It smells wonderful, and it's so nice to enjoy the sunshine and greenery before heading to Antarctica.
Jenn and I also went to the Canterbury Museum, where we learned a lot about the history of New Zealand and its people. New Zealand was originally colonized about 800-900 years ago by Polynesians. So, the ancestors of native New Zealanders are related to the people of Hawaii and other Polynesian islands in the South Pacific. These early people lived in New Zealand (or Aotearoa, as they called it) by hunting a bird called a moa. These are large, flightless birds that only ever lived in New Zealand, but are now extinct because they were overhunted by the early people! These early moa-hunting people of New Zealand are called the Maori. They have a very unique culture with their own language, art, and traditions. They hunted the moa until they were driven to extinction, at which point they relied more on farming and fishing. They were great craftsman that made beautiful wood carvings and ornaments made from jade and Paua shells. Their lives of course changed a great deal when New Zealand was colonized by Europeans, mainly the British, about 250 years ago. This is very similar to the U.S., where the Native Americans practiced their own culture until it was interrupted by European colonists. But, many aspects of Maori culture still remain in New Zealand. Maori is still one of the official languages of New Zealand, and even New Zealanders of European descent know many phrases in Maori, and you find Maori translations of most information given on signs and notices. Some of their cultural legacies in New Zealand include the haka dance (a war dance with a lot of shouting), and their art is still very much a part of New Zealand culture.

Well, if all goes according to plan, we will leave for McMurdo tomorrow morning and my next blog post will be from Antarctica! All but one piece of our luggage has arrived. Hopefully the final piece will come today so that we land in McMurdo fully-prepared for the next two months!


[Photo credit: Maori wood-carving from Wikimedia]

Arrival in New Zealand

Well, Jenn and I have made it safely to Christchurch, New Zealand. It has been a long two days and every leg of the trip ran a little bit late. Our bus was a little bit late getting to the Boston airport. We left Boston a little late, so arrived in Los Angeles a little bit late. Luckily there was still enough time to meet our connection to Sydney without any trouble (but no time to stop and eat dinner). Our flight left Los Angeles only about 20 minutes late, but landed in Sydney about 40 minutes late. That caused us to miss our connecting flight to Christchurch, NZ. They arranged for us to get a new flight to Christchurch, NZ on a different airline, but it was still a close connection due to our late arrival. When we arrived in Sydney, we had to be rushed off the plane and driven on one of those big golfcarts by airline employees to our gate. Luckily, we made the new flight on time! Unfortunately, our luggage didn't. So, when we arrived in Christchurch a couple hours later than planned, our luggage wasn't there! And to make it worse, the U.S. Antarctic Program's headquarters were closed by the time we got in! So, all we could do was head empty-handed to our hotel and wait until tomorrow morning.

Now, I am sitting in the lounge of our favorite B&B in Christchurch with a cup of tea and biscuits. Luckily I put a lot of necessities in my carry-on bags, so I have showered and changed my clothes after 48 hours of travel and I feel much better! Hopefully our luggage will arrive on the next flight from Sydney and we'll be able to pick it up tomorrow. Then, we can start enjoying our two days in New Zealand!

Now, it is time for dinner. Keep your fingers crossed that our luggage finds us before we leave for Antarctica on Wednesday!

And We're Off!

We've begun our journey south! Jenn and I are on the bus to Boston now. The first leg of the trip has begun.

Almost Time to Leave

We're all packed up to go! Tomorrow morning Jennifer and I start our 5-day journey to Antarctica. First, we fly commercially to Christchurch, New Zealand. We're getting routed from Boston, through Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia to get to New Zealand. It'll take a total of 33 hours from the time we leave Dartmouth until we arrive in Christchurch, but because of the International Date Line, we'll land there 2 days later.

Check out this interactive map if you want to find out more about our travel plans.

We'll be in Christchurch, NZ for 3 days before we finish our trip and fly to McMurdo Station in Antarctica. While in Christchurch, we'll get fitted for all of our Extreme Cold Weather Gear, receive some safety training, and of course enjoy some of that great New Zealand summer weather!

Let's hope the weather is good for our travels and that we don't encounter any major delays! I'll keep you posted.

One More Week!

We are at the one-week mark! We leave for Antarctica on December 11, exactly one week from today. I'm finishing all of the labwork that needs to be done before I leave and getting the last of our gear packed up. It is a busy time for our group here at Dartmouth!

I'll keep you posted on our travels as we make our way across the globe.

Welcome to Season 3!

Welcome to another field season of research in Antarctica with the Dartmouth polar soils research group!

We are making preparations to leave the U.S. and head to McMurdo Station on December 12. It is a busy time of preparations for us at Dartmouth! We have a lot of work to finish up, travel plans to arrange, and supplies and equipment to gather. In just a few weeks, we'll be on our way.

If you are new to the Polar Soils blog, here is some information that might be useful to you:

Where we go:
When most people think of Antarctica, they think of ice. When you're on the continent of Antarctica, it's referred to as being on the "ice." However, the area we study is a polar desert called the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where the glaciers have retreated. Just like deserts in the U.S., there's very little precipitation, so there's actually bare soil, not just ice and snow! The red dot on the map shows where McMurdo is located:

What we do:
Our research is in the field of soil biogeochemistry, which is just a big word that means we study the way nutrient elements move in the soil. We are especially interested in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, since these three elements are so important for all forms of life. We study how the living organisms influence nutrients in the soil. All of the animals in the dry valleys are microscopic (except for the scientists, of course). While other areas of Antarctica have penguins and seals, the dry valleys' largest animal is a nematode. A predatory nematode is the top of our foodchain- the equivalent to a lion in the Serengeti! We also study the mosses growing in the dry valley soil. Mosses are the only plants growing in the dry valleys and the only living things you'll find above the soil- the equivalent to the redwood forests in America!

Who we are:
Our research team is a little bit different from last year. There are four soil scientists going to Antarctica from Dartmouth. The leader is Dr. Ross Virginia, a professor at Dartmouth who has been going to Antarctica for many years. Also on the team are me (Becky, a postdoc), Julia and Jen (both graduate students). While on the ice, we will continue to work very closely with another group of scientists from Colorado State University led by Dr. Diana Wall that specializes in the nematodes (they have a special nematode blog). Together all of us study the nutrients and biology of the McMurdo Dry Valley soils.

About the blog:
Our blog is designed to be an educational tool for elementary and middle school classrooms, but all readers are welcome to follow along! Teachers interested in using the blog in their classes are welcome to contact me (contact information available through my website, listed under my Profile on the bottom-right).
On the right-hand side, there are some links with additional information that is useful for both kids and adults. Many links are added throughout the season, so keep an eye on them!

Continuing the work back at Dartmouth

We've been back at Dartmouth for about a month, now. Our soil and moss samples have been shipped from Antarctica so that we can continue to analyze them. We store the samples at Dartmouth in big freezers at -20°C (cold enough to keep their chemical properties from changing, so that they remain the same as when we scooped them up from the Dry Valleys).

We spend a lot of time in the lab performing our analyses. Here, I am weighing some soils into a tin to measure their moisture content. We will also measure the amount of nutrients, ions, microbial biomass, and many other chemical properties of the soils. We will then have to process the data and see what we learned from the field season. There will be graphs to make, papers to write, and new experiments to design from what we learn. It will take a lot of time, and will keep us quite busy until next December when it's time to head back down again!

I've also been to visit my friends at Thetford Elementary School, who followed my blog while I was in Antarctica. I was able to join their class for a morning to talk about Antarctic science, show photos and rock samples, and eat delicious home-made snacks. It was a great home-coming!