Best Camp Hair Competition

While we're out at field camps, we're not able to shower. This means that, after several days in the field, people's hair get really dirty and greasy. This is what we call having "camp hair." Some people take pride in their great camp hair! However, there is some argument about who has the best camp hair in Taylor Valley. So, I'm going to leave it up to everyone reading my blog to decide who has the best camp hair. I'm calling for a vote! Review the photos below of our three "camp hair" contestants, and send in your vote! Anyone reading this is welcome to vote, and can do so by sending an email with your choice to me.

Our contestants are:

Mike:
Festively dressed, Mike is sporting his favorite "spiked" camp hair-do. He masters this look using sweat, sunblock, and anything else that happens to be on his hands when he runs them through his hair. In the field, Mike's hair just defies gravity every single day. In the photo, he has been in the field for 5 days straight.

Elizabeth:
Elizabeth is featuring the "windswept" look. While the front of her hair has been flattened by hours of lying under a hat, don't let that fool you! The back of her head is 4 inches taller than the rest of her! Elizabeth's all-natural camp hair is achieved with no additive ingredients. In the photo, she is on day seven in the field.

Nate:Nate's hairdo is what we call the "twisted" look. Nate's naturally curly hair is enhanced by weeks upon weeks in the field, as Lake Fryxell is his permanent home during the entire field season. Weekly camp showers at Lake Hoare can't keep Nate's hair subdued! See how happy he is to have good camp hair?

So, now you've met your contestants. May the voting begin! Click here to send an email voting for the person you think has the best camp hair. The winner will be announced once the voting dies down. Thanks for playing!

How to Sleep like an Antarctican

Elizabeth and I are back in the field now! We're staying on Lake Fryxell again for the next five days. While we're here, we're going to look for more mosses, measure photosynthesis from mosses, and run a test measuring carbon dioxide flux in soils.

So, we'll be sleeping at Lake Fryxell for the next several days, instead of at McMurdo. I should tell you about how we sleep while we're on Antarctica!

While we're in McMurdo, we live in dormitories. There are usually two people to a room, and each person has a bed, closet, and night stand. I share a room with Elizabeth. Here is what our cozy room looks like:

However, many nights we sleep out in the field (like this week!). When in the field, we sleep in tents. There are two types of tents we use here: mountain tents and Scott tents. Mountain tents are the regular dome tents that most people use for camping. Scott tents are the tall yellow pyramid-shaped ones. They are specially designed to be safe during high Antarctic winds. For example, they don't have bottoms, so that if the tent gets ripped up by the wind, the person inside is not blown away, too. During a high wind, such as a katabatic, a mountain tent would be crushed flat, but a Scott tent would not fall over.
Since the ground is loose gravel, it's hard to stake down our tents. We have to tie them to piles of rocks to keep them from being blown away!

It's cold in Antarctica, so we have lots of sleeping gear to help keep us warm when we're sleeping in tents. The picture below shows what I sleep in each night in the field. I have two sleeping pads. One is made of foam, and the other is filled with air (I have to blow it up each time I unpack at camp). I also have a sleeping bag rated for freezing temperatures, a fleece liner inside the bag, and a small pillow. Plus, when it's really cold, I also use my big red parka as an extra blanket!
We work very hard while we're in Antarctica, and don't always get enough sleep each night. So, sometimes we can't wait for our beds or sleeping bags and take naps wherever and whenever we can.

Antarctic Vehicles

There are quite a variety of vehicles around McMurdo that help us get our work done. There are no cars here, only trucks and other utility vehicles. Some vehicles here are similar to those you'd find in the U.S., but bigger and badder! They have to be specially built to handle the weather and terrain of Antarctica. Other vehicles are unique, and you won't find them anywhere else!

We have a lot of pick-up trucks here for carrying cargo and supplies between buildings. Our pick-up trucks have bigger wheels, and the bodies are jacked up off the wheels. Larger wheels have more surface area in contact with the ground than smaller wheels. That means that the weight of the truck and the cargo are spread over a greater area, lessening the chance of sliding on the ice or loose gravel. All of the trucks are 4-wheel drive, and have special brakes that keep them from sliding when parked.

We also have taxis here at McMurdo for carrying people around town or between stations. These are not the yellow taxis like you'd find in the U.S., but 4x4 vans with big wheels!

Sometimes the trucks have special track wheels put on (like what bulldozers have, but smaller). These trucks are called mat tracks, and are used to drive over the transition onto the sea ice. The track wheels can span crevices in the ice and keep good traction with the ground, so are safer than normal wheels for traveling on ice.

My favorite Antarctic vehicle is the piston bully. Piston bullies are used like pick-up trucks, but have a long track that allows them to drive in deep snow.

There are also other types of transport trucks that are special to McMurdo. Delta's are used to transport people on the ice roads out of McMurdo. You can take the Delta to get to the air fields, the New Zealand research base nearby, field camps on the ice, and other places on the sea ice. The tires are HUGE (taller than a second grader!). When you ride in the back of a Delta, you have to wear a seat belt. They're so tall that they rock very far when going over large bumps and cracks. If you're not wearing a seatbelt, you slide right out of your seat!
One of my favorite special transport vehicles is the terrabus. This bus carries people to and from the landing strip at Pegasus air field (which is where the plane lands to take us to and from New Zealand). Its name is Ivan the Terrabus. He moves very slooooooowly, but can carry a lot of people across the sea ice.
And, of course, there's my absolute favorite way to commute to work in the morning: helicopter! We have two types of helicopters here. Bell 212's are bigger helo's that can carry up to 8 people and a lot of cargo. A-Star's are smaller. They only carry a couple of people and not as much weight as a 212. But, I prefer A-Stars, because you can sit up front with the pilot!


Tomorrow morning, Elizabeth and I head back into the field to stay for 5 days at Lake Fryxell. We will use a variety of these vehicles to get us there!

[Photo credit: truck photos from 77DegreesSouth and B-518-M.]

Day Tripping

This week we've been taking a lot of day trips into the field. Rather than spending several days or a week out in the field, we fly out in the morning, spend all day collecting samples, and return to McMurdo in the evening.

Elizabeth and I have gone back to both Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney on day trips to measure soil respiration. Two weeks ago, water and nutrients were added plots of soil by both lakes. Elizabeth and I went to the plots to learn how much the soil animals were breathing after the additions. We want to know which nutrients make the soil animals breath the most. We took our measurements, and now we have to look at all of the data to answer the question!

We've mostly been working in Taylor Valley. But, there are other valleys in the area that are part of the Dry Valleys. Each valley in the area was formed by different glaciers at different times in history, so the soils in each valley are different. We want to learn more about the other valleys, not just Taylor Valley! So, we took a trip to Wright Valley, which is slightly farther north. It was fun to fly there, because I got to see new parts of the Dry Valleys from the helicopter!We visited two places in Wright Valley. First went to the Dais, which is a flat, elevated area with very interesting soils. The carbon in the soil (which soil animals eat to get their energy) is very different from other soils we've looked at. This is why we wanted to go back and look some more! We took soil samples from many different places around the Dais, and we've brought it back to the lab. We will analyze the soil to learn more about the carbon and other nutrients from all over the Dais. Here is a picture of the four of us after our sampling at the Dais:


Here is a video I took from the helicopter leaving the Dais. You can see how flat the top of the Dais is, and how it drops off very steeply to the valley below.


Next, we went to the other end of Wright Valley to Lake Brownsworth. We were looking for mosses. While there are many places in Taylor Valley to find mosses, there aren't many in Wright Valley. We looked extra-hard along Lake Brownsworth, but didn't find any! We wonder what makes Wright Valley so different from Taylor Valley that keeps mosses from growing there. So we took some soil samples, and hopefully we will find out!

We want to look at other Dry Valleys, besides Wright and Taylor Valleys. Tomorrow Elizabeth and I are going to Garwood Valley and Marshall Valley, which are farther south. We will sample soil and try to find mosses there, too.

Who Owns Antarctica?

During the late 1800's and early 1900's, many countries sent explorers to Antarctica to claim pieces of the continent for their home countries. By 1950, there were 12 countries that were actively exploring or working on Antarctica. They were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Most of these countries had staked claims on portions of Antarctica, many of which overlapped with one another. Many countries already had research stations in various parts of Antarctica, often in other countries' territorial claims.

Since Antarctica is such a unique continent, with such a great potential for learning and research, there was a mutual desire among these countries to maintain Antarctica as a peaceful continent. They wanted to make sure that "in the interests of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord."

In 1959, these twelve countries met to create the Antarctic Treaty. Under the Antarctic Treaty the countries agreed to cooperate and promote scientific investigation. All territorial claims were suspended. Antarctica has no permanent populations or citizens, only research bases like McMurdo. The countries agreed to have free exchange of information among each country's research groups. No military action is allowed on Antarctica, and weapons may not be kept here. The military may only provide science support on Antarctica. For example, the Air Force flies scientists to McMurdo station, and the Navy helps with shipment of supplies. There are also environmental laws, that preserve the conservation of the animals, plants, and ecosystems of Antarctica. These laws are why we need to be so careful about the water we use, where we leave our footprints, and how we interact with wildlife. Mining and nuclear explosions are banned.

Each country is responsible for making sure its citizens on Antarctica obey the Antarctic Treaty. The U.S. keeps a U.S. Marshall on base to prevent any law-breaking on American bases. However, he is not allowed to carry a weapon.

Since the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1961, a total of 46 countries have signed it. Many different countries have research stations in different areas of Antarctica. The U.S. has three bases: McMurdo, South Pole, and Palmer (which is on the Peninsula near South America). The map below shows the research bases on Antarctica and which country supports them.
The territorial claims made before the treaty are still recorded, though they are suspended. Seven countries have territorial claims. These claims are pie-wedges of Antarctica that start at the South Pole and extend outward. McMurdo is on New Zealand's suspended territorial claim.

The flags from the original 12 countries are still displayed here at McMurdo.

Mosses: the Dense Forests of Antarctica

Not many plants grow on Antarctica, especially in the area of the Dry Valleys. However, there are in fact plants here! They are mosses. Mosses are small, simple plants that are very short and soft. They are not like the things you think of when you hear the word "plant". They do not have flowers or seeds, do not have big leaves and long stems, and do not grow very tall.

Mosses grow in most places around the world. You've seen them before, especially growing in or near streams or other wet places. There are many different types of mosses around the world. But, here in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, there are only four species off moss. They are the only plants that grow in the soil. So, on Antarctica, moss patches are equivalent to redwood forests in the U.S.! Here is Elizabeth sitting next to an Antarctic "forest":


During the summers, mosses grow in wet areas beside streams, lakes, or snow patches. They grow very slowly, less than a millimeter each year. During the winter, when there is no sunlight for months, the mosses become dormant.

Elizabeth studies mosses. She wants to know why mosses grow in some places in the Dry Valleys, but not others. She also wants to know whether the mosses change the soil that they grow in.


To learn about the mosses and soils, we take a lot of samples. In areas where we find mosses, we take a small piece of moss and the soil beneath it. We also take soil from similar nearby areas that do not have mosses, so that we can look for differences between areas where mosses live and do not live.

We have to be very careful when we walk around these areas, so that we do not crush the mosses we want to study! We have to "rock hop" through the streams, stepping only on large rocks, and not the sediment or mosses.


We also measure the productivity of the mosses in these different areas. Mosses are plants, which means they photosynthesize and use up carbon dioxide. We measure how much carbon dioxide is being used to determine how active the mosses are. To do this, we place a plastic box over an area with mosses. This traps all of the gas in the area. The mosses are still receiving sunlight, which means they can still photosynthesize and use the carbon dioxide trapped in the box. A machine measures the concentration of carbon dioxide in the box, which tells us how quickly it is decreasing as the mosses use it up. If carbon dioxide disappears quickly, the mosses are very active. If it disappears slowly, the mosses are less active.
We still have a lot more samples to take for Elizabeth's project. We spent time last week sampling streams near Lake Fryxell. Later this week and next week, we will visit many more sites to sample for mosses along lakes, streams, and snow patches.

Oden

The Swedish icebreaker "Oden" is on town!

An icebreaker is a special type of ship that is designed to break through the ice covering the frozen water. This particular icebreaker belongs to Sweden, and is named "The Oden." The Swedes piloted the ship from Sweden in October, and came south by way of Chile. They then came to McMurdo to break a path in the sea ice, so that supply ships can access McMurdo. Oden will make a path that will allow other ships to drop off food and supplies for McMurdo station and pick up samples that the scientists want to ship back to the US. Some of our samples will be traveling on those vessels. And, next year, we'll be eating some of the food it delivers!

While the Oden was in town, we got a chance to tour the boat and learn how the ship runs.

On the top deck is the "bridge", where the controls are located to steer the ship. This is where all of the action happens! There's a lot of high-tech gadgets that help the Oden run. There are computers, GPS's, radars, and maps that the captain and crew use to direct the ship. They have sonar that allows them to see the bottom of the ocean they are traveling over. They could even potentially see sunken ships below them. The bridge is also where the communications are located. They communicate mainly by iridium phone, which are special types of satellite cell phones that we also use here on Antarctica.
This particular icebreaker works by ramming the ice. It powers ahead very quickly and runs up onto the ice in front of it, crushing the ice to pieces. It then backs up, and rams again. This is a very slow process! When the Oden is smashing a path through ice, it only travels about 5 mph total. Even though the icebreaker moves very slowly, it has to have a lot of power to ram itself into the thick ice with enough force to break it. The Oden has HUGE engines that total 25,000 horse power!

To help melt the ice to make it easier to break, huge amounts of sea water are sprayed out of the sides through huge pipes running through the ship. Water is moved through the pipes from one side of the ship to the other and sprayed onto the ice from the front of the ship. Here is Breana with the Captain of the Oden, who was one of our tour guides. Behind the Captain, is one of the pumps that moves the water across the ship.

The Oden smashed through the ice a path that leads from the sea ice edge to McMurdo's dock. After its first run through the ice, it left a trail that was only the width of one ship, with a lot of ice floating in the way. Here is a view of the path from the bridge of the Oden:
Since it's arrival, Oden has been going back-and-forth over that same path, widening it and making sure the ice is gone for future supply ships. Now, the part of the path running in front of Mt. Erebus looks like this:It has been very fun having the Oden in town. It carries 16 Swedish crew members, as well as Swedish scientists that study marine biology along the way. It's been fun having some Swedes on base! Our tour was given by members of the crew, so we could learn first-hand what it's like to live on board the Oden for three months. The Oden has many cabins for sleeping, a cafeteria and bar, and a supermarket on board for toiletries and souveniers. The Oden also has a sauna, which is an important part of a relaxing Swedish evening!

Usually, the Oden services Arctic areas, and this is its first trip to Antarctica! That means that the Swedes aboard the Oden were excited to learn about Antarctica, too. In return for letting us tour the Oden, they got a tour of McMurdo and our science labs.

Now that there is an ice-free path leading to McMurdo, supply ships will be able to deliver necessary supplies. The path it makes can also be used by the marine animals. Recently, there have been several penguin sightings on base! Penguins have been wandering into McMurdo, since they can swim right up along the path made by Oden. I think that's a far more fun benefit of the icebreaker than more dehydrated food deliveries!