Ice Pier

Hello all,

I encourage you to keep guessing for another day on what, where, and how I took the photo from my previous post to this blog!

Here's a photo of a pretty amazing thing: the McMurdo Ice Pier.  It's the gravel covered surface that is surrounded by ice and snow and has a bridge going onto it.  Basically, it's a man-made iceberg that acts as a docking pier for the supply ships that come in towards the end of summer.  You should check out the Wikipedia page on "Ice Pier" if you want to learn more.  Unfortunately, I left McMurdo last year before the ice melted and the ships got through.  I'll likely leave before then this year too.

In the distance, beyond the ice pier, is the airfield I landed at this year: "Ice Runway".  On December 1 they will close this airfield to begin clearing it of equipment and buildings, as this ice will melt and become open water in a roughly a month's time!  Operations move out much further away from McMurdo base to Pegasus Field once they close the "Ice Runway."  Pegasus Field is on the permanent ice shelf, so it is safe to land on year-round.

Pretty cool, huh!

Brett
2010-11-19 10:59pm (NZDT)