The Answer to Diving: Ob Tube

In answer to my "Diving" post to this blog a few days ago, I shall now reveal where, of what, and how I took that photo!

Where: A 15 minute walk from my dorm out to and past Hut Point, just about a hundred feet out onto the ice, away from land.

What: It's a seal!!!  It's no more than 6 feet long, roughly!

How: An "Observation Tube," or "Ob Tube" as locals call it.  It's basically a hollow metal tube that is lowered into the water, through the ice.  At the bottom of the tube are windows all around, so you can see out into the water!  The tube (and you) are suspended by steel beams that are laid across the ice!

Enjoy these photos!  (click any of them to see a larger image)

The view from Hut Point.

Zoomed in...  Note the little green tube the people are gathered around...

I am walking out onto the ice.  A short ways out, the ice is already starting to melt!
You can see the patches of water which are sitting on top of the ice,
as well as the little man-made bridge over and out onto the more frozen ice shelf!

Here I am, about to go down Ob Tube!  For safety sake, they lock "Ob Tube" with a
wood lid.  I had to check out a key and a radio (so I could radio in if I met any trouble).

And down I go!  Or up I come!

I've actually taken two trips out to Ob Tube now.  On the 2nd, I wore my Norwegian Sweater!
So warm!
Note that Hut Point is in the background on the right--just a short ways off!
You can even faintly see the Hut Point cross on the far right!

Here's a good view of the whole above-ice portion of Ob Tube!
And me having a good time!

For your viewing pleasure, here's more of what it looks like down below.
The little white dots scattered about are plankton, or something.
You can also see an ice crystal starting to form in the upper left corner of the window!

Some seals sunbathing, pictured with the Ice Pier just beyond them!
I was highly fortunate to have seen a seal from Ob Tube, as not many
get to see that, I've found from asking around!

So no, I did not go diving, but the underwater seal photo was real and taken with my camera by my hands!  Cool stuff, eh!

Brett

2010-11-23 11:57pm (NZDT)

Cold today!

It was -4 F when we got out to LDB this morning!  It's now up to about 10 F!  LDB stands for Long Duration Balloon, and is the name of the site where I work every day.  It's a 40 minute "bus" ride to get out here every day!

LDB can be seen in this photo, it's the tiny clump of buildings way off in the distance, on the right side of the photo.  This photo was taken from Ross Island, right before we get off the land and onto the ice at the transition point.

Brett

2010-11-20 1:53pm (NZDT)

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)

Diving

Here's a photo I took today.  Can you guess where I am, what it is a photo of, or how I took it?  Leave a comment if you want to guess.  The winner will receive a personal e-mail from me!  :-)

Brett
2010-11-18 11:36pm (NZDT)

The Light at the End of the Tunnel at 11pm

Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing pure light streaming in through the hallway?  I've acclimated to this 24/7 daylight much quicker than last year; in fact, it seemed quite natural right away this time!  I remember a year ago, though, when I first saw the sun at "midnight."  It was surreal and foreign, and it took a week just to get used to the sun never going down.

I also enjoy seeing the sun, at all.  It is supremely uplifting for my spirit!  The clouds rarely reveal the sun in New Hampshire, sadly.  I don't take any moment for granted here.  Stunningly bright and beautiful it is!

I took these photos last night at roughly 11pm.

I'm standing at the end of the corridor my room is on.
My room is the second room from the end on the right.

My room is through the door on the right, closest to the camera.

The view out the window.

Brett Anderson
2010-11-17 9:22am (NZDT)

Arrival on Ice

I made it!  It was mostly smooth flying today, a wee bit bumpy on the way down to McMurdo on the C-17.  I was hoping to get a photo of the view as I was actually stepping out of the plane, but alas, the force of the mob behind me was too great and I couldn't stop to take a photo.  So, after I stepped onto the ice, here's what I saw:

And here's a photo of me:

I'm off to bed--work starts bright and early tomorrow!  Lot's to do!

Brett
2010-11-15 9:54pm (NZDT)

EARTHQUAKES!!!

I have now felt my very first earthquake!  And, I can now add an earthquake to the list of things I've slept through!

Exactly 24 hours ago, at 1:34am Sunday morning local time, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake shook Christchurch.  My hotel building (one of the tallest buildings in Christchurch) swayed quite a bit, according to a couple I met who were staying a floor above me.  They said it was very scary.  Swaying is a natural response of the building, intentionally designed into the architecture, and the building was and remains structurally sound.  However, I felt nothing!  I slept right through it!  The couple was shocked that I was shocked that there was an earthquake in the night!

And then this evening, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake set on!  I was at dinner, and I felt it!  It was so cool!  I was really bummed that I slept through the one last night, especially since I didn't get to feel the building sway, but I can now say that I have experienced an earthquake!

Now, earthquakes are a serious thing, and Christchurch and areas in this region are still working to rebuild the damage from the September 4, 2010 earthquake here.  It was a 7.1-magnitude earthquake--just slightly stronger than the one that devastated Haiti and killed hundreds of thousands of people 10 months ago.  Fortunately for New Zealand, no deaths occurred as a result of the quake, and most buildings survived, but some buildings and homes have had to be condemned.

Brett
2010-11-15 1:47am (NZDT)

More From New Zealand

Hi people,

My flight is scheduled to depart from Christchurch at 4pm EST on Sunday, (10am NZDT on Monday).  Just FYI.

Today, as in Christchurch's Sunday, I got up, visited a Salvation Army church service, had lunch with some new Kiwi friends of mine from the Salvation Army, got outfitted with my "Extreme Cold Weather" gear (but is it good enough for Minnesota cold weather???), took the bus back to Cathedral Square, went to the ChristChurch Cathedral Choral Evensong service, had an excellent English-Indian dinner, and took some more photos of the night!  Below are some of my cool photos!

ChristChurch Cathedral
Photo taken during the rehearsal before the service.

Ducklings!

Christchurch at night!

Now, I have one disclaimer: I compress my photo files before I upload them to this site, and in addition, this blog website compresses them even more, so if you want to see the original photo, you'll have to ask me when I visit you!  :-)

Cheers!
Brett
2010-11-15 12:02am (NZDT)

In New Zealand!

I must be very brief, for internet is very expensive here in New Zealand!  I have arrived safely and happily in New Zealand!  I have been having a fantastic time in this beautiful city of Christchurch.  Here is one photo of the Cathedral in the central square.  More to come!

Brett
2010-11-14 8:20am (NZDT)

More on temperature...

...because that's all I have time to write about right now!  At McMurdo, Antarctica, it's been getting up into the 20's and 30's (Fahrenheit) during the day, with lows in the teens in the "other" part of the day (ie: when the sun is lower in the sky).  So it's been warming up quickly at McMurdo!  I leave on Wednesday and should arrive at McMurdo sometime Sunday evening (USA times)--roughly a week from right now!

I love my new camera, and you will too, once you see some of my new photos!  :-)

Brett