Hi all,
Here are some other blogs you might find worth checking out!
The BARREL blog for this, the 2010, Campaign at McMurdo Station.
http://2010mcmurdo.blogspot.com/
The BARREL blog for last year's, the 2009, Campaign at McMurdo Station.
http://barrel2009.blogspot.com/
A blog for the RENU rocket, being launched from Norway concurrently with this year's BARREL campaign. RENU is a rocket to study the aurora. Kristina Lynch is a professor at Dartmouth, as well as a Co-Investigator for this project. Some of my fellow Dartmouth graduate students work on this project and are currently in Norway and Svalbard. There isn't too great of a direct connection between BARREL and RENU, but this is still pretty cool stuff!
http://renurocket.blogspot.com/
This blog is also for RENU, and is written by my fellow graduate students at Dartmouth and their advisor, Professor Kristina Lynch.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~aurora/renu/updates.html
Another blog for RENU, written by a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire. This one has photos and movies and story telling, much like my blog.
http://alaskanrocketadventure.blogspot.com/
Yet another RENU blog page, from the rocket range where it is being launched.
http://www.rocketrange.no/?page_id=751&campaign_id=1
Brett
2010-12-07 10:55am (NZDT)
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Storm's Snowy Conclusion
This is the conclusion of the "A Storm" post. Check out these awesome photos of the 7 foot snow drifts!
Well, this first photo is just a quick reminder of what the area looked like just before the storm hit! This photo was taken at 2:12pm, just as the fast winds were arriving at the LDB site! I took this photo while I was standing inside the building holding the door open because the winds were too fierce and I didn't want to take my camera outside!
Sweet!!!
Brett
2010-12-06 11:48pm (NZDT)
Well, this first photo is just a quick reminder of what the area looked like just before the storm hit! This photo was taken at 2:12pm, just as the fast winds were arriving at the LDB site! I took this photo while I was standing inside the building holding the door open because the winds were too fierce and I didn't want to take my camera outside!
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| December 1, 2010 at 2:12pm Wind condition: fierce 35-40 knots Note: the snow being carried by the winds blurs out the surface of the horizon Note also: the ground is flat all the way out to the stand on the left. |
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| Monday, December 6, 2010 at 8:40am Winds: low. The snow drift is higher than me! Note the stand in the background--it's the same as the previous photo. |
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| Cool beans! |
Sweet!!!
Brett
2010-12-06 11:48pm (NZDT)
Friday, December 3, 2010
A Storm
(Note: if you click on an image on my blog, the site will load the photo in better resolution for your further enjoyment! I highly recommend this for many of these images!)
I thought about titling this entry, "The Storm," but to have done so would have implied that the storm about which I'm going to share is something strong and extraordinary. That is not the case. Here at McMurdo there are three levels of weather. Condition 3 is "normal" and Condition 1 is the worst. However, the limits on what is defined as "normal" are extraordinarily generous! The following document defines the designation of the three conditions:
As you can see, it requires a LOT of bad weather in order for it to be even Condition 2 here! The weather has reached Condition 2 severity out at the LDB site a few times in the past 72 hours, but for the most part it's still been Condition 1. Therefore, I do not feel justified in calling it, "The Storm."
Around noon on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, a low pressure concentration to the north of Ross Island began bringing in some strong weather. Our LDB weatherman had been predicting strong winds and some snow for several days, and sure enough, it arrived right on time. The weatherman also predicted that the region of low pressure would stick around for a few days, sustaining the bad weather. Yet again he was correct: the storm is still here and quite strong!
The buildings at LDB are well insulated from the cold, but are not well insulated against wind! The galley, for example, had several snow drifts that had come in from spaces in the tent where it is tied down to the ground. And when strong winds come, we can feel the temperature drop inside the high-bay buildings! Further, sometime Wednesday night, the heat went out in the big high-bay that I work in, so when we arrived on Thursday morning it was only 40F! I spent practically all day with extra layers, hats, and gloves on!
Now for the story pictorial: The approach of "a storm." Each of the following pictures is of roughly the same view. The 1st photo is taken from the raised platform visible in the 2nd and 3rd. Any "blurriness" in these photos is actually just snow being carried by the wind!
This kind of storm is common for McMurdo and is called a Herbie. In the first photo you can make out White Island (on the left side of the photo) and barely make out Black Island (on the right side of the photo.) The region between these two islands is called Herbie Alley, because the winds often come right out of that direction and bring strong weather to Ross Island! It is often said that once Black and White Islands become obscured, it is only a matter of minutes before the weather hits McMurdo Station. True enough!
The winds in the past few days have been absolutely astounding! I think it's a blast, because it's very rare that I've ever experienced such great, sustained winds! At times, it's challenging just to walk outside between buildings at LDB. Here's a short clip. I was trying to go outside while taking video, but I never even made it out the door! The door almost smacked into my camera!
Haha! :-)
Thanks for reading my blog!
Brett
2010-12-04 5:08pm (NZDT)
I thought about titling this entry, "The Storm," but to have done so would have implied that the storm about which I'm going to share is something strong and extraordinary. That is not the case. Here at McMurdo there are three levels of weather. Condition 3 is "normal" and Condition 1 is the worst. However, the limits on what is defined as "normal" are extraordinarily generous! The following document defines the designation of the three conditions:
As you can see, it requires a LOT of bad weather in order for it to be even Condition 2 here! The weather has reached Condition 2 severity out at the LDB site a few times in the past 72 hours, but for the most part it's still been Condition 1. Therefore, I do not feel justified in calling it, "The Storm."
Around noon on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, a low pressure concentration to the north of Ross Island began bringing in some strong weather. Our LDB weatherman had been predicting strong winds and some snow for several days, and sure enough, it arrived right on time. The weatherman also predicted that the region of low pressure would stick around for a few days, sustaining the bad weather. Yet again he was correct: the storm is still here and quite strong!
The buildings at LDB are well insulated from the cold, but are not well insulated against wind! The galley, for example, had several snow drifts that had come in from spaces in the tent where it is tied down to the ground. And when strong winds come, we can feel the temperature drop inside the high-bay buildings! Further, sometime Wednesday night, the heat went out in the big high-bay that I work in, so when we arrived on Thursday morning it was only 40F! I spent practically all day with extra layers, hats, and gloves on!
Now for the story pictorial: The approach of "a storm." Each of the following pictures is of roughly the same view. The 1st photo is taken from the raised platform visible in the 2nd and 3rd. Any "blurriness" in these photos is actually just snow being carried by the wind!
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| December 1, 2010 at 1:50pm Wind condition when I took the photo: low to none |
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| December 1, 2010 at 2:05pm Wind: sustained low winds |
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| December 4, 2010 at 1:15pm Wind: 20-25 knots, with gusts even greater |
This kind of storm is common for McMurdo and is called a Herbie. In the first photo you can make out White Island (on the left side of the photo) and barely make out Black Island (on the right side of the photo.) The region between these two islands is called Herbie Alley, because the winds often come right out of that direction and bring strong weather to Ross Island! It is often said that once Black and White Islands become obscured, it is only a matter of minutes before the weather hits McMurdo Station. True enough!
The winds in the past few days have been absolutely astounding! I think it's a blast, because it's very rare that I've ever experienced such great, sustained winds! At times, it's challenging just to walk outside between buildings at LDB. Here's a short clip. I was trying to go outside while taking video, but I never even made it out the door! The door almost smacked into my camera!
Haha! :-)
Thanks for reading my blog!
Brett
2010-12-04 5:08pm (NZDT)
Cape Evans - Terra Nova Hut
Here are a few more photos from my trip to Cape Evans:
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| Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Hut erected in 1911 at Cape Evans This Hut is often referred to as Scott's Hut. |
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| Scott's Hut is in the process of being restored, it looks much like it would have back in Scott's day. This is the kitchen area. The rest of the inside is equally as stunning. |
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| The area surrounding the hut is littered with artifacts that are protected by the Antarctica Treaty due to their historical significance. Things like wooden crates, tin cans, dog bones, all still lie undisturbed. |
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| Mount Erebus as viewed from Scott's Hut at Cape Evans. |
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| This is a view of Hut Point Peninsula, as seen from Cape Evans. In the foreground is Big Razorback Island. The furthest point on the peninsula to the right is where McMurdo is, approximately 15 miles away. |
It's time I posted a map of Ross Island. I love maps!
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| McMurdo Station is at the tip of the Hut Point Peninsula, located at the southwestern corner of Ross Island. Cape Evans is roughly a third of the island north-northwest of McMurdo Station. And the Long Duration Balloon site (LDB) is at roughly the "Ice Aerodrome" marker, southeast of McMurdo. |
Brett
2010-12-03 11:54pm (NZDT)
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Skuary and the Lonely Skua
This past Sunday, I took a trip out to Cape Evans, about 15 miles northwest of McMurdo Station, but still on Ross Island. Cape Evans was the headquarters for Robert Falcon Scott's 2nd expedition to Antarctica from 1910-1913. The hut at Cape Evans is named "Scott Hut," and I'll post some of my photos of it soon!
When Scott first discovered this cape in 1902 he named it "The Skuary." As I witnessed, it was probably because there was a sizable skua population there! See all the skua in the center of the picture, in the pond's open water:
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| The Skuary |
After discovering The Skuary in 1902, Scott pushed on south as far as open water would take his ship, the Discovery. Though he intended to mainly live out of Discovery over the winter, Scott erected a hut on a point close by to the bay where Discovery spent her first winter in Antarctica. The bay was thus christened "Winter Quarters Bay," the hut "Discovery Hut," and the point "Hut Point."
I spotted a lone skua while I was hiking out to Hut Point a few days ago:
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| The Lonely Skua |
It may be difficult to spot the skua birds in these photos as they are on this page, so you may need to click on the photo to see in higher resolution. Note, I also don't post the full resolution version of these photos because they'd be too large to upload and keep on the site.
These photos don't provide much in the way of perspective of the surroundings, but I thought they were neat photos of skuas. Enjoy!
Brett
2010-11-30 3:02pm (NZDT)
The Seal of Approval
After a few busy days...another posting! Short this time, since it's late here.
I've been doing lots of stuff, and have barely had time to look at all the photos I've taken!
Fortunately, we are now "launch ready" so we're just waiting on the go-ahead from some NASA safety folk and from the weatherman!
Here's a few photos of a seal I encountered on Sunday, near Cape Evans. More to come later from this and other cool things I've been doing!
Do these photos have your seal of approval? :-)
Brett
2010-11-30 12:33am (NZDT)
I've been doing lots of stuff, and have barely had time to look at all the photos I've taken!
Fortunately, we are now "launch ready" so we're just waiting on the go-ahead from some NASA safety folk and from the weatherman!
Here's a few photos of a seal I encountered on Sunday, near Cape Evans. More to come later from this and other cool things I've been doing!
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| Up close and personal! |
Do these photos have your seal of approval? :-)
Brett
2010-11-30 12:33am (NZDT)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today is Thanksgiving! Kind of. Today is Thursday, November 25, 2010, but today is not officially a holiday here at McMurdo. All of McMurdo, including us Long Duration Balloon (LDB) people, are working as usual today. Except we out at LDB were able to celebrate by having a Thanksgiving Dinner! We even had white table cloths today!
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| Thanksgiving out at the LDB galley! Fancy! |
The Thanksgiving meal had the traditional fare and was well done, thanks to the talented LDB chef and dining assistants! Since they had to serve lunch as usual today, they decided to make traditional Thanksgiving food! And then they decorated the galley special, too! Very nice!
Now, McMurdo station will celebrate Thanksgiving officially on Saturday, November 27. Then, the whole station will get the day off and celebrate with a full Thanksgiving dinner! (Most support personnel at McMurdo station only have 1 day "off" a week: Sunday, so to have a two-day weekend is a special treat!) I'm not even sure I'll take Saturday off, but even if not, it's jut great being able to be here in Antarctica!
I have some more cool photos from hikes I've been on in the past few days, so keep checking this blog out!
To all of you who are stateside,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Brett
2010-11-25 1:58pm (NZDT)
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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)
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)
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| The view from Hut Point. |
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| Zoomed in... Note the little green tube the people are gathered around... |
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| 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! |
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| 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). |
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| And down I go! Or up I come! |
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| 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! |
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| Here's a good view of the whole above-ice portion of Ob Tube! And me having a good time! |
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| 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! |
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| 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)
Friday, November 19, 2010
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)
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)
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