Christmas in Antarctica

Merry Christmas Everybody!!! I hope you all got to enjoy a fab time with your family and friends. Down here at the bottom of the world we have celebrated Christmas as well. We had a christmas party for the medical staff last Saturday where we rented Hut 10 (which is a house on station that is furnished as normal house with a kitchen) and did some barbecuing. On Christmas Eve it was the station Christmas party and on Christmas day we had our christmas dinner. Which had an awesome spread of good food.
It doesn't really feel like Christmas, because christmas to me is to be with family. My family spent christmas in our new house in Edmonds and I wish I could have been there.

Mark, Heather, Jay and Chris

Kathleen DeWahl, Michael Davis and Megan Parks

Patrick and Chris enjoying after dinner drinks in the coffee house

I now have less than 2 months to go and I hope I get to be busier otherwise it will be long 2 months ahead of me. My running is not going very well, since I sprained my ankle and aggravated an old back injury so there has been no running for 2 weeks. I hope I will get better soon so I can start running again.

MacTown from top of OB Hill

Top of OB Hill looking south, White Island to the right and Black Island to the left

Mt Erebus with Castle Rock 

Scott Base 

Me on top of OB Hill with Mt Erebus behind me

 

The South Pole

I have now been to the bottom of the world and the only way is up. 

Every direction is north (up) from the South Pole

The South Pole is approximately 3 hours flight in a LC-130 or 833 miles from McMurdo Station. Amundsen-Scott South Pole station is sitting on top of ice that is approximately 9000ft (2700m) thick.  US established the station back in 1956. Roald Amundsen was the first human that reached the South Pole the 14th of December 1911 and Robert F Scott reached it on 17th of January 1912. 

The new station was officially opened 2008, it took 5 years to build it as they could only build it during the 3 month summer season. You can watch a documentary about how they built it on You Tube, the show was Megabuilders that was on Discovery channel.

Main entrance in to the station

The altitude is 9301ft but due to the low barometric pressure it feels like the altitude was above 10400ft. I definitely felt the difference in altitude coming up from sea level. A lot of people takes Diamox to prevent HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) and HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). I decided not take it as I heard from co- workers that had gone down there before me how the side effects they experienced were pretty bad. Most of the people I met at the Pole said it usually takes 1-2 weeks to get used to the altitude. While I was there I would feel out of breath just by walking up the stairs to the medical clinic on the 2^nd floor of the station.

South Pole Medical Clinic

During my time there I got the opportunity when I was not working to go and see 2 of the science stations that are located there. There is an area just outside of the station that has the cleanest air in the world. I even got a sample of it in a bottle. The day we were there the CO2 level was only 393.3 ppm. The CO2 level measured at Mauna Kea Loa which is regarded as ground zero for monitoring the trend for worldwide CO2 level was 395.1 ppm the same day.

NOAA building at the South Pole

There is also a 10 meter wide telescope that they are using to find out more about the “Big Bang”. During our very brief impromptu tour, we were told about Dark Matter, black holes and how they were looking for traces from the “Big Bang”. It was very science fiction like.

One other thing about the South Pole station is their food. I was told by everybody that the food was better there. Yes, they were right. The food was great, good thing I am not stationed there because my weight would have increased. Granted they only have to cook for 120 people on the station compared to almost 800 in McMurdo, maybe that is the biggest difference. Almost everything has been frozen and we were discussing one night during dinner if the altitude and the extremely dry air prevented the food from getting freezer burns and stayed "fresher".  They also have a green house in the station, which becomes a nice oasis. There is a sofa just outside where people can just sit and relax.

Green house

Green house

I think the South Pole is what it would be like to live on a Space Station on the Moon or Mars. It almost looks like what I think a space station would like. You can go outside and do different activities, but most of the time you stay indoors.

 

The Galley

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

"The South Pole"

Back of the station

The gym at the South Pole

McMurdo Dry Valleys

I read about the Dry Valleys of Antarctica before I arrived here. After I arrived here I also heard that getting on a trip out there is not something that I should be expecting my first year. There are plenty of people that has spent several season here and has not yet been fortunate to go out there.
I missed a medevac flight out there on Thursday because I was out of the clinic when the call came in so Chris, the military flight nurse took the call. I was told on Friday by Mark (Our Lead MD) that I was scheduled for a "training mission" out to the Dry Valleys on Saturday. That was an awesome surprise.

Group getting ready

Ready to go

Arrival to Lake Hoare

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of snow-free valleys in Antarctica. The region is one of the world's most extreme deserts. The Dry Valleys are so named because of their extremely low humidity and their lack of ice and snow cover. The unique conditions in the Dry Valleys are caused in part by the katabatic winds; these occur when cold, dense air is pulled by the force of gravity. The winds can reach speeds of 200 mph (320 km/h), heating as they descend and evaporating all water, ice and snow.
Scientist consider the Dry Valleys perhaps the closest of any terrestrial environment to the planet Mars and thus an important source of insights into possible extraterrestrial life.

Lake Hoare

Canada Glacier

Mindy Piuk

Hiking next to Canada Glacier

Departing from Lake Hoare to Lake Bonney

 The Valleys have been carved out by glaciers which have retreated, exposing valley floors and walls on a scale not found elsewhere in Antarctica. The underlying soils are up to five million years old with very little organic carbon and nitrogen and a poorly developed profile (i.e. few distinct soil layers). The extent of ice-free ground within the region allows scientists to access features which give important clues to past conditions as well as current geological processes.

Melting glacier waterfall and creek

Penguin skeleton

Coffee and cookie break inside the hut at Lake Hoare camp

Canada Glacier and tents where the researchers sleep in while they are at this camp.

Side of Canada Glacier

Various forms of lake and ponds are found throughout the region. Most lakes have an ice covering all year around, although a "moat" may form around the edges. Microbial communities live in the water column and on the lake floors. In smaller water bodies (hyper saline ponds) the salt content can be so high the water does not freeze at all. Don Juan Pond which is located in the Dry Valleys, is the saltiest known body of water on earth.

Arrival to Lake Bonney

Lake Bonney 

Lake Bonney

Glacier by Lake Bonney

Enjoying the trip

Rocks shaped by the wind

A day on the beach in Antarctica

Jamesway

The regions' glaciers have been  the subject of much research. It appears that the general trend is recession (i.e. the majority of the glaciers studied are getting smaller). The glaciers are the key to the current Dry Valleys ecosystem, but their ancient ice also records temperature and atmospheric change far in to the past.

Hanging out at Lake Bonney

Blood Falls

Lake Fryxell

The trip was a great experience. I feel very fortunate to have been to the Dry Valleys. A place that not too many people get to experience.
My next posting will be from South Pole as I am heading down there tomorrow.