Service Run #2

Yesterday, I went on a service run to Fishtail Point. This trip couldn't have been more different than the last. For starters, I didn't nearly give myself a serious injury. (Yay for keeping the clumsiness to a minimum!) Secondly, this station was serviced by helicopter, not by Twin Otter. Here in McMurdo, the airport is an hour's drive away, meaning that two hours are tacked onto your day just to get to and from the Twin Otter. The helicopter pad, however, is conveniently located just behind the science building in town. Also, although the Twin Otters are fun to fly in, you don't get a very good view for most of the flight as you are often flying above the clouds.

And, oh what views we had. This station was in the Transantarctic Mountains and much closer to the coast that where we were before. To get to the location, we flew along the edge of the Transantarctic Mountains and the Ross Ice Shelf for about an hour. We saw crevasses "deep enough to fly into" (according to our co-pilot) and striated ex-glaciated valleys. But, the best views of all were at our site. Pictures speak better than words, so I'll make this a picture-heavy, word-light post. First, though, one final tidbit worth noting because it was unusual - we had a female pilot! Probably seems unimportant to you, but Erica and I thought it was pretty cool. It also brought the gender ratio of our service team to 50/50, which happens approximately never.

Okay, on with the pictures.

Our helicopter

Me, sporting the super-fashionable, movement-restricting, helicopter helmet.

First glimpse of our site during while searching for a flat landing spot. Ours is the orange one on the right.

Never in all of my days did I think I'd do this to a sensor. The PASSCAL folks assure me that this is a tried-and-true way to decrease noise from daily thermal heating. I'm sure they know their business better than I, but, to me, it looks like an experiment in erosion. Also, my arms and legs are sore from prying all the rocks free from the ice and hauling them over.

For any geologists reading this, the rocks here were really cool - a classic-looking granite, but with huge rounded xenoliths of dark crystals. There were dimples eroded in the tops by smaller rocks similar to those you see in streams.

But the best view around was this, just 50 meters or so from where the helicopter landed. It was breathtaking.

Just to the right of the previous picture was this - small ridges of rocks poking through the ice as it approaches a drop-off. Looks kinda like the top of a waterfall, doesn't it?

Well, if you agree that the previous picture resembled a waterfall, it was with good reason. During our departure from the station, we flew off the cliff I'd been standing on and saw that it dropped off sharply, and the glacier to the right of it in the previous pictures wrapped around it as it dropped away. Essentially, a very slow-moving waterfall.

From the helicopter, we saw many crevasse fields, but I think this was my favorite because it so clearly shows how they are a reflection of the changing topography beneath the ice and snow.

Castle Rock

Strange formations on the edge of the ice shelf. I saw so many strange glacial features that I couldn't explain. Clearly I need to learn more about glacial geology!

The Transantarctic Mountains - well, a tiny bit of them.

Strange striations and snow-ridges in what I assume is an ex-glaciated valley. In one region, you could see striations from different direction coalescing where I assume two glaciers flowed together at one point - but, I wasn't quick enough with my camera.

Home again to McMurdo, with the three buildings I spend most of my time in shown front-and-center. The long brown buildings on the left are the dorms. I stay in the one second to the front. The blue building in the middle is the galley. The tan building with many segments on the right is the science building.