Scott Base

Just over the hill from us, a mere mile away is the New Zealand base, Scott Base.  It is a small base that only has about 85 people during the busiest times.  This base relies heavily on McMurdo to transport all of their cargo and passengers.  We work closely with them and they often come over to our base to use the gym, eat, go to the bars, etc.  We are only allowed to go to Scott Base on Thursday evenings, but they can come over here anytime because there are so few of them.  The US Antarctic Program is based in Christchurch also, and we work with them as well. 

The base itself is green and it is one several small buildings connected by hallways so you never have to go out in the cold.  They are farther from the sea ice edge than McMurdo, and have pressure ridges where the seals live.

The New Zealanders, or Kiwis, are really friendly and helpful.  They are a big part of our community and often come over to compete in the races and spend time in our bars, so we get to know them really well.  They also come down to help unload our resupply container ship.

Scott Base

Scott Base with the Royal Society
Mountains in the background.

Happy Camper

Anyone here who is going out to a field camp has to go to snow survival school before they leave McMurdo. It is referred to as "Happy Camper School" and I went my first year down here.  There is a short classroom portion and then you head out to the open snow to learn how to operate the stoves, set up a tent, build a snow wall, and set up communications.  It is very difficult to set up a tent on the ice and snow, especially in the wind, so learning things such as this are valuable to working here.   Once all of the campers head out to the snow field, they begin setting up their tents and building the snow wall to stop the wind with the snow wall.  They teach you how to build a snow hut by piling up the bags and piling snow on top.  They camp out over night and have a bit of fun with building other snow sculptures.  The next day the campers put a bucket on their heads to simulate a white out condition and you have only a rope and must find a "lost" teammate.  The weather here can change quickly and harsh conditions can make it really dangerous.  Many scientists and field crews live out in tents for several months at a time. 



Buckets on their heads to simulate white-out
conditions. 



There are some great faces drawn on the "bucket heads". 

The camp site out on the ice shelf.  Not everyone has
a nice sunny day like these folks.

Mt Erebus

Mt Erebus is our resident volcano.  It is the southernmost active volcano on the planet.  It is unique because it constantly puffs steam from the lava lake deep in the crater, but doesn't build up pressure due to the open caldera. Comforting thoughts since we are a mere 22 miles away at McMurdo.  Several science groups are here studying it.  It is the second highest volcano in Antarctica at 12,448 ft. 

Erebus is a mere 22 miles from McMurdo Station.

Aerial view of the caldera with the open caldera.

Mt Erebus-Named after the Greek God of Darkness,
primordial son of Chaos.

Mt Erebus puffs steam constantly

Resupply Ship

Grooming and building the ice pier.  It is the square
in the right hand side.

The dirt layer is added to ice pier when it has reached
the desired thicknes and is strong.

They continue to work on the pier.  Here they
are beginning to build the bridge.

The season is winding down and the station will be closed for the winter on March 5th.  We are now preparing for the resupply container ship which brings supplies for the next season.  They load the ship in Port Hueneme, CA and set sail for Antarctica.  It takes almost a month to get here.  The ice breaker must come in and break out a channel in the ice for the ship to come in to McMurdo sound.  The ice breaker should be here within the next weekend to begin working on opening the channel.  It also opens up the sea ice for whales and other wildlife to come in. First a fuel tanker will come here and bring us fuel.  Then the Nathanial B. Palmer will come, which is a research ship that has been doing multiple science experiments out in the ocean.  The resupply ship will be the last to come and will stay almost a week.  This becomes a very busy time around station, there are extra people down here to unload and load the boat, they are working 24 hours per day, 12 hour shifts, without days off until it is complete.  The bars are closed and no alcohol is sold during this time either.  The ship is supposed to arrive on Feb 14th this year.  The ships docks at the ice pier which they have been working on all season.  They compact an area of ice in the sound and put iron bars in it and continue to groom it so it can be used to drive trucks up to the ship and unload the containers onto.  It is a huge strong ice cube with a bridge to drive on and the ship docks beside it.

The resupply container ship in port.



The icebreaker.  It shoots hot water down as it
rams the sea ice to break it up.



The fuel tanker in port refueling the station.

The resupply ship approaching the ice pier.

The icebreaker opens up the water for lots of wildlife.

The water starts to refreeze.

The resupply vessel leaving accompanied by the icebreaker.

Antarctic Recycling

The people in Antarctica recycle like no one's business.  Everything that comes into Antarctica is either consumed or shipped back out as trash.  It is not buried or burned here.  We are supposed to leave the smallest possible footprint.  This is what makes Antarctica the pristine beautiful place that it is.  Each person sorts their trash into bins, such as glass, aluminum cans, food waste, paper, etc.  There is also a "thrift store" called Skua central where people can take things that are in good shape but no longer wanted.  Everything there is free, and it is mostly things like clothing and shoes, room decorations and books.  Every bit of trash is loaded on the resupply boat and shipped off the continent to be recycled so everything is sorted.

Stuff that is no longer used by work centers here
can be taken by other departments.

Bins to sort our trash into.

These are bigger bins for sorting our trash, they
are outside the work centers.



Triwall containers full of waste.  Yep, lots of trash here!



Entrance to Skua Central, the "thrift store".



This is the snowman blanket I found in skua.  It
is really soft!



They have fun with labeling some of the waste containers.

Cold Critters

Skua sitting on her nest

The animals that live here never cease to amaze me.  It is so cold and often doesn't warm up for days.  The skua birds lay their eggs in nests of rocks.  They leave the nest for a short amount of time and leave the poor little chick out in the cold.  The penguins do the same thing.  They only huddle up together when it gets really cold.  I see them sitting out in the wind and snow blowing all around them. 

Emperor penguins keep their eggs warm on
their feet.

Adelie colony nesting on the rocks.

Seals laying out on the ice. 

What am I doing here?

C-17 Landing at the runway

Most of my posts so far have been about the parties, the penguins, my room and the other things here.  So what do I do most of the day?  Well, I work in the cargo department.  It is one of the largest departments here.  We get small items that the scientists or field camp people need, and build them up on a large metal pallet that then is loaded onto the airplane.  We fly C-130s to the field camps and other stations, like the South Pole.  C-17s fly to and from Christchurch, NZ with our cargo on it that we then break down and either keep here in McMurdo or send out to the field camps. Once we build up all of the pallets they are loaded on the deltas for their 15 mile journey out to the airfield.  This season we have flown over 80 flights to the Pole, and almost as many to all of the other field camps combined.  My primary job is to plan the safe and fuel efficient cargo loads for the aircraft.  Even though these are all military aircraft they are here on a peaceful mission.

Bags getting loaded on the metal pallet

Our line of pallets in our cargo yard waiting to go out
to the airfield.

Loading a pallet on the delta to take out to the airfield
for the flight.



Our pallet line out at the airfield.

The cargo is put on a sled and pushed up to
the plane for loading on the aircraft.

Cargo is sometimes taken out using the Kress vehicle

Cargo being loaded back on a delta to take back
to McMurdo from the airfield.

The airfield is built on the Ross Ice Shelf.
It is built on the snow so provides some challenges.  They fly to the field camps and
land in some strong winds and storms.  The
pilots do a wonderful job.  Sometimes the snow
is so deep and soft at the field camps that
they have to use extra rockets on the outside
of the plane to take off.

C-17 coming from Christchurch.  It comes between 3-5
per week.

C-130 flight line



The C-130's are equipped with skis so they
can land on the snow and ice at the field camps.



C-130 using ATO rocket to assist
with takeoff from a field camp