McMurdo

McMurdo station started out over fifty years ago as a navy base.  It was used for the military for many decades, not just for military uses, but also supporting science.  The buildings here are pretty old and in need of repair now.  They are slow to rot here because of the cold an lack of moisture.  I wanted to go around town and take some pictures of some of the places here.  It is like a small town.  There are various warehouses for storing food and other supplies.  There is carpenters, water treatment plant, people that gather up tents and things for groups going out in the field, and a huge recycling/waste center.  There are also two bars, a small aerobic gym (gerbil gym), a large gym for basketball, a library, a coffeehouse, and a weight lifting gym.



McMurdo General Hospital



Fire Department

Science support building, where they prepare people to live
in the field an get their gear ready

Many small movable buildings have "skis" so they
can be towed out to the airfield or elsewhere
on the sea ice.

There are several dorm rooms.  This is one of the older
buildings.

The chalet, which is where the station management works

There are many warehouses and quansit huts as well as
milvans to store stuff in

Crary Lab

Dorms on the right side of the road.  The big blue building is
where the cafeteria, store, salon, radio station, ATM, finance and
HR offices.  It is the main headquarters building on station.

The chapel

Where am I??

I wanted to give people an idea of where I am in the world.  Lots of people talk about me going to Alaska and the Arctic and polar bears.  I couldn't be farther away from that and still be on the Earth.  Also, I am not actually on the continent of Antarctica.  I am at McMurdo station which is on Ross island off the coast of Antarctica in the Ross Sea.  We can drive to the South Pole because the permanent ice shelf connects us to the continent via the Ross Ice Shelf. 

I am on the tip of the continent near the Ross Sea.  We leave out of
New Zealand as it is the closest land mass.  It is still over 1500 miles away.



This is Ross Island. McMurdo Station and Scott Base are on the lower tip of the island.  Cape Royds and Cape
Crozier are the closest penguin rookeries to us.  Cape Royds is only about 20 miles away.  So close, yet so far away.
We are only allowed to go on certain trails for hiking and the other destinations must be reached by helicopter.



Craft Fair

We had the craft fair last weekend.  It was quite small this year, but there was still some neat stuff.  The rules are that you can only sell homemade items that you made.  There are lots of hats and scarves, paintings, photography, jewelry, and some other creative things that people make.  There are some neat Christmas gifts to get here.

This booth sold some very cute little kids clothes.  She takes
old clothes and sews them into great little shirts with iron-ons.

Knitted goods

Some Antarctic-themed items

Everything on this table was very cute.  I had to get me one of
these little monsters...and a baby penguin.

Live music during the craft fair.  Notice the huge pile of
doughnuts.  Someone ordered too many so they are
forcing them on us often. 

Thanksgiving weekend

Holidays here in Antarctica are a lot of fun.  These are the only times when we get extra days off from work.  Most people here work Monday through Saturday and only get Sunday off.  That gets a bit tiring, so it is nice when the holidays roll around and we get a two-day weekend.  Thanksgiving meal is a huge feast with great food. The turkey trot is held Thanksgiving morning.  It is a fun race and, of course, lots of great costumes. 


Starting line for the Turkey Trot.




Runners before the Turkey Trot.




One of the best costumes at the race.  Not sure how he ran in this.



Tables decorated for Thanksgiving.





Lots of desserts

















Freezing Man

The Freezing Man festival was this past weekend.  It is patterned after burning man, though not near as large or with as much to do,  but we do our best.  We had several fun things, and tons of great costumes.  There was a hugging booth, hoola-hoops, Antarctica twister, face painting, a mayan advent calendar to tell you how you are going to die, and tons of other great things.  Lots of fun. 



Just pick up a brush and paint whatever is on your mind




Antarctic twister,  the mat was nearby.



Dancing or making figures behind the light screen.





Very large freezing man statue

Fish

Fish have been studied here for years, especially the ones that have the antifreeze protien in their blood.  They are Dissostichus mawsonii and there are always many of them in the lab for studying.  This year they caught some that are fairly large.  The oceans around Antarctica have been overfished, expecially by the Asian countries, so they have not had the larger fish in the aquarium for many years.  These fish are really good to eat and are sold under the name "Chilean seabass".  They are also known as the Antarctic Toothfish.

Brittle Star in the "Touch Tank".  They are constantly adding creatures
to the "Petting Zoo".  They add things that they find while diving or
before they release them back to the ocean.

Octupus





Dissostichus mawsonii





Growth chart for fish in the aquarium

This fish was hungry



Pressure Ridges

The pressure ridges are the result of the sea moving beneath the ice and buckling and cracking the ice above it.  The ice is starting to get softer with the warmer temperatures so the ice is moving around more and creating some great formations.  These formations are huge and some are almost 15 ft tall. 
To start off my Thanksgiving holiday weekend I went down to hike through the pressure ridges.  It was a warm day, about 30 degrees, and no wind.  What a wonderful way to start the weekend.

The pressure from the waves is breaking up the sea ice



Some impressive cracks in the ice



Melt pools-where the water melts on top of the ice. 

Castle Rock is the small rock to the left, Mt Erebus is the
volcano in the middle