Across the McMurdo Sound and about 50 miles north of here lies one of the rarest and coolest regions in the whole world... Even here in Antarctica, where glaciers and snow-capped mountains are the norm, this region is considered the holy grail of all research locations and the closest place on earth to the conditions we imagine might exist on Mars... The McMurdo Dry Valleys. Everyone eats their heart out over people who get to go to these obscure field camps within the Dry Valleys and the photos never really do the region justice. What's so special about brown rocky mountain [View Full Entry]

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Since I have gotten many requests for what it's "really" like here in town and I'm a little too lazy (and I'll admit it, bashful) to go around taking photos of all the normal and abmnormal stuff, I'll instead reference my friend Kevin's blog (he's a Red Sox fan, but we've agreed to disagree that the Yankees are the greatest baseball team ever) who has done a much better (and funnier) version of what I would do: http://riceonice.blogspot.com/2008/02/welcome-to-mcmurdo.html. His next blog posting, Funny Signs Around Town, http://riceonice.blogspot.com/2008/01/funny-signs-around-town.html, is equally amusing. On to my own writing... I am currently out of work [View Full Entry]

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So much to write about and so little time. It's amazing how routine one's life becomes- no matter what the setting or task- and how ridiculous it seems to write about it at length to post online for the world to read. This happened on my cross-country bike trip, again when I was backpacking in Europe, and now as I live and work on the forgotten continent, Antarctica. I can't believe I've let myself think that the majestic view of the Royal Society Mountain range across the way is just "scenery," that my daily interactions with people from across the country [View Full Entry]

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This year in Antarctica the buzzword (well, acronym) seems to be "AGAP" (Antarctic GAmbertsev (Mountain) Province) due to the incredible logistics involved in establishing a brand new deep field camp at a 12,400ft elevation (which feels more like 14,000ft at the polar latitudes due to the extreme cold conditions) in -40*F temperatures. The point of the science is to explore the Gambertsev Mountain range that is completely submerged below the snow and ice to decode how a huge mountain range came to be in the middle of the continent, what the climate past was like in this region, and how this [View Full Entry]

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All photos were taken in the vicinity of Ross Island. [View Full Entry]

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Just so you all know, it is NOT all work and no play here in McMurdo, Antarctica. Please view these photos of various recreation activities that are available here. Although daylight never ceases during an Antarctic summer, finding the time to take advantage of what McMurdo has to offer can be a challenge. People have crawled on their stomach through an ice tunnel to enter a spectacular ice cave on a tour offered by the Morale, Welfare and Recreation office. In addition to such organized trips, MWR also offers recreation equipment such as golf clubs, mountain bikes, and fly rods and [View Full Entry]

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These are Web Sites URL's; both scientific and informative that viewers might find interesting concerning anything Antarctic. http://www.usap.gov/researchersAndScienceProjects/ --US Antarctica Program http://www.usap.gov/researchersAndScienceProjects/ --A list of all research projects going on in Antarctica at this time. http://www.utsa.edu/lrsg/Antarctica/SIMBA --SIMBA drift station (sea ice mass balance in the antarctic) http://www.heavens-above.com/iridiumdaytime.asp?lat=-77.850&lng=166.650&alt=0&loc=McMurdo&TZ=NZST --Daytime Iridium Flares http://www.spacew.com/www/aurora.php --Hourly STD DMSP/POLAR Auroral Activity Report http://www.usap.gov/scienceSupport/polarice/ --Polar Ice http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/index.html --Origins http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice0708.htm --Long Duration Balloon http://www.coldregions.org/ --Cold Regions Bibliography Project http://www.usap.gov/surveys/ --Surveys http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/spwebcam.cfm --South Pole Web Cam http://www.usap.gov/whatsNew/ --What is new in the US Antarctica Program [View Full Entry]

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Life has settled into a habitatual pattern here in McMurdo but it is anything but boring. In the last few weeks I proudly walked to the continent of Antarctica (McMurdo is located on Ross Island, about 60 miles away from the continent) and geared up to fly to East Antarctica to establish AGAP, a brand new field camp that is currently flat, white and empty. In between, life has settled into a normal busy routine. For example, here was my last week's schedule: Monday- I accompanied my coworker on his weekly run to deliver propane to the various field camps set [View Full Entry]

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I was chosen as one of the four carpenters to go out to Granite Harbor to pull out the field camp that had been established there for ANDRILL (www.andrill.org). Granite Harbor (~100 miles north along the mainland coastline) that had been established for the ANDRILL team to do test drilling (of sea ice and sediment cores) for a few weeks after which we were called in to take it down. It was AMAZING- the 50 minute helicopter ride each way was the craziest thing! We flew really low at one point to ride parallel to the glaciers stuck in the sea [View Full Entry]

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Cape Evans (77°38′S, 166°24′E) is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay. It was discovered by the Discovery expedition (1901-04) under Scott, who named it the Skuary. Scott's second expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition (1910-13), built its headquarters here, renaming the cape for Lieutenant Edward R.G.R. Evans, Royal Navy, second in command of the expedition. Scott's headquarters building still exists and is known as Scott's Hut. Located about fourteen miles from McMurdo, The hut at Cape Evans is known as the Terra Nova hut, named after Captain Scott's [View Full Entry]

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