Blogs from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Antarctica - page 10

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Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station October 22nd 2005

Greetings from Antarctica! The last several weeks have been filled with lots of work, several small adventures and lots of good-byes. The summer season is now underway and the planes are bringing more and more people every day - McMurdo’s population is around 1000 now and more will be showing up soon. It has been a lot of fun having the runway so close to town, because the planes can be clearly seen landing and taking off. Most of the winter-over crew has gone north with only a few of us remaining. I have said good-bye to most of my friends from the winter and I am making new friends everyday. The crowds don’t bother me now like they did when the winfly people arrived. The field camps are opening at a rapid pace and the ... read more
The Hole in the Ice
The Bottom of the Ocean
Look What We Caught!

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station September 22nd 2005

It was a beautiful day - The sun was shining brightly over the western slopes of Mt Erebus, there was no wind to speak of and the temperature was warm by Antarctic standards. We were cruising at between five and ten miles per hour towards the North. We had been underway for over an hour and we still had another half hour to go before we reached our destination. Our route took us to the west of the Erebus Glacier Ice Tongue, which is a large, narrow glacier flowing down from the frozen slopes of Mt. Erebus that extends off of the coast of Ross Island into Erebus Bay, and past several small islands - Tent Island and Inaccessible Island were to the left of our route and Big & Little Razorback where to the right. ... read more
The Erebus Glacier Ice Tongue
Lots of Crevasses
Inaccessible Island

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station September 7th 2005

Like a barbarian horde invading from the north, Winfly has descended on McMurdo Station. In total, four planes arrived and departed leaving in their wake waves of energetic invaders who made short work of ransacking our small, peaceful, winter-over community. The tan intruders pulled a shroud of fresh fruit and sunshine over our eyes to blind us from the destruction to our way of life that was going on all around us. They brought with them new and improved bugs that shocked our immune systems and set in motion a plague of sickness that has not been present here for nearly six months - The Crud, which is what residents of McMurdo affectionately call this sickness, has returned! The sacking of McMurdo took about a week and, of the 241 winter over crew, less than 100 ... read more
Nacreous Clouds
Cooking at Scott Base
The 'Polar Plunge Challenge'

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station August 12th 2005

Greetings from Antarctica! The last several weeks have been a bit quiet, but enjoyable just the same. Most of the talk on station revolves around Winfly and the coming of the sun. The people who are leaving at Winfly are all talking excitedly about their travel plans in the warmer regions of the world. Those of us who are staying are looking forward to the coming of the sun and all of the new energy that the planes will be bringing to McMurdo in the next few weeks. The sky is getting brighter on a daily basis, shedding the shroud of darkness that has hidden the beautiful scenery surrounding McMurdo Sound - The Royal Society Range and Mt. Discovery are bathed in reddish-purple light during the midday hours, Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror are now easily ... read more
Nacreous Clouds Through the Fog
Nacreous Clouds
On Jupiter's Moon

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station July 17th 2005

It was dark, very dark. A slight breeze was blowing in our faces, instantly freezing our breath as we exhaled, and our sweat was freezing to the inside of our parkas - It was 35 below zero and we were walking along the Castle Rock Loop. The moonless sky above us was showing off the star-filled expanses in a vivid clarity that, until that night, I had never experienced. The Milky Way was bright overhead and shooting stars were constantly streaking across the sky, but still no auroras - The purpose of that evening’s expedition. We walked across the glacier, along the snow-drifted trail, following a line of invisible flags that presented themselves one at a time and let us know that we were still on track and out of the grasps of any man-eating crevasses ... read more
The Southern Lights
4th of July
At the A-Frame

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station June 30th 2005

Greetings from Antarctica! Midwinter arrived here last week with the coming of the winter solstice. The sun has now started its long journey back into the Antarctic sky and, although we won’t see the sun again until August 19th, it is comforting to know that we have reached the halfway point of the winter and that the sun is now rising again. It has been a tradition in the Antarctic, since the early explorers started coming to this frozen continent, to celebrate Midwinter Day as a major and festive holiday. Here on Ross Island, we celebrated by holding a very nice dinner with great food and decorations at McMurdo Station on the Saturday evening prior to the solstice and we celebrated again the following weekend by going to Scott Base for Scottish night and the Midwinter ... read more
Aurora Over White Island
Aurora Over Ob Hill
Midwinter Dinner

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station June 18th 2005

Here are some recent photos from the 50th Winter Over at McMurdo.... read more
Sirius over Ob Hill
The moon over McMurdo
McMurdo

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station June 12th 2005

Greetings from Antarctica! The last few weeks have been action-packed and very enjoyable. We have had a few strong storms and the temperatures have been getting colder - It was -31°F with a -78°F Wind Chill last Sunday. I was offered the opportunity to go on a boondoggle road trip across the Ross Ice Shelf toward Black Island and I participated in a construction project of a different sort on the Castle Rock trail. In town there have been a few very enjoyable parties, an evening of jazz music and socializing and finally, after several attempts, I have won BINGO. I was asked a few weeks ago if I would be interested in participating in a boondoggle trip along the Black Island road to flag the route between McMurdo Station and KOA at the halfway point ... read more
The Ice Drum
On the Black Island Road
Inside of KOA

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station May 21st 2005

Hello everyone. Here are some photos from the last month to so.... read more
Adelie penguin
Mt. Discovery
Royal Society Range

Antarctica » Antarctica » McMurdo Station May 21st 2005

Greetings from Antarctica! The last several weeks have been somewhat quiet down here. The sun has disappeared and it now stays dark for most of the day with only a brief moment of twilight like light in the middle of the day. The new darkness that has surrounded us has made the stars appear brilliantly in the sky, even in the middle of the day, and has blotted out the surrounding scenery - Yes, that means no more pictures of the Royal Society Range for a few months. Storms have become a lot more regular with strong winds and lots of blowing snow, but it hasn’t gotten very cold yet and there still haven’t been any condition 1 storms. In fact, this past week has been surprisingly warm with temperatures in the teens - I had ... read more
Full Moon Over Mt. Discovery
The Anti-Lighthouse
The Aurora Australis




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