Martin's Antarctic Visit  
January 2004  

Martin's Letter: 23 January 2004

Our work is completed. We have drilled and analysed ice cores, extracted temperature measuring equipment that was installed in the ice 8 months ago, and packed up. We are ready to leave. If the weather cooperates (that is, good flying weather), we expect to depart tomorrow for New Zealand.

This has been an unusual Antarctic visit for me in two ways. First, it is the first time I have not worked aboard a ship. Second, it has been very short. Those shipboard visits would last 7-8 weeks. This has been a three week visit. It has been a busy and enjoyable three weeks and the time has flown by.

I was at McMurdo Station for one night in early February 1999, transferring from ship to shore to catch a plane to New Zealand after a summer sea ice cruise in the eastern Ross Sea. During my first two visits to Antarctica I spent 6-8 weeks at McMurdo Station in January/February 1991 and 1992. In those days there was a heavy military presence, as the US Navy provided all the logistics support. The Navy pulled out (or was pushed out, depending on your point of view) in the mid-1990s, and the armed forces are represented by a much smaller number of New York Air Guard and U.S. Coast Guard personnel. The Air Guard fly the big planes between New Zealand and McMurdo, between McMurdo and South Pole Station, and between McMurdo and science field sites.

At the height of summer, over a thousand people live at McMurdo Station. A minority of those people are actually scientists based at McMurdo, people like us working here rather than out at field camps. Most people living at McMurdo are science support and logistics people who make it possible for the US Antarctic program to operate and for scientists, wherever they might be in Antarctica, to do their work.

By the end of February the number of people here will have been reduced to 200 or so. They will remain during the winter preparing for the beginning of the next season in August 2004. There will also be about 20 people spending the winter at South Pole Station. Over-winterers at McMurdo and South Pole aren't exactly cut off from the outside world (there is access to the Internet and Worldwide Web, long distance telephones at U.S. rates, satellite TV), but it is still a long way from help in an emergency. The biggest fear is fire, but a more frequent occurrence is a medical emergency that requires an evacuation by air from rough and ready snow landing strips in the winter darkness and cold.

Scott Base, the New Zealand station, is just over the hill, a 30-minute walk from McMurdo Station. It is much smaller that McMurdo, housing up to 100 people in summer and kept open in winter by 10 people. Americans and Kiwis are always visiting each other: we were invited for dinner at Scott Base last Sunday, enjoyed free drinks at the bar and an outstanding Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert. Recently there were a McMurdo vs Scott Base rugby match and a US football match. The Kiwis won both games, much to the amazement of the McMurdo team!

It's now Friday morning and it couldn't be a better day for flying north to New Zealand. Unless there has been an aircraft mechanical problem in New Zealand, the C-141 will have left for McMurdo, where there is not a cloud to be seen and there is the prospect of yet another bright and sunny day. We are scheduled to be taken out to the runway at 11am and, unless there is a mechanical problem or the weather turns suddenly awful, we ought to be leaving by early afternoon.

We plan to take a 7-10 day vacation in New Zealand before returning to Fairbanks in early February. We're looking forward to seeing New Zealand again, but it will also be good to get back to Alaska and resume lake ice measurements. I have been missing my weekly visits to our Poker Flat study sites, even the -47°C air temperature that Larissa and Marc experienced there recently. They now share the dubious honour of holding the record for making ice and snow measurements at the lowest temperature since our Poker Flat study began in autumn 1999.

I hope you have enjoyed these messages and pictures, learned something about Antarctica and sea ice science. I have certainly enjoyed preparing these materials. It's difficult to prevent a scientist from sharing their work and experiences.