Antarctic Life

First IceCube string of the season

2007-12-08T14:47:37-05:00

IceCube deployed the first detector string of the season yesterday, December 8. The plan is for 14 to 18 strings to be deployed in this season. The previous earliest string deployment was December 13. An IceCube string is a cable deployed into a hole drilled into the ice 2.5km deep. The bottom 1km of cable has 60 light detector modules evenly spaced out along the this section of cable. The complete IceCube telescope consist of 80 strings and will instrument 1 cubic kilometer of ice with light detectors. Drill camp under full steam. Huge water heaters are used to supply hot water to a hot water drill that drill a hole about 2 feet wide and 2.5km deep in the ice. Drill camp. The giant hot water hose reel. The Tower Operations Site (TOS). There are 2 TOS units which leap frog each other for maximum efficiency.

First South Pole Tourists of the Season

2007-12-07T15:11:36-05:00

The first tourist flight arrived at South Pole early today. 2 Twin Otter aircraft of the Antarctic aviation specialist company ANI (adventure Network International) brought 17 passengers to the South Pole for a short visit. As well as spending time at the South Pole, these visitors got a tour of the station, and of course a chance to visit the store. You too can fly to the South Pole for $33000US. http://www.adventure-network.com/display.asp?navid=1&id=36 According to the their web site there are 3 more flights this season, with only wait list available. Visitors at the South Pole. Yep, terrible photo. I was on my way to work. ANI's 2 Twin Otter aircraft on the taxi way near the South Pole.

Vehicles in Antarctica

2007-12-01T14:59:19-05:00

I was asked by a school student what type of vehicles we use for travel in Antarctica. At first I thought the answer was obvious. But then I wondered why anyone would expect us to do much travel. At the South Pole I�ll not go more than 2 miles from the main building for the entire trip. However, even in this small distance it is true that we use vehicles to get around, and at other bases, such as McMurdo, travel is more common. The most common forms of transportation is a variety of tracked over snow vehicles, such as snow mobiles. Then there are larger specialty vehicles such as Piston Bullies and Hagglunds. Then there are a number of vehicles, such as F-350s and some shuttle vans which have had Mattrack rubber track conversions. Lunch time at South Pole and the fleet of snow mobiles used to bring people back to the station. A Piston Bully at South Pole. Fire truck at South Pole with Mattrack conversion.

Firefighters in Antarctica

2007-11-26T14:38:53-05:00

I get quite a lot of questions about the types of jobs in Antarctica, and how to go about getting them. The most common job I get asked about, you might be surprised to hear, is for firefighter positions. And it�s a good questions as fire is extremely dangerous in Antarctica, and for that reason there a quite a few firefighter positions in McMurdo and South Pole. Because of the very dry conditions, and seriousness of your shelter burning down, fire prevention and fast response to the rare fire has been a priority going back the heroic days when a night watch was posted to watch for this very thing. The cold air is almost completely moisture less and everything flammable quickly dries out and becomes extremely flammable. Even with all the prevention and fast response serious fires have occurred in Antarctica. The first winter at Mawson had their power plant burn down which potentially threatened the lives of the people there, while more recently a new science building at one of the British bases burnt to the ground, which put their science program back many years, not to mention the cost. At South Pole there are 4 full time professional firefighter during the summer. One of their main duties is being on duty with their over snow fire truck during all aircraft lands at the Pole. However they also provide a core of professionals in the case of a building fire. Along with the full time firefighters there is large volunteer crew ranging from first responders trained in SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) to trauma teams. Before deploying a group from the winter crew spend a week at a fire school in Denver, while another group spends a week learning first response medical treatment. Today we had a an emergency drill. Repeat � this was just an exercise. From the photos you can see how many people are involved in an incident at South Pole, dozens. In the photo of people in bunking gear, 4 of them are the full time professionals. Notice the over snow fire truck with tracks. Also, how many places in the world will you see 4 blokes arriving in full bunking gear and SCBA behind a snow mobile. In McMurdo there are quite a few more firefighters. Not sure exactly, about a dozen or more. They are also EMTs, which in a town of over 1000 people in summer, will mean they get called to real emergencies. So if you are interested in being a firefighter in Antarctic watch the Ratheon Polar Services Company web site.

Thanks Giving at South Pole

2007-11-24T13:06:00-05:00

There are two big station parties during the summer, Thanks Giving and Christmas. Both are celebrated with a day off, and a elaborated meal prepared by the kitchen. The 250 people are served at 3 seatings, and the tables set with white table clothes and candles. It is buffet style, but people are waited on by wine waiters, who also serve waist-expanding deserts, and even cleaner away dishes. Thanks Giving dinner was on Saturday, not on Thanks Giving day. The typical work week at South Pole is 54 hours, 6 9 hour days. There is one long, 2 day weekend, a month. The Thanks Giving day off is moved to make the November long weekend. There are a few holidays such as Christmas that are usually not moved for work efficiency. This gives you an idea of how busy the summer season is, an how much work has to be packed into this short relatively warm period. The heroes of the night are the kitchen staff who go all out to produce a meal that everyone at South Pole will remember. For a number of years I�ve been the assistant bar tender for these holidays meals. This is a fun little job that I sort of made up myself a number of years ago. I don�t really remember how it started. Paddy has been the chief bar tender for a long time, and I guess at some point I thought I could help out. It�s fun, but by the time we clean the bar just after lunch, and then clean up after serving 3 meals, it is a long day.

End of an Era

2007-11-22T15:43:00-05:00

This week the entrance of The Dome, which has been a tunnel for some time, was disassembled in preparation for maintenance work on the tunnels which will be used for storage. The Dome was officially occupied in 1975, and until about 2005 was in use. With the initial partial occupation of the New Station in 2003 The Dome�s days were numbered. The last time the Dome was occupied by people was the 2005/2006 summer, the season I lived in my favorite room, Upper Berthing 14. Last summer season, 2006/2007, the old power plant building was still intact, and the old gym had been converted in to a spacious bar, the last time smoking was allowed inside anywhere near the New Station. These buildings were demolished during the 2007 winter. The dedication of the New South Pole Station is scheduled for this coming January, when I assume it will become know as simply The South Pole Station, and The Dome will be relegated to Old South Pole Station. I guess that will make the original now buried station, the Old Old South Pole Station.

Weekends at South Pole

2007-11-18T14:22:17-05:00

Today is Sunday, the station day off. The normal work week at South Pole is 6 days, 54 hours. Every month there is a long weekend, that is a 2 day weekend. In November Thanks Giving is moved to a Saturday, and there�s the long weekend, and in December there is Christmas, but despite the best efforts of he government, Christmas so far hasn�t been moved if it lands during the week. Saturday is the big night for letting your hair down, as it�s the only non school night. In the past there has always been some dingy dark bar, inhabited by social outcasts during the week, that would get invaded on a Saturday by the general station population. While at the time I had a little resentment about my space being invaded, I now sure miss those Saturdays as there is no longer any such bar. This Saturday there was a showing of films from the Banff Film Festival. I went in for a few minutes. It looked really interesting. But it was packed. I guess there was a party in the summer camp lounges later in the night, but who wants to walk for 10 minutes in blinding sunshine to hang out with some kids you don�t know, and then walk back in that same middle of the day sun. I guess other kids. Sunday is usually a day of recovery, with brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. It is the only day a lot of people get to do significant hobbies such as wandering around and taking photos. Sunday nights is traditionally science lecture night, when one of the scientists on station gives a talk about their research. This week was the very popular John Carlstrom from University of Chicago, and the principle investigator of the very successful DASI telescope, and the under construction South Pole Telescope (SPT). He talked about cosmology and what this new telescope hoped to tell us about the universe. It is a great opportunity for many people as I doubt they would normally get a chance to hear John talk. And even though I�ve heard this talk before, and variations, I still don�t get the connection to Dark Energy. So the weekends aren�t very long here. But then I some times feel the long weekends are too long, as there isn�t that much to do and they break my rhythm. But I guess we�d burn out fast without them.

Questions from School Students

2007-11-17T23:48:00-05:00

Questions about Antarctica from students at Cronulla South Public School, and my attempt at answers. Q. What is the oldest piece of ice you have every handled? A. Dear Jack, It can be difficult to get very old ice because the ice in a glacier is older the deeper in the glacier it is. To get very old ice you need to get ice from deep down. There are two ways I�ve had access to very old ice. The first was to watch for very clear pieces of ice floating in the sea when I was driving boats around at Casey. These pieces of ice came from the bottom of ice bergs which were originally deep ice in a glacier somewhere. It would be impossible to know how old that ice is. One of the attractions of old ice is that it has come from deep below the surface and has been under intense pressure. This causes the gases to dissolve into the ice so it is crystal clear, with no bubbles. But when you warm it up by putting it into a drink the dissolved gasses escape and the ice bubbles, fizzes, and makes popping noises. If the glacier ice didn�t do that then we knew we had picked up some young ice. These same gasses can be used to study the climate a long time ago. The other way I�ve got old ice is from glaciologist who were drilling ice cores to study past climates. If they have some spare ice they sometimes donate it to the station for drinks. The advantage of this ice is that the glaciologist will know roughly how old it is. I think the oldest ice I�ve put in my drink was 30000 years old. Q. Can you give me some information on penguins? A. Dear Stephanie, The first penguins I ever saw were Little Blue penguins on Flinders Island in Victoria. I believe there are some colonies up around Sydney. You can also see penguins at Taronga Zoo. When I worked at Casey Station there were many penguin colonies on the islands near by. There was one close by, which luckily the sea ice to the island remained stable, and we were able to walk over and regularly watch the Adelie penguins. Adelie penguins are my favorite penguin as they have so much character and are good looking. There is a lot of information about penguins on my web site, but something that is not is an unusual fact. Adelie penguins have no natural land/ice based predator. So they are not afraid of any large animal when they are out of the water. Adelie penguins are also extremely curious. If a penguin sees you on the ice they will often walk a long way out of their way, hundred of meters, I bet even kilometers, to come and have a look at you. They�ll just walk up to you to about a few meters away and stare at you for awhile and then walk off again. An exception is a friend of mine who the penguins would walk right up to, to his feet, and then peck him on the knees. I think it was his beard. Q. Have you seen any seals and what do you think of them? A. Dear Braidyn, With my current job at the South Pole I don�t see any seals. The South Pole is hundreds of miles from the coast. When I worked at Casey Station, which is on the coast, I got to watch many seals. There were 3 main types of seals at Casey, Weddell seals, Leopard seals, and Elephant seals. Weddell seals live year round near the coast of Antarctica, while other seals go to the outer edges of the sea ice. They can do this because they keep holes open in the ice so they can get into the water to feed, and to escape very bad weather. They keep the holes open by gashing away at the ice with their teeth. Unfortunately this wears their teeth out, and eventually they will not be able to feed, and they starve. Weddell seals are cute, especially when they are pups, but a bit boring when older as they don�t do much. Elephant seals smell very bad. Leopard seals are big, with big mouths, with big teeth. They are very good looking but scary. Q. Have you ever swum with penguins and if so was it cool and interesting? A. Dear Liam, On land, or ice, penguins have little fear of people because they have no large predators out of the water. In the water it is a different story with the Leopard seal waiting to have a penguin snack. So if you could swim with Antarctic penguins I suspect they would disappear very fast as they would think you might be a Leopard seal. I have swum in Antarctica, but not with penguins. Maybe swimming is the wrong word. I jumped in and went under water and tried to keep breathing and get out of the water as quickly as possible. I might be a bit afraid of even trying to swim with penguins as you never know if there might be a Leopard seal waiting for a person sized snack. There are many types of penguins, even on the equator at the Galapagos Islands. I believe it is possible to swim near these penguins. Q. What interested you about Antarctica and made you decide to go? A. Dear Anja, When I was finishing up at university I needed to find a job. I knew someone who went to Antarctica for a year, and the field of study sounded interesting, and in general it sounded exciting and different. I like seeing new places, and experiences, and this was a chance that wouldn�t come along very often. But once I thought about it I realized there are negatives such as being away from family and friends. I guess when I was younger the adventure out weighted the negatives. These days I only go for short trips, such as this one for 5 weeks. Q. Why did you go to Antarctica and did you want to go? A. Dear Meg, This is my tenth trip to Antarctica since 1995, and I�ve spent almost 4 years here on these trips. I guess if I didn�t want to go I would be very unhappy. But I�m not. So I must want to go. I first went because I was finishing university and needed a job. I heard a lot about spending a year in Antarctica and it sounded exciting and extremely interesting, so I applied. I got very lucky as I was offered a job my first try, and it can be difficult to get jobs in Antarctica. It was exciting and interesting, and a lot of other things too. A lot of people come down for these same reasons, but because of all the other things, that are difficult to imagine, they don�t like it and don�t come back. I do well in Antarctica, and have thus kept coming back. Q. How do plants grow on the ice when ice is solid. A. Dear Alex, In Antarctica there are very few if any plants growing. At the South Pole it is so cold no living thing occurs naturally. On the coast were I first worked there are mosses, lichens and algae on the rocks, dirt and ponds, especially where there are lots of nutrients such as around penguin colonies. According the to the Australian Antarctic Division web site there are 2 flowering plants that occur in the warmer northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Flora http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=2432 Near Casey there are algae that grow in, or on, the snow. This is a very specially adapted organism. But you are right about it needing liquid water. On the coast the temperatures get high enough that some snow melts, especially if it dark coloured such as when it has algae in it. Snow Algae http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=2437 But otherwise I do not know of any plants that grow in or on snow or ice. Have you heard of ones that do? Q. What research are you working on? A. Dear Liam, The field of research I work on at the South Pole is astronomy. It is unusual astronomy as most telescope use some form of light to see out into space. The project I work on, called IceCube, uses sub-atomic particles to see out into space. http://icecube.wisc.edu/ We are particularly interested in a very strange particle called a neutrino. Neutrinos are very unusual in that they interact with matter very poorly. We look for neutrinos that pass right through the earth! By looking at the universe with neutrinos we hope to be able to understand better very large galaxies, super novas, and a very strange thing called dark matter, which we know exists, but we don�t know what it is. Q. What do you normally eat in Antarctica? A. Dear Jack, Here is the menu from this week Day Lunch Dinner Monday Deli Day Meatloaf Tuesday BBQ Beef Pork Loin Wednesday Mexican Chicken Salmon Thursday Grilled Ruebens Spaghetti and Meatballs Friday Thai Day NY Strip Steak Saturday Chicken Fried Steak Pasta Bar Sunday Brunch Roast Ham This isn�t the full menu. Each meal has vegetarian and meat dish with sides. There is a desert, maybe apple pie, and we get ice cream every day. Brunch on Sundays will be eggs to order, maybe even omelets. In general the big difference to what you eat is there are few fresh ingredients. Everything is either frozen or dried. During the summer, such as now, once in awhile (maybe once a month) some fresh food will come in - some fruit and salad. By the time it gets here it is usually not quite fresh. There is also a hydroponics unit here, which when running (it just went through maintenance) produces enough freshies for salad a couple times a week, maybe more. The milk is always made from powder, and while there is usually fresh eggs in summer for, in winter and for things like scramble there is frozen egg. In general the food is very good here. Q. Why don't polar bears and walruses live in Antarctica? A. Dear Beau, Maybe Polar Bears and Walruses could live in Antarctica however they have evolved to fit into the northern polar ecosystem. Even if they could live in Antarctica they would have travel a long way south, across the hot equator to reach Antarctica. I don�t think they could do that. If they did reach Antarctica they might still not survive. While it is cold at both the South and North Poles, the environments are very different. The North Pole is floating sea ice while Antarctica is solid ice on land. The North Pole is warmer because the relatively warm sea water warms up the atmosphere. While at the South Pole the slope of the polar ice dome towards the coast causes extremely strong winds. They are very different places. Q. What scientific research or experiments are you conducting in Antarctica? A. Dear Ben and Tom, The field of research I work on at the South Pole is astronomy. It is unusual astronomy as most telescope use some form of light to see out into space. The project I work on, called IceCube, uses sub-atomic particles to see out into space. http://icecube.wisc.edu/ We are particularly interested in a very strange particle called a neutrino. Neutrinos are very unusual in that they interact with matter very poorly. We look for neutrinos that pass right through the earth! By looking at the universe with neutrinos we hope to be able to understand better very large galaxies, super novas, and a very strange thing called dark matter, which we know exists, but we don�t know what it is. Q. Are you enjoying your time in Antarctica? If so, what has been the highlight of your trip? A. Dear Caitlin, This is my tenth trip to Antarctica and it tends to be routine for me now. I work a lot which is hard to call a highlight. I also only got here less than a week ago, and the highlight so far was playing cribbage with some close friends that I�ve been playing cribbage with in Antarctica for 7 years. Last years there were many highlight. I saw an airdrop of cargo from a C-17 cargo jet. Four helicopters were at the South Pole at the same time! And a team of British Marines skied in to Pole and spent some time here before skiing back to the coast! Last year had some exciting things going on, even with my work. Q. Have you studied a lot of different wildlife? A. Dear Justine, The field of science I work on at the South Pole is astronomy. It is unusual astronomy as most telescope use some form of light to see out into space. The project I work on, called IceCube, uses sub-atomic particles to see out into space. When I first worked in Antarctica at the Australian Casey Station I used to help scientist with their work on wildlife. I helped the people who study Adelie penguins, and other Antarctica birds such as Skuas, Snow Petrels, Giant Petrels, and Antarctic Fulmars. I also helped some scientists by taking them out in small boats so they could study Krill. Krill are tiny crustacean that are at the bottom of the food chain. Q. If snow and ice is made from water why do they appear to be white and why is ice sometimes blue A. Dear Zack, Ice is slightly blue because of the way water interacts with light as it passes through it. The light from the sun is white, and when it shines through some very clear (no bubbles) ice, the ice absorbs some of the red light, making the remaining light look blue (take red away from white light and you get blue). But if the ice has bubbles in it, and snow is ice with lots of air holes in it, then the surfaces of the air holes scatter the light that shines on it in all directions. Since sun light is white, if something scatters and reflects that sun light it will look white also. Clouds are white for the same reason. Dear Elizabeth, Q. Why did you decide to go to Antarctica? When I was finishing university I needed to find a job. I had heard a lot about wintering in Antarctica. It sounded very exciting, so I applied and got the job. The work was also very interesting and closely related to work I did for my PhD. Q. Have you been in a blizzard yet? Blizzards are caused by dense cold air rushing down under the force of gravity along the coast of Antarctica. Because South Pole is high on the flat plateau there is no slope for the air to rush down and thus it isn�t very windy here. Though the wind here is usually katabatic driven (cold air going down a slope). At Casey Station were I first worked it�s another story. They have first class blizzards there! Casey is right at the bottom of a steep slope down from the plateau. I experienced many blizzards there. The strongest was when the wind speed averaged over 100 knots (185km/h) for 2 hours! Q. Have been to Antarctica before this time? Yes this is my 9th trip to the South Pole, and 10th to Antarctica. My first job was as a Winter Over scientist for the Australian station called Casey. Q. Have you ever explored a crevasse or known of anyone who has fallen down one. A. Dear Mitch, Yes, I�ve been in a few crevasses, mostly on purpose. When I worked at Casey Station everyone was trained in how to rope up with a partner and travel in crevassed areas safely. I was also on the Search and Rescue team. We would deliberately go find crevasses and practice rescuing people from them, or rescuing yourself if you fall in and your partner catches your fall. On Sundays we would also take people over to the areas we had been training in and lower them into crevasses so they could have a look. The light filtering through ice and snow produces a very intense blue colour. It can be very beautiful. Luckily I do not have any friends who have fallen into a crevasse and hurt themselves.

Open Positions for the 2008 Winter

2007-11-17T16:19:00-05:00

Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC) has positions open for the 2008 winter at South Pole and McMurdo. If you're interested you can apply on line at www.rayjobs.com

You might want to check out my Antarctic Employment page before applying to spend a winter in Antarctica

McMurdo

FEMC

BUILDING INSPECTOR	TSC108342
ELECTRICIAN	TSC108201
FEMC MANAGER	TBD
MAINTENANCE SPECIALIST	TSC108240
MECHANIC, BOILER	TSC108087
MECHANIC, POWER PLANT	TSC108299
MECHANIC, UTILITY	TSC108272
PLUMBER	TSC108255
POWER PLANT TECHNICIAN	TSC110253
WORK ORDER SCHEDULER	TSC108604

MEDICAL

PHYSICIAN	TSC108040
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT	TSC108063

COMPUTER TECHNICIAN, SR

TSC108108

LOGISTICS

MATERIALSPERSON	TSC108204
MATERIALSPERSON, SR	TSC109170

OPERATIONS

BLASTER, LD	TSC108181
FIRE CAPTAIN	TSC108339
FIREFIGHTER	TSC108189
FIREFIGHTER, LT	TSC108674
HAZ WASTE TECHNICIAN	TSC108647
MACHINIST	TSC108850
MECH, PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE	TSC108316
MECHANIC, HEAVY EQUIPMENT	TSC108233
MECHANIC, LIGHT VEHICLE	TSC108283
OPERATOR, EQUIPMENT	TSC108305
OPERATOR, CRANE	TSC108285
OPERATOR, HEAVY EQUIPMENT	TSC108302
SUPERVISOR, HAZ WASTE	TBD
SUPERVISOR, STATION OPERATIONS	TSC110093
WORK ORDER SCHEDULER	TSC108604

SCIENCE SUPPORT

COORDINATOR, FIELD	TSC110257
SUPERVISOR, FIELD CENTER , ASST	TSC110220
SUPERVISOR, LAB OPS, ASST	TSC108154

South Pole

FEMC

CARPENTER	TSC108090
CARPENTER APPRENTICE	TSC108098
ELECTRICIAN FOREMAN	TSC108198
FIRE SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN	TSC108115
MAINTENANCE SPECIALIST	TSC108240
MATERIAL CONTROL SPECIALIST	TSC109206
MATERIALSPERSON	TSC108204
PIPEFITTER	TSC108133
PLUMBER	TSC108255
PLUMBER FOREMAN	TSC108253
PROJECT ENGINEER	TSC109795
SUPERVISOR, FEMC	TBD

HEALTH & SAFETY

SAFETY ENGINEER

TSC109139

MEDICAL

PHYSICIAN

TSC108040

Cribbage and Showers

2007-11-16T15:37:37-05:00

The past 2 days have been all about work. Maybe not the work you would expect of a highly trained IT person. There was also some life beyond work with a couple of exciting high points. Since my job is doing IT on an exciting science project, you might think I�d be doing some exciting work. I spent most of the time continuing to look for things, and once I found them, moving them around. They always seemed to be heavy things, and they always seemed to need to go up stairs. But the good news is that I�ve located and positioned most of what I need to get my work done for the next week or so. I had two high points in the week yesterday. First was I had a shower. The rule is 2 2 minute showers a week. You�re also allowed 1 load of washing a week. With my long hair to wash my showers might stretch out to 3 minutes of running water, but I figure I only do washing every 2 weeks. At least everyone smells down here. So you have to really have to over do it to get noticed in this regard. The other was cribbage on Thursday night. I�ve been playing cribbage with the same group of friends at Pole for 7 years now. This is the main stay of my social network. Luckily I�m fairly self reliant as this year we have no convenient venue for cards, and I�ll be lucky to hang out with the blokes a couple of times a week. We�ve traditionally played in the bar. But a few years ago the bar in The Dome was demolished. Since then we�ve been playing in temporary bars until this year there was no such. There is a lounge in summer camp, but it is far from convenient. But this is what we�ll use to keep the Thursday night game going.