As you can see, it's not a big place. There is a generator shack and work shop to the right, a white bunkhouse, another red one to the left and a main building between the two. There are also about six 25,000 gallon fuel tanks and a small pump house.
The whole place is operated by a staff of three. The manager is responsible for doing just about everything and anything and goes by the name, "Crunch". I haven't determined why. A lot of people go by names other than the ones on their passports. The carp shop has Woody, Shaggy, Pull Start, Corndog, Sticky, Dog, Sparky, G, Mombok, Captain Ed and Mandy who isn't named Mandy.
Anyway, Marble also has an excellent cook named Karen who doesn't cook leftovers, but redesigns food to create great meals. The main part of fueling is done by members of the fuel shop who rotate in and out of the station on a two week basis. It's a privilege to get out there. I now understand why.
I was on a three-man crew sent to renovate the station water system. The plumber had the majority of the work. I just had to rewire a couple pumps, the water heater and a few other things. I was usually done by dinner and would take a walk afterwards.
This is a shot I took on the way in on the helicopter. It's the face of Wilson Piedmont Glacier behind the station, maybe a mile from the shore of McMurdo Sound. Marble Point station is about half way between the shore and the glacier. And yes, those are lakes formed from snow melt and water from the glacier. They are open only a short period each year.
Miro is standing some distance from the glacier. I would estimate the height at about 60-70 feet at this point. The face stretches several miles.
Another evening I walked toward shore. This was just one of numerous icebergs frozen in the sea ice. What was more surprising to me was the moss in the foreground. There was algae that looked like leafy mud in the lakes, but this is something actually green. This place never ceases to amaze me.
This big squared-off berg is in Bay of Sails just a mile or so up the coast from Marble Point. There's a photo of it that I was able to use to measure to scale. That's about one half mile on the shadowed side. Karen was the cook at Marble last year. She said this particular berg floated in and got stuck - on the bottom? - when the sea ice melted out. It's been a couple weeks since I took this photo and there's a lot more open water everywhere so this berg may be floating again.
About a week after my Marble Point trip, I was part of a crew sent to the Lake Fryxell camp in the Dry Valleys.
This is near the end of Taylor Valley going toward McMurdo Sound which would be to the left. It's the east end of Lake Fryxell. The katabatic winds that come roaring down off the Polar Plateau at speeds of up to 140 mph sweep virtually all the snow out of Taylor and other Dry Valleys. The use of 'Dry' refers to the lack of snow, since there are a series of these lakes down through the 'Dry' Valleys.
Lake Fryxell is about 3 miles long. This is the research camp at the western end. At the far left is the generator shack. The other four are labs, chemical, electronic, etc. The Jamesway on the right is the galley. The place is somewhat spartan, with an outhouse and designated tent sites out back but then again, we were in contact both by radio and satellite phone. Not bad, especially when the weather was sunny and the winds calm.
This time, our job was to build a foundation for a new generator shack up the hill behind the current camp. Eventually the whole camp will be up there.
The lakes in the valleys are rising. At another camp, the foundation of a lab that was taken down earlier this season is already under water. They - 'they' being scientists - think the snow and ice on the surface of the lakes and glaciers is melting because of sand being blown onto them. The sand causes the surface to warm up more and sooner each year. As far as I know, the terms global warming and climate change haven't been mentioned. The only sure thing is, the water levels in the lakes are coming up noticeably.
This is the other end of Lake Fryxell, just out in front of the camp. Pretty nice scenery. On the right is the end of the Canadian Glacier. Just like at Marble, once our work was done, we were free to take a hike.
At this point, the Canadian Glacier is at least 100 feet high.
It extends far into the mountains. We were careful getting close. Rocks and boulders are stuck in the sides, just waiting to fall.
Another evening I hiked a couple miles to the east to the Commonwealth Glacier near the east end of Lake Fryxell. On the left side toward the front you can see a little hill jutting into the side of the glacier. It took me an hour to walk to that point.
This is looking toward the front of the Commonwealth and down into the valley. I'd estimate the height at about 100 feet again. The sides of Commonwealth were much more vertical. It looks evident that a lot of ice is shearing off and piling up along the bottom. I kept my distance from this one.
When we arrived on Friday morning, quite a bit of the lake was thawed, creating what's referred to as 'the moat'. A boat is kept on the land side, with a cable running to a bracket on the ice, to enable people to cross to the ice for research.
By the time we left on Tuesday evening, there was less than a foot of open water. The rough ice is caused by wind-driven water washed up on existing ice which then freezes as ripples. I would guess the lake is frozen over for another year. No matter, after we completed the new generator shack floor, we closed the camp, covering the doors and windows, emptying and shutting things off and lashing everything down. None will spend time there until next year.
This season is fast coming to a close. I'm scheduled to fly out on Feb. 13, a week from tomorrow as I write this. In other words, this will probably be the last blog, at least for this trip. I hope you enjoyed them.
For those of you in and around Johnstown, I'll see you in a few weeks. And for the rest of you, as always, I'll see ya whenever.
