Spring time in Antarctica

     The other day the temperature was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit.  I'm not sure what the wind speed was, but the wind chill was -40. 
     Ahhhhh - spring time in Antarctica, when the beakers, scientists that is, migrate to the harshest continent.

Highest, driest, coldest, windiest, harshest continent.

And in preparation for all those inquisitive beakers, a whole bunch of us also migrate south for another season of big red parkas, field camps, flights lines and . . . . fun? Or at least funds.

 

This was one of the last sunsets for months to come. Now it's daylight 24 hours a day, even though the sun is behind the mountains for a few hours each night.



     I arrived down here at Mctown, aka McMurdo Station, on Oct. 2.  It was the second flight of 'main body', those of us coming for the summer.  That's not to be confused with the smaller bunch, a couple hundred, that came in late August for win-fly.  That's some sort of abbreviation for winter-fly-in or something.  This is my sixth trip, eighth season, over 40 months total and I still haven't learned the language and acronyms.

     A couple hundred may not sound like a 'smaller bunch', but McTown's population went from about 150 over the winter, before winfly, to a few more than 1,000 about a week ago.  That's more than is usually here until around late January when the ship is in port to be off-loaded (not unloaded, more McTown-talk). A whole bunch of off-loader-type people are brought in for a week or two for that chore.

 

 

These the C-130 Hercules with skis do the heavy lifting to South Pole and the field camps.  The New York Air National Guard operates four of them for the U.S. Antarctic Program. 

McTown is the largest station and gateway for much of the continent.  The C-130 on the right belongs to the New Zealand military.                          

                                  


     People were coming from Cheech (Christchurch, New Zealand) but with few exceptions, no one was leaving McTown.  Some were folks headed to South Pole for the season.  Some were Australians transitting through on the way to Casey station somewhere out on the coast. Many here in town were waiting to head out to set up field camps in preparation for the beakers.  Beakers that were that were already arriving. 

     Weather was definitely a problem, but not the only one.  For a while, there were only two C-130's on station.  There has to be one C-130 available at all times in case of an emergency, so two flights were the most that generally could be achieved per day, one in the morning and one later in the afternoon or evening.  In addition, some mechanical failures have caused delays. 

 

This is a Basler, operated by Kenn Borek Air, a Canadian contractor. It's the second largest plane supporting the field camps. Rumor has it that I'll get to ride one to PIG field camp. 

     The Baslers got some groups out and back in the last couple weeks, but not a lot.  Weather was the issue in most cases for those delays.

This is also Kenn Borek Air, a Twin Otter.  I think these can operate down to -100F. As far as I know, they are the smallest airplanes operating down here.  After that, it's helicopters.


     That's about it for right now.  A lot of us are waiting to go.  Not that we're sitting around, waiting.  There are always pumps breaking or heat trace to work on, vehicle heater lines that need repair, new and improved ideas and always, always, stuff for the beakers.

     After all, if it weren't for science, we wouldn't be here.

     See ya next time.