Lookin' out my backdoor: Out in the wild, wild WAIS

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Out in the wild, wild WAIS

WAIS'd days and WAIS'd nights . . . WAIS'd away . . . and many, many more word-plays.
This field camp supports a project coring ice of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). January 2012, they completed the project, going over 3,400 meters deep. Over two miles. It's estimated that the cores reach back 68,000 years, giving researchers a record of weather and climate. That's the principle goal of the project. This year they went back and replicated some cores that were of special interest.

The camp started the summer season of 2005-06. Since then, it's been staffed and operating from whenever they can put in, usually sometime in November, until late January or early February. The camp population was in the 40's and 50's but occasionally swelled even more. Many people came through on other science projects or on their way to somewhere else. I passed through on my way to and from PIG. Lots folks have been WAIS'd.

This is just the cargo lines and main portion of camp. The tent camp is back behind the farthest structure to the left and the drilling arch, generators and associated buildings are several hundred yards directly off to the left.

This might be called the work side of town. The first tent on the far left is for the core drilling researchers. The next is for the various other projects such as the weather and seismic crews that put out stations around the continent. Beyond that is a hard-sided module, the mechanics' shop. It and all other mods are mounted on skis. They are towed to a mound of snow, a berm, for storage over the winter. After that there are a couple of wooden storage sheds.
You can see a Twin Otter parked beyond. There were two based at WAIS when I was there. As I said, WAIS is a very busy place.

The other side of town starts at the long recreation tent with a wash mod on back. Inside the tent was an exercise bike, couches, computer stations and a large scale flat screen for movies. The wash mod had a snow melter, water heater, washer, dryer, three sinks and two showers. Hot and cold running water!
Beyond that is the medical tent, staffed by a physician's assistant. The next two tents were berthing for the flight crews. At the end is a Jamesway for transient berthing.

And in the center of town, the center of many activities, the Galley. Who knows how the flamingos got there or when.

There was a staff of three cooks and a helper. I always say, the farther you are from McMurdo, the better the food is. We were VERY far away. There was always something out, cookies, cake, pie, for those coffee breaks or late night snacks.

Besides meals, meetings and many games of cribbage and Scrabble, the galley was also used for social and educational functions. For instance, take the second night I was in town. The fellow on the left, Patrick Cassidy, a professor of something I can't remember, gave a lecture on the history and the making of scotch, complete with video. After about the first 45 minutes or so the lecture ended and bottles of scotch went around for tasting. Don't think was just an excuse for drinking. All the scotch was donated but all participants tossed in $10 each. Over $300 was raised for a charity in Nepal. I don't remember what for, but a charity. I don't remember how long this educational function went on, I don't remember if I was there at the end. I'm just glad it was a Saturday night.

There really were several educational lectures. One of the weather researchers gave a lecture on cloud formations. The people going out in the Twin Otters to put weather and seismic stations in remote areas had a full time, professional mountain climber to assist them. That fellow, Mike Roberts, gave a two-night presentation with slides and maps of 'The Seven Summits'. Mike has climbed the highest peaks on all seven continents including Everest in Asia, Denali in North America and Kilimanjaro in Africa. You meet all kinds of interesting and talented people down here.

Speaking of talented people, the second Saturday I was in town, there was an open-mike, coffee house in the rec tent. There were several very good readings of original work, some live music and even a couple limericks that I won't repeat here. The pilot that recited them swore her old Irish grandmother taught them to her.

It wasn't all fun and games. This is one of the crews headed out for a shift in the arch. I believe they worked two shifts a day, six days a week.

With all that hard work, the crews finished their work ahead of schedule. The final Saturday most of us were in town, we had a party to celebrate. One of the researchers brought a pinata along for just such an occasion. It was full of liquor miniatures. Seems to be a trend here.

While the folks were out at the arch working and other researchers were out putting in weather and seismic stations and whatever, there was a camp staff keeping things going. Besides the cooks, there were two mechanics, two equipment operators, two weather observers, a fuels person, a person responsible for communications and IT, one camp coordinator, one camp manager and an electrician.
When this project was funded, it was decided that there would be an electrician at camp at all times. I'm not sure why. There is a lot of equipment in the arch, but those folks pretty much took care of things. Most of my time was spent helping the other people in camp, shoveling snow, loading cargo, shoveling snow, loading the snow melters, shoveling snow. I looked for electrical work to do.

Sometimes I looked for work. Sometimes I didn't.

     At the end of my three weeks, it was time for the camp to close. I started the process and the same electrician that put up camp came out to finish the take-out, as they call it.
     Once again, I had a ball. I've even asked to go out next year for another three week shift. Yeah, that's right, I'll be back here again next year.
     But right now it's time to go. The winter crew has been showing up for a few weeks. The fuel ship has been here and gone, the cargo ship has been unloaded and is being reloaded with waste. Most of the scientists and researchers are gone. The ski-equipped C-130 planes are all back in New Zealand, getting ready to head north.
     I'm scheduled to fly out Feb. 24 weather permitting. I'm going to spend a few days in Christchurch getting my physical completed as much as possible for next season. The company arranges it so I won't have to pay anything. After that I'm headed back to Bali for a few days of diving on Nusa Lembongan. Then it's over to another Indonesian island called Lombok. I'm told it's one of the most relaxing places in the world.  I intend to find out.
     In mid-March I'll be back in Pennsylvania.
     See you whenever.

Daily news and announcements

Sometimes temperatures were listed. The season high of 23 above zero was reached while I was in camp. Since our internet connection was so slow, other important information such as the latest NFL results were posted. Educational improvement was provided by a daily word picked at random from a collection submitted by the camp population. The individual who picked the word had to use it in a sentence. This day's word was fugly. Trust me, that was an easy and relatively . . . innocent one.

Sleeping quarters

Unlike some of the other field camps, these Artic Oven tents were provided to each of us. They are quite a step up from the backpacking tents. At about 6 or 7 feet square and 5 feet high in the center, they are almost roomy. Add a folding cot and a wool blanket for a rug. I saw a couple small shelving units in one and another flamingo outside the door. One fellow had a portable solar panel charging unit hung on the side of his. I didn't see a TV antennae, however. You have to take into consideration, this was home for almost three months for some of these folks. Pretty plush for a deep field camp in Antarctica - even if the temperature was sometimes zero or lower when we were climbing into our sleeping bags.

The cores are kept in storage until there are enough to fill a cargo pallet like the one at the end of the room. The pallet is loaded on a C-130 as close to take-off as possible. The plane is actually cooled as low as possible for the flight. There is a cooler to store cores at McMurdo. From there they are loaded in a refrigerator van and onto the cargo ship. A refrigeration tech goes with them on the trip to California where they will be shipped by truck to the Denver Federal Center. The tech told me that in the past they had used two trucks, just in case one broke down. This trip there will be a truck with two separate refrigeration units in case one fails. There are over 40 projects examining the ice. Some of it is kept in cold storage in Denver as an archive.

McTown and the off-load

Don't ask me to translate McMurdoese - instead of unloading the ship, it's an off load. Instead of setting up and tearing down a camp, it's put in and take-out. Whatever, the ship is at the pier. It's been unloaded and they are slowly getting it reloaded with waste, wornout vehicles, helicopters for the out-going contractor, and - the ice cores. With a little luck, a lot more hard work and good weather, they should be in Denver within a month or so. I had a day off and it was (obviously) beautiful. I hadn't hiked up Ob Hill in a few seasons, so I climbed up and took this picture. After I got down, I remembered why I don't do that more often. Gettin' older ain't for sissies.

"How long does it take?"

From time to time, people have asked me how long it takes to get here. This time I kept track. As it so happens, I think this was the fewest flights I've ever had. For one thing, a stop for a few days of orientation in Denver has been eliminated - unfortunately. Also, in the past when we flew to Sydney, we went to Auckland, NZ and then to Christchurch. And I actually flew from Johnstown instead of Pittsburgh but that didn't eliminate a flight, just cut down on travel time. Here's the breakdown -

I left about 9:30 AM, Sept. 28
Johnstown to Dulles, about 1 hour.
Dulles to Los Angeles, about 5 hours.
Los Angeles to Sydney, about 14 hours.
Sydney to Christchurch, about 5 hours.
Christchurch to McMurdo, about 5 hours.

Including layovers, 31 hours to Sydney, 38 to Christchurch.

We arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon. The next day we received our extreme cold weather gear and sat through some orientation lectures. the next morning we took off for McMurdo about 9AM.

The total from Johnstown to McMurdo was about 80 hours.

A Solid Foundation

These are the footer pads, posts and beams that the floor sections were put on. The pads are 36" squares of 2X6's enclosed in 3/4" plywood. It was all two of us wanted to move them. The posts are sections of 12x12. The beams are 4X8's. It was all bolted together with 1/4" steel angle brackets and 1x2" x 6" lag bolts driven in with impact guns. The floor sections were 2x6's on 12" centers with 3/4" plywood top and bottom. All this for a 12' by 16' shack to house a generator that probably doesn't weight more than 1,000 lbs. Now that's some heavy duty construction.

Seal

On the way back from Canadian, we came across the desicated remains of a sizeable seal. It was the third we found between camp and the Canadian Glacier. There was at the edge of Lake Fryxell and another very close to the side of the glacier. This is miles and miles from McMurdo Sound. No one seems to have an explanation although there is a rumor that when the Navy was running this show, the helo crews might have been having some fun with the scientists by planting these. they went to a lot of trouble if that's the case. And if not, again, why are these seals up here?