My seventh continent!

23 April 2015

Written at approximately age 16:

"Life goals: Learn to drive a manual transmission, become fluent in a foreign language, visit all 7 continents"

Who knew I'd need to start a new list so early in life? The trip to Morocco represents my seventh continent and a big life goal checked off my list.

Look at my new passport stamp!!!

My amazing friends created a certificate for me:  a Doctorate from the University of the World. My committee consisted of one signature per continent from someone who was on the trip with me. Nico managed to do this all without raising any suspicion :)  I love my 'honorary doctorate of exploration' and I can't wait to frame it! (Although I don't even have the real PhD framed).

Signatures from my 'committee': Leanne Walker/Shultz (Australia, Asia), Beth Fernandez (Africa), Bram Van der Geest (North America), Caroline Wilson (Europe), Andy Hein (Antarctica), and JJ Thorne (South America), 

There was a fancy 'commencement' ceremony held on the rooftop terrace of the riad our first evening in town. 

Another celebration of 7 Continents in the desert.
These are all the passport stamps - 1 from each continent!

But this wasn't the only milestone celebrated on this trip:

Nico: 1 year at Amazon!

We each have our own milestones, but we've also been together for 10 years!
Can't think of anyone else I'd rather share my last continent with :)

 I guess it's time to start thinking about adding some new life goals to my list...

Planes in Antarctica: Looking at the bottom of the world from above

2 March 2014

Flying in Antarctica is a unique experience. Forget everything you know about airport security, runways, and flying coach. The ride in the Dash from Punta Arenas to Rothera (with a pit stop in the Falkland Islands to pick up some important gear) felt similar to a commercial plane. However, there were a few differences: the meals and drinks were self-service (nicer than having to wait for flight attendants to deliver meals!) and the luggage was loaded in the front part of the plane.

Dash on the way from South America to Rothera. Note hanging monkey on the right side of the plane :)

View of the Twin Otters and the Dash in the hangar at Rothera.

The first view of Antarctic mountains out the plane window caused a stir of excitement – all of the newbies hopped up and ran to windows while the old-timers simply smiled at us (but they were quite indulgent – they remember what it was like!). To be fair, everyone there seems to realize how lucky they are to be in such an amazing place.

The Base Commander met us at the plane and welcomed us to Rothera. I had trouble not smiling for the first few hours, despite the busy schedule of briefings, getting settled, and meals.  

Welcome to Antarctica! All smiles :)

Flying on the Twin Otter, the plane they used to fly us out in the field, was yet another completely different experience. The Twin Otters have skis and wheels, so they can land on paved runways, blue ice, or snow in the field. We had some unique problems with runway obstruction – seals and penguins that needed to move before we could start the plane and takeoff! There were regular seats, but they were small and cramped, even for my short legs, so it was usually much nicer to find other sleeping arrangements on top of the gear. 

On our way to the field! 

A VERY large runway obstruction :)

John taking advantage of the relatively small and comfy pile of gear on our way out to the field.

With the Twin Otters, you’re not just a passenger – we get to help load/unload the plane and ride as copilots! Watching six guys maneuver a skidoo onto or off of a small plane is quite impressive.

Hauling our stuff (using skidoos and sledges) to get ready for the plane.

Loading the plane at Sky-Blu. Time for a workout for us while the pilots play tetris with the gear!

The base was essentially a working airport. We could use the runway or apron (the area in front of the hangar) for activities like running or playing football (soccer), as long as the siren wasn’t going and we checked with the tower first. The other “airports” we used were mostly just for refueling/reloading. We flew from Rothera to Fossil Bluff (first ski landing!) and then on to Sky-Blu (blue-ice runway).

Refueling at Fossil Bluff - note the skis :)

Plane landing at Sky-Blu.

Melon hut at Sky-Blu. Our first stop on our way back to "civilization" from the field. 

Flying was smoother than I ever thought – hardly any motion sickness, no turbulence, and smoother landings than any of my recent commercial flights, even on snow J The pilots are some of the best in the world. Although the forecasters do their best to keep the pilots out of bad weather, they have to be ready to deal with unpredictable weather in remote locations. We had some amazing flying days with beautiful views down below. It's a pretty amazing experience that we were lucky enough to have as part of our field work.

I was trying to get a photo of the iceberg as we flew by, but it was too close for a good photo! Amazing experience flying at iceberg level, watching seals jump off icebergs below.

Clouds and their shadows on the ice and mountains.

Beautiful blue meltwater near Fossil Bluff. 

It's Time to Leave Already?

5 February 2014
Although we've been working hard to dry, organize, and pack up our science kit so it can be transported home on the ship, we have been taking advantage of the area to have fun. Others have been out skiing or snowboarding. If the weather improves, there will probably be the opportunity for a bit more hiking and climbing on a nearby ridge. We took a short field trip to a crevasse on the hill above base. This crevasse is more like a show cave in slow-moving ice. It changes a bit each year, but they keep opening it up and setting up ropes so people can see it each year, so it's pretty stable and relatively safe. We geared up with some waterproof outer wear, mountaineering boots and crampons (little, sharp pieces of metal attached to your boot so you can walk on ice), harness and ropes so we could get into the crevasse and attach ourselves to the ropes inside, and helmets to protect us from falling icicles and other miscellaneous bonks on the head.

It was absolutely stunning inside the cave! The blue color inside made it feel even more like a dream. It felt very much like a cave as we were lowered down a steep incline through a relatively small opening at the top. Inside, it had various ice formations inside with full-length icicles that reached from floor to ceiling, rows of skinny icicles, and areas where new crystals were growing in beautiful shapes on the outside of icicles. It is impossible to capture in photos, but I tried my best!

We're out of time, but we've all got more plans of things we'd like to do before we leave. I guess those will have to wait until next trip... unless our flight gets delayed. Nothing is final here until it happens and plans are only guaranteed to change. Being ready to take advantage of opportunities as they arise is the best way to enjoy life here. Although it also provides the possibility of creating your own opportunity if there's something you really want to do - everyone is flexible and there are always people willing to try new things.

Saying goodbye to Rothera will be hard. I think I will miss the little things the most. We were on gash (cleaning duty in the communal areas like bathrooms and kitchen) and washing dishes while we watched icebergs move past the window. I walked 10 minutes down the point and took a panoramic picture that contained at least 15 seals (three different kinds!) and 5 penguins with a background of rocky outcrops, mountains, and ice. Although it's started getting darker at night here, I've enjoyed ~20 hours of sun each day (although the temperature is also dropping on base, so not quite tanning weather!). Not to mention the daily penguin hazard: almost tripping over penguins that like to hang out near the living areas :) We head out tomorrow - backto the 'real' world, ready or not!

Back on Base (Rothera)

28 January 2014
We didn't end up getting out on Jan 26 after all. We spent all morning packing up as much of camp as possible without packing up our personal things that we use each night and then the weather turned and the first plane didn't end up coming at all. We had just over 10,000 pounds of gear and people, which works out to 5 Twin Otter plane loads that needed to come out of the field. The logistics for all of this are amazingly complex, but well managed.

Black and white photo of some of the clouds forming over Marble Hills

When we woke up on Jan 27, we were told that the first plane would be there in a little under 2 hours - birthday present for me! It's very cool to see the plane land on skis on the snow runway. These pilots are some of the best in the world and it is so amazing to see them practice their trade. We also get to be copilots for some of the legs of the trip, which means we get to sit up front and help the pilot. How many people get to fly an airplane in Antarctica?

Leaving the field was more emotional than I expected and I was sad to leave, but there are some advantages to being back in civilization so I tried to focus on the positive things (like water that comes out of a faucet instead of having to melt it myself!). All the scientists (sometimes affectionately referred to as 'Beakers' by the other people on base) were uplifted in the first plane and we flew back to Sky-Blu (~3 hours). We helped unload the plane and then were given a wonderful lunch of bacon sandwiches and tea. Another two planes came in with more gear later, but other than that we had a bit of free time to chat with the people who were working at Sky-Blu or enjoy the warm, sunny day. I took the opportunity to take some fun photos with my new camera in weather so warm (comparatively speaking) that I was almost too hot in my field clothes! It was still -8 degrees Celsius, but with sun and no wind it felt very warm.

We spent the night at Sky-Blu in a tent (they are used to visiting guests and have room for 8 people extra to spend the night). We got up in the morning and got on a Twin Otter headed back to Rothera via Fossil Bluff around midday. We got back on base early enough to have a quick shower before tea (the big meal at the end of the day, also referred to as dinner or supper in the States). We were told that we wouldn't be allowed in the dining room until after the shower, so it's a good thing we arrived at a reasonable hour!

View out one of the windows on the Twin Otter as we headed home from Fossil Bluff - very lucky to fly on a mostly sunny day!

The shower was amazing and eating non-dehydrated food was good, but the field season was relatively short compared to others and we hadn't started having cravings yet. It's nice to have a bit of luxury - going into the bedroom using a door instead of a small tent hole, heated towel racks, flush toilet instead of a toilet tent, clean clothes, not re-hydrated vegetables, electricity at all hours of the day, and warm water that comes out of the tap. However, I also miss the field. Everyday life sometimes feels more difficult in the field because I had to think about so many new things every day - just staying warm was hard, let alone drinking and eating enough, not being sunburned, wearing the right clothing, and trying to stay focused and organized enough to also get the science completed.  But life in the field is also simpler in some ways: get up, stay alive, do science, prepare for tomorrow, sleep. Life in the real world takes a back seat to these everyday tasks. Other things seem distant, both physically and figuratively, and you are able to achieve complete focus on the immediate scientific tasks on hand.

It will take some time to get acclimatized to being back on base, but I hope to keep some of the focus that I found in the field and use it to keep working on my projects as I slowly return to 'real life'. A part of me will miss being in the field, but I'm looking forward to other aspects of the project and seeing where the journey takes us.

Celebration in the Field

26 January 2014
I was very happy to hear that I would be in the field for my birthday - who could ask for a better present? It happened to coincide with our uplift date (the date we start trying to leave the field), so we moved our celebration earlier to Jan 25, which conveniently coincides with a Scottish holiday called Burns Night. We also hadn't used all our special food (stuff that isn't dehydrated) and there's no point in hauling that back. Our special food included a bit of alcohol as well. All of these things combined to create an absolutely amazing night of celebration.

Out in the Patriot Hills playing with boulders and building up an appetite with Scott, one of our Field Assistants

We started the meal off with a creative chicken dish. Phil (a field assistant) used the relatively mundane ingredients in the cooking box to create a delicious tomato-based sauce for chicken breasts (mainly tomato paste, honey, chili powder, and lime juice). Then we had a baked Camembert with a glass of red wine. The meal continued with a fantastic walnut and date bread (they call it cake here, but it's essentially a dense bread in American terminology). At this point, they broke out improvised candles and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Andy even brought presents all the way from Edinburgh!

Presents from Andy and Kate with a card from the whole field party. Andy gave me a book: The locals' guide to Edinburgh. We used it in place of Robert Burns' poetry on Burns Night - I learned some new Scottish words. It will probably require its own post later. So much new vocabulary on this trip!

Typically, Burns Night is celebrated in Scotland by reading Robert Burns' poetry (typically 'Ode to Haggis' at the very least) and then stabbing the haggis. We didn't have haggis (Kate is from Scotland and might have tried, but she didn't think that would have made it through Chilean customs on the way down!). Instead, Kate shared her homemade tablet (this is a Scottish dish - kind of similar to fudge, but a bit harder and it can be difficult to perfect, but it was delicious). We opened a bottle of Scottish whisky (Balvenie, 12 years for anyone who's interested) and hung out talking until we headed to bed late. It feels like we saved a lot up for one evening, but we had an amazing time in the field, successfully completing all our scientific goals for the trip, and we definitely deserved a bit of a celebration! I can't think of a better end to the trip...trying to start uplift today so we'll just have to see how it goes!

First Update From the Field

17 Jan 2014

We have been having email problems, but hopefully they have been resolved so I will be able to keep you updated more regularly during the last half of our field season.

We arrived 10 days ago and had an interesting time setting up camp – digging out the depot from last year took hours of shoveling! Getting the tents set up, dinner cooked, and beds ready took the rest of the evening and it was almost 2am when we finally got to sleep. Luckily, the sun is up all day so we never have to worry about running out of daylight!

The science has been going well so far, but not every day has been beautiful weather. On our bad weather days, we have been spending our time catching up on sleep in our individual tents, taking care of any maintenance that needs to be done, organizing our research notes, and eating very well. It may be a bad day for field work, but all the fresh snow was perfect for making ice cream! Our field assistants are quite talented chefs, taking the regular dehydrated food provided in the man-food box (one point to the first person to explain why it’s called man-food) and turning it into something reasonably good! With only a few extra ingredients, the typical meals can turn into gourmet-feeling dishes (well, in comparison anyway). It’s amazing how good a homemade cheese sauce on pasta with a bit of spam can taste after eating only dehydrated food for a while.

On our good weather days, we all meet in the tent for the sched (scheduled check-in with base) at 10:15am.  Then we have another cup of tea (it is a UK field party, after all!), pack our bags, and get ready to go. We pack up the skidoos and the sledges (which haven’t changed much since the original sledges used in the early field expeditions!) and head out to the appropriate mountain range for the day. The work varies depending on the weather and the day. We have a list of our priorities and we’re working our way through. 

We’ve been in the field for at least part of 7 days, had three bad weather days, and used one day to initially get camp set up. It’s been productive so far, but we need another 4-5 good weather days to finish all that we had hoped to do. The chances are good that we will get most of that done, but we could be looking at leaving the field as early as Jan 25, so potentially only another week here - we will just have to make every day count! Of course, given weather and plane availability, it’s also possible we could be here for another 3 weeks, so we will just have to see how it goes…

From the Australian Museum Victoria, one of the original sledges used by
Ernest Shackleton while exploring Antarctica in 1907

I had planned to incorporate more science into this post, but I want to be able to send this off without slowing down the system too much, so more on the science and other details in future posts. Thanks for all the support while we’re down here!

Wildlife Galore!

7 Jan 2014
The internet is back up and running, which is good for now, but it may not last. Such is life on base (more about that after the field). For now, I’ll jump into my Antarctic Animal Checklist. There aren't too many larger animals that live on the continent, so my animal wishlist was not very long. I had heard that there would be seals and penguins that I would see whether I wanted to see them or not. They live on base and you sometimes have to consciously avoid them rather than seeking them out. However, there are 3 types of seals, 2 kinds of penguins, 3 types of birds, and several whales that are all seen here at Rothera. However, some of these species are weather/season dependent and the whales seem to be seasonal, but you also need a bit of luck. I went down here hoping for at least Weddell seals and Adelie penguins.

Rothera is situated on a little point of land and you can leave the main base and walk around the shore of the whole point in about an hour. It is mostly cobbles and gravel, but there are still some areas with snow as well. As we started off on a very calm evening, which was made all the rarer by the blue sky, we took tons of scenery photos of the ice in the bay and just offshore. The reflection of the icebergs on the ocean was stunning by itself (I have a feeling that I’m going to need to look up synonyms for stunning - majestic, beautiful, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, amazing? Yeah, it’s all of those things…).

It wasn't long before we came upon two penguins. Photo shoot ensued by all members of our group. We finally tore ourselves away and continued on. Two more penguins with an even more majestic background, so we took some more photos. Then came the seals who were nice enough to smile at us for the photos. I bought a nice camera with a good zoom lens, but apparently I didn't need that for seals and penguins since they weren't far away at all (you can't approach within 10m, but they aren't much further from the trail than that anyway!). On this same walk, we also saw some play-fighting elephant seals and managed to get a great view from the top of the hill on our way back to base.

Wow! What a day full of wildlife. Head for a drink in the bar to relax, decide to head to bed, then my roommate comes running into the bedroom: “I think I saw an orca fin! Look out the window and see if they’re still there!” I stared out the window for a few minutes as I put away some clothes and then I saw the fin. Bed is completely forgotten, exhaustion is put aside, and I ran out the door with the first shoes I could find, some gloves, and my good camera. There were at least two orcas and they were circling a chunk of ice in the bay. Perhaps there was a seal up there? The stayed in the area near base for about an hour and my fellow animal enthusiasts and photographers (about 30 of us) were loyal followers as they moved from the area near the runway over to the wharf on the other side. By the time we could no longer see them, it was 00:30 and DEFINITELY time for bed now.

But I went to bed completely amazed by the cooperative animals of the day. Despite the natural beauty on base, I’m looking forward to the field work in the mountains, although the only animals we are likely to see there are the unwashed and unshaven members of our field party.

Antarctica!

6 Jan 2014

After gluing my face to the airplane window for the last 2 hours of the flight (ever since we could see land), I stepped out of the plane and onto the runway at Rothera. We were greeted by the base commander who warmly welcomed us to the frozen continent. At +3 degrees C and sunny, the first impression was stunning. The elephant seals were grunting loudly and play fighting and the view of the mountains with ice glistening in the sun made it hard not to grin every time I looked around.

We had our safety briefing, dinner, then drinks at the bar. The JRC (the James Clark Ross) was leaving the next morning, so everyone on base was invited to the ship for drinks. A unique experience that we only got because the ship was running a few days behind schedule. We all collapsed into bed after midnight, although you couldn't tell because it still looked like early evening outside based on the light.

The next morning (Sunday) was a day off for most of the base – well-earned after two full days of “relief.” Relief happens whenever a ship comes in with a new shipment. All other work on base ceases while the supplies from the ship are ferried by gators (little utility trucks) back and forth from the ship to where they need to be stored. The equipment, food, and other supplies need to be unpacked and stored in various locations on base and the effort goes on around the clock until it’s complete.

While everyone else rested, Kate (the other new member of our field party) and I started our field training so that we could be prepared to leave at the earliest possible flying window. Field training included learning how to use the stoves and lamps (which look like they’re out of the 1800’s, but they are the most reliable and field-serviceable equipment for the cold!), how to drive the ski-doos, how to set up our emergency tents, how to use the comms equipment (radios, satellite phones, etc.), and it culminated in a night outside in the Rothera “backyard” play area. 

We had such a busy day that we weren't able to get up the hill for our overnight until after dinner – I'm ok eating pork roast, delicious potatoes, and roasted vegetables instead of freeze-dried meals for one more night! There will be plenty of freeze-dried food in the field. We took the ski-doos up the hill, set up the tent, had a cup of tea, and went to bed exhausted after ~12 hours of training. The light didn't seem to bother us at all…

Up at the tent site, in the complete stillness that can only be found in remote areas of the world, I heard a distant rumble. Then another small sound, like very distant thunder. Finally, a long, louder rumble. The field assistant (and our instructor for the training) told us that he had seen evidence of a recently calved off chunk of ice floating in pieces at the base of the cliff where we were staying. Mystery solved and my awe of this place increases :)  How magical! The entire experience is surreal and unlike anything else. But lots of training and no time to spare, so back to work in one of the most beautiful places in the world! 

Packing for the trip

1 Jan 2013
I hadn’t planned to stay up late enough to watch the fireworks, but between the Antarctic packing and finishing up papers that are already late, I accidentally got to watch them. Since our flat has a castle view, we were able to look out the window and enjoy the show – which is great because it was an amazing display (on par with some finales I’ve seen, but for the whole show!) and I was able to go back to work afterwards…then get up at 5 am because I can’t sleep in when I’m stressed out.

Packing for Antarctica is unlike any other packing I’ve had to do. I’ve travelled to Kyrgyzstan for remote camping-based field work before and we recently moved almost everything we own across an ocean, but this was different. The British Antarctic Survey provides much of the gear, but not everything. They are providing warm-weather gear for the cold, but I will need clothes for while I’m on base. They are providing the tent and food, but if I want to eat something other than biscuits (crackers) and tinned fish for lunch, I need to bring extra food. They are providing the internet connection, but I have to bring an appropriate device so I can use it.

I like to plan ahead for packing so I’ve taken over the large table in our kitchen for the last several weeks. Anything going to Antarctica (or potentially going to Antarctica) went on the table. Yesterday was my chance to sort through it all and make the final decisions. Some were easy: Ideally, I would like to have enough socks to change them fairly regularly (~10 pairs?), but I only own 7 good pairs of socks. Easy answer: bring them all and make do! Other things were harder: Do I need my own warm coat? Do I need any nice looking clothes? Am I going to want more than one fleece? I made some guesses, asked a whole bunch of questions of my colleague who did this last year, and I’ll find out how well I did on my packing when I get there. I have managed to leave 6kg of extra space in my bag for my sampling equipment that we will load up when we meet up with the other half of our party at the airport tomorrow. We only get 23 kg of total checked luggage and another 8 kg hand luggage.

Inevitably, there will be things that I brought that I don’t need and things that I wish I’d remembered. But I have my passport, traveling clothes, and three cameras and anything else beyond that will make things more comfortable but it isn’t necessary J

3 Jan 2014 (update)

Made it to Punta Arenas after 40 hours of travel. Headed to Antarctica tomorrow.

Here are some fun links to follow the weather at the base (I'll be there for 4-6 days) and you can check out the webcam. I will try to stand in its view at some piont :)

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/research_stations/rothera/

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk//images/webcams/rothera/?cam=2&date=2014-01-01%2009:00:54&position=1

http://www.accuweather.com/en/aq/rothera-station/2273730/weather-forecast/2273730

10 Things You Should Know About Antarctica

[Note: Due to my Antarctic outreach project, I will now have two types of questions. Feel free to answer them unless they are specifically labeled "student" questions. In those cases, I'm hoping one of the students in the groups that I'm working with will answer. There will be fun prizes to the student(s) or group with the most points when I return!]

I'm just starting to pack for Antarctica, so I've been doing some research about my destination. I'm already learning a lot!

Top 10 things you should know about Antarctica (and my trip)

1) Polar bears don't live in the Antarctic! On a similar note, polar bears and penguins can't meet because penguins don't live in the Arctic. Children's books that show polar bears talking to penguins are complete fiction ;)

Beautiful ice towers. Photo by Dave Parmelee.

2) Only ~2% of Antarctica is ice-free. We'll be camping on ice but working on mountains. There's a LOT more ice than there are bare mountains! We also won't be too far away from Mt. Vinson (Highest mountain in Antarctica at 4892 m). We'll only be some 200+ km away, but it's a little too far to travel. I think we're going to have enough of our own peaks to climb in the Patriot Hills, Marble Hills, and Independence Hills where we'll be working.

3) Antarctica is big. But is it bigger than the US? Is it bigger than Europe? NASA has a nice figure showing how the US and Antarctica would look if we overlapped the maps at the same scale. There's no comparable high-quality image of Europe superimposed on Antarctica, but it's about the same size as the USA.

Comparison of contiguous United States and Antarctica.
It doesn't look this way on many other maps because of the
projection (the way it's drawn).  Image source: NASA.

Helicopter on Mt. Erebus (background).
Photo by Dave Parmelee

Lava lake, Mt Erebus, Antarctica

4) There are volcanoes in Antarctica. There is some amazing research being done on Mt. Erebus, which is especially unique because of the persistent lava lake inside the volcano. Of course, this particular volcano (and my friends doing research over there) is on the other side of the continent from where I'll be (2049 km away). Check out this link for information on the volcano (the 'live imagery' page has live images of the lava lake) or check out this link for a cool dating project that I helped a friend with.


5) It gets cold in Antarctica. Of course it gets cold, but how cold is "cold"? It will be summer while we're there, so at least it will  be light and the warmest it gets all year. At Rothera, the summer temperatures can be quite pleasant, hovering around 0 degrees C. However, at our camp (away from the ocean), we expect much colder temperatures (last year, days were around -10 or -20 deg C, but it could be much colder).  However, this is nothing compared to the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth: -94 degrees Celsius! You can use the converter on my blog (to the right) to see what that would be in Fahrenheit. This is a recent record (2010) from scientists using remote sensing at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.
For a point: what were the researchers studying when they discovered the record-setting temperatures?
For a student point: What is the new coldest temperature on earth in degrees Fahrenheit?

6) Antarctica is not a country and has no independent government. Many countries signed a treaty and its additional protocols, making Antarctica a 'natural reserve devoted to peace and science.' Although Antarctica may have reserves of minerals, oil, or diamonds, the agreement bans mining and preserves the natural environment. Military is also not allowed unless it is to support a scientific project or other peaceful mission. This is a very successful treaty and shows that nations can cooperate with one another. In Antarctica, the harsh environment helps to encourage this cooperation. When someone needs help, everyone works together, regardless of nationality.

7) Antarctica is a desert. Despite the thick ice sheet (which averages about a mile thick), the continent really doesn't receive much precipitation (water as either rain or snow).The average for the whole continent is a very small amount: only 6.5 inches of precipitation per year. However, in the center of the continent, it can be as small as 2 inches per year! Any area that receives <10 inches of rain is classified as a desert, so Antarctica surely counts. For comparison, New York gets an average of 36 inches of precipitation per year (3 feet) and Florida gets ~85 inches (7 feet!).

Camp on the flanks of Mt. Erebus. Photo by Dave Parmelee

8) We only get 31 kg of gear (plus our cold-weather kit bag). This is basically just one, 50-pound checked bag plus a small carry-on backpack. This needs to fit our science equipment (laptops and other fancy equipment for the geophysics, hammers & sample bags for the cosmogenic rock sampling). Hopefully, we will be able to fit all the creature comforts in there as well. At least we won't need too much shower stuff since there will be no bathing in the field! I will, however, need to find room for a small birthday cake...

9) It will take me one train ride, 4 plane fights, and about 3 days to get to Rothera (the base in Antarctica). I'll be spending a little while on the base as we pack for the trip and I get the rest of my "How to camp in Antarctica" training. It's a little ways away from home (listed from Cambridge because that's where the British Antarctic Survey is based, but I'm further North than that):
Cambridge (UK) to Rothera = 14435 km

Map of the important flying locations in Antarctica.
From British Antarctic Survey website.

Rothera to South Pole = 2492 km

For reference, New York to San Francisco is only 4126 km and takes approximately 6.5 hours on a plane.

10) Our camp will be >80 degrees south latitude. Needless to say, we're going to be in a very remote location.
Camp Location: -80.272587, -81.230101. Hint: If you copy those coordinates into Google Earth (free to download), you can see the location on the map! It's hard to find the right way to explain exactly how remote our camp will be, but here are a few indicators:

Some of the planes, called twin otters, have skis for
landing on snow and ice.
Photo from BAS www.photo.antarctica.ac.uk

• From the base (Rothera) to our camp, we will have to take at least 3 shorter plane rides (Rothera - Fossil Bluff - Sky-Blu - ? - Camp). Some of the planes will even have skis instead of wheels! 

• Rothera to our camp: 1468 km

• Finally, the best indicator of a remote location:
  Our camp to nearest McDonald's = 4336 km. 

It can be nice to get away from it all for a while :)

Student Question: How many kilometers from our base to the South Pole? Are we closer to Rothera (the base) or the South Pole? (You will probably want to use Google Earth for this - cool tool called the ruler measures distances).

Off to keep packing!

Antarctic Training

Antarctic Training - Part 1

16 September 2013    Cambridge, UK

Before I can head down to Antarctica, I have to learn a bit about the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and some first aid skills. They held the training at Girton College, which was beautiful and historic itself. This trip was only the first part of the training - I get another 2-3 days of "on-site" training in Antarctica after we reach the base. Looking forward to learning some crevasse rescue techniques and other fun winter camping skills!

They don't make doors like
they used to...

The training was long hours of interesting powerpoint presentations about all aspects of life down South punctuated by numerous breaks for tea. I don't know how many cups of tea any one person here drinks, but there is tea with breakfast, tea at the midmorning break, tea after lunch, tea at the mid-afternoon break, and tea after dinner! But I digress...

The training for the first couple of days covered ship life, base life, field life, research (see cool sea spider picture: they brought him in from their Antarctic aquarium), teamwork, and other aspects that I don't think we'll cover here today.

Sea spider: I apologize for the lack of scale, but he's bigger than my hand. 

The second part of the week was all first aid training. We reviewed many things that I've had in classes before, but some new things: backboard stabilization for picking up by a helicopter or towing behind a skidoo. We also learned how to give injections. When we first walked in the room, they passed out the syringes, saline solution, and told us to roll up our sleeves so we could practice. We all sighed (a couple of people blanched)...and then they pulled out the oranges. Whew!



We also got to try on all our kit (gear) and make sure that everything fits. The gigantic duffel bag contains most of the special gear I'll need for the trip. Lots of fun things: Thermals, two kinds of boots, socks, fleece top and pants, warm jacket, a couple kinds of gloves, a couple of hats, sunglasses, and a bright orange worksuit. It was like Christmas, but with easy returns on the clothes if they didn't fit.



Despite the busy training schedule, I did get to see a bit of the city of Cambridge. It's known for all the beautiful schools and the canal that runs through town. I walked around several of the colleges, but I've always been a fan of buttresses on beautiful buildings, so I think that the chapel at King's College was my favorite. So much history!

The chapel was built over a 100-year period and under the direction/funding of 4 different kings. The history is all over inside the chapel, with the war of the roses featuring prominently in everything (you can see more details of the chapel history on their website). The family symbols (see photo below) were worked into the decorations in the chapel, including on the ceiling. I do find it interesting that I learned about much of this history (or at least vague ideas) from watching tv shows like "The White Queen" (BBC) or "The Tudors" (HBO). The details may be fiction, but the general succession and major events are correct, so it works :)

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

Another view of the chapel (left side of the picture).
The other buildings are parts of King's College and a couple of things further out in the city. 

Ornate ceiling (the largest example of its kind) and organ.

Symbols found all over the church, representing all the major players.  

The symbols decorating the church - it's cool to know what everything means.

I had a chance to stop in at the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum - fun museum, especially in light of what I'm preparing for! The type of clothes/food/equipment that they had back then makes me quite thankful for the kit that we will be using this time. They had lots of fun artifacts from previous expeditions, including some interesting snowshoes - a point to anyone who can guess what animal they were for!

Interesting snowshoes at the museum - but who were they designed for?

The other main feature I saw in Cambridge was the canal that runs through it. You can hire boats and go punting on a nice afternoon - it was too cold on this visit, but I guess it's good to have a list for the next time I visit!

There's a canal where you can go punting - but too cold for this trip!

On the way back to the train station, I was struck by the incredible number of bikes in the parking area. I think they outnumbered cars in the parking lots by about 10:1. If only everywhere looked like this...

More bikes than cars in the train station parking lots.