IceChaser: Chasing Snow in Antarctica

Last week, we were asked by the Antarctic Weather Station (AWS) group if we could potentially assist them in troubleshooting some problems at one of their stations. The AWS at Cape Hallett had stopped transmitting and it was not clear if the problem was related to the modem or to the datalogger. Many of their sensors are similar or identical to the ones used at our precipitation sites so we agreed to help (especially considering how far ahead of schedule we were for our own work). Cape Hallett is about a 3.5 - 4 hour Twin Otter flight north of McMurdo and is also home to tens of thousands of Adelie Penguins. We were initially scheduled to fly there last Thursday but the weather wasn't looking the best so we were delayed until Friday. Friday morning we were off with a stop at Mario Zucchelli station, one of the Italian Antarctic bases, for refueling. Zucchelli station is located in Terra Nova Bay where the South Koreans also have a station and China is building another statio...

It's been a very busy last week down here on the ice and as a result, we have managed to remove all the sensors from all four sites. The Lorne and Tall Tower sites have been completely removed, to include the towers, anchors and power systems. Phoenix has been completely removed with the exception of the power system and Willie still has the towers, anchors and power systems. We hope to get those removed next week. The Lorne and Tall Tower sites (the two requiring aircraft to reach) were removed on back-to-back days last Friday and Saturday.  Because of the two years of snow accumulation at each site, it meant some of the towers that were originally buried in only three feet of snow were now buried in five to six feet of compacted snow. Lorne before removal. The Lorne Antarctic weather station (which was not removed) can be seen at the far left. Tom Laurie, Tim Klar, and Thomas Nylen work to remove the instrument tower at Lorne. The five-foot hole I dug to remove one ...

Greetings from Antarctica! After a three-day delay in Christchurch, we successfully made it to McMurdo on Thursday (Wednesday in U.S. time). The ride south in the C-17. First view of Antarctica out the plane window. First steps on the ice - view of the C-17 First steps on the ice - Mt Discovery First steps on the ice - Mt Erebus ... the plume could just barely be seen at the summit as the winds were carrying it away in the opposite direction. First steps on the ice - The Deltas ... one of the many types of vehicles used to transport people. The McMurdo baggage claim. It's been a busy few days with lots of training since arriving. The arrival briefing is the first thing everyone gets upon arrival to the station. Field safety training is one of our longer training sessions but provides necessary information on how to light the stoves, set up the tents, etc. in case you get caught unexpectedly in a storm. Field Safety, Enviro...