OBSERVATION HILL

I just returned from a midnight hike around and up Observation Hill, which overlooks McMurdo Station. It was a beautiful night, with almost no wind, clear skies, and temperatures around 25˚ F.

The top picture shows McMurdo Station as viewed from the sea ice road that leads to the ice runway (airport). Ob Hill sits at the right side of the photograph, and is around 750 ft high.

The second picture shows a view of McMurdo Station from the top of Ob Hill. The cross was erected in 1913 by the surviving members of Scott's fateful Terra Nova Expedition, a successful attempt to reach the South Pole that ended in tragedy when the party members who set out to reach the pole died on the return trip. They are pictured in the bottom photo, taken when they arrived at the pole. Scott is in the top row, center. The photo was found in the tent in which the bodies were discovered by a search party.

The third photo shows the view across the sea ice toward White Island (left) and Black Island (right). Most of the bad weather here makes its way toward us in the space between the two islands. The sunlight made the sea ice almost look like water.

A TRIP TO THE DRILLSITE

I finally made it out to the drillsite, located about 20 miles from McMurdo Station (see map). The drilling rig is draped by a big white shroud, which serves to keep the weather out and allows the drillers to work in a warm environment. Associated with the drilling rig are a series of containers that are outfitted with work stations at which people carry out various analyses on the cores. Other containers are used as living quarters for the 30 people who live at the drillsite. The trip took about 2 hours by Mattrack truck, on a road across the sea ice that is maintained by an army of plows and monitored constantly for cracks that start to develop as the weather warms. The sea ice right now is between 6 and 8 feet thick. This might seem thin considering the water below is several hundred feet deep, but it's thick enough to land C-17s and other large jets. The route is marked by a series of flags mounted on bamboo poles, located about 20 feet apart. This seems a close spacing, but there are times when the visibility deteriorates to the point where it's not possible to see from one flag to the next.

WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS

Temperatures are warming, the sea ice is thinning and breaking up, and wildlife is beginning to appear around McMurdo Station. In the past couple of days, I've had the opportunity to take trips away from the station, and each time I've been lucky enough to encounter some Antarctic icons.

From top to bottom, these are:
The skua, a scavenging bird, which feeds on other birds' eggs, various young animals, and many other things too disgusting to mention here. They are adept at spotting food being carried from the galley across McMurdo Station, and commonly swoop down and snatch items from peoples' hands. It pays to look up when leaving the galley, as they tend to perch above the doorways.

A Weddell Seal, lying next to the hole it's made in the sea ice. The seal lay on its back and peered around at us. The Royal Society Range is visible in the background.

An Adelie Penguin, which crossed the road as we were travelling in a Mattrack across the sea ice. It was alone and seemed to be lost.