Dan’s Wild Wild Science Journal

That's me in the hydroponics unit at the South Pole. I was asking questions for some Huntsville Students competing in a national science competition.

A little story for you.

I’m on the board of our great science museum, SCI Quest, here in Huntsville. Just before my trip to the South Pole, I found out about a project some students were doing with help from Sci Quest. I was asked if  it might be possible to get some info or pictures of a greenhouse in Antarctica for them.

Lane Patterson operates the vegetable grow unit at Amundsen - Scott Station at the South Pole.

The students are involved in an eCybermission project on hydroponics. This is a free web based science, math,engineering and technology competition for students grade 6-9. When I saw what they were working on, I promised to try and bring back something for them.

So four weeks and 13,000 miles later, I’m walking down to eat dinner at Amundsen Scott Station at the South Pole, and guess what I see?? A hydroponics greenhouse! Dinner was delayed while I grabbed my cameras. Best of all, the operator of the unit Lane Patterson was there!

Lane calls this the vegetable growth unit and it’s not just for science. It provides fresh vegetables to the researchers and support staff wintering over at the South Pole. No planes can reach the Pole during the long polar night, and this is the only supply of fresh vegetables available.

Lane works out of the University of Arizona with the Controlled Environment Agricultural Center. They received a grant from the National Science Foundation to build and operate the unit. Lane is employed by Raytheon Polar Services the NSF civilian contractor to operate the unit.

So, take a look and see how it works , and how Lane grows things from 9,000 miles away in another desert – Arizona.

Oh, and yes, the students at Sci Quest will have this video and more.

Mount Erebus in the background. The match was played on frozen McMurdo Sound. A very warm 0C..

I witnessed a real spectacle today here. Every year the Kiwis over at Scott Base and the Americans at McMurdo base have a Rugby match. Rugby is the national past time in New Zealand and they are VERY good at it. The USA has never scored a goal against them, much less won the match!

So what was the final score??

See the picture!

The Kiwis won again, and the USA remain scoreless! It’s the most southern rugby match in the world of course. Truly and amazing thing to see with Mount Erebus, an active volcano. smoking in the distance while the match was played on the ice of McMurdo sound.

I get up at 6am tomorrow and report to the Pegasus Ice Runway.

3 hours later, I will land in a C130 at the very bottom of the World.

The South Pole.

Current weather there is -20F with a wind chill of -30F.

Off for midnight rats and then to bed! More pics of the rugby match to come. I shot hi res. video of it too.

G’nite from McMurdo station Antarctica where it’s bright and sunny at midnight and 24F.

Dan

Me at the entry sign into McMurdo.

I’ve spent one day and zero nights here at the bottom of the World now. Before bed last night I walked to building 155 to get  midnight rations in the cafeteria. The sun was shining high above the dirt main street that is McMurdo Station.

Midnight rats, as they call it, was delicious. The NSF has kindly given me a distinguished visitor pass so I can eat right at midnight instead of waiting until 12:30 when all of those who are not working an overnight shift can eat. The food is free and plentiful. The cold and hard work means you have a very high metabolism. 4,000 calorie per day diets are the norm for many and at the pole, where it’s MUCH colder and higher, a 6,000 calorie a day diet is common.

Brian Johnson explains putting up a tent in Antarctic conditions. Josh Landis of CBS on right. We were standing on Snow (on top of sea ice) on the McMurdo Ice Shelf..

Today was survival school. It lasted all day. It’s mandatory for anyone going to the inland sites away from the bases at McMurdo or South Pole. Since we are going to the Western Antarctic Ice Shelf drill site, and the Dry Valleys, our group of 8 were required to do the course.

Brian Johnson of the McMurdo staff was our instructor and he was a fountain of fabulous information.  I learned info that may save my life someday, although I hope I never need it.

Memorial at Hut Point to member of the British Antarctic Expedition. Mcmurdo Ice shelf behind me. Pic taken at 1125PM.

Afterwards we drove in the snow bus for an hour to a spot on Ross Island called “room with a view”. I’m not even close to being a good enough writer to describe it- but I took pics!

Let’s just say that I have never seen anything like it, and unless you have been here- you haven’t either!

Everyone here works very hard. Support staff outnumber scientists and researchers by five to one. It takes a lot to survive here. The living quarters are very spartan. I have a tiny bed and a tiny desk. No light in the room. (It’s light all the time so not really needed.) My room mate is one of the survival school instructors.

The main thing you do is sweat.

Really! I kid you not.

Our transport onto the ice shelf. It took about 20 minutes from McMurdo, but we drove another hour out to a spot called "room with a view".

See, you have to keep your ECW (Extreme Weather Clothing) gear nearby when going away from the base. Depending on the weather, you usually get hot and sweaty walking in the heavy bunny boots. The ECW kit is very good. You do stay warm, but it takes awhile to get the right amount of layers. When you exert yourself, the needed layers change!

Warnings are posted everywhere about not getting dehydrated. EVERYWHERE.

You can think of McMurdo as a kind of busy mining town surrounded by nothing. I mean nothing. Empty and quiet and very bright white. Intensely beautiful. Amazingly beautiful and vast.

A Skua flying over us at lunch. They are the scavengers of the Antarctic.

More than any picture can convey.

There are Penguins and Leopard Seals and Skuas (The scavenger bird of Antarctica) The wildlife have no fear of humans at all, but disturbing them in anyway is strictly prohibited. The Antarctic Treaty is followed to the letter and spirit, with the the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. If it can be recycled it is. Trash that has to be burned is shipped to Port Hueneme California and incinerated. 65% of waste at McMurdo is recycled.

This is the greenest town on Earth bar none. McMurdo sets a fabulous example for the rest of the world.

I saved the biggest news for last!

Tomorrow is Sunday here ( I wrote this at 830pm Saturday night here in Mac Town.) At 2pm Sunday out on the Mcmurdo Ice Shelf is the annual New Zealand (Scott Base) vs USA  (McMurdo Base) Rugby game. They play in the snow on frozen ocean. Wearing bunny boots!

The view from Hut Point. About a 10 minute walk from my room. Robert Falcon Scott's 1902 hut is just a few steps away. I will show pics of that tomorrow!

In case you do not know, Rugby is wildly popular among the Kiwis and they play it very well. The American team has NEVER won. Actually the McMurdo team has never scored a point!

So tomorrow at 2pm I will cover my first sporting event! Pics and video to come!! (Trust me if you are wagering, bet on the Kiwis! (everyone here is!)

Dan

McMurdo Science Base, Antarctica

22:42 Saturday 9 January 2010

Dan's pic from the C17 Over Antarctica Wednesday afternoon.

I have seen Antarctica, but I am not there tonight. We spent 10 hours on a U.S. Military C17 from Christchurch to McMurdo. Today was our second attempt, after we were canceled at Dawn Tuesday due to bad weather at McMurdo.

Me onboard the C17 en-route to Antarctica

So at dawn today (Wednesday here in Christchurch) we headed to the airport. After a 30 minute briefing, and packing our luggage into bright orange bags, we headed to the plane. Most of our luggage is loaded onto a pallet. I have two carry-on bags full of still and video cameras. My luggage weight limit is 150 pounds. (I was well within the limit, but it sure doesn’t feel like it when I am lugging it all around!)

For safety reasons we must wear our cold weather gear on-board. Gloves, goggles, and the bright red NSF Polar jackets. I also have on something resembling a ski bib. Footwear are the very heavy “bunny boots”. These boots have an air valve on them and we are told to make sure it is in the open position! They are by far the warmest boots I have ever worn. One pair of special wool socks is all you need.

If the outside of the plane does not convince you that this is not a commercial flight, the inside quickly dispels any remaining doubt! Pallets of food and material are loaded behind our seats. The load-master tells us to pick a seat, they are all just as uncomfortable as the others he announces.

Definitely not a commercial flight. The ride was very loud, and we all wore ear plugs.

Just a few porthole windows on the aircraft. This is not surprise, we were briefed well on what to expect. Ann and I choose to sit in the airline type seats in the middle. Many are in jump like seats along the sides. Most are senior scientists, post docs and graduate students. A separate contingent of distinguished visitors is on-board and one of them is an MP from Canada.

Ear plugs are passed out and we are told that it will be very loud and difficult to hear once we take off.

Take off was at 9 am and the 3,000 mile flight to McMurdo base from Christchurch will take us 5 hours. We hear right away that there is concern over the weather at McMurdo. We have enough fuel to fly to McMurdo and back without landing if we have to . This is called a boomerang.

We were again reminded that if the weather goes bad and we do boomerang back to Christchurch, we will not see our bags until we actually make it to Antarctica.

Canadian Chaz Firestone of Brown Uni. is also part of our group.

Since I’m headed to the Pole tomorrow, I was handed some Diamox tablets by the nurse at Christchurch. (for altitude sickness- the South Pole is nearly 10,000 feet above sea level.)  Side affects are tingling and bad taste in my mouth, and a little drowsiness. I took the first tablet and immediately fell asleep for an hour! I awoke as we approached the Antarctic Circle and we took some snaps around the plane and video out the tiny windows.

Dana, our guide from the NSF comes back and tells us that we are cleared to go to the flight deck in an hour! Ann and I try not to jump up and down and make a fool of ourselves with that news!

The hour passes waiting online for the lavatory. There are 150 people on-board and one toilet to go around. There is always a wait.

No one complains, we are flying to the bottom of the World. Everyone on-board this aircraft understands what a special and unique experience we are experiencing.

As I walk down the aisle, I see Mac Books like mine everywhere. This is only mildly surprising to me, since almost every scientist I know uses a Mac. All three of us in the WHNT weather office use them. Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, could make a really good commercial here!

The time comes for the climb up the ladder to the flight deck.

WOW.

The mountains of Antarctica are spread out below us with a deep cobalt blue sky above. I tell the pilot that he has the best view from his desk of any person on Earth. He knows it. There are big windows across the entire flight deck and Ann and I shoot video and still pictures.

The professionalism of these servicemen is amazing. I’m not the least bit nervous about the trip. If anyone on earth can get us safely to McMurdo it’s these folks from the 109th air wing of the New York Air National Guard. This is their job, flying scientists in and out of Antarctica. Their most famous trip was the rescue of a medical doctor from the pole in mid winter a few years ago. She had discovered while wintering over at the Pole that she had breast cancer and it was decided she needed immediate treatment.

No flights land at the Pole in Winter. It’s 90 below and in total darkness with high winds. When asked to do it, they did not hesitate. The doc was evacuated. (You probably know that she did not survive her bout with breast cancer.)

I ask the pilot about the latest weather ob from McMurdo. The news is not good he says. I’m actually secretly hoping we are turned back! Our canceled flight yesterday means we will only get 6 days on the ice. If we are boomeranged today, we will move everything back a day and get the full 7. As an added bonus, I will get to make this flight again!

Ann turned to me when we got back to our seats, and says she feels like the luckiest person in the world to see Antarctica from the flight deck of a C17. I am sure of it. Stunned gratitude fills my heart as I stand by my seat and revel in what I just saw. Believe me when I say that the pictures do not do it justice.

I grabbed a quick interview with the pilot on the HD Video camera, but it was very noisy and the outside was extremely bright while the flight deck was much darker. Horrible conditions for shooting pictures or video. The professional photographers back at the station would spend an hour setting up a shot like that. I have 5 minutes. I hope it will do.

Ed Forgotson of CBS climbed to the flight deck just before us. I wonder how well his video will come out. Better I’m sure! Ed and Josh Landis of CBS are part of our group.

There are 7 of us who were selected out of many applicants. The youngest is Chaz Firestone, a native of Toronto who is finishing a degree at Brown University. Chaz is a real go getter and when he told me he was shocked he made the cut. I told him that I wasn’t. He’s one unique person who is studying neuroscience, while editing the college paper. You will hear of him in the future. No doubt about that. (Being a Canadian he gets bonus points with me too!).

My friend Claire Martin, a Meteorologist for the CBC gave me a great “Hockey Day in Canada” pullover and I have worn it all day. Everyone thinks I’m Canadian instead of Chaz! Claire, if you read this – a big thank you! It’s been the perfect top to wear on this long flight off the map of the civilised world.

All of our group is involved in either writing about science or in on air TV work. I do all three and have been involved with the Yale Climate and Media Center in educating TV weather people about climate science.

Ann Posegate my co-traveller spent a year at the Mount Washington Observatory and now works for the Nat. Env. Educ. Foundation in Washington. She also writes for the wildly popular Capital Weather Gang Blog in the Washington Post. You can find info on our trip both here and there and on the NEEF Earth Gauge site. Ann has a Biology background, but she knows what an Asperatus cloud is- so she RATES!

Ann also has a real eye for photography- as you will see over the coming days. She is showing me some of the pictures she took as I write this. They are fabulous. Between us, we should be able to get some fabulous shots.

Robert Hotz of the Wall Street Journal has been reporting science for many years.  He understands the climate issue and knows most of the top scientists working to answer the current questions. Lunch with him and the others yesterday was a real treat. (I told you I’m surrounded by overachievers!)

Back to the flight…

Just as I get into the lavatory and get my gear off (I will leave out the details here) the pilot announces that the weather below in McMurdo is just too bad to land safely.

We are headed back to Christchurch! We’ve been BOOMERANGED.

Five more hours on the plane. We try again tomorrow. I try to hide my glee. 7 days on the ice and I get to make this flight again! (Maybe my daughter is right- perhaps I really am crazy!)

As I write this we are 3 hours from Christchurch. No hotel room, so once we land we will have to find one. No clothes since  those are in my checked bags. I’ll be wearing everything again tomorrow. I mean EVERYTHING if ya get my meaning! Just remembered that my deodorant is in the checked bag as well. The cameras had the highest priority. Ann may not want to sit beside me tomorrow!

New Zealand is the most incredible country I have visited, so another night there is just fine with me. Christchurch is called the garden city for good reason. It’s the prettiest city I’ve ever been in. I keep telling shop clerks that I will trade my passport or credit card for their accent!

Enjoy the pics of our journey. I know most will never have the opportunity, and I want to share as much as can with you about the experience. We humans intense curiosity about the unknown is so evident as I finish this sitting in my seat.

Scientists from all walks of life and many countries surround me. Years of education have brought them to this. I speak for everyone on this flight from the crew to the senior researchers when I say that it’s all worth it. The cold, the danger, the remoteness of our trip, it’s all related to one human virtue.

Curiosity.

Later,

Dan

Update 8:30am Thursday NZ Time- We are waved off for 24 more hours. The hotel has kindly lent me a comb, but I am off to buy underwear! These clothes are getting a bit rank and I am not even on the ice yet! Moral of all of this is that just getting to Antarctica is not easy (Or cheap – my morning coffee was 4.50NZD. Breakfast was a Snickers at $2.10.)

The view of the Southern Alps, behind Christchurch, from my 6th floor room at the Crown Plaza?

PRICELESS.

The National Science Foundation's U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) has a large center at the Christ Church airport. Clothing for those headed to "the ice" is issued there.

So what DO YOU pack when you’re headed to the very bottom of the world??

Little clothing surprisingly!

Most of my winter clothing will not suit for Antarctica and instead when I get to Christ Church, I will be outfitted with the polar clothing. I did spend 50$ on special long underwear. I will be given much heavier long johns when I get to Christchurch but this is for those “warm days’ at McMurdo.

McMurdo is actually not bad in high summer. Highs can reach near freezing. The South Pole is much different.  If it gets above -20F that is a warm day. The permanent residents consider anything above -30 a warm day!

Antarctica is a HUGE place. About the size of the Continental USA and almost entirely covered by over 2 miles of ice. It’s also completely surrounded by ocean. No other continent is situated in this way, and that ocean isolates the weather in Antarctica.

If you thought the North Pole and the South Pole had similar weather you would be very wrong. The South Pole in high summer is just a little warmer than the North Pole in Winter. The ocean and all that ice, along with an elevation of nearly 3km’s is why.

What you have to wear on the flight from Christ Church to McMurdo! Image courtesy Scientist Herman Kolanoski

So what am I taking?

Three still cameras. Two digital SLR’s and one pocket camera that shoots HD video. I’m also taking a Panasonic AVCHD camera that shoots gorgeous high definition video. The files are huge and it takes a very expensive editing software just to view them properly. So, I will have about 100 gigabytes with of special SD cards with me.

The other must haves are back up batteries for all those cameras. Chargers as well. The cold will make a battery that lasts two hours last 5 minutes. Chemical hand warmers are hopefully going to keep those batteries warm until needed.

A special bit of advice that I’m taking very seriously is to put my cameras in a plastic bag when I come inside. The cameras will be cold soaked and moisture will want to condense on the internal parts, causing havoc. I plan on making sure I do just that.

The three cameras are mine. The TV station bought the  special HD video camera for the trip. It is light weight, small and as I said, shoots incredibly good video. I bought insurance for that!

I hope to be able to post the story of my adventure with pics and video here. McMurdo has decent internet but when I am at the WAIS site or at the Pole the internet will be very poor. Much of my time will be at McMurdo so I should have frequent posts!

If you post any questions, I will gladly try and answer them and that goes for students and classes as well. I may even try and do a Skype video with a few classrooms. Email me at dansat@gmail.com if you would like to and I will try my best.

Dan