South Pole, Snowmobile riding training, why so little life here

Happy Solstice, Everyone.

Given that it can take minutes to download an internet page, I'm not going to try to run a search to find the exact time of the solstice. I'm sure you are deeply disappointed.

I miss winter solstice, the time of the long cold starry night, squirrel and hare tracks in the snow, branches drooping under the weight of qali (snow in trees)... the celebration of hope and renewal, the rebirth of the sun, without which there would be no life on Earth.

I am back from the South Pole Station, where I took a dozen "polies" out for an overnight away from the station. They don't get many chances to leave the station, so this is a great opportunity for them.

I hadn't been to Pole since my first season two years ago, so it was fun to revisit and see the changes as they continue to work on and move into the new Elevated Station. The idea of the elevation is to minimize drifting, but it's only somewhat working. Nonstop for the whole summer, bulldozers work moving the massive drifts that build upwind as well as downwind away from the building, creating huge piles of snow among the many cargo lines.

One gets a strong sense that the snow ultimately wins. It slowly but steadily claims everything on the plateau, and fighting it is reminiscent of shoveling sand against the tide. Not much snow falls per year, but with drifting, it really adds up and essentially never sublimates as the air is so cold (cannot hold much moisture). The average annual temp there is something like -57 degree F, and they recently matched a record high of +7 degrees.

The Pole is also high, 9300' but with the thinner atmosphere of high latitudes, it is physiologically about 10,500' or higher, so upon arrival one feels the oppressiveness of the altitude in addition to the cold.

But it's very bright there; the sun circling relentlessly overhead combined with a lack of wind made the -12 temps we had quite comfortable. Pole isn't nearly as windy (or prone to white-outs) as McMurdo, which is on the coast within the Ross Sea.

Polies are an independent sort and revel in being in the "real Antarctica", yet paradoxically they spend most time confined inside and have no where to go and nothing to do outside except for one ski loop on the Great White Expanse. For contrast, most new arrivals are quite surprised how much terrain we have around McMurdo: numerous stunning mountain ranges, active Mt Erebus, sea ice, islands, and hiking routes up a big rocky hill, along a peninsula ridge, and up on the glaciated peninsula to the steep outcrop of Castle Rock. And we have skua gulls as well as the occasional seal or penguin near town.

The research at Pole is only subjects like astrophysics, neutrino collecting, measuring cosmic rays... less compelling to the latent biologist in me.

But I did get to check out the tunnels in the snow/ice, the coldest temp I have been in ever: a relatively balmy (for the tunnels) -47 degrees (no sun! but also no wind). There are over a thousand feet of tunnels about 35’ under the ice meant to last the next 50 years connecting the station to the wells that use hot water to melt snow/ice to make more water, then to transport this water in heated and hyperinsulated pipes, back to the station. These pipes run parallel to the pipes that carry sewage back to the previously-used water-well: there are several enormous masses of... ugh, frozen into the polar icecap, ever so slowly making their way to the ocean along with all the remains from the explorer days early in the last century. There's a pony somewhere in a crevasse on the Beardmore Glacier, and of course people, sleds, dogs, camps... and more modern detritus lost to the ever insidiously accumulating snow. The original (1950's) South Pole Station has been fully claimed by the snow, but they continue to fight against the burial of the famous Dome station, which they plan to dismantle and send north when they are fully moved out of it soon.

Pole is fun to visit, but not somewhere I'd enjoy living. But it's probably a lot better once you know the community well (about 200-250 people, McM is about 1100). See the blog below, December 2003 for more about the South Pole Station, like the freezer doors on the newer buildings.

The other fun thing as of late was the SAR technical snowmobile riding training. It was good to learn how to hang off those things to keep them on slopes, how to handle losing traction on steep ice, and how to leap off when it rolls over (the windshields were removed for this). I, however, have not become enamored with these stinky loud machines as some others who also hated them in the US have confessed. I appreciate them a lot for the fact that they can go 40+ mph on the sea ice (flat) as compared to the usual 10-15mph of most other vehicles, but don't expect me to adopt this activity as recreation! But it was fun to learn how to actually have some influence on their behavior (they weigh about 750 pounds).

Tomorrow we are supposed to snowmobile up Mt Erebus as a SAR training. It's 12,800' and could take up to 20 hours. Part is notoriously steep and icy, hence the training. What a coincidence that two days ago there was an altitude "near-miss" on the mountain, highlighting the need for us to be able to get up there and get someone down when the helos are weather-grounded.

I have learned not to count on anything regarding my getting up Erebus, but am optimistic. Also possible I might get up there next week via the usual helo transport. Nelia, a grantee up there, mentioned a volcanic bomb that was a meter big and when they stuck in their ice axes, they pulled out magma. Erebus has been throwing small bombs just outside the crater lately (see last message). Also there are ice caves up there.

I've not yet been up. (see Jan ‘06 entry)

One more thing about Antarctica. There is little life on the continent not because of we are at the south pole, but because Antarctica's separation from Gondwana (the southern mega-continent) eons ago allowed the development of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the world's largest. It doesn't mix with warm northern water and keeps the continent cold and icy (there's a feedback loop with the ice). Pre-isolation, but at the same latitude, there were forests here. Fossilized beech trees abound in the Transantarctic Mountains from when it was wet, cool, and very alive. Animals moved between South America and Australia via this continent.

Larry is supposed to get back from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet today. Haven't seen him since before Thanksgiving.

A bright Solstice, a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and enjoy the lengthening of the days. It's fun to see the (fake) Christmas tree in the galley, the gingerbread houses (was there a decorating party?), the decorations, but it's the music that I associate with the holiday and enjoy from childhood. Maybe someone will play some of that sometime, like at the big Christmas party in the made-over Heavy-Equipment Shop. We are so lucky to miss the retail feeding frenzy of the season. That alone might be enough reason to come to Antarctica.

Love, peace and joy to all...
Susan