Author Archives: Jeff

The weather finally cooperated with us and we made it out for our reconnaissance flight on Saturday. We even managed to bag a couple of samples along the way. After spending the last 8 weeks on the south side of … Continue reading →

The weather’s still playing tricks with us. We were supposed to fly to Taylor Glacier today, high in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, to sample more glacial ice. It looked hazy all morning but flights were still heading out. Our flight … Continue reading →

Monday was a spectacular day and we had no trouble getting out to collect samples on the Wilson-Piedemont Glacier. WP is a broad coastal glacier at the northwestern most extent of McMurdo Sound. Because the wind often blows from the … Continue reading →

The helicopters started flying last Thursday and with their support we’re getting back on track with sampling. Friday we made it back out to Tent Island for our third sample there. It was great to make the trip in less … Continue reading →

The dive team showed us this video that they took recently. It illustrates a couple of really interesting aspects of the relationship between sea ice and seawater. The stalactite-like projection extending down from the bottom of the sea ice is … Continue reading →

Here’s a short YouTube video of the penguins we saw yesterday.  The sound comes on about halfway through for Shelly’s highly effective penguin call.

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been battling worsening sea ice conditions in McMurdo Sound.  Cracks between the different pans of land fast ice keep growing wider, and though they freeze quickly it can take weeks for the ice … Continue reading →

I had a great conversation this morning with a group of oceanography students from Soap Lake High School in Washington (thanks to teacher Matt Brewer for facilitating). They’d done their homework and asked some really good questions. Among other things … Continue reading →

Thanks to the Advanced Biology and Physical Science students of Omak High School for a great Skype discussion this morning, and thanks to teacher Nancy Ridenour for facilitating! The dust hasn’t settled from yesterday’s flights yet.  The McMurdo Station staff … Continue reading →

On Saturday night we got some new satellite images showing that much of the new pack ice that’s been forming off of Cape Royds had sheared away from the landfast ice in McMurdo Sound, leaving a very large lead open … Continue reading →