Category Archives: McMurdo 2011 field season

Last night after dinner Shelly and I took a walk out to Discovery Hut, a famous landmark just a few hundred meters north of McMurdo Station.  Discovery Hut is a relic of the 1901-1904 British expedition led by Robert Scott, one of … Continue reading →

Since we arrived the weather at McMurdo has been unseasonably warm.  As I’m writing this the outside temperature is -10 C (14 F) with no wind, balmy for this far south!  Normal daily max temperatures for this time of year … Continue reading →

A number of you have been asking great questions on the blog, unfortunately the comment format keeps these questions and answers out of view unless you go looking for them. I’ve created a new page for questions, comments, and discussion … Continue reading →

We arrived safely in McMurdo last night after a five hour flight from Christchurch, avoiding the dreaded and common ”boomerang” scenario where the plane is forced to turn around close to McMurdo on account of rapidly changing weather.  The final “winfly” … Continue reading →

We arrived in Christchurch, NZ last night via Los Angeles and Auckland.  We weren’t the only ones, almost everyone on our flight from Auckland to Christchurch were staff heading to McMurdo to take the place of the winter personnel.  After … Continue reading →

Which way will we be doing things?  I’ll give some details on that in a moment.  First, with less than 72 hours until we depart for Christchurch, NZ, we’ve gained a new member of our expedition; Flat Stanley.  Flat Stanley … Continue reading →

 On Friday I had the opportunity to speak with Karen, the McMurdo Station staffer in charge of field safety.  Karen has a difficult task, coordinating the safe operations for a diverse array of field projects throughout the season.  Aiding her in this … Continue reading →

When sea ice forms during the polar winter it is often possible to observe the growth of frost flowers, intricate structures that are composed from frozen atmospheric moisture and from brine wicked from the sea ice surface.  The transport of brine … Continue reading →

The Deming research group focuses on microbial life within sea ice.  This seems like a pretty esoteric topic until you consider the extent of sea ice in both polar oceans and the subpolar seas (such as the Baltic Sea) and the abundance … Continue reading →

There were undoubtedly some racing pulses among Antarctic researchers this weekend with the announcement that the Swedish icebreaker Oden would not be available to break a shipping channel to McMurdo Station during the Austral summer.  Without a shipping channel no … Continue reading →