Monday, January 5, 2015

Into the field!

Picture #1: View of an iceberg trapped in sea ice in
McMurdo Sound.
On Sunday, we took a 40 mile helicopter ride across McMurdo Sound to the Dry Valleys (I will talk about the Dry Valleys and why they’re important in the next post). This was initially going to be a reconnaissance trip to pick ideal sampling locations; however, we decided the night before that it was probably in my best interest to stay in the field for now as stream flow can often be intermittent and sometimes only last for a couple of days a year. Therefore, it was a good idea to get going.

Picture #2: View of the Taylor Valley, one of the Dry Valleys.
Once we traversed McMurdo Sound, our helicopter ventured up Taylor Valley, which might be the most studied of the Dry Valleys (Pictures 1&2). The first stop was a campsite known as F6, which is located in close proximity to Canada Glacier (Picture #3). More importantly it is located near the mouth of Van Guerrard Stream into Lake Fryxall, one of many closed basin lakes (a lake from which there is no outlet to the sea) located in the valleys.  This stream is one of two that I will be focusing on for my study and the good news is that it was flowing!  We took a sample volume of 20 liters, which I will later filter in order to determine the amount of suspended sediments being carried by the stream.
Picture #3: View of the F6 campsite.

Picture #4: View of the main building at the Lake
Hoare campsite.


Picture #5: View of tents with Canada Glacier in the
background. Mine is the second from the left!

Our next stop was the Lake Hoare campsite, which is located on the western side of Canada Glacier and on the shoreline of another closed basin lake with the same name (Picture 4). The lake is fed by Anderson stream, which is the second stream I will be focusing on for my study.  The stream is sourced from glacial melt and will likely be one of the most scenic rivers I have ever sampled.

Given the fact that I will be spending at least a week at this campsite, it was important to learn the rules of the site itself as well as my responsibilities for maintaining it. The camp consists of a series of tents which surround a couple of small common huts, which are used for eating and conducting experiments.  There can be several different scientists staying at the camp during any given time, so I was showed which tent would be home for the next week. Fortunately, average January daily temperatures in the Dry Valley and McMurdo area hover around 32 degrees and I’ve brought along the appropriate cold weather gear.

The camp is overseen by Rae Spain, an Antarctic veteran with over 20 years of experience in the field, and her assistant Rene . Rae was recently featured in Food & Wine magazine http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/
2014/11/6/how-to-cook-an-amazing-
thanksgiving-dinner-at-the-south-pole) due to her ability to make terrific meals with very limited ingredients. Even though the living conditions might be a little rugged, there will at least be good food!