A Photographic Ode to the Adelie

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the much adored Adelie penguin.  Over-enthusiastic.  Over-excentric.  And often very clumsy.  Everyone wishes they were one, or at least had one for themselves...

Sealin'

A typical mush pool of an atypical color.  I wonder why it is that color??!  Pup just came out of the water, mom always swimming nearby.

Mom peering through the mush



Our fearless french leader commanding the troops...



Darren and Thierry on our route out of North Base

McMurdo 5k Turkey Trot 2011!

We like our turkeys cold!!  And well massaged....

Video is best viewed by watching from Youtube.com here!

(Sorry about the poor quality video...due to poor video and editing skills)

Lewis Bay Helo and a Nice Crack

Slugs of the Ice

McMurdo Webcam

http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm

Season Glimpse

The season begins with very clean, tidy, and organized food shelves.  A day later, its like Erebus erupted inside our hut...packages ripped apart, boxes strewn on the floor, cans balancing precariously on top of each other...

The last of the sunsets at camp.  Now we have incessant light at all hours of the day.

Emperor penguins on the move at Big Razorback Island.  These random groups, probably all juveniles or non-breeders, are seen every season a-wandering across the ice.  They always look lost.  Which makes sense because they are about 10 miles from the open ocean.

Penguin head

We grow big eyebrow-cicles down here.

Mom-pup pair at the Turk's Head colony.  Pups are getting FAT these days.  About 70 pounds at birth, twenty days later...170 pounds!!!  Mom's milk is over 40% fat...highest in any mammal (that I know of)

Nearly every evening there is a dazzling light display in some form over the mountains.  This is looking from McMurdo onto the sea ice, where a line of snow machines are parked.

A sudden storm ("condition one" storm; ie the worst category) during a typical day of seal research forced us into our emergency "Scott" tent.  Visibility went to nill, the wind was whipping, and five people had to cram inside the "tiny, wet Scott tent" (as Jessica put it; she was stuck in there with four guys!).  It seems alright to hunker down in a tent, but the humidity inside the tent is terrible...everything gets wet.  And its cold.  And you can't move because there is no room to. And you are there for another 6 hours.  We had a Condition One Dance Party to keep us entertained (and warm) when we dared to leave the tent.

Can you feel the humidity and the cold?  Luckily I brought an Outside Bozeman magazine to keep us entertained.

Happy Camper 2011

Curious as to what the infamous "Happy Camper" entails?  Here's a quick peak, shot by crew member Darren Roberts, edited by Mary Lynn Price.

"Antarctic Field Prep Continues"

Rounding out the team: Mary Lynn, our fabulous videographer and videopodcaster, has arrived!  Yay! Check out her new post here!

Within the week, our crew will be entirely trained for safe living and traveling on the sea ice and our field camp will be happily situated in the "Great White."  The female seals should already be giving birth to wet, baggy-skinned pups, directly on the cold ice, regardless of the temperature and weather.  Got to hand it to them...they are some phenomenal creatures.

Icy Arrival

How fitting, eh?  I'm on that plane somewhere...!  Photo courtesy Katie, my girlfriend.

Departure is bittersweet.  My girlfriend saw me off, ensuring I was well supplied with a collection of home-baked cookies (which I DID share with the rest of the crew) and a bundle of great memories to reminisce on while I'm on my way.  All the flight details were just the same as always: a jumble of airports and airplanes, masses of people, time compressing and expanding depending on what you are doing or thinking.  Amidst this, our crew met in the airport of Los Angeles, Darren* and Colleen* arrived first, followed by myself, then Thierry and Mike*, and finally Jess.  (*=newbies!).  After much excited yakking, we all boarded the near-midnight plane bound for Auckland, New Zealand.

Somehow, eventually, we found ourselves in Christchurch, home of the United States Antarctica Program and the point of departure (or ICE flight) for Antarctica.  Prior to deployment to that icy place, we are required to obtain our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear, which entails dressing up in all of our warmest clothing to ensure proper fit.  Everything about flight preparations is finely choreographed and detailed, and we are always well taken care of by the fine folks at the USAP.

During our time in Christchurch, we had time to explore the area, and with our hotel close to downtown, Thierry and I took a walk around...which is completely shut off due to the earthquake back in February.  The damage is frighteningly extensive, and it appears it will be a long time before it is opened again.  I believe about 200 people were killed in this earthquake, and my heart goes out to all those impacted.  I cannot imagine what they have gone through.

The crew...taking pictures of mallards.  From left to right: Thierry (PhD student), Michael, Darren, Jessica, Colleen.

The next day, after waking up early early, we headed back to USAP, grabbed our bags, passed through security, ate a little breakfast at the Antarctica center, and boarded the C17 (I love this thing!)

Typical ice flight shot

Enclosed in the belly of the C17, you basically see nothing of the world as it passes by (there are tiny little windows to peer out of, but usually its of clouds or nothing but ice).  "Flight attendants" are comprised of members of the Air Force (from Seattle, I believe)...they make this flight many time over.  After 6 hours of the loud hum of the plane and the droning rumble of the jets, you are quite suddenly landing on the ice!  Tires on ice, touch down is smooth as silk.

Bright blue cold day

Yay! 

the cold against the face, the crunch of the boots, the HUGE expansiveness of ICE!   Sooo happy to be back!

the infamous Ivan the Terra Bus

And so the adventure begins!  It will still be some time before we even see the seals due to training and research logistics in McMurdo, but it will be soon!!