| Antarctica - Nuggies On Ice |
| Updated: 29th August, 2004 |
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| Current Weather At McMurdo & Scott Base |
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| There's a lot to talk about this time, so enough of the banter ... |
| Sunrise Polar Plunge & Party ... |
| This year the Winfly (winter flights) programme was scheduled for the weekend we would normally have had our sunrise polar plunge. Also, because of a clash of social events for the weekend prior to that, we held the polar plunge and party on Saturday 7th August. |
| Unfortunately, due to these reasons, the tide was out for our plunge. This meant there was a bit of a drop to the water and a big slog up the icy ladder to get out again. There was also a lack of in-pool lighting this time. This was because the lights attracted fish and other marine life that didn't normally survive a trip through our water system, which in turn necessitated more work for our over-worked engineering staff who had to clear filters of dead critters. So, with the low water, no lights and the added bonus of a temperature of -36 degrees Celsius, we thought that there would be fewer takers for the privilege of the coldest swim in the world. We were wrong. Record numbers showed up. Some of this may have been attributable to the fact that we had Free Drinks at the bar that night. |
| Before going too much further, I should explain that we weren't contributing to wanton dereliction. Free Drinks was the name of the band that was playing - live music at Scott Base. We had about 40 people take the big drop into the refreshing waters of the Ross Sea. Most of these took the opportunity, immediately after, to immerse themselves in the warm waters of the Scott Base hot tub. Following an excellent choice of pizzas, we entertained about eighty guests at the sunrise party. This was the Scott Base swansong of winter entertainment and the whole evening was a roaring success. There are no prizes for guessing what the gentleman in the photo at left is doing. |
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| Winter Pastimes |
| ... well a couple of them, anyway. One of the questions that is often asked is, "What do we do for entertainment?" For our regular readers, you will know that we do just about anything. Most winters we take part in the McMurdo ten-pin bowling league. This year all ten people on base bowled at least once in the league, so we won the prize for the most team members. To the surprise of a lot of people in McMurdo we made it to the final playoffs. Then to add insult to injury we made it to the final round. Unfortunately our Cinderella run came to an abrupt end at that point as we met a team that had an average about 100 pins higher than ours. Still, coming second playing America's national pastime is pretty good in our book and we had a great time doing it. Below are some photos taken at the bowling alley - two lanes and probably the only manual pin-setting machine still operating anywhere in the world. |
| On Friday nights we play darts. Normally three bases take part. Players from McMurdo drive over the hill to Scott Base and try to beat the Kiwis. South Pole Station also takes part. No, they don't drive 1300 kilometres to take part. We have an HF radio link-up and pass alternate scores via radio. What started out as an occassional match, recorded on pieces of paper, has now developed into a weekly "tournament" recorded on computer. Records are kept and we have statistics going back over a few years that always provide a lot of amusement for those who play regularly from year to year. Once again, all ten people from Scott Base have participated in beating the teams from both of the other bases. In the picture, (above right), Chris our mechanic launches another fine dart, that creates a lot of excitement in the gathered crowd, (well maybe not). The picture at bottom right shows the score-keeper, (who shall remain nameless), in the process of telling South Pole that Scott Base has won again. |
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| Work On The Ice Shelf Transition |
| The road from the Ross Island bases to the airfields on the ice shelf goes over an area known as a transition. At this point there is movement between the ice and the land. The main transition, near Scott Base, has been hard to maintain, especially during the summer thaw. To try to fix this situation, this year the US Antarctic Programme has attempted to realign the land approach to the transition, in the hope that it will better survive in late summer. The pictures below show the severe working conditions that the crew worked in. Due to the frozen nature of the ground, blasting has to take place to loosen the volcanic rubble that makes up the land on Ross Island. The blasting crew has to drill holes into the fragmented rock before setting the charges. Once the rock is loosened, they use big D8 bulldozers to shift the rubble to make the new road alignment. The picture at left shows the work site. Next is the drill rig in action, followed by a close-up of the rig and crew. On the right is a D8 hard at work on the loosened rock. |
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| The Sun Came Back ... |
| After the long winter darkness light returns to Ross Island, slowly at first and then very quickly. From total blackness in the middle of July to the end of October when there is 24-hour daylight, we gain about 20 minutes of extra light each day. This is the time of brilliant displays of light. The picture at left above is White Island, turned pink in the late afternoon light two weeks ago. A few days later, the horizon glowed to the north-east in mid-morning, shown in the second picture. The two pictures on the right are the same view taken two days apart - the first one at 8.30am and the second one at 7.00am - giving an idea of how fast the light is coming back. Below, on the left, is the first sun striking the top of Mt.Discovery, to the south-west. The middle view is the shadow of Mt.Erebus, cast by the sun below the horizon, on the small ice crystals floating in the air. The picture on the right is a group of people taking a walk to McMurdo, on the sea ice, on the second day of Winfly. |
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| Winfly |
| The first flights of the new season start at the end of August and usually are timed for the day of first sunrise. This year there were four flights scheduled and all were flown by C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. There was perfect weather over the whole weeks flying period and there were no boomerangs, (flights turned back). At left below is the C-17 on the deck following the first flight in. The middle picture is of cargo being unloaded from the tail door of the aircraft. The picture on the right was taken of the second flight leaving Pegasus airfield and appearing to pass over Mt.Discovery - an optical illusion caused by taking the picture 30 kilometres away at Scott Base. |
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| Some Other Cool Light Displays ... |
| During July, the biggest sun spot for some time caused a large geo-magnetic storm. As well as losing HF communication, due to disruption of the ionosphere, we were treated to the best display of auroras that some of us have ever seen. At the time, there was a bright moon in a cloudless sky. Despite this the displays could be seen quite clearly. The auroras were bright enough to be seen above the lights of both bases and for many at McMurdo this was the first time they had seen auroras. Both pictures are 30-second time exposures, which is why surrounding scenery can be seen clearly. Luckily these two auroras stayed bright for the time of the exposures. Quite a few that night were very transient and faded quickly. The top picture is looking south towards White Island, over the top of Scott Base. The bottom picture is looking towards the eastern end of Ross Island. |
| Nacreous clouds, (because they look like mother-of-pearl), are icy clouds formed in the stratosphere that refract sunlight. These normally show up when the sun is low on the horizon and the atmosphere is very cold. Therefore they are seen most often during late winter at Scott Base. Nacreous clouds are bad news for the ozone layer because they provide a bed for ozone-destroying molecules to work on the ozone. The pictures below were taken a few days ago looking north over Crater Hill. |
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| More About Scott Base ... |
| Electrical power for Scott Base is provided by diesel generators. We have three generators on base, only one of which is running at any given time. The main powerhouse has two generators and is normally providing power to the base. The auxiliary powerhouse has the standby generator and is used whenever work has to be done on the main generating plant. Each generator consists of a Caterpillar diesel engine and a 3-phase alternator that provide 225KVA. Waste heat from the generator exhaust heats a water loop to provide hot water and heating to the base. |
| The fresh water supply for the base is provided by a reverse osmosis water plant situated in the main powerhouse. The relatively small plant is capable of providing about 7,000 litres of water daily when run for the whole 24-hour period. Sea water drawn up from the Ross Sea is passed through membranes under pressure. This extracts the salt which is flushed back to sea. For drinking purposes, this water is then passed through a second stage. Water is stored in large tanks at the rear of the base and kept fluid by circulating it through the base continuously. |
| During the winter period, limited supplies of fresh salad vegetables are provided from a small hydroponics unit. While the quantities produced are not great, what we do produce is a very welcome addition to the winter diet. The plants also provide a small reminder of the real world. |
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| ... so there you have it ... a bit of a marathon, but hopefully you enjoyed it ... at least, if you read this far, you were interested. Until next time ... |