McMurdo 2

   I took a hike around the large pile of volcanic dirt and scree that is the aforementioned obs. point.  It was so bitter cold, but nonetheless enjoyable.  I don't recall the exact temperature, but it has typically been in the positive numbers.  The problem is the wind.  The slightest breeze seems to amplify the cold so much more than anywhere I've ever been.  During the hike, we rounded the hill on pretty unstable scree to face directly into the winds blowing from across the frozen sound between Ross Island (where McMurdo sits) and the mainland of the continent.  I had just purchased from the McMurdo store a wind blocking face mask and the biting wind on my face hastened my decision to put it on right then, which required removing the hood on my issued giant down parka and my warm hat.  So I ended up feeling the bitter wind on my bare head for just a moment and it was probably the coldest experience of my life.  I now have a very hard time imagining the people who stay here through the winter.  The stories are that if you have any exposed skin while walking outside in the winter during certain times, you have about 5 minutes before you get frostbite.  They use an interesting weather code system here that has three stages.  Condition 3 is when you can do outside activities and it is generally pleasant, condition 2, the trails close and if you walk outside you must be accompanied by someone else, condition 1 means no matter where you are, you stay put and cannot go outside.  One guy I talked to said, "If you don't dress appropriately and you go outside, you die."  Thats quite humbling.  So far my entire visit here has been condition 3 including my trail hike which was still freezing.  The hike was fun though despite the cold wind.  It took us closer to the sea ice at certain points and had a few views of Weddel Seals laying lazily about near a pressure ridge that had cracks exposing the water beneath.  Pressure ridges occur when wind and currents push the ice from different directions and the ice buckles and cracks and presses up in places making a ridged appearance.  Its very interesting to see since they don't typically occur on frozen lakes as they need lots of surface area from which the wind and currents can push it.  At one of the last points near the sea ice, a few us stopped to observe a break in the ice right at the shore where waves were surfacing from underneath (which I can only assume is from the wind pressing down on the ice and surging water against the shore), and when we stopped talking for a moment you could hear the ice creak.  It actually made both low and high pitched moaning and groaning just like the passage from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, "The ice was here, the ice was there, the ice was all around: it cracked and growled, and roared and howled, like noises in a swound!"  Swound is an old way to say swoon.  It is an amazing sound to hear.  I tried to get a video, but the audio only really picked up the high pitched creak and only minorly.


Hiking group around obs. loop getting closer to the sea ice



  





Hole in the ice at the shore

 


Departing C17 plane as seen from the hike

 


Antarctic jacuzzi

 


Interesting wind blown snow scape

 


Lounging seal



   Robert F. Scott, the person in command of the second group to reach the South Pole, only days after the first group, built a hut on Ross Island in 1902 that is still there and is just on the outskirts of McMurdo down by the ice pier where ships dock.  Tragically Scott and the 4 that made it to the pole with him, perished on the return trip in a severe storm.  The cold and the Antarctic program have both contributed to keeping the hut intact.  We were given the chance to have a look inside the hut and its well preserved state.  There were still pants hanging up on clothes line and seal blubber and furs still on the shelves.  There were all sorts of tins and boxes with odds and ends and a fire place that had the back bones of seals on the burners.  Outside, there is even the still intact carcss (though cracked and dried out) of a seal.  The cold and conservation efforts have allowed the artifacts to not decay nearly at all



Scott's hut



Seal Carcass outside Scott's Hut

 


Preserved furs on the table in the hut



   Along the area near the hut, there are a couple of memorial spots that have been erected to different people that have died in the harsh conditions here.  The area of the memorials is another neat little hiking spot with great views of McMurdo and the sea ice.  Here is where the Ice pier is that our ship, the Palmer, will dock.  Now when I say ice pier, I mean there has been a solid piece of ice that has been lashed to the shore with a bridge across to it, with mooring points for the ship and enough space to load all necessary equipment and the heavy machinery required to move it all around.  I was filming a spot where a break in the ice near the pier was surging water, when a little weddel seal popped up out of the water and swam around for a few minutes.  They are such interesting creatures, and it looked so at home in such visibly cold water (the shallow water is very light blue when ice can be seen below the water and just is one more visual cue of the water temperature aside from the ice on the surface).  At the same point, a lone Adelie penquin could be seen farther out on the ice, making his way a rather long distance across the ice to a nearby break.  Seeing this penquin walk a relatively large distance in a rather short time makes me wonder a bit about penquins in zoos.  At the exact same time and place, a bird that is about as large as a small penguin and looks like a cross between a seagull and an albatross call the Skua flew around and landed not far from where I stood.  Three of the famous Antarctic animals all in one place at once seemed a little surreal to me, but sure enough it happened.  This place really is incredible.




Adelie Penguin

 


Skua