McMurdo Station Arrival

   I've now made it down to McMurdo Station, one of the United States Antarctic bases.  The flight was so interesting.  We took an older C17 Airforce cargo plane that has been adapted to hold a lot of passengers.  Boarding procedures were still suprisingly similar to other airplanes except that we were required to be dressed in our issued ECW gear (Extreme Cold Weather).  The interior is still very much a cargo plane and many of the mechanisms are visible.  When boarding we were all given ear plugs due to how loud the plane would be.  There were several rows of normal forwarding facing seats near the front followed by a middle section of seats against the wall facing the interior and two rows along the middle of the plane facing the exterior.  In the rear of the plane were more normal forward facing seats.  During most of the flight, everyone was more free to get up and move throughout the cargo hold.  There were only small port windows on the exits, but you could freely get up and glance through them.  At one point, I touched some metal near the window and found it was freezing as there was little insulation between it and the exterior of the plane.

Inside the C17

Antarctic Mountains through the rear starboard view port of the C17

   We touched down on a sea ice runway at about 3:00 pm New Zealand time on Monday the 14th (8:00 pm Sunday the 13th Central time) to what we were told was -11 degrees.  It certainly didn't feel that cold.  Perhaps they were telling us degrees Celsius.  It was still freezing of course; about 12 degrees Farenheit.  I was glad to be wearing the ECW gear already.  Upon leaving the plane the scene was absolutely breath taking.  We were surrounded in every direction by miles mostly flat white sea ice fields framed in all directions by distant mountains shrouded in white but streaked slightly with gray far out on the horizon.  We were hurried along into large orange all terrain vehicles that could have driven over any terrain in its path.  Along the bumpy 30 min. ride to McMurdo station, nestled on the edge of Ross Island in the Ross sea, we saw almost immediately our first penquins just sitting right off the flagged ice road.  Perfect views of the nearby active smoking volcano, Mt. Erebus, could be seen the entirety of the ride.

Myself, the ECW gear, and the C17 plane on the sea ice runway

Transport vehicles with a smoking Mt. Erebus in the background

   McMurdo is situated on the edge of the island in a very interesting self contained village that houses upwards of 1,000 people at times.  Large supporting structures can be seen every where such as giant white cylindrical fuel tanks on the outskirts of the so called "Mactown"; a stark contrast to the dark volcanic dust and scree upon which the town sits.

   After the usual tours, briefings, and orientations we got our first taste of the cafeteria, which is just awesome.  Lots of choices and many of them healthy.  After that, many of us proceeded up the very near mini-mountain, obs point, a very steep small mountain made up of all volcanic ash and scree (though not volcanic itself).  It was a a tough but short climb, and the sites from there were absolutely amazing even at a very sunny 10:00 at night.  The sun does not set at all right now.  I've seen similar in Alaska during my mountaineering class, but at least there it dipped below the horizon for an hour or so in a soft twilight light.  Here it merely dips from its circular path around the horizon but never falls below it.

Obs. Point

McMurco looking down from Obs. Point

   Unfortunately our brief week in Antarctica puts us into a temporary housing dorm that is referred to as "the man camp".  It is a single long room with 12 bunks in it housing up to 24 in one room with very little room for baggage (all of us have 2 or more medium to large bags). It will be an interesting arrangement until the Palmer (research vessel) arrives and we can move into our staterooms on the 17th, followed by two or more days of loading and setup of instruments, computers, and work and analysis stations.  Nonetheless, it is incredible to be here on a continent that few visit and many don't ever care to.  Such an extreme environment.

The station sign with an ice pier for the ship and the ill fated explorer Robert F. Scott's original 1902 hut in the background (both right side of photo)