One of the more interesting, different, risk laden projects we're doing this year is in the helicopter world. There is a Danish project called skyTEM that began flying here last week. It is a huge array slung beneath one of our Bell 212's that is being used to image the ice, the underlying water, sediments, soil and bedrock in order to determine what is happening within the ground beneath our feet--similar to the way a CT scan is a non-invasive glance beneath our skin without leaving a mark. That majority of the project work will be flown in the Dry Valley's here, focusing on Taylor Valley, Taylor Glacier and later the Barnes Glacier here on Ross Island.
The surrounding area map
Day 1 began with the assembly of the array itself. The scale of this is huge. It's about 100' long x 60' wide and flown on a 100-150' long line depending on the amount of background "noise" generated by the helicopter. The team assembled the antenna like a giant erector set you had as a kid, except its made out of Kevlar and the size of your house.
The giant erector set during assembly
Close up of the Kevlar construction
The frame and rigging on ice
Once we looked it over and gave the okay, one of the Bell 212's flew down with its crew for a closer look and for an onsite brief of how this was going to be flown. The gear was tested to ensure the array was "talking" to the helicopter providing track and altitude guidance in reference to its desired route of flight. The operation is like non-other that had been flown prior here and was new ground on many fronts. Lot's of eyes were watching as this was the culmination of many, many months of preparation and work prior just to get the project down here.
Preflight inspection of the rigging
On liftoff, its a delicate, slow and controlled ascent as the initial inspection of all the rigging in-flight is accomplished by the ground handler. Once cleared, the helicopter continues to climb out of its low hover to near 100' tensioning all the lines.
Initial hoist of the rigging.
We have liftoff! 1st calibration flight underway, up to 3000' now.
Once airborne the rig hangs at an angle. With forward velocity, it generates lift, flies level and can be adjusted to an ideal speed based on the quality of the data and wind conditions. For the initial testing, the rig needs to be flown up to around 3,000' above ground in order to get a baseline signal clear of any background "noise" and be able to determine the fingerprint of the helicopter's electromagnetic signature.
Once complete and operational the flight profile of the rig is to be flown dual piloted at 100' above ground level (AGL) over a challenging valley environment with sloping terrain and glaciers. Throw in random 50 knot down-valley winds and things get interesting.
The view from below
In-flight preparing to either land or net the helicopter below
All in all it was an extremely successful day. A couple minor adjustments had to made to the rig and off they went the next day to begin flying the rig throughout the Taylor Valley for the next 2 weeks.
Another report to follow from Lake Fryxell where the team is camped out of currently. Stay tuned for more...
As I've alluded to in other posts and if you are unaware, Ross Island is rich with history. Names like Ross and Shackleton are everywhere. When expeditions began venturing further and further south some 150 years ago they determined at some point they would need to winter over through the harsh elements on the continent. This island is effectively as far south as you can travel via ship if the sea ice is broken up enough.
Here at McMurdo, is where one of these permanent structures lies, preserved perfectly for the past 110 years in the dry, arid air this continent offers. The sight is known as Discovery Hut, named after the Discovery, Scott's first expedition ship. The hut was built in 1902, and acted more like a storage or logistics hub and part time laboratory. The party used the ship for their quarters. Other huts on the Island (Cape Evans, etc) are larger and purpose built for sleeping.
Scott's Discovery Hut
As stated earlier, these huts were left as they were the day these parties went out on their often ill fated journeys. Even on the outside, are stored tents, skis and seal carcasses (for food, lamp oil, etc). The true museum is on the inside however.
A seal carcass draped atop a stack of mountain tents
The seaward facing side of the hut
Centennial plaque commemorating the historic site
The huts are historic sites. Locked up for their protection and preservation. The entry is controlled by the National Science Foundation here and tours are extremely limited as the natural wear of foot traffic damages the wood floors inside. I was lucky enough to get on one of the open tours this season yesterday.
Upon entry to the hut
Once inside the threshold, I was instantly transported by 100 years. There's not much more I can say than look at what is inside. Stacks of dry stores on the shelves, clothing hung up to dry on clothes lines, the smell of seal blubber permeated the wood around us.
The site is being preserved / conserved by Antarctic Heritage Trust which is painstakingly restoring and cleaning all the huts on the island for future study. Follow that link or further details here.
So all in all a very amazing glimpse back in time, stepping on the same floorboards as Scott's Discovery Expedition, Shackleton's Nimrod expedition and Scott's failed Terra Nova Expedition was an experience to be remembered.
When it's not too windy here, one of the most fantastic views of the surrounding area is from atop Observation Hill, or "Ob Hill" here at McMurdo. It's about an 800' promontory next to town, which is an old volcanic cone off of neighboring Mount Erebus.
A view to the northeast of Mounts Erebus, Terra Nova and Terror
It's a good place to help clear the mind a bit, too. Views for a hundred miles on these clear days are great. The sea ice runway is at the base of the hill as well so when flight ops are going on its nice place to take in the big picture of the logistics of how we work here.
Annual Sea Ice Runway (NZIR) at Mcmurdo (C-17, LC-130's in photo)
"Green" Antarctica. We've got wind, and lot's of it.
A Bell 212 transiting through the tower airspace at the Sea Ice Runway
C-17 departing for Christchurch, New Zealand.
Atop Ob Hill is one of many memorial crosses spread across the continent. This is "Scott's Cross" memorializing Sir Robert Falcon Scott's party that perished on their return from South Pole in March of 1912. The parties names are inscribed in addition to a short quote from the Alfred Tennyson poem "Ulysses", which reads "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Concisely summarizing the tragedy.
Sunday. A day of rest. The day off in town. Folks try to enjoy themselves, let their hair down a bit, for some maybe wash their hair for the week. This place can be a little granola and very green which is great but sometimes people need to introduce themselves to a bar of soap for the sake of the masses here. I digress...
Sunday, a day of rest....and exploring a little. I went over to Crazy Laboratory for their weekly tour of what's going on in the wonderful world of science. Its a huge 3 tiered lab set up for all the science teams to work in before, during and after their field work is complete. It's a very impressive set up according to the folks working in there. At a glance I'd have to agree.
Our tour guide, one of the lab supervisors
Smile! Who knew those cute little seals had chompers like this!
Meteorites--the continent is full of them. Easy to spot too as big black rocks on white ice.
Sea urchin hanging out as part of an ocean acidifacation study
No sea urchins were harmed during the production of this blog...
A starfish and his sea spider friend hamming it up for the camera
I think I ate 6-7 of his beer-battered cousins for dinner tonight
So after the Crary Lab tour I hiked out to Hut Point to check out some critters that poked up through a crack in the ice. A couple of HUGE Weddell Seals that decided to come up and sun themselves for the afternoon.
These guys are probably 10 feet long each and probably 1000 lbs each.
Catching some rays on the sea ice of Mcmurdo Sound
One of the many memorial crosses of Ross Island
After hiking out to the point and back, I decided to give cross country skiing a whirl. Never did it before. Big alpine skier. Sure lets try something new. We have free gear rental, 5,400,000 square miles of ice and snow. Should be a good match! My first mistake was delaying my decision to rent until late yesterday. Choice was limited. My second was letting someone convince me to grab a pair of skate skis over traditional. Apparently there is a large difference I learn after the fact and while traditional is not as exciting it is definitely EASIER than skating. So I probably did about 3 miles total. I punted after a mile and half of frustration. I told my friends to go on with their workout because they were waiting every 10 feet for me to get up off my butt. It was fun but frustrating. Now I am crazy sore. I am hoping the traditional skis work out better for me.
Greetings from the Ross Ice Shelf!
Skiing past the ramp area of the Sea Ice runway (NZIR) at Mcmurdo along with LC-130, Basler and Twin Otter aircraft
So at least the views out on the ice shelf are beautiful so I can take away something positive because I think I will be negatively reminded of my experience each time I sit this week! I'm not too proud to take tips if anyone has any! I hope everyone has a great week! This week flew--I hope they keep ticking away like this one.
