Anna McKee

Gas bubbles in a small section of ice core.

Thin sections of glacier ice are incredibly beautiful. I love to gaze into these clear windows filled with little bubbles; some spherical, others oblong, all holding ancient air.  The ice refracts light from its crystal faces into multiple planes of shimmering color. I see them as lovely sculptures, but scientists prepare them to study the physical properties of the ice core. I spent some time in the Arch at the WAIS Camp to learn a bit about this aspect of ice research with John Fegyveresi, who works with Richard Alley of The Pennsylvania State College.

Crystal grains can just be made out in this photo

He is at the WAIS field camp to prepare thin sections from every 20 meters of the ice core. These will be sent back to the National Ice Core Lab, where they will be photographed and measured in a variety of ways. One feature to quantify is the bubble number density. There is a measurable relationship between the density of the gas bubbles and temperature. John is developing a method of counting bubbles in a section as well as describing their shape using digital imaging and software. This information goes into a model with other data to reconstruct past atmospheric temperatures and further understand glacier movement and dynamics.

A section of ice being smoothed on a microtome

Watching him prepare his slides, I couldn’t help but think of myself and other artists in our studios creating lovely objects. He begins by shaving a section of the ice core with a microtome. The first smooth side is frozen to a glass plate with water, which doesn’t take very long in the Arch (kept at -27C degrees). The other side is then smoothed and glued with a special adhesive that works in low temperatures. The goal is to have a perfectly smooth seal of the glass to the ice. The slide is then carefully packed to be shipped with the other cores to the National Ice Core Lab in Denver. There the sections will be cut like an open face sandwich. One side will be used to study the gas bubble structure; the other side will be used to study ice crystal or grain qualities.

If you can't see the ice runway, then your plane will not come.

Many people here have stories of boomerangs, delays and canceled flights trying to get to or from Antarctica. So I must embrace my situation as a quintessential experience of visiting The Ice. I was originally scheduled to fly out of McMurdo Station for Christchurch, New Zealand on January 5th. This process began the evening before at “bagdrag”. All passengers (or PAX as we are called) literally drag their bags up the hill (or more likely get a shuttle ride) to check in. We must have our Extreme Weather Gear (ECW) in tow.  Checked bags are weighed first, then me, with my ECW and carry on bag in hand. That was the last time I saw most of my clothes and equipment.

Hiking around Discovery Point at night

The next day, I awoke to learn that my flight had been canceled earlier that morning, so took a walk around town, made what I thought would be my last sketch of Mt Discovery and explored Crary Lab and other nooks and crannies. I also got a chance to see the freezers that house the ice cores from the WAIS Project. To my great reassurance I was given the third degree before the cargo folks figured out who I was, why I might want to see the containers and took me out to see them. The freezers are checked at least 6 times a day to insure their function. From the moment they come off the plane from WAIS, to the moment they are loaded onto the ship northbound, they are cared for by cargo staff. It was great to chat with the friendly guy who happily showed me around the storage area.

Freezers full of very valuable cargo, bound for the United States

The next day, though conditions hadn’t improved, we were instructed to meet for transport to the ice runway. On the way out in the fabulous Ivan the Terra Bus, wind was blowing snow around and we all knew that this was a journey in futility. But the plane had left Christchurch and was a half hour away from the station. There was a sliver of hope that the wind would die down long enough for the plane to land. Especially since among other Distinguished Visitors (DV’s), Sir David Attenborough was aboard, coming to film on the continent. But the flight was aborted or “boomeranged” and returned to Christchurch.

This morning (January 7th) I woke to heavy snow fall and winds, though the plane was initially on delay, it was soon canceled again and I set about hand washing my meager collection of undergarments and am trying to keep myself entertained – hence this story. I also sketched the view from Crary Library again – when in doubt, look at something. Hopefully the clearing weather this afternoon sticks around and the next time you hear from me I will be in New Zealand.

Sketch of the Brown Peninsula and the Pyramid in the distance

On top of OB Hill, the Ross Ice Shelf and Black Island in the background. It's warmer here!

McMurdo Station – Happy New Year! I am working on a few blog posts for the new year, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the blog of a science graduate student Heidi Roop, who is working at WAIS.  She is sponsored by the Exploratorium in San Francisco and took great video equipment into the field. These will be posted once Heidi returns to McMurdo in February. Exploratorium:Ice Stories

December 31, 2009
WAIS Divide Camp at 79.47° S latitude, 112.06 W° longitude – high on the West
Antarctic Ice Sheet Plateau.

I am sending off 2009 with a flight out of WAIS Camp to McMurdo Station. It
will seem like the tropics to me since it is above freezing there. Though I
am sad to be leaving the WAIS community full of fabulous people, I am glad
that my flights are working out almost as scheduled.
Tomorrow there is a big music festival at McM called IceStock – too bad I
forgot my tie dye!
There are a couple of blogs in the hopper that will be posted in the next
few days AND PHOTOS!!!!!

Stay Tuned and Happy New Year!

There were 44 people at the WAIS Divide over the holiday weekend; camp
staff, ice core drillers, ice core handlers (who log and pack the ice), a
couple of scientists doing auxiliary research, and others organizing to set
up deep field camps on the West Antarctic Plateau. West Antarctica is beset
by storms and snow winter and summer, therefore, this established camp deep
on the plateau has become a launching point for accessing areas that are
difficult to reach otherwise.

A twin otter with ice penetrating radar equipment lands at WAIS for refueling

In order to maximize the short season here, the camp works 6 days a week,
sometimes through the entire week if things need to get done because of
weather or technical delays. When I arrived, the work schedule was
transitioning from one to three shifts. The first morning, most of the camp
ate together, but by the end of the week, the only times most of the camp
was in the galley at the same time was the Sea Level Party and Christmas.
Otherwise, folks are spread out and work in the drilling arch, the galley,
communications, outside on the winter storage areas, or grooming the runway
and camp. There is an elaborate variety of tasks to keep the camp habitable
in this environment. Every few days winds produce drifting that must be
leveled out to make the area passable on foot, ski-doo or planes.
Even with grooming, walking around is a bit of a workout. The snow is fine
and relatively hard, except that it is ever shifting with soft and firm
areas. It reminds me of walking on a beach. My foot sinks a bit into the
drifts and is firmer on the packed areas. Though the accumulation is high
here, the snow packs tight, so we never need snow shoes.

Footsteps left behind after a big wind

I spend as much time as possible walking or skiing around the camp. But I
always go inside before I would otherwise because of the cold, especially if
I am standing still drawing. I retreat to the Science tent with its small
desks where I can use my watercolors and computer. The graduate students and
other scientists come and go, working on papers, proposals or catching up on
email.
We have access to a very low bandwidth (56 bits/sec) server that uplinks to
a satellite approximately 5 hours every morning. So I can post these blogs
emails to family. Unfortunately, photos are too big to send through this
system, so I will post these once I return to McMurdo.
Speaking of my return, I am due to take a flight out of the camp tomorrow,
but the wind just picked up so it will likely be canceled. The flight
system here is a bit confusing to me, but unfortunately, it does not flex
with the weather, so I may not get back to McMurdo for several more days. I
will keep you posted! :-)