The Antarctic Sun, November 14, 2004 - United States Antarctic

12 Pages·2004·0.7 MB·English

Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program
November 14, 2004
With new gear,
traverse sets
sights on Pole
Story and photos by
by Kristan Hutchison
Sun staff
The South Pole traverse team drove
five tractors away from the ice runway
Nov. 11, with re-engineered gear,
revamped plans and a better under-
standing of the terrain they hope to
cross.
The route, indicated by a red line on
planning maps, crosses the Ross Ice
Shelf, climbs the Leverett Glacier to
pass over the Transantarctic
Mountains, and then continues across
the plateau to Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station. It’s a total of 1,600km
Photos by Emily Stone / The Antarctic Sun
Emperor penguins line up to dive into the water through a hole at Penguin Ranch on the sea ice and 3,000m elevation gain.
near McMurdo Station. Below, a penguin swims through the water beneath the sea ice. “The red lines go over places
nobody has ever stood before,” said
Scientists test
project manager John Wright. “The
only thing we know about it is it’s
white and cold.”
new tools to study
The last successful traverse from
the Ross Ice Shelf to the South Pole
was Edmund Hillary’s historic journey
emperor penguins
in 1958, when his team became the
first to drive to the Pole. Hillary’s team
was frequently slowed by deep snow,
By Emily Stone
large sastrugi and tractors falling into
Sun staff crevasses.
Studying emperor penguins in the winter is no easy task. It’s the kind of work that Despite all the challenges, the tra-
inspires memoirs with inauspicious titles like, “The Worst Journey in the World.” verse holds great potential for the
Paul Ponganis is hoping for better luck than than the memoir’s author Apsley Antarctic program. If the trial run
Cherry-Garrard had in 1911. He’s running a pilot project this summer that could even- shows it’s feasible, surface transport
tually let his team monitor penguins at Cape Washington over the winter. could carry enough fuel to the Pole
Ponganis, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is testing a custom-built cam-
each season to replace a number of
era that takes panoramic shots of the birds at Penguin Ranch four times a day. If the LC130 flights, making those flights
camera works this summer, he plans to try it at Cape Washington next summer, with available to take scientists into the field
the ultimate goal being a winter project, possibly the following year.
See Penguins on page 9 See Traverse on page 7
INSIDE Quote of the Week
Personal Web sites Never say ‘never’ “It’s cold down there. Are they
give peek at Ice life to Antarctica ... going to give you furs?”
- South Pole resident’s grandfather on
Page 3 Page 4 hearing his grandson was headed to Antarctica
www.polar.org/antsun
2 • The Antarctic Sun November 14, 2004
Ross Island Chronicles By Chico
Listen, leopard
Hello there. seal, you don’t
scare me.
Cold, hard facts
Palmer Station
Sits: On Anvers Island
Original site: Built in 1965
I’m an emperor So come on, bring it on. Present site: Moved there in 1968
penguin. We’re Let’s see what you got. Named for:American sealer
not afraid of Nathaniel B. Palmer who was, by
anything. some accounts, the first to see
Antarctica, in 1820
Rainfall: avg. 76cm a year
Latitude:64.5 degrees S., two
degrees north of the Antarctic Circle
Daylight:Year-round, ranging from
five hours in winter to 19 hours in
summer
Getting there: Only by ship
Accessible:Year-round, unlike
That’s right, chump. I just wanted to let you Pole and McMurdo
Where to watch the glacier calve:
You and me, know that you hooked a
From the fish tank-turned-hot tub
mano a mano. newborn orca and its
Worst environmental disaster:
mama looks pissed. When the Bahia Paraiso ran into a
reef near Palmer in 1989, ripping
open its hull and spilling 645,000
liters of fuel that created a slick over
30 sq. km.
Sources: The Idiot’s Guide to the Arctic and
Antarctic, Palmer Station guide, Lonely
Planet guide to Antarctica
The Antarctic Sunis funded by the National It’s a harsh cartoon Matt Davidson
Science Foundation as part of the United States
Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its primary
audience is U.S. Antarctic
Program participants, their fami-
lies, and their friends. NSF
reviews and approves material
before publication, but opinions
and conclusions expressed in The Sun are not
necessarily those of the Foundation.
Use:Reproduction and distribution are
encouraged with acknowledgment of
source and author.
Senior Editor:Kristan Hutchison
Editors: Brien Barnett, Emily Stone
Copy Editors:Karl Horeis, Hunter Slaton,
Wendy Kober, Amanda Barnett,
Rebecca Hollobon
Publisher:Valerie Carroll,
Communications manager, RPSC
Contributions are welcome.Contact The
Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo,
visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407. Me? Ten years for mailing a box with styrofoam
Web address:www.polar.org/antsun peanuts in it to Antarctica. And you...?
November 14, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3
Personal web sites share Ice with world
Here are a few Web sites by
Antarctic residents this year:
Beth Bartel, GPS specialist
Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun http://iceblog.puddingbowl.org
Mike Poole checks on his Web site, Antarctic Memories, at the computer lab at
McMurdo Station. Poole hosts a bulletin board on his site and frequently answers
questions about life on the Ice for many first-time U.S. Antarctic Program participants.
By Brien Barnett NSF.gov contain useful information about
Sun staff Antarctica, from quick facts to a photo
The international traveling sensation library of images from around the conti-
Flat Stanley can get no flatter than a nent. There are dozens of unofficial Web
bunch of electrons, but at Glen sites spawned each season by Antarctic
Kinoshita’s South Pole Web site, Stanley program participants. These sites typical-
may be at his coolest. ly include journals with daily entries and
Flat Stanley is a children’s book char- photo galleries. Some feature poetry and
acter who found he could travel the world music inspired by their creators’ experi- Zondra Skertich, VMF supply
through the mail if he was as flat as a ences on the Ice. www.zondra.org
sheet of paper. The winter season had Like the Flat Stanley page, nearly all
already started and flights discontinued the sites have some level of quirky Ice
when Kinoshita heard that a kid had sent behavior. For example, the opening page
him a Flat Stanley. With the original stuck of dining attendant Allison Barden’s site
somewhere in the mail, Kinoshita down- features a photo of her standing by the
loaded and printed off Flat Stanley, then McMurdo Station sign during a snow-
created a fun and extensive site about Flat storm in beach attire. It’s a far cry from
Stanley’s adventure at the South Pole. San Francisco where she lives when not in
As a wintering research scientist work- Antarctica. Her nickname, Sandwich, was
ing with weather and climate monitoring, earned by her custom of toting a sand-
Kinoshita had access to much of the sta- wich-shaped lunchbox everywhere she
tion. He used his access to create a fun site went. It carries over to the name of the
featuring photos of Flat Stanley working site: sandwichgirl.com. Glen Kinoshita, 2004 South Pole winterer
all over the station. Stanley even sported A few strokes of the keyboard will get http://gcrgweb.sdsu.edu/penguin/index.html
extreme cold weather gear similar to surfers to computer tech Holly Troy’s
Antarctic participants. It was a Flat Web site, southpoledudes.com. There,
Stanley follower’s dream come true and visitors can review dozens of photos from
showed off some of the station resident’s several seasons spent in Antarctica.
creativity during the long, cold winter. “It’s basically so people can live vicar-
Kinoshita is one of many people who iously through my pictures,” Troy said.
maintain Web sites and online journals During the week, Troy collects his
dedicated to their experiences in photographs and creates his Web pages.
Antarctica. Using the keyword On Sundays, he spends about 15 minutes
“Antarctica,” Google, MSN and other at the Coffee House updating his site from
search sites reveal tens of thousands of his personal laptop.
sites. The Ice can be explored online. Troy first came down to the Ice with a
USAP.org is the official United States friend in 2001 and the two were supposed
Antarctic Program Web site. That site and to work together on the site (hence the Allison Barden, prep cook - sandwiches
www.sandwichgirl.com
the Office of Polar Programs site at See Web on page 11
4 • The Antarctic Sun November 14, 2004
Perspectives sevitcepsreP
Ex-DA is done with the dishes
But he can’t escape the pull of Antarctica
By Phil Jacobsen
“I’ll be back.” That’s what Arnold
Schwarzenegger said in “The Terminator”
If there were an
and he meant it.
“I’ll never be back.” That’s what I said
English-to-Antarctica/
about Antarctica and I meant it.
When I finished my 2002-2003, 14- Antarctica-to-English
month stint as a dishwasher in McMurdo,
I burnt my blue shirt, pureed my Chefwear phrase book, the sentence
pants and flung my non-latex gloves into
construction debris. With more absolute “I’LL NEVER BE BACK,”
determination than that girlie man Arnold,
I’m here to tell you, I meant it when I said, would translate to, “See
“I’ll never be back.”
you next season!”
Guess what Mr. Governor—I’m back.
What are you going to do? Impeach me? Photo by Phil Jacobsen / Special to The Antarctic Sun
Never. Not in my lifetime. Or in the Phil Jacobsen holds up the toy given to him by a
lifetime of any item lost, petrified or 5-year-old girl in Salt Lake City.
frozen on this continent or in Mapcon did
Ivan the Terra Bus—the slow-moving, big- my return, the BFC said, “BFD you’re
I plan to return to Antarctica. And that my
wheeled version of mass transit, Antarctic back” and a plumber said, “Oh crap, we’re
friends, is the problem — I said, “Never.”
style—I had plenty of time to reflect on why knee deep in it now.”
It’s as though if you look up the word
I was never, ever going to return to Hey, it’s not just me. I’m seeing people
“Never” in the nearest Antarctic dictionary
McMurdo and I drew a blank. whom I thought I’d never see again.
the definition would say: 1. Certainly 2.
I looked at the volcano, Mount Erebus. Around the station I’ve run into a couple
You bet. 3. Can’t wait.
The lake of lava at the top of Erebus was of friends who, after spending six months
If there were an English-to-Antarctica/
pluming a long, streaking mist of steam in the dark said, “Never again.”
Antarctica-to-English phrase book, the sen-
across the sky. She was absolutely beauti- We had joy. We had fun. We had sea-
tence “I’LL NEVER BE BACK,” would
ful. For this reason alone, I should never sons in the sun. And then one really long,
translate to, “See you next season!” The
have said, “never.” The cross on Ob Hill long winter.
clichéd phrase, “I’ll only come back when
spoke to me of the history and the chal- The last time I was here I felt like I was
Hell freezes over” would mean the Devil
lenges others have seen in these parts. watching the worst reality TV show ever
was dressed in thermal insulated Carhartts
Soon, I thought, I’ll climb to that cross imagined, but it was my life. I washed
and his heat-burnt red skin was replaced
and apologize for prematurely saying dishes for 14 months.
with a Raytheon-issued Big Red Parka.
goodbye. The Royal Society Mountains The thrill of living at the bottom of the
One minute I’m landing in
were majestic. And McMurdo was world disappeared after watching the
Christchurch, New Zealand, onboard a C-
McMurdo. 1,143rd drain spin counter-clockwise in a
17 after spending about 13 months too
A wintering friend once described this windowless room 10 hours a day.
long as Madge the Dishboy saying “Never
little town of McMurdo in the darkness of I’ve left dishes in my apartment sink
again,” and the next minute it’s as though
noon as looking like “an all-night truck for nearly as long as I worked as a dish-
the New York Air Guard did a touch-and-
stop in Nebraska.” Well, this stop was now washer because of a hatred for all things
go and brought me right back for another
going to be home, again. Palmolive, dishpan hands, suds and hard
season.
Even though I’d made the decision to work. If I knew then what I know now,
“I’ll never see you again, Antarctica”
come back to McMurdo many months when I left Antarctica I would have said,
was quickly replaced with “I’ll C-17 you
ago, McMurdo hadn’t made peace with “I’ll be back.
soon.”
my return. Our safety manager saw me “BUT—This time … wash your own
After landing on the ice runway, I was
and said he thought it was a safe bet I’d dishes.”
whisked to the National Science Foundation
never return. The electricians were
Chalet for the “Welcome To Antarctica”
shocked to see me, the mechanics at the Phil Jacobsen works in the supply
speech: “Here’s a Thousand Ways for You
heavy shop dropped their trannies when I department at McMurdo Station. He has
to Die.” Since the “whisking” took place on
passed by, the carpenters were bored with also written for the Salt Lake City Weekly.
November 14, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 5
around the continent
SOUTH POLE 100 — have been collected so that experi-
ments can begin. Krill are plentiful right
Polies face cold and flu now as they congregate in groups beneath
the sea ice.
On Tuesday, Palmer Station waited for
By Brenda Everitt
the election results. Some people voted
Pole correspondent
before deployment and some voted by
They’re working around the clock at
absentee ballots sent from Punta Arenas,
South Pole Station now that people have Photo by Brien Barnett /The Antarctic Sun
Chile. They followed election updates and
become acclimated and settled into their Water vapor condenses into ice crystals, final results via the Web.
routines, despite a rash of the flu and polar fogging the air behind an LC-130 as it lands
On Wednesday, Brett Pickering, who
“crud.” at the South Pole.
works with Bill Fraser’s LTER Seabird
Temperatures have remained low. The
al hand lotion. Research group, gave a slide show on
average temperature for the week ending on
The situation seemed to be improving “Trekking in Suriname.” The photos fol-
South Pole Meteorology reports is about
slightly as of Wednesday. lowed his river journey through Suriname in
seven degrees lower than the usual temper-
In other news, the station plans to offer December 1996 to January 1997 to collect
ature for this time of year, based on records
support to the South Pole GPS reference parasites and miscellaneous invertebrates.
going back to 1958. Sundogs and halos
station for a Chilean-Brazilian expedition in On the Corantijn and Maratakka Rivers,
have been observed on several occasions
November and December. The planned their guides took him and five other travel-
since the beginning of November, and the
round-trip tractor traverse from Patriot Hills ers from the capital city of Paramaribo
low temperatures have continued to yield
to Pole will be making a contribution to through the roadless wilderness of
impressive contrails on the incoming and
ITASE, the International Trans-Antarctic Suriname. Brett showed slides of their
outbound airplanes.
Scientific Expedition. They will be collect-
Heavy equipment has been running
ing core samples and performing GPS and
around the clock in order to move snow
gravity measurements along the route.
away from the new station and dome areas,
Also, opportunities for working out, per-
and also to create several snow roads. One
sonal training sessions and swing dance
of the new snow roads will lead out to the
classes are increasing. Basketball, climbing
Dark Sector, where the Ice Cube project will
and other activities that take place in the
be busy setting up and drilling holes in the
gym are on hold until the stacks of outgoing
ice.
package mail can be loaded onto planes.
Soon after summer season kicked off, an
That will happen when the temperatures
outbreak of influenza-A and cold-like
ease and the contrails break.
symptoms knocked dozens of workers at Sun staffer Brien Barnett contributed to Photo by Cara Sucher / Special to The Antarctic Sun
South Pole Station off their feet for several Members of the Long Term Ecological
this report. Research team use the new aluminum boat to
days. While the station’s population hov-
cross through brash ice near Palmer Station.
ered around 220 for the week ending PALMER
Nov. 7, medical staff reported seeing more
camps, the wilderness and the wildlife of
than 100 people for various flu-like symp- Sea ice weakens
the area.
toms. Those who were thought to have the
Also this past week, Palmer held another
flu were asked to stay away from work, and
By Kerry Kells community event, the annual Tag and Bag.
some had their meals brought to their
Palmer correspondent Because Palmer Station receives a large
rooms. With so many sick, the station
A substantial calving of the glacier on number of cruise ship and yacht visitors, we
declared a half-day safety stand-down in
Anvers Island, behind Palmer Station, broke have a well-stocked station store. Tag and
order to give people there a chance to rest
apart the sea ice and sent cracks in all direc- Bag is a get-together to fold, tag and store
and get well. The station did not order a
tions like a spider’s web. However, the sea all the merchandise for the summer season.
quarantine as was rumored.
ice has continued to cling around station, The event becomes a party in which every-
The outbreak, though, did prompt repeat-
halting the efforts of the researchers to take one helps out. A barbeque behind the car-
ed messages from management and kitchen
samples from their station sites. Members of penter shop followed on Saturday
staff for personnel to wash their hands as
Langdon Quetin’s Long Term Ecological to celebrate Palmer Station’s successful
often as possible. This led to a new South
Research (LTER) project tested their dive ISO (International Organization for
Pole greeting: an elbow-to-elbow touch that
gear and were able to punch holes in the thin Standardization) certification.
replaced the hesitant handshake. Diners
ice for scuba diving. Enough krill — about
were greeted by two bottles of anti-bacteri- See Palmer on page 6
the week in weather
McMurdo Station Palmer Station South Pole Station
High: 21F / -6C High: 45F / 7C High: -39F / -40C
Low: -3F / -19C Low: 22F / -6C Low: -58F / -50C
Max. sustained wind: 46mph / 74kph Max. sustained wind: 39mph / 63kph Peak wind: 25mph / 40kph
Windchill: -40F / -40C Precipitation: 14mm Max. Physio-altitude: 3,366m
6 • The Antarctic Sun November 14, 2004
Palmer islands. The return proved to be an adven-
From page 5 ture as they spotted four orca whales near receiving satellite images aboard ship.
the island of Christine, including one that Those aboard thanked people in Denver and
Over the weekend strong winds brought swam under the boat. McMurdo who helped provide satellite
enough force to break up and soften the images in the interim.
sea ice around the station. While the ice SHIPS The NBPis now at sea again and headed
remains, it has weakened. On Monday, generally south toward the Ross Sea. Whale
several researchers borrowed a new alu- sightings were a bit more common in the
Nathaniel B. Palmer
minum landing craft from marine opera- relatively smooth seas, though fog limited
tions. Hugh Ducklow’s group managed to visibility at times.
get to Bonaparte Point across from Palmer Compiled from reports by Karl Newyear A swell, running from the southwest on
for plankton and water samples. His group After three weeks at sea, the Nathaniel B. Nov. 8, suggested weather was coming,
will take samples throughout the summer Palmerarrived in Timaru, New Zealand on which it did the next day, with winds of 35
season from there and a second sampling Nov. 6, and everyone enjoyed a chance to to 45 knots and 15- to 20-foot seas. The sea
site which is nearly two miles away. stretch their legs on dry land. Fueling began and spray made it nearly impossible to spot
Several of the scientists helped the two the next morning just after 8 a.m. and was marine mammals, though there were a few
seabird researchers and assisted them on completed by mid-afternoon. Meanwhile, seabirds around.
the islands of Torgeson, Litchfield, the ships crew received a number of cargo “The ship speed is correspondingly
Cormorant and Christine — all sites for items, including spare parts for the inopera- slower in these conditions and it sometimes
penguin and seabird counts. The “birders” ble TeraScan satellite receiving system. The seems like it’s taking forever to get back to
measured the snowfall and counted the electronic technicians were able to make the the ice,” wrote marine projects coordinator
penguins, skuas and cormorants at the necessary repairs and the NBP is again Karl Newyear.
Crossword: Antarctic Life
Across: 10. This life form demonstrates
2. A red crustacean found in large the symbiosis of algae and fungi.
quantities south of the Antarctic 11. The substance Antarctic fish
Convergence. produce, allowing them to live in
3. This seal is the southernmost cold water.
ranging marine mammal in the
Down:
world.
1. The largest of the Antarctic
4. Minute free-floating flora that
seals
form the base of the food chain in
2. A subantarctic penguin that has
the Southern Ocean.
similar markings to the emperor
5. A large, sharp-witted and obser- penguin
vant gull-like bird common in 3. This taxonomic order consists
McMurdo. of marine mammals that spend
6. A whale of the suborder odonto- their lives entirely in the water.
ceti found in Antarctic waters. 4. This seal ranges far out to sea
7. This whale composes complex and is a notorious predator.
vocalizations or “songs” that are 5. Fossils of this 230 million year
repeated year after year. old mammal-like herbivore are
8. The mysticeti suborder are found in Antarctica.
often referred to as _____ whales 6. Organisms living on or in the
9. This bird sometimes visits sea floor belong to the _______
McMurdo and has a bat-like flight. environment/community.
What do you miss from home?
“The smell of rain “Going out for a “I miss my wife
in the Alaskan drive.” because she works
rainforest.” at McMurdo and I
live at Palmer.”
Nicole Huck, Tony Black, Ken Navarro,
McMurdo janitor Pole meteorologist Palmer asst. supervi-
from Girdwood, from San Diego, sor of logistics from
Alaska, first season Calif., third season Connifer, Colo., 16
seasons
November 14, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 7
A Y-shaped
tongue attaches
fuel sleds to the
tractor that will
pull them on
the traverse,
allowing the
sleds to glide
on either side
of the tractor
tracks.
Traverse
From page 1 “They’re going to go as far as half their fuel or half
or bring other supplies to the Pole. The their time will allow them to go safely.”
French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and
- David Bresnahan,
German Antarctic programs all use traverses
McMurdo Station National Science Foundation representative
to bring supplies from the coast to inland sta-
tions or camps.
The goal of the three-year U.S. project is Glacier, the tractors turned around 320km our best efforts and thought about how we
to determine whether it is practical to haul short of the glacier’s base. were going to go out were just not going to
supplies to the South Pole over the ice. The However, the traverse took less than half work,” Wright said. “One hundred miles
original plan was to arrive at the South Pole the time to make the 680km return trip to down the road we said ‘that’s enough of
this year. At the annual planning conference McMurdo than it had taken on the way out, that. If we’re going to make any progress at
in May, Wright announced they probably demonstrating that the plan to break a trail all we’re going to have to start shuttling our
won’t make it that far. How far they do go that will be easier to travel could work, load.’ ”
will depend on how far they can get with Wright said. For every mile they went forward with
90,850 liters of fuel. half the load, the tractors had to go another
“They’re going to go as far as half their The first two years mile back and do it again with the second
fuel or half their time will allow them to go The traverse team exceeded their goals half of the load. The traffic did help compact
safely,” said David Bresnahan, the National the first year, finding and filling crevasses in the route and the return trip was twice as fast.
Science Foundation representative currently
the treacherous shear zone to create a safe
at McMurdo Station. Lessons learned
crossing. The shear zone is the section from
The first year went well, but last year soft
Minna Bluff to Cape Crozier where the In the intervening months, the traverse
snow bogged down the traverse. Instead of
Ross Ice Shelf comes roaring past the team has taken the lessons from last season
reaching their goal at the top of the Leverret
McMurdo Ice Shelf “like a freight train,” and turned them into improvements. Each
Wright said. member of the crew contributed ideas to
“If there were heroes in crossing the improve the fleet, Wright said.
shear zone, they were surely the dozer oper- One of the problems last year was with
ators who took an 86,000 (pound) D8 right the sleds being pulled behind the tractors.
up to the edge of the crevasses as they filled The skis on the sleds followed the tracks left
them full of snow and made them safe for by the tractors pulling them and plowed into
crossing,” Wright said. softened snow stirred up by the tractor’s
That first year, the traverse made it passage. This produced inordinate drag on
160km beyond their goal in two and a half the tractor. Initial field tests by traverse
days, but it was not far enough to prepare crews showed that on turns, when the sleds
them for what was to come in year two. rode out of the tractor tracks, they floated
In the second year, two days out of the lightly on the untracked, virgin surface.
shear zone, the sleds were caught in soft Later tests by engineers from the Cold
snow and several were knocked off their Regions Research and Engineering
carriages. The team remounted the sleds and Laboratory, CRREL, verified that the tow-
continued, but from then on much of their ing resistance with the skis outside the trac-
time was spent pulling vehicles out of the tor tracks was roughly half that of the skis
snow and making repairs. The team worked inside the tracks.
outside in pits dug in the snow to fix and “Did that affect our design for the com-
replace parts. ing year? You bet it did,” Wright said.
“Last year our heroes were surely our Traverse crews also noted that the front
mechanics, who saw us through day after tip of the skis acted like a plow, creating
day of planned and unplanned repairs and ridges that increased the problems further
maintenance,” Wright said. down the sled train. The crew determined
The soft snow continued for 400km, the problem was with the curve of the ski
making them think it was caused by a tip, which would work better with a more
Image courtesy of the South Pole traverse weather pattern particular to that area. gradual “decreasing radius curve” rather
The planned route of the traverse team
“When we encountered soft snow, we than the constant radius curve in use.
crosses crevasses, the Ross Ice Shelf, the
Leverett Glacier and the polar plateau. knew that all our load planning tools and all See Traverse on page 8
8 • The Antarctic Sun November 14, 2004
Traverse
From page 7
In March, the project crews met with CRREL engineers and
NSF representatives to consider design improvements. CRREL
engineers Jason Weale and Lever provided a description of the
desired curve for the ski tips, and master sled-maker Herb Setz
from Alberta, Canada, designed the ski to implement that curve.
Some of the plastic-lined skis also were widened and length-
ened. On some of the sleds the skis were moved farther apart so
they will run to the outside of the tractor tracks. The fuel sleds,
which originally ran one behind the other like train cars, have been
attached to a Y-shaped tongue so two fuel tanks can glide side by
side, each on one side of the tractor tracks.
In all, four of the sleds have the new skis. The others still have
the old skis. The traverse will use both this year to determine which
truly work better, and if the cost of getting all new skis is worth- Heavy equipment operator Judy Goldsberry checks a tractor
while. Another Challenger tractor was added to the lineup of vehi- as the South Pole traverse team prepares to leave Nov. 11.
cles, bringing the total to five tractors pulling 13 sleds.
New challenges continue to appear. The ice the traverse crosses
is always moving and chang-
ing. A 15cm-wide crack they
“We’re building this
found the first year, dubbed
“Baby,” has grown to 76cm route across the
wide since then. Last year, five
Ross Ice Shelf, but
new crevasses had opened in
the shear zone. This year the the Ross Ice shelf
total is up to nine new ones,
along with five older crevasses is a dynamic piece
that show signs of widening.
of ice.”
“We’re building this route
across the Ross Ice Shelf, but - John Wright,
the Ross Ice Shelf is a dynamic
project manager,
piece of ice,” Wright said.
South Pole traverse
The marker they’d set at a
point 160km beyond the far Heavy equipment operator Brad Johnson secures blocks to the
side of the shear zone at the end of the first year had moved nearly tongue of a sledge. Behind him is John Penney, who is work-
a kilometer when they returned 10 months later. The Ross Ice Shelf ing on a tractor.
at that point moves almost 2m a day in a northeast direction, while
the shear zone moves about 1m daily, mostly north.
Even when they reach the other side of the shear zone, the tra-
verse isn’t home free. Satellite imagery and an aerial flight to close-
ly examine the route showed potential crevasse areas on the Ross
Ice Shelf, at the base of the Leverett Glacier, and as they climb the
glacier, Wright said. The traverse planners moved the red route line
they’ll follow to avoid some of those crevassed areas. A ground-
based radar system extended in front of a PistenBully warns the tra-
verse vehicles of other crevasses in time to stop and assess them.
Heading out
After a month of preparations at McMurdo Station, the traverse
team was ready to go. The eight-member traverse crew includes
three heavy equipment operators, Richard Vaitonis, Judy
Goldsberry and Brad Johnson; two mechanics, Russ Magsig and
John Penney; mountaineer Mike Roberts; CRREL engineer Russ
Alger and project manager Wright.
They’d written “thuh list,” as they call it, and checked it more
than twice to make sure they have all the spare parts and supplies
needed.
“We have a lot of experience in the repair business from last
year,” Wright said.
Wright compares the traverse to the mule trains that used to
carry supplies to his hometown of Silverton, Colo., back when it
was a rough-and-tumble mining town; or, to the caravans of camels
carrying goods across the desert.
“All of them have in common not just the distance they’re cross-
Mechanic Russ Magsig sits in the bunkroom, where the eight
ing, but the need to take something someplace it’s needed,” Wright
members of the traverse team sleep.
said. “This is what our project’s all about.”
November 14, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 9
Photo by Emily Stone / The Antarctic Sun
Penguins swim below the sea ice near their dive holes. This view is from the underwater observation tube at Penguin Ranch.
Penguins testing platform to make sure everything is Hansen and assistant Jeff Blair built the
From page 1 working so we have the best chance of penguin camera, which can pan across an
success when we put them on the birds at area and take 16 pictures in a cycle. These
The unmanned camera would let scien- Cape Washington,” Ponganis said. pictures are either stitched together to create
tists record the birds’ behavior when they a panoramic view of the penguin colony or
return to the colony in March and April – Strike a penguin pose used to create a series of close-ups. An
something which researchers know little Kathi Ponganis, Paul’s wife and fellow example of a panoramic picture is on dis-
about. The camera also would allow scien- researcher, said she is normally skeptical of play at Crary Lab.
tists to understand how sea ice conditions high-tech science meant to replace human The camera is sitting near Penguin
relate to the date the penguins return to the observations. Ranch now, snapping away. The pictures are
colony site, and to the overall success of “I’m hesitant about gee-whiz science,” stored on a one-gigabyte flash memory
the colony in a given year. It could also she said. “I think boots on the ground are the card, which the scientists will retrieve at the
provide continuous observations of the way to do it. But the emperor penguin lives end of the camera’s anticipated three-month
movement and huddling patterns of the in such a harsh environment that it’s just not test run. The camera needs to weigh less
colony during the winter and spring. possible.” than 50 pounds so it can be backpacked into
The camera is one of four devices being Winter observations with a camera won’t a colony, and has to be sturdy enough to
tested at Penguin Ranch this season. The endanger people, who would otherwise withstand a tough hike, which means no
second is a sensor that will show how the have to suffer through the cold and dark- fragile solar panels. It runs off battery
birds regulate oxygen during long dives. ness, she said. power, which has to last the full three
The study could shed light on how humans The Ponganises asked Tony Hansen of months. The main batteries are conserved
handle oxygen depletion. The scientists Magee Scientific Company to make the because the camera only “wakes up” every
also are testing a new recorder that will camera. Hansen is principle investigator on six hours to take its round of pictures,
give a three-dimensional account of a pen- another project and an engineer who has Hansen explained, and then goes back to
guin’s dive instead of the current sensors made specialized equipment for a number sleep until it’s time for the next set.
that only record depth, not direction. And of Antarctic projects, including an underwa- If the camera proves itself a success in
they’re experimenting with a camera that ter camera that is being tested this season. the summer, Hansen will try to modify it.
will show what the penguins eat underwa- He said he enjoys asking scientists what “The real test is to set up a camera that
ter. their challenges are in the field. could go through a winter,” he said. “The
Penguin Ranch is a corral on the “I’d say, ‘I think I could come up with a technological challenge is much more
McMurdo Sound sea ice that holds about a gadget to do that for you,’” he said. daunting.”
dozen emperor penguins. The birds waddle
around inside the fence and have two div- See Penguins on page 10
ing holes to slide into when they get hun-
gry. They have to return to those holes
when their swim is over because there
are no other holes close enough
for them to reach. The setup
gives the scientists a way
to experiment with
devices before
using them in the
field.
“Penguin Ranch
is really sort of a
10 • The Antarctic Sun November 14, 2004
Penguins
From page 9
The camera would have to withstand
temperatures down to –57C. That’s a hur-
dle given that batteries tend to shatter
below –46C. Hansen said he’s working on
a strategy to solve that problem. The cam-
era would also likely be set to an astro-
nomical table so it would snap pictures
when the moon is out, to provide some
illumination in the polar night.
Making due with low O2
While the camera is sitting in the snow
doing its job, the researchers at Penguin Photo courtesy Kathi Ponganis / Special to The Antarctic Sun
A camera nicknamed “R2D2” is staked out beside emperor penguin researcher Kathi
Ranch are busy working with the birds.
Ponganis as she observes the colony at Beaufort Island. The camera, which is being tested
Researchers are interested in penguins
at Penguin Ranch, is designed to take regular photos in the field for up to three months.
in large part because they are such excel-
lent divers. They routinely stay underwa-
ter for five to 12 minutes and dive 500m
Giant icebergs continue to hamper Ross Sea colonies
deep. The longest recorded emperor pen-
guin dive was 22 minutes.
By Emily Stone found a good piece of flat ice to claim as
The key to diving for any animal,
Sun staff their own.
whether a penguin or a human, is how well
In addition to their work at the Penguin “The birds that are there seem to be
it uses the oxygen stored inside its body
Ranch this summer, Paul Ponganis’ team doing pretty well,” he said.
while underwater. Penguins are able to
is monitoring the recovery of the emperor Not so at Beaufort Island as B-15 has
stay underwater when their oxygen levels
penguin colonies at Cape Crozier and effectively blocked the birds’ route to open
are so low that it would cause humans to
Beaufort Island. water. The colony is at about 25 percent its
pass out, Ponganis said. The team at
The enormous iceberg known as B-15 normal population, and Ponganis’ team
Penguin Ranch wants to better understand
ran into Cape Crozier in 2001 and then found more than 300 dead chicks there last
how the birds accomplish this. They are
lodged there, devastating the emperor month.
using sensors to monitor the level of oxy-
colony. The chicks were somewhat developed,
gen in the animals’ blood as they dive.
“All we found were a few dead chicks which leads Ponganis to believe that the
Part of the penguins’ strategy is to slow
and dead adults who had starved to death,” parents had been able to feed the chicks
down their heart rate underwater.
Ponganis said of the 2001 season. It’s not initially, but then got stuck at sea when the
Research in previous years shows that the
known if the birds abandoned the colony open water around the colony closed up.
birds’ heart rate starts at 150 to 200 beats
because they couldn’t get to it or if they “I think they had a difficult time getting
per minute just before a dive and then
were smothered in the ice. back to feed their chicks,” Ponganis said.
immediately drops to 50 or 60 beats per
The colony is at about 20 percent its The team will continue to monitor the
minute underwater.
normal population this year, Ponganis effects of the large icebergs on the colonies
“As soon as it hits the surface, boom, it
said, and the penguins finally seem to have over the coming seasons.
goes back up again,” Ponganis said.
This is exactly the opposite of what
humans do. Our heart rate goes up as we Human tissue is damaged if it is de- hunting strategies. The monitors will also
exercise and falls back down when we’re
prived of oxygen for a period of time and record speed, acceleration and stroke fre-
done. then has oxygen-rich blood come back quency to see how much work the birds do
A penguin’s heart rate is tied into its use into it. This causes biochemical changes while diving.
of oxygen during a dive. The birds store that severely harm the tissue by oxidizing A separate diving camera will record
more than half their oxygen in their mus-
it. Antioxidants can prevent this. A what the birds are eating underwater. This
cles, with the rest split between their blood researcher is at Penguin Ranch for part of will give researchers a fuller idea of which
and lungs. Humans, on the other hand, the season specifically to study antioxi- species of fish and squid the emperors feast
store most of their oxygen in the lungs. dants in the birds. upon and how much of each species they
When the birds are underwater, their
eat. The goal is to put the cameras on birds
hearts don’t have to race in order to pump Spying below the surface at Cape Washington next year to see what
oxygen to their swimming muscles. the birds eat during their deepest, 500m
“There’s no need for them to have a The scientists are also hoping to get a dives, which they only do at sea.
high heart rate because they don’t need to bird’s eye view of dives this year.
“What they’re eating out there, no one
deliver oxygen (to muscles),” Ponganis Katsufumi Sato with the University of knows,” Ponganis said.
said. “It’s already there.” Tokyo will test a device that gives the sci- Understanding the penguins’ role in the
The oxygen sensors will help Ponganis entists a three-dimensional picture of where food chain helps scientists more fully under-
and his team better understand this the penguins go when they leave the sur- stand the ecology of the Ross Sea, Ponganis
process. face. Previously, scientists had to settle for a said.
Their results could help doctors with simple measurement of how deep the birds
patients whose organs or tissues have been dived.
NSF-funded research in this story: Paul
deprived of oxygen, as happens during a The researchers will be able to see at Ponganis, Scripps Institution of
heart attack or stroke, or when an organ is what angle the birds are swimming, which Oceanography,
transplanted. will tell them much about the penguins’ http://antarctic.ucsd.edu/index.htm