He's baaack!

It's shower day!

It’s so difficult to describe what Antarctica is like. Rugged. Beautiful. Cold. Dry. White. Windy. Cold. Quiet.

But one thing I hadn’t appreciated is that it's not smelly. There’s no vegetation, very little life, and it's so cold and dry that some days it seems the only reason to have a nose is for the nosebleeds. Someone explained it to me once that because it's so dry and/or cold, our nasal passages don't work as well here. I'm not sure if that's the reason, or if it's that there's nothing to smell. 

Which is ok since we are encouraged to limit the number of showers we take so that we conserve water. McMurdo Station is located on Ross Island, formed by an active volcano in the Ross Sea, some 30-40 miles off the continent. Since we are surrounded by water (granted, the top 50 feet or so is frozen) the easiest way to get water for drinking, dishes and showers, is to pull it out of the Ross Sea, warm it up, desalinate it, and pump it through the plumbing. All that takes a lot of energy. Water is one of the most expensive resources here when you figure in all the energy used. We have wind turbines that provide maybe a half of our energy but we still burn a lot of fuel in generators. To reduce the amount of energy we need to generate, we conserve as much as we can. We have motion sensor light switches so lights aren’t left on, the housing office plans sleeping arrangements carefully so that we don’t heat any more buildings than we need to, and we conserve water.  

And so, when shower day rolls around, it’s a real treat to take a hot (though short) shower. But it’s not like anyone can tell I smell that bad anyway.

The View

We've had a couple stormy days which cleared out overnight and have left us with a view much like this one from a couple years ago. It's clear, sunny and gorgeous today.

The buildings are set up for an "Ice Runway" which will be open for just a few more days. By the end of the week, they expect the ice will be too thin to hold the airplanes that are arriving so they'll move the runway out to the permanent ice shelf an hour or so away from McMurdo.

The mountains in the background are from the Royal Society Range and pictures cannot do them justice. I remember when I saw the Grand Canyon first I could hardly believe it was real. These mountains rival that sight. They are about 30 miles away on the mainland (we're living on an island just off the coast of the continent) and are sometimes blurred by the winds. Today they are clear.

On the current Ice Runway, a modified Airbus will land shortly with a few more summer residents of McMurdo. A couple dozen winter-overs will leave on this plane, almost the last of the people who have been here since February. I had lunch with three of them who are looking forward to family, friends, more traveling, and the color green. There's not so much for plant life here, so that's one of the things people miss.

The flight is about to land, so I'm off to meet the new residents and welcome them (back) to McMurdo.

How I turned 40

McMurdo Station in Antarctica, is set up for science and research much of which is based in the Crary Science Center here. On Sunday afternoons, they offer a guided tour and so the afternoon of my 40th Birthday, I toured the lab including a “touch tank.”

The Ross Sea – which we border at McMurdo – is home to some odd biology that draws divers into these frigid waters. Occasionally, they bring up a few creatures and some lucky folks get to touch them. In the tank this Sunday were several shrimp, sea stars, sea spider, a weird snail, a few corals, and a gigantic sea louse. These things are usually too small to see without a microscope, but in the cold waters off Antarctica, they and many other creatures grow to much larger sizes. This guy was about the size of my hand.

Oh, I wore the princess crown on a bet since it was my birthday. Walked around station for a while, and at lunch, with it on. The folk here are so eclectic that several didn’t think it was strange to wear it…

Weather

The view outside my window this morning. If I squint, I can see the flight line, but not the mountains which are my normal view.

Shaken

In Sept 2010 and then again in February 2011, Christchurch, New Zealand was rocked by significant earthquakes. The City Center was destroyed and several landmarks are gone. Today was my first chance to visit and it felt odd to bike through the beautiful and lush Hagley Park hearing jackhammers and seeing cranes over the treetops.

Something else entirely has been to talk with locals who lived through the quakes and still live with the aftershocks – there have been a few in the days since I arrived. Some are scared, some defiant, most people fall somewhere between.

The city seems to be trying hard to focus on rebuilding and celebrating what’s working well. That includes their pivotal role as the staging area for so much Antarctic exploration, which is the focus of their first annual IceFest this month and last night the official kick off of this year’s season at a party downtown.

Another way many have incorporated their new situation of rebuilding is a strip mall made from re-purposed steel shipping containers. Someone stacked a few of them together, repainted them bright colors, and moved in several businesses that were destroyed in the quakes. I bought a cup of coffee, watched street performers, browsed the stores.

Interesting how people react to crisis. Some see opportunity, some laugh it off, some try to pretend it’s not that bad.

EXTREME Cold weather clothing…

Stopped by today to get my ECW gear (extreme cold weather) and was treated like an old-timer. Some staff there remember me from the last trip (or else looked me up and were just being good hosts). I now have a complete set of clothes like in the picture plus additional mittens and a few sets of long underwear and fleece that aren’t visible. I was told it’s “quite cold there now” so I may indeed need to wear most everything. (Is negative 76 a number?)

I’m scheduled to leave sometime on Monday, for what I know is a looooong day. Before then, this weekend is the kickoff of the season in Christchurch. More to come on that later.