basagix field notes

A warm day and clear sky last Monday started off a week of melt. Anderson Creek, next to camp, has been flowing continuously for the past week. The waterfalls off the glacier have begun to flow intermittently, and the lake mote has begun to melt out. All this means it summer time in the Dry Valleys. I also celebrated my birthday last week. It was a mellow day with nice surprises including fresh scones for breakfast, birthday emails in the inbox, puttanesca pasta for dinner followed by a chocolate cake. I was not up for much celebrating past that as I felt really tired. It turned out that I had come down with the Southern Victorialand Sleeping Sickness (unoffical name). This entails 3 days of sleeping, accompanied by headache. There is not much fighting the sleep, besides making a journey to the hut twice a day to replenish food and water supplies. Feeling better now, almost back up to full energy levels. Made a trip down Canada Glacier today, sampled some cryoconite holes and retir...

I keep a daily log of the weather. Each morning around 7am I record sky cover, winds, and temperature. The record helps me later on while processing the meteorological data I collect by giving me a sort of ground truth. Here is a sample from this past week: monday - clear, downvalley winds 10 to 18 knots, -1 C tuesday - scattered, downvalley wind continued last night, -4 C wednesday - scattered, upvalley winds, -4 C / increased winds and cloud level dropped in p.m. thursday - overcast, calm, -5 C / light snow fell in mountains last night as low pressure passed friday -overcast, calm, -6 C saturday - scattered, calm, -6 C sunday - clear, calm, -6 C The season's melt had begun underway early in the week and was stalled by a passing low pressure. The small storm dropped light snow on the lakes and glaciers which hasall but shut down the melt. Our team is waiting for the melt to continue so we can conduct some salt tracer experiments on the cryolakes. I spent a night at F6 camp for m...

We are 14 people today. Our Thanksgiving numbers are lower than previous seasons. Ironically, we have one of the largest birds this season… 24 pounds. We had been expecting an additional four people but the helicopters were unable to fly as poor weather settled over the McMurdo area. Without the additional four, our food to people ratios got a little dangerous. Of particular interest to me was the person to pie ratio (ppr). At 18 people our ppr will be 2.57 to 1, but at 14 people our ppr dropped to 2.00 to 1, or 2 people per pie. Rae, Jesse, Kathy, and Sandra spent the day prior to our holiday cooking an amazing meal. Then, in the early morning hours on Thanksgiving Rae put the bird in the oven. Our meal was fantastic and the red wine flowed... I produced my best hand turkey this season, 'the Turkey Glacier topographic map' (map nerds will note many flaws).

I spent three days last week mapping glaciers using ground-based LiDAR . The instrument is able to measure very precisely. Marainne Okal and Thomas Nylen from UNAVCO came out to Lake Hoare to run the instrument and to teach me how to operate the instrument. We intend to repeat the mapping at the end of the season to determine change (ablation and movement). We mapped a glacier cliff and basin on Canada Glacier for the first two days. The instrument captures 2000 points a second that are organized into x, y, and z dimensions. These points can be georeferenced into lat/long/elevation. The LiDAR mapped the cliff and basin with an accuracy of 1 cm or better. Here are some photos of the cliff ( left )and basin ( right ): The third day we ventured to Don Juan Pond rock glacier via helicopter. Don Juan Pond is a hyper-saline lake in Wright Valley . The lake is very unique and is a protected area. Right above the lake is a rock glacier (a glacier that is covered with rock debris). W...

NPR ran a story on Sierra Nevada Glaciers last Monday as part of their Climate Watch series. Two NPR reporters, Sasha Khokha and Gretchen Weber, accompanied me up to Dana Glacier last September to shoot repeat photographs of IC Russell's 1883 photographs. Located just outside the border of Yosemite National Park, Dana Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers in the Sierra Nevada. The hike can be made in a day, but it is through tough terrain at higher elevations. We were able to discuss glaciers and climate as we journeyed up to the glacier, while also recording background sound along the way. There was a fair breeze blowing so a large haired microphone nicknamed DLR (David Lee Roth) and an umbrella were deployed to reduce the blustery wind sound. When we reached the location of Russell's photograph I could see that the glacier had become smaller since 2004. It was not a surprise, as Rhonda and I had just visited Darwin Glacier, which had also shrunk since 2004. We contin...

I spent this past week conducting glacier mass balance measurements. This is a formal was of saying that I measured the height of bamboo stakes (in mm) that are positioned on surface of the glaciers. I also dig snow pits to determine the loss or gain of snow on the glaciers. Joining me were Liz Bagshaw (Bristol, UK) and Dylan Taylor, our field mountaineer. The weather had been cold (-20 C) and cloudy leading up to our measurements. The day Liz and Dylan joined me the sky cleared. We have had 7 days of clear blue sky. Check out Dylan's blog to hear more about our week ( click here ). The temperatures have also improved (-12 C) but the winds have been strong. A katabatic wind blew down valley for 12 hours, gusting up to 42 knots. Today the up-valley (coastal) winds have been arguing with the down-valley (polar plateau) winds. The flags around camp and on the glaciers appear to be the referees. We people seem to get caught in the middle. I made the best of the first katabatic wind sto...

I am happy to write that I arrived at Lake Hoare field camp today. Total travel time from leaving Portland was 9 days. I feel fortunate that I was not delayed along the way by weather or mechanical problems. Its always strange to return to such a timeless place. Today was a cool day, around 1 F (-18 C) with a mix of clouds.

I passed back into the future yesterday while crossing the International Date Line. The travel here was uneventful. Which is good. I am now in Christchurch, where it is currently hailing. Plan for the day is to relax and head to the CDC mid day for clothing issue.

It has been 8 months since I returned from Antarctica. I leave in three days to head back down. The days in Portland are growing shorter, cooler, and the rain has returned.

I am getting adjusted back to life in Portland. There are incremental steps that are taken to reacquaint one's self after being away. Much begins in Christchurch, NZ... seeing night - which feels like a blanket or ceiling over ones head; seeing children - who seem like such little people, the smell of plants, the rush of traffic (vehicles in Mcmurdo don't go much faster than 10 mph), and the bombardment of advertising.

I have arrived back at McMurdo Station last night. I have finally finished this season's field work. I failed to keep up with the field notes 'due to' a lack of time and found that I felt I lacked originality. Most folks down here have a blog and after awhile I felt as if I were filling in a Mad Libs. With some renewed encouragement from my fan base (http://morealpinelightplease.blogspot.com/) I thought I would pass on a couple of things worth noting upon arriving back to town. First of all, I smell... and not a good smell. I know this is true, but not to what extent. It is a wise practice to head straight to housing, grab dorm room , and head directly to shower. I felt I had over indulged after 7 minutes of hot water. Following the shower one's body begins to immediately dessicate. The hot water opens the skin to the dry environment and excessive heating of buildings. Lubiderm and drinking lots of water helps relieve this. Next stop: the galley, where over 1100 people ...