basagix field notes

I arrived to Lake Hoare camp a week ago and was surprised by the light dusting of snow on the valley floor. There were also older drifts scattered around camp. Some drifts are > 1 meter thick, a sharp contrast to last season when there was no snow on the valley floor. We enjoyed a high pressure for a couple of days, temperatures around -10C with sun. Glacier measurements were going well, got about half way through before a low pressure rolled in. The three day storm brought some interesting weather. First, the katabatic winds blew for 30 hours with gusts to 35 knots, removing all recent snow and warming temps to +2C. Then a dusting of snow, more winds, and then woke this morning to 9 cm of snow on the ground. The two no fly days have put me behind on glacier measurements, but hopefully the preparation work I completed allows me catch up over the next couple of weeks. From Antarctica 2009

After a smooth C-17 flight I have arrived at McMurdo Station. From Antarctica 2009 Life is now a combination of briefings and trainings, and pulling, packing, and preparing equipment. All the places and many of the people are exactly the same. Its feels timeless returning year after year. The analogy that I think of is an old record player. At the end of the season, the record player arm moves up. The record keeps spinning and time passes. Then upon one's return the record arm lowers and you pick up right where you left off. or maybe the record player keeps skipping in place...

A 430am knock at the door... flight delayed for 24 hrs. Our second delay. I used the first delay to capture some kite photos at the South Shore. The South Shore is located at the end of a long peninsula outside of Christchurch. The spit creates an inland estuary on one side, and the Pacific on the other. Good conditions, nice steady wind, about 7 to 10 knots. I forgot sunblock and had to wrap jackets around my head and hide under shrubs. I took over 500 images. It is a project to sift through them all, but I am getting better. The steady wind allowed me to capture my first few panorama images: From KAP After spending time at the spit I headed over to the estuary where the tide was starting to rise. Beautiful moss on the sand, with very interesting color in the water: From KAP