Week 6: Science! Thanksgiving! And…Still at McMurdo

Some weather moved into McMurdo, so flights were cancelled once again….Then there was some reallocation of aircraft needs later in the week that couldn’t get our first group out. So continuing our delay…

However, we made the most of our time here, so when we were not working, we got to see some more of the science going on at McMurdo, as well as, taking some history tours!

I’ve spent a lot of Thanksgivings not at home, but everywhere I’ve been always cooks up quite a feast. This year was nothing less than spectacular. We celebrated on Saturday the 29th, which we had off in addition to our typical Sunday. So it was wonderful having two days off!

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On Monday, we got to take a tour of NASA and their satellite radome. The ground station has been here since 1995 and operates on the S and X band processing data.

More information check out: https://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/meetings/MGS/history.html / https://www.nasa.gov/technology/space-comms/near-space-network-complexes/

The Crary Lab, that we’ve been working out of, is also home to the ice core freezer. In a previous post, I talked about Allen Hills as having the oldest found ice cores, with ones found up to 6 millions years old. For display, we were able to view, touch, and lick (if you wanted), this ice core that is dated ~800,000 years old.

Some more info: https://icecores.org/inventory/allan-hills and https://coldex.org/ice-core-information

In one of my other posts, I talked about pressure ridge formations and we got an opportunity to go out on the sea ice to see them up close. To recap, they form where the sea ice meets the grounded ice of Ross Island, and the two massive slabs grind against each other as tides rise and fall. That movement forces the ice to buckle, crack, and shatter into jagged walls, tilted slabs, and blue-white sculptures.

Additionally, we encountered several Wendell Seals and their pups and I was able to get a lot of fantastic photos that I posted on my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DRgloQuAPVp/?img_index=1.

One of this week’s science talks was from the Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) from University of Wisconsin at Madison. This group maintains weather stations all across Antararctica. Additionally, they are one of our scheduled groups to come out to WAIS Divide. It was wonderful learning the history of weather observations, forecasting, and climatology over the last 45 years, including some Navy weather history.

More about their AWS and locations can be found at: https://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/aws/

If you’re curious to some of the METOC products they produce and are a part of my day to day for weather forecasting, check out their model products at: https://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/rt/amps/

One of the most important operations at McMurdo is how we treat out waste water. There’s actually a significant amount of science that goes into the microbes to break down the waste and it’s ultimately shipped back to the US and provides some great fertilizer ;)!

One of the luck tours we got to do was a historical marker, Discovery Hut.

Discovery Hut was built by Robert Falcon Scott during the Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904. It was designed as a prefabricated kit and assembled on the volcanic rock of Hut Point. It was initially meant to provide shelter and storage but proved too cold and drafty for comfortable living. However, it became a crucial staging area where Scott’s and later Ernest Shackleton’s teams stored supplies, prepared sledging journeys, and took temporary refuge.

However, after Shackleton left the hut in 1917 it remained untouched until 1956 when the Navy dug it out of the snow and ice. It was found to be in a remarkable state of preservation, and included many artifacts from both the earlier expeditions. While some artifacts were taken as souvenirs, the hut remained largely as it was in 1917.

This includes animals “perfectly” persevered still hanging, hard tack biscuits, and other clothing articles.

To learn some more about Discovery Hut, check out: https://antarctic-heritage.recollect.co.nz/pages/hutpoint

Thanksgiving festivities kicked off Friday night with a 5K Turkey Trot for our midrat folks and then rolled into a funeral service for the beloved “Ivan the Terra Bus” that was officially retired from service eariler this year.

Ivan the Terra Bus was a famous and beloved all-terrain snow coach that served the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for 30 years. Manufactured by the Canadian company Foremost, the bus was a specialized, massive, six-wheeled vehicle designed to operate over extreme snow and ice conditions. Ivan arrived at McMurdo in 1993.

This massive bus weighed over 54,000 pounds, stretched nearly 46 feet long, and could carry up to 56 passengers. With a top speed of just over 20 mph, Ivan was dependable, capable of traversing blizzards and rugged terrain after a required 30-to-60 minute engine warm-up.

After 30 incredible years of service, during which he transported more than 100,000 people, Ivan was officially retired in the 2024–2025 summer season due to the difficulty and high cost of obtaining replacement parts.

To read more about this loved treasure, check out: https://www.usap.gov/news/4763/ or https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/antarctica-ivan-the-terra-bus-retired

Ivan has sparked songs, artwork, etc over the years and the band “Condition Fun” got back together to perform a few McMurdo classics for us all. This year, they even wrote a song about us being delayed. There were additionally two other bands, “Hot Singles in Your Area” and “Pink Penguin Club” that performed.

The next morning, we had the bigger 5K Turkey Trot for the base (Additionally, there is a 10K and a marathon later in the season). Kudos to those runners!

For Thanksgiving dinner, there were three seatings, and our team went with the 7PM seating (soooooo late!) but it was quite a wonderful feast and it was really nice celebating with my team and the McMurdo family. The night transitioned into one of the “traditional underground” parties that workcenters throw each season, so we had a Thanksgiving Rave. We made some glow stick jewerly and I had a good time for a little bit before I left it to my younger coworkers to enjoy the night.

It’s Sunday again, and I’m grateful to be watching “The Game” (Ohio State vs. Xichigan), heading to brunch, and otherwise enjoying the day off.

We WILL be getting out this week. Weather is looking fantastic and after nearly a month delay, it’s time to get to work.

NEXT week this blog will be from the field (fingers crossed)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and thanks, as always, for the love and support!