Last week a friend and I took an afternoon stroll past the ice pier construction to Hut Point. A few days later we drove up the hill to my 10 meter radome work site to watch the Airbus 319 land for the medical evacuation (medevac).
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| Pumping another layer of seawater onto the pier. |
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| The water is spread around with two bulldozers. |
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| After a few days the water freezes solid enough then the salt is scraped off and the process repeated until the pier is around 20 feet thick. |
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| Pressure ridge at Hut Point. |
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| The ice is trying to break away and flow out to sea. |
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| More nacreous clouds. |
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| Mt. Discovery in the background...about 25 miles across the sound. |
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| A nice view of the ice pier from the 10 meter radome. |
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| McMurdo is basking in light again. |
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| Observation Hill at 750 feet. I have hiked to the top four times now. |
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| Looking west to another radome I work at. |
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| Mt. Erebus |
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| The 10 meter radome. |
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| It was a beautiful day for the medical evacuation. Plenty of light with little wind and temperature at -30 degF. |
Pumping another layer of water on the ice pier
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| Next to the 10 meter radome taking a picture of Mt. Erebus. |
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| There's McMurdo Station. |
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| Next to the JPSS 4 meter radome. |
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| Pegasus Runway on the ice shelf. |
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| Generators and fuel tanks. |
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| Control tower and cool fire truck. |
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| A 1 pm arrival. |
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| The Transantarctic Mountains in the background. |
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| The glacial ice is several hundred feet thick over this part of McMurdo Sound and moves to the north 300-500 feet per year. Because of that the location of Pegasus Field runway is moved south each year. |
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| Mt. Discovery in the background. |
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| The patient actually walked up the steps. His corrective surgery in Christchurch was successful. |
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| Satellite image of McMurdo and Scott Base (New Zealand) located on the tip of Hut Point Peninsula, the annual sea ice runway complex (center), Williams Field skiway (top), Pegasus glacial ice runway (lower right), and the snow roads connecting these sites. The area of the annual ice runway doesn't open until October and then melts in the summer. Use of that runway is a huge savings in transportation costs. |
Thank you Mike for keeping us in the news and better than that, very interesting peeks at the world down under. I can't imagine the extreme cold and hope you are really protecting yourself from frostbite. I know you will appreciate the sun, and I wish we could send you some of the heat. It has been steamy here in Florida, afternoon thunderstorms are daily, now. Congratulations for staying healthy and losing weight! Enjoy your remaining days at the wonder world. Love always, Andee
ReplyDeleteThanks. My face and hands will never be the same. Every day they feel worse and take longer and more painful to thaw. I left the gym this morning and saw a friend so stopped and chatted for quite a while. There was so much light. Several people walked by and asked me if I was working on my tan already. I just laughed but didn't understand what they were saying until my neighbor commented that I should get to my room. It was then that I realized I was standing in my gym shorts and parka. My legs were frozen and I didn't even feel them. So I ran to the dorm.
ReplyDeleteYou can't resist sitting out in the sun even while freezing to death! That's crazy though, how long did it take before you realized that you were freezing?
ReplyDeleteYay for more nacreous clouds! I really enjoyed picture 27/32 of the vehicles and the guy standing on the stairway next to the building. Should be named "Another Day of Work at McMurdo". I'm definitely painting this some day!