The Antarctic Sun, January 18, 2004 · Arctic researchers came to the opposite end of the world to...

January 18, 2004

Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program

www.polar.org/antsun

Interns work for their free ride

Page 7

“I’ll never volunteer again toclean up a volcanic island.”

Corporate refugeelands at the Pole

2

Quote of the Week

- Janitor at McMurdo Station

INSIDE

By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Arctic researchers came to the opposite endof the world to check the sea ice temperatureand compare it to the frozen north.

Temperature and other vital signs mayexplain why Arctic and Antarctic sea ice meltdifferently. On a large scale, the Arctic sea icehas shrunk by 300,000 square km every decadesince 1972, while the Antarctic has lost half asmuch ice and in recent years has expanded.

At McMurdo Station, sea ice is the stuffpeople ski on, drive on, land planes on, andthen try to break a channel through for resupplyvessels. Around Barrow, Alaska they alsosnowmachine across the ice in the winter, thenlaunch boats to hunt whales in the spring.

Globally, the frozen polar seas have animportant, if less obvious, role.

“The ocean is the biggest reservoir of heaton the planet and if you can get the heat out thatcan do a lot to warm a place,” said glaciologistHajo Eicken, one of two Alaskan sea iceresearchers now in McMurdo for severalweeks.

Like huge reflective panels, the sea icebounces most of the sun’s heat away fromEarth. At the same time, the ice insulates theocean, keeping the water from releasing itsstores of heat into the air. Without the sea icecovering McMurdo Sound, the area would bemuch warmer than it is now, Eicken said. Thawthe entire Antarctic or Arctic oceans and thewarming would be felt worldwide. The oceanwould collect and store more of the sun’s heat,then release it when the sun was out of sight.

“Arguably, the sea ice cover in the Arcticand in the Antarctic is so important for the

See Ice on page 9

Taking the temperature

of sea ice


On a wide, white prairie, a caravanof tractors and trailers halted and fivemen stepped out, holding wrenches andarc welders the way John Wayne andClint Eastwood once slung guns.

“It’s like a spaghetti western in anAntarctic setting,” said Scott “Scooter”Metcalfe, a mountaineer who spent thelast month with the South Pole traversecrew he dubbed “The Problemsolvers.”

Sleds wallowing in powdery snow,pins snapping and chains breaking –nothing stopped John Wright, RussellMagsig, John Penney, Rich “Stretch”Vaitonis and James McCabe as theyforged a path southward. But thenumerous challenges caused by unex-pected snow conditions did slow thetraverse, which at times slogged along

at a walking pace.“Though we are disappointed that

we are not making the southwardadvance at a better pace,” Wright wrotein a report Dec. 10, “each man amongus is committed to advancing south asfar as half our fuel will take us beforeheading back to the barn, learning asmuch as we can about crossing thisRoss Ice Shelf.”

The traverse was the second in athree-year proof of concept program totest the possibility of partially supply-ing Amundsen-Scott South Pole Stationby land. Last year the traverse crewcrossed the Shear Zone, filling increvasses in the heavily cracked area asthey went. This year five vehicles leftMcMurdo on Nov. 18, pulling fuel, sup-plies, and living quarters, to see how far

See Traverse on page 11

Snow slows traverse

Photo by Scott Metcalfe / Special to The Antarctic Sun

One of the South Pole traverse vehicles struggles through deep snow, which slowedthe traverse.

2 • The Antarctic Sun January 18, 2004

Matt Davidson

Arctic vs. AntarcticArctic: Sea ice thickness avg: 1.5 mAntarctic: Sea ice thickness avg: 2.5 m

Arctic: Land ice is intermittentAntarctic: 97.6 % of land is ice covered

Arctic: North Pole is 1 m above sealevel, bedrock is at 4,300 m below sealevelAntarctic: South Pole is 2,912 m abovesea level, bedrock is at 34 m abovesea level

North Pole, annual mean temperature: -18 CSouth Pole annual mean temperature: -50 C

Arctic: 450 species of flowering plantsbetween 66-77 degrees N. Lat.Antarctic: 2 species of flowering plantsbetween 66-77 degrees S. Lat.

Arctic: Human population north of 60deg. N. lat.: more than 2 millionAntarctic: Human population south of60 deg. S Lat: About 4,000

Source: USAP poster (1998)

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the NationalScience Foundation as part of the UnitedStates Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its pri-

mary audience is U.S. AntarcticProgram participants, their fami-lies, and their friends. NSFreviews and approves materialbefore publication, but opinions

and conclusions expressed in the Sun are notnecessarily those of the Foundation.

Use: Reproduction and distribution areencouraged with acknowledgment of sourceand author.

Senior Editor: Kristan HutchisonEditors: Brien Barnett

Kris KuenningCopy Editors: Mark Williams,

Geoff Jolley, Wendy Kober,Melanie Conner, JD Menezes

Publisher: Valerie Carroll,Communications manager, RPSC

Ideas, contributions welcomed. Contactthe Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visitour office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

Wow!!! We finally made it tothe bottom of the worldafter all these years.

Geez ... Theyweren’t kiddingwhen they saidthat this placeis cold. Youhave to becrazy to wantto come here.

I told you giving thepilots a baby chick wouldhelp get us here.

They say the ice is constantly moving andthat the dome has to regularly have snowremoved from around it or it gets buried.

That probably explains whathappened to your cousin.Let’s go see if we can findsome more souvenirs.

A brief history of suffering and deprivation in Antarctica

1912Robert Scott and his partyperish from starvation andexposure on their way backfrom the South Pole ...

1914-1917Ernest Shackleton’s groupbattles hunger and coldwhile stranded on ice floesfor over a year ...

2004

January 18, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3


Global warming is hitting PalmerStation in the backyard.

3C in the past 50 years. As the climatewarms, workers at Palmer Station watch theglacier behind the station recede. Thesteady retreat of ice exposes more of thegranite point where the station’s blue build-ings cluster.

“It’s retreating pretty quickly,” said lastwinter’s science tech Zan Stine. “You cansee the evidence just by looking at it.”

He and the other science techs have beensurveying the edge of the glacier each year.Since 1963 it has receded about 300 meters,more than doubling the area of exposedrock the station stands on. The toe of theglacier has receded an average of 9 metersa year, said station manager Joe Pettit.

“That ice cap is losing mass by meltingand it’s likely in response to the increaseddegree days, the number of hours in the summer that the temper-ature’s above freezing, which has led to more melting,” saidEugene Domack, from the Hamilton College department of geol-ogy.

Though no grantee is currently studying the glacier behindAnvers Island, Domack has been studying glacial evolutionaround Palmer Station over a longer time scale by drilling sedi-ment cores from the deep basin nearby. The layers of sedimentshow how far the ice cover extended at different times. About13,000 years ago the ice cap covered all of Anvers Island, includ-ing where Palmer Station now sits, and extended out onto thecontinental shelf. Since then it has been receding slowly towardAnvers Island and the mainland peninsula, according to a paperby Domack which is now in review in Geomorphology.

That slow recession was due to sea level rise as the Earth cameout of a glacial period and ice sheets melted in the Northern

Hemisphere, Domack said. But the more recent melting is proba-bly in response to more rapid temperature changes over the last50 years, which also have been linked to the collapse of theLarsen Ice Shelf in 2002, Domack said.

“The ice shelf is responding slowly over decades and decadesto the point where it can no longer accommodate any additionalmelting and then it breaks up catastrophically,” Domack said.“The ice cap on Anvers Island responds to decades of warming byslowly losing more snow each year than it gains. Therefore theterrestrial margin, the terminus of that ice cap, is receding inlandand up slowly over time.”

The receding glacier also has exposed more of the inlets oneither side of the small peninsula, receding 27 meters a year inparts of Arthur Harbor. Crevasses have moved inward, narrowingthe area marked each year as the only safe walk from the station.Many of the crevasses heal themselves as the glacier melts andstagnates, Pettit said.

“You’ll always be able to walk up some, but not to the top,”Stine predicted. “That would really change the place. You needthat walk every Sunday or you go crazy.”

Palmer is the smallest of the U.S. Antarctic research stations,not just in population, currently 39, but also in space. The top ofthe glacier is the farthest people can walk from the station, aroundtrip of almost 5 kilometers if they include a side trail toBonaparte Point and back.

“You can get up there, it’s quiet, you don’t hear the generators.You can look down and see a totally different spot,” said Dr.Kristin Vankonynenburg. “It’s a spiritual place for a lot of people.It’s a place you go to regroup and leave the worries of the daybehind.”

The melting glacier has already changed other aspects of sta-tion life. When Pettit came in the 1990s, the station water wasdrawn from a pond of glacier meltwater. As the pond dried up, thestation in 1995 switched to using reverse osmosis to desalinateseawater for drinking.

A similar thing is happening at Old Palmer, the site a shortboat ride away where the research station was until 1968. In thelast 15 years, the ice there has receded dramatically. This monththe ice ridge joining Old Palmer with Anvers Island collapsed,leaving Old Palmer on its own island, Pettit said.Warning sign marks the edge of the safe area on the glacier behind

Palmer Station.

Warming world melts Palmer’s glacier

Mark Mugge walks down the glacier on Anvers Island toward Palmer Station on a Sundayin September. The glacier is the only walking route from the station, but is receding.

Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun


Average temperatures on theAntarctic Peninsula have risen

Field Paleontology at Seymour Island


speaking

of science...

By Dan BlakeSpecial to the Sun

Seymour Island, off the northeast coastof the Antarctic Peninsula, was visitedduring December 2003 by a small groupof researchers interested in the effects ofclimatic cooling 35 or 40 million yearsago on shallow-water marine animal com-munities. Seymour Island is figure-eightshaped and only a few miles across, andthe sediments under study are exposed onthe northward loop of the “8.” The islandis free of permanent ice, perhaps in parteither because it is in a snow shadow ofnearby land areas or because of character-istic high winds. The sediments on theisland are mostly quite soft (not hard rock)and the island is eroding very quickly,with much sediment carried to the seaeach year during the brief melting season.

The current research was funded by anNSF grant to Richard Aronson (DauphinIsland Sea Lab) and Dan Blake(University of Illinois). Linda Ivany(Syracuse University) received separatefunding to join in the research. In tandemwith the morphometric studies, Ivany’sgeochemical work is providing climaticcontext for the molluscan assemblages.This was the third and final field seasonfor the work, and this year’s participants,in addition to Blake, included AlexanderGlass and Kurtis Burmeister, doctoral stu-dents at Illinois, Ryan Moody, a doctoralstudent at Dauphin Island, and John Evansand Julian Ridley from Raytheon PolarServices.

The sediments under study weredeposited during what geologists refer toas the Eocene Epoch, and Eocene coolingmarked an early phase of the cooling thatled to modern frigid conditions. SeymourIsland contains the only extensive, fossil-iferous surface exposures in Antarctica ofsediments of this age, and thereforeSeymour Island provides a unique oppor-tunity to learn how climate change affect-ed the origin of the modern Antarctic bot-tom fauna.

Increasing frequency of El Niño eventsand the continued atmospheric accumula-tion of greenhouse gases will probablyincrease upwelling on a scale of decadesto centuries in some temperate coastal

regions. Cool-water upwelling resultingfrom El Niño conditions already has beenrecorded off the coast of Oregon, and suchupwelling might partially parallel eventsrecorded in the Seymour Eocene sedimen-tary record. Recent ecological evidencesuggests that lowering of sea temperaturescould have profound effects on biologicalinteractions in affected areas, altering fish-eries and other resources important tohumans. Understanding the response ofthe Seymour Island fossil faunas to globalcooling will provide direct insight intopotential changes in modern settings.

The Seymour Island Eocene sedimen-tary sequence represents a broad coastalchannel, thickening toward the center ofthe exposure belt and dipping toward theWeddell Sea to the east. The channel, atthe north end of the island, can be seenfrom a ship on the northeastern side of theisland. Global climate change in theEocene strongly influenced the structureof shallow water marine benthic commu-nities in Antarctica, including this coastalchannel, and these effects are still evidentin living Antarctic communities. A coolingtrend late in the Eocene reduced the abun-

dance of fish and crabs, which in turnreduced skeleton crushing predation pres-sure on invertebrates. Reduced predationpressure allowed dense populations ofophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sealilies) to appear in shallow water settingsin the upper portion of Seymour Eocenesediments. Today, dense ophiuroid andcrinoid populations are common in shal-low water habitats in Antarctica, but gen-erally have been eliminated from similarhabitats at temperate and tropical lati-tudes; their persistence on Antarctica is animportant ecological legacy of climaticcooling.

Although the influence of declining pre-dation on echinoderms is now well docu-mented, effects of cooling on the moreabundant and therefore more informativemolluscan faunas had not been investigat-ed prior to the present study. At SeymourIsland, molluscan assemblages (snails andbivalves) were sampled for differentmoments in geologic time. Statistical andgeochemical data on the fossils are used todetect time-related changes in shell form,which in turn will tell researchers how evo-lution adjusted to cooling and impact onmarine communities.

Researchers encountered inclementweather after the first, brief reconnais-sance expedition during the 2000-2001field season. A month-long fossil-collect-ing trip to Seymour Island during the2001-2002 season encountered delays dueto sleet, mud, and especially high winds.Snow and ice delayed research again inDec. 2003. Nevertheless, many thousandsof specimens were collected in a detailedprogram that made use of a recently avail-able topographic map and GPS technolo-gy, and these materials will allowresearchers to complete their project.Fossil collections will be deposited at anas-yet-unidentified museum for futureresearchers. And although much of theweather this year was cold and blustery, abeautiful day on Dec. 22 (the day beforedeparture) allowed the party to celebratewith a swim in the Southern Ocean - amuch-enjoyed closing to a successful fieldseason.

Dan Blake is a geologist from theUniversity of Illinois Urbana.

Researchers collect samples on SeymourIsland.

Photo by Dan Blake / Special to the Antarctic Sun

the week in weather

Fun stuff to doBy Vincent ScottSouth Pole correspondent

After putting in long hours for scienceand construction at the Pole, people tooktime for some fun.

Congratulations are in order for MollyHutsinpiller and Ryan Myhr. These ath-letes were the winners of The South PoleAnnual Race Around the World, whichwas held Christmas Day. This past SundayHutsinpiller and Myhr were in their run-ning shoes and were at it again – this time,however, they ran in McMurdo. The sta-tion there hosted its annual 8 km Scott HutRace. Hutsinpiller placed first in her agegroup and Myhr came in sixth place forhis age group. Both were excited to haveparticipated and done so well.

It’s been tournament time here lately atthe Pole. On Jan. 4, Bill Riley, a construc-tion worker from Iowa, hosted the firstSouth Pole Poker Championship. MikeDaub co-hosted and assisted Riley, whileEthan Dicks and Chris Ogle served asdealers. The tournament lasted well intothe night. At long last the poker card-sharks beat all of their opponents andemerged victorious. The poker tournamentwinners are: Mountain Miller in thirdplace, Geoff Phillips in second place, andJohn Sample in first place. Sample is avisiting scientist from Billings, Montana,who works with the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley.

The next tournament held this year wasThe Third Great South Pole Table TennisTournament. This ritual was hosted onJan. 11 in the rock climbing gym. T. Reganorganized and hosted this highly success-ful event.

Some players handled their paddles asdeftly and as swiftly as Forrest Gump! Aswith the poker tournament, three winnersappeared triumphant.

From first through third place respec-tively, our Table Tennis Tournament Topsare: Al Baker, Dar Gibson, and KrisHayden. Congratulations to all partici-pants.

Writer visits stationBy Kerry KellsPalmer Station correspondent

The Laurence M. Gould brought sever-al new arrivals to the Palmer Station com-munity and we welcome Fen Montaigne, afreelance writer for National Geographic.Montaigne brings 28 years of newspaperand freelance writing experience from sixcontinents to Palmer Station. He has cov-ered stories on political change and cultur-al issues as well as conservation and envi-ronmental issues. In just a week at PalmerStation, Montaigne easily has become apart of the Palmer community.

A few days ago I flipped open a 1999National Geographic magazine, turned tothe “Behind the Scenes” page and therewas a photo and short article onMontaigne on assignment in Iran.Montaigne began his writing career as awriter and foreign correspondent for thePhiladelphia Inquirer newspaper. Hereported from Russia and was recentlyable to use his fluent Russian languageskills to speak to crew members of theRussian ice-breaker-turned-cruise ship,the Vavilov, which visited our station. Hehas also written about the outdoors for the

Philadelphia Inquirer and the Wall StreetJournal. Montaigne has traveled the plan-et in research for stories on the world’sboreal forests, global fresh water, Atlanticsalmon, Russia 10 years after the fall ofthe Soviet Union and Iran 20 years afterthe Islamic Revolution. He has threebooks to his credit; two are works of col-laboration. “Reeling in Russia” chronicleshis 100 day fly-fishing adventure acrossRussia from the Norwegian border toAlaska. His next article will be No. 12 forNational Geographic.

The October issue of NationalGeographic will focus on climate changearound the world. Montaigne has doneresearch for this project already in theAlps, Hudson Bay and now Antarcticawith a possible stop in Costa Rica. Hebelieves there is no question that globalwarming is a reality, is human-caused andhas had an effect on some ecosystems. Hischallenge now is to ask how global warm-ing has affected the ecosystems of theAntarctic Peninsula. To attempt to answerthis he will focus on the possible changesof a polar environment to a sub-Antarcticenvironment in the last 50-60 years andhow this ecological change has affectedplants and animals. He has accompanied


around the continent

PALMER

SOUTH POLE

McMurdo StationHigh: 37 F / 3 C Low: 3 F / -16 CWind: 25 mph / 40 kphWindchill: -40 F / -40 C

Palmer StationHigh: 45 F / 7 C Low: 30 F / -1 CWind: 26 mph / 41 kphWindchill: 21 F / -6 C

South Pole StationHigh: -5 F / -21 C Low: -24 F / -31 CWind: 18 mph / 29 kphHighest physio-altitude: 3,217 m

See Continent on page 6

FenMontaigneis a freelancewriter forNationalGeographic.He is atPalmerStation toresearch astory aboutclimatechange for the magazine.

Photo courtesy ofJordan Watson / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Bill Fraser and the seabird researchers ontheir visits to the different islands in thearea and their studies on the seabird popu-lations. He will also work with Tad Day’sgroup on their studies of two nativeAntarctic plants and simulated climateextremes on these plants. He will talk withall the Long Term Ecological Researchgroups and even join a short cruise.Research here can be easily linked to hisresearch in Hudson Bay where polar bearslost body weight and mass and decreasedArctic sea ice. Antarctic research relates toclimate changes in the Austrian Alpswhere the glaciers are retreating and theplants species are migrating to higher alti-tutes. He calls time in Antarctica a “dreamassignment” because of the places he hasvisited and the chance to come toAntarctica.

Montaigne recently met a photographerwith whom he has collaborated on threeprevious stories. Peter Essick arrived atPalmer Station via the yacht the S/Y Philos.Hopefully Essick can capture, in photos,what Montaigne so easily describes inwords as a place “wild and beautiful.”

He describes our station as “an idealcommune and a real example of coopera-tion and good spirit among people.” Hefeels privileged to join our small commu-nity at Palmer and to travel to the beautifulislands in our area.

He wants to return to Palmer Station, tocome back to the landscapes of mountainranges, islands and glaciers, a place hecalls “one of a handful of utterly wild andspecial places on earth.”

And we, too, are privileged to haveMontaigne as a member of our community,a friend to the station, the community andto the environment.

Polar Star, Polar Sea,Gianella, American Tern

By LCDR April BrownMac Ship Ops/Coast Guard Liaison

January 16th was a banner day for theCoast Guard in McMurdo. What seemed likealmost all at once, the turning basin spilledforth the 4-meter multiyear ice boulders andheavy brash as if the gates at a horse racingtrack had been opened, after being stuckclosed for three years. Not since the2000/2001 season has Mactown seen openwater in Winter Quarters Bay. The orcawhales have returned.

Ship operations tempo is high now, andthere is competition for pier space as the indi-vidual crews vie to moor up and comeashore. The tanker Gianella is parked just 13km out in the channel after arriving at the iceedge under icebreaker escort. The Palmer iscurrently moored at the ice pier after fueling,and is completing science cargo offload. Shewill get underway on Jan.19 for another legof science support.

If you wondered where Polar Star andPolar Sea went, they are currently over in thevicinity of Marble Point doing a joint break-in through the 16 km of sea ice to reach apoint approximately 365 meters off thebeach, where the Polar Sea will return tolater this month to refuel the helo facility.Another operation we haven’t done for thelast two seasons due to extreme ice condi-tions. The Sea will deliver at least 38,000liters to the tanks there that are looking a lit-tle low these days. Fuel can be traversed overas was done last Winter, but not nearly asefficiently or in the great quantity that one bigred floating gas station can deliver.Completing this mission will also signal areturn to some semblance of normality

(whatever that means around here!). The new vessel operations “plan” as laid

out late last week is: Polar Star will slide inafter the NBP leaves tomorrow, onload sci-ence cargo and stay inport until the morningof Jan. 21. She will get underway to makeroom for the Gianella to tie up the same dayto begin fuel resupply operations. This is wayahead of schedule, as the tanker was original-ly scheduled to come in after the cargo ves-sel, but since conditions are so favorablenow, what the heck, let’s go for it!

The cargo vessel American Tern is sched-uled to arrive Feb. 1 for eight days of offloadoperations.

Nathaniel B. PalmerCompiled from reports by Ashley Lowe

The Nathaniel B Palmer docked at theice pier at McMurdo Station Jan. 17. Newpassengers are boarding and plans call for itto depart Monday. The Palmer returnedfrom collecting seismic and sonar data inthe central Ross Sea.

Laurence M. Gould

Compiled from reports by Andrew Nunn

The Laurence M. Gould was headedsouthward this week off the edge of theshelf, casting probes to measure watertemperature and salinity.

Andrew Nunn reported, “The nightshift people have settled into their sleepingschedules and you encounter far fewerzombie like stares in the wee hours of themorning, while the day-shift people areperky enough to have begun plans forcrossing ceremonies, fanciful hairstylemodifications, and various bits ofPhotoshop skullduggery.”

Continent6 • The Antarctic Sun January 18, 2004

From page 5

If you could, what would you rename McMurdo?

Tom Verville, Pole Fleet ops supervisor from

Milton Mills, N.H., 15 seasons.

Mark Lemon,McMurdo insulator

helper from ColoradoSprings, Colo.,

first season.

“It’s the biggestlittle city on thecontinent.”

Jesse McGill, Palmer FEMC manager from

Franktown, Colo., 6 seasons

“McMud.” “The lemonstand because if life hands youlemons, youneed to makelemonade.”

SHIPS


Polar interns get a taste of the IceBy Brien BarnettSun staff

Six college students have chosen to beaway from school this year to intern atMcMurdo Station for the season.

This is the first year for the PolarInternship Program, which seeks to eventual-ly bring a dozen students a year to Antarcticato work and learn about the continent. TheNational Science Foundation supports theprogram through Raytheon Polar ServicesCompany.

The interns are based only at McMurdothis year, but in the future they may be sent toSouth Pole, Palmer or other places, said pro-gram coordinator Jean Pennycook. The stu-dents must be enrolled for credit at one of thedozen participating universities or collegesand are required to complete a project fortheir institution’s adviser.

This year’s interns are Jaidev “J.D.”Menezes from Cornell University andMatthew Betts, Erin McNulty, Jacob Randalland Brittany Sparks from ColoradoNorthwestern Community College. A sixthintern returned to the United States after suf-fering a minor injury. Six others initially wereselected, but two did not meet medicalrequirements and four dropped out for vari-ous personal reasons.

The five remaining interns said the expe-rience is one of a lifetime.

“When my adviser told me about it, Ithought she was nuts,” said Sparks, an assis-tant in McMurdo’s dining hall. “I’m now oneof the few who could say I’ve been toAntarctica. If I passed it up, I knew I would-n’t get another chance to get here.”

The best moment for Betts was when hestepped off the plane and realized he was onthe sea ice and in Antarctica.

“That was pretty special for me,” saidBetts, who hopes to apply some of what helearns to a career in wildlife biology. Whilehere he’s sought out Adelie penguinresearcher David Ainley for some advice forhis internship project.

Pennycook said one of the main goals ofthe program is to help people from “under-represented” racial or social groups experi-ence Antarctica and inspire them to sharetheir experiences with people back at home.

“They look at this and they say, ‘Oh Icould never do that,’ and yet you could andhere’s the opportunity and the avenue inwhich you’re going to do it,” Pennycooksaid.

Menezes was born in India and moved toToronto, Canada, three years ago with hisfamily. He’s now attending CornellUniversity in New York and visitingAntarctica on a student work visa.

“My dad said it was the opportunity of

many lifetimes,” said Menezes, who is study-ing hotel management and economics atCornell and working this season with thewaste department in McMurdo.

Pennycook said Menezes is an example ofan intern who is likely to carry his experienceon the Ice into a different, non-science arenaand that might attract new people to theAntarctic program. Pennycook and otherprogram managers would like to see students

who are interested in careers ranging fromnatural sciences to political science visitAntarctica.

“It’s not about coming down here to doscience,” Pennycook said. “I’m looking forkids who are from other areas so they’ll comedown here and have a different sense of thisand maybe they’ll be a politician or business

Photos submitted by Jacob Randall / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Above, Polar Intern Jacob Randall sitsbelow the Wolcott Glacier in themountains of the Royal Society Rangeon a trip this season. Randall hastaken a year off from school atColorado Northwestern CommunityCollege to be on the Ice this season.While here, he and the other internsare learning about Antarctica and theU.S. Antarctic Program. Randall isworking as a general assistant, whichoften includes such jobs as cleaningthe inside of rusty tanks (photo at left),shoveling snow and other chores atMcMurdo Station.

See Interns on page 8

“I’ll take home a lotof bragging rights”- Jacob Randallabout telling his friendshe went snowboarding in Antarctica


person and they’ll have had this opportunity.”Interns experience the same conditions as

the rest of the Antarctic program supportstaff, including long working hours, restrict-ed travel and the isolation of a remote station.But they have the same opportunities to par-ticipate in station life and visit scenic and his-toric sites through recreation-sponsored trips.They do have to work on their project and afew are taking online courses, which meansless personal time than others.

Jacob Randall is a wildland firefighterback home and a general assistant inMcMurdo. He’s planning a presentationabout McMurdo’s fire department. He saidit’s been a challenge balancing his job, workon the project, sleeping and finding time torelax. He made sure to get in a couple ofquick turns on a snowboard, though.

“I’ll take home a lot of bragging rights,”Randall said about what he will be telling hisfriends when he returns to the U.S.

Interns are selected from a pool of inter-ested students. They must submit an applica-tion, a resume, an essay and two letters ofrecommendation.

The resume isn’t just for the selectionprocess, it’s actively used to get them a job inAntarctica. The resumes are sent to hiringmanagers. Pennycook said organizers try toplace interns in a job that matches their per-sonal and career interests.

Like most who visit, the interns’ expecta-tions of what life is like on the Ice were dif-ferent from the reality. Most said althoughthey were not used to the long work hoursthey thought daily living in Antarctica wouldbe much more rugged. They were surprisedby how comfortable the station is and howwarm the days can be.

All of them said they hoped to see muchmore of the continent on special trips.Randall and Menezes have been able to goon trips off-station as part of their jobs or asvolunteers. Pennycook said she’d like to seemore opportunities for off-station intern-ori-ented trips, but acknowledged that one of therealities of the Antarctic program is that suchtrips are rare, even for those who have spentmany seasons on the Ice.

The interns have been able to see the his-toric huts at Cape Royds and Cape Evans anduse the recreational trails around McMurdo.They said they have a sense of the place.

“I absolutely love it. I’m so glad I camedown here,” said McNulty, who is fromGreeley, Colo. She works with science cargo.“When I work in town I forget. When I takea walk out, I think ‘I really am here.’ ”

Menezes said his trip to Royds createdlasting memories of Antarctica for him.

“It was nice getting out of town, seeingthe ice edge,” Menezes said. “We sat andwatched penguins for a couple of hours andtoured Shackleton’s hut.”

Since this is the first year of the pro-gram, the interns are having to be flexibleas the program changes, but are helpingshape it for the future. They meet weekly totalk about their experiences, both good andbad. They’ve helped re-draft the applica-tion and will meet with next year’s group inMay to give advice. Pennycook also hopesthey will act as mentors throughout thecoming year.

Menezes suggested next year’s internsread as many books about the early explorersas possible, including Shackleton’sEndurance.

“I would suggest a laptop. I didn’t bringone, but I also definitely wish I had one,” hesaid.

He also had praise for Pennycook, whobegan managing the program in August.

“Jean’s done an absolutely fabulous job.Anytime we need something she’s there,”Menezes said.

If you have questionsabout the polar internship

program, e-mail Jean Pennycook at

[email protected] her alternate address

[email protected] www.polar.org for

more information aboutliving and working in

Antarctica.

Interns From page 7

Above, this year’s PolarIntern group sits on topof Ob Hill. From left areJ.D. Menezes, ErinMcNulty, Brittany Sparks,Matthew Betts (withbackpack), adviser JeanPennycook and JacobRandall.

At left, Menezes standsin front of the CanadaGlacier near LakeFryxell in the McMurdoDry Valleys.

Top photo submittedby Jean Pennycook /Bottom photo submitted by J.D. Menezes / Special to The Antarctic Sun

global radiation budget, it’s worth it to look at this in a bit moredetail,” Eicken said.

That’s what brought Eicken and Martin Jeffries, both professorsfrom the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to McMurdo to watch theice melt and collect data from sensors frozen into the sea ice 10months ago.

“The really interesting part for us is starting now,” Eicken said.“What we’re interested in is seeing how the heat goes through theice and being able to see the meltwater.”

FreezeupHow ice melts depends partially on how it was frozen. Making

sea ice isn’t as simple as turning down the temperature to –1.89C orbelow. The structure and dynamics of sea ice vary based on what itgoes through while freezing.

In the tumultuous Southern Ocean, granular crystals of frazil iceclump together into rounds a meter or so across with edges curledfrom battering into other chunks of pancake ice. The pancake iceends up stacked, several pancakes deep, into ice floes. Then seawa-ter often freezes, icicle-like, to the underside of the floes.

“They’re long, thin crystals that grow down into the water and

they have a very different appearance from the granular frazil ice,”Jeffries said.

On top of all that, snow piles onto the ice floe, depressing it untilseawater swamps over the surface. The salty slush freezes on top.

The layering of crystal patterns in Antarctic sea ice leads to aunique structure and strength, Jeffries said.

“There are still certain aspects of the Antarctic sea ice cover thathave not received a lot of attention” Jeffries said. “The strength ofthe sea ice on a variety of scales is still one that’s begging to beinvestigated.”

Walled in by continents, the Arctic Ocean has less pancake icethan the Antarctic, except in the Bering and Chukchi seas on itsmargins, Jeffries said. The land surrounding the Arctic tends to holdin the ice.

“It’s much less easy for it to escape,” Jeffries said.Therefore Arctic Ocean ice is generally several years older and

thicker than Antarctic sea ice. Antarctic sea ice is on average 30 to50 percent thinner than Arctic sea ice. The reason relates to theannual melting pattern in the Antarctic, where the sea ice surround-ing the continent is pushed north by the wind and currents, leavingbehind open water for new, thinner ice to form.

MeltdownIf you walk across the Arctic ice in the peak of summer, up to

half of it is covered by melt pools a foot or two deep. In Antarctica,at the same period of summer, the sea ice remains solid white, or isfractured into pieces and blown away.

“For some reason you just don’t get these melt pools at the sur-face,” Eicken said.

In the Arctic, the darker color of the pools gathers heat from thesun, thawing the ice from the top down. While bare ice reflects 65percent of sunlight, ice spotted with melt pools reflects only 30 to50 percent, Eicken said.

“By adding meltpools you can more than double the amount ofsolar heating of the ice cover,” Eicken said. “It’s almost like spread-ing soot. It really helps absorb radiation.”

In the Antarctic, snow usually covers the sea ice, reflecting 75percent of the sunlight. Most melting occurs on the edges and bot-tom of an ice floe. At the same time, the sea ice is broken up by theocean waves and blown north.

The conventional wisdom explaining the presence of Arctic meltpools says that dust blows onto the ice from the surrounding landmasses and triggers the surface melting.

The Antarctic is the opposite, with cold, dry, clean air blowingoff the glacial continent and out to sea.

“There’s very little source of sediments or dust or dirt. As aresult, the ice surface actually can stay very cold, even in summertime,” Eicken said. “Obviously, this explanation is a pretty goodone, but it doesn’t explain everything.”

A small ice cloud forms as Patrick Ahearn, left, melts holes in thesea ice with a steam drill. The holes are used to measure ice thick-ness. Charles Kaminski looks on.


Salty ice makes room for lifeHow heavily salted the ice is may also change the melting

process. The melting of snow in the Arctic washes salt out ofthe ice, decreasing the overall salinity. The Antarctic ice doesn’t get washed by snow melt, and instead ends up withhighly saline layers of seawater freezing on top when heavysnow dunks an ice floe. As a result, Antarctic sea ice is saltierby 1 to 2 parts per thousand than the Arctic.

“It is actually quite a large difference,” said Martin Jeffries. The saltier ice develops brine channels through it from 100

micrometers to a millimeter in diameter. Those tubes of brinemay warm and melt through the ice, moving heat from one partof the ice to another. They also provide a habitat for micro-scopic plants and animals, particularly diatoms which some-times stain the ice a dark brownish green.

Ice From page 1

See Ice on page 10



The rapid disintegration of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002involved large melt pools on top of the ice. That suggests the poolsmay not be caused by dust collecting on the surface.

“If all this is true, these places should be the last places with meltpools,” Eicken said. “That does suggest that there may be substan-tial changes in the way the ice melts or in the surface energy bal-ance.”

When Eicken was in McMurdo last year, he took cores from thethird-year sea ice to look back through several years of history.

“I thought whoa, this really looks like ice melt in the Arctic,”Eicken said. “All of the signs of how you would expect surface meltto occur in the Arctic, we found traces of that in McMurdo Sound.”

Is it shrinking?Whether Antarctic sea ice has been shrinking or growing overall

depends on the timescale in question. Satellite photos taken since the 1970s show there was a dramat-

ic loss of sea ice between 1973 and 1977. Since then the sea ice hasincreased, with the exception of the area immediately west of thepeninsula. There, ice in the Bellinghausen Sea appears to haveshrunk due to warming along the west shore of the peninsula, whereaverage temperatures have risen 3C in the past 50 years. Overall,Antarctic sea ice declined by an average of 150,000 square kilome-ters per decade from 1972 to 2002.

Going back earlier than that, the record for sea ice is pretty scant,Eicken said.

A research paper published in November in Science suggestedthe sea ice around Antarctica has shrunk 20 percent in the past 50years. The theory is based on increases in sulfur compounds foundin ice core from Law Dome near Australia’s Casey Station. The sul-fur compound is produced by marine algae, so the quantity in anyyear’s snowfall is a clue to the extent of the ice.

“The picture is a little murky,” Jeffries said.On the other side of the world, the picture is much clearer.

“There is very strong evidence that the sea ice in the ArcticOcean is significantly thinner than it was 30 to 40 years ago andthere is a smaller area of ice, so there’s been a significant loss of icein the Arctic Ocean,” Jeffries said.

Some of the first evidence came from Alaska Inuits, who noticedthe Arctic ice was changing.

“Those people who hunt out on the ice, they have a very, verygood understanding of what’s going on,” Eicken said. “You basi-cally learn what a scientist would, it’s just your interpretations dif-fer and the problem is record keeping.”

Since then, research and satellite photos confirmed that theArctic sea ice has decreased twice as fast as the Antarctic.

Several possible theories explain the differing sea ice changes inthe northern and southern polar regions. To start with, the poles arefar apart with different weather and climate patterns, Jeffries said.The climate cycles affecting one may never touch the other. Also,climate change models indicate the effects of global warming willbe felt first and more strongly in the Arctic.

“The things that are happening in the Arctic are sort of what cli-mate models have been predicting might happen,” Jeffries said.

The Arctic sea ice cover is shrinking so rapidly that some mod-els show it could melt away completely in the summer in another 50years, Eicken said. That would make the Arctic sea ice more like theAntarctic, which grows by 14 million square km each winter andthen retreats back nearly to the continent’s edge over the summer.

On the other hand, if climate change led to more snow on top ofthe Arctic sea ice, so that it reflected more sunlight the way theAntarctic does, the melt pools might not appear anymore and thesummer melting would slow, Eicken said.

“There’s more to the story,” he said. “Maybe we are changingsomething about the way the snow cover behaves on the surface.”

NSF funded research: Hajo Eicken, University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, www.gi.alaska.edu/~eicken/

Kinds of iceFrazil ice: millimeter-sizedgranular crystals of ice float-ing on the surface. Thesegive a sheen to the wateroften referred to as greaseice.

Pancake ice: Rounds offloating ice several metersacross with edges curled upfrom colliding with other icechunks. These develop onlyin open water, with its com-bination of cold, wind andwaves.

Congelation ice: Icicle-likecrystals several centimeterslong and up to 30 mm widehanging from the undersideof the ice.

Platelet ice: Plate-like iceforming deep in protectedwaters. They can be up tohandsized, made up of crys-tals 1 mm to 2 mm thick.These float up and freeze tothe base of the ice above.

Ice From page 9

Hajo Eicken kneels to read the depth on a measuring tape dropped through a hole in the ice whileMartin Jeffries tends the steam drill behind him.


January 18, 2004 The Antarctic Sun •11

south they could get. The caravan turned around Dec. 30,

short of half-way to the South Pole. In 43days they had gone 690 km south, 480 kmfarther than last year. Despite the difficul-ties, they accomplished their primary goalto test the traverse concept while travelingas far south as possible. Now back at theShear Zone, they return to McMurdo withclear understandings of which vehiclesand other pieces of equipment did or did-n’t work, and also with an idea of the ter-rain they face.

“This is a place that no one else hasever been,” Metcalfe said.

The basic concept of creating a trailthat will be easier to travel has worked.They left a compacted trail 6 meters widemarked with green flags every half kilo-meter. Along the way they checked thatthe route was crevasse free for 6 meters oneither side.

While the journey south was slowgoing, sometimes only about 15 km a day,the return has been much faster. On thefirst day north the vehicles went 75 km,almost twice the distance they could havedone breaking trail to the south. It helpedthat they were pulling lighter loads and didnot have to shuttle cargo, Wright wrote.

“The ultimate cause for our improvedperformance, however, is the crudelygroomed snow surface we built behind usas we broke trail heading south,” Wrightwrote. “We had no expectation that ourefforts would work as well as it appears to

be doing now, given the horrid snow con-ditions we faced southward … but we aredelighted.”

Snow swampThe southward journey was bogged

down by a 300 km section of deep powdersnow they referred to as the snow swamp.Though Antarctica is frozen, it rarelysnows, so running into snow two metersdeep and the consistency of sugar sur-prised the traverse team.

“We sink into this stuff and stir it up assoon as we’re on it – right up to the bellypans,” Wright wrote.

For the short time they were with thetraverse, Metcalfe and Bert Yankielunfrom the Cold Regions Research andEngineering Lab dug snow pits every dayat 6 p.m. They found 10 layers of snow inthe pits, getting colder and more granularas they descended through the layers.“That could be 10 years of snow,”Metcalfe said.

The granular snow wouldn’t pack andprovided little traction for the vehicles.Almost daily a sled or tractor wouldbecome stuck and need to be pulled out bythe other tractors. Unseasonably high tem-peratures, sometimes up to 4C, worsenedthe snow.

“The warmer weather makes for softsnow surfaces,” Wright wrote. “We sinkpretty deep into this snow.”

Instead of gliding on top of the snow,the sleds ended up plowing through it,

pushing mounds of the snow in front ofthem. Eventually the pins holding the skisto the sled snapped. The pins had to bereplaced and chains were used to securethe skis. The chains also broke under thestrain. Though the snow surface was flat,occasionally old sastrugi were hiddenunder the snow.

“There is very little visual clue thatthese bear traps are out here, but when wego over one, we fall into the fluff on theback side of them and frequently getstuck,” Wright wrote.

The traverse fleet included three trac-tors: a Case QuadTrack, a Cat Challenger-95E with a Fassi crane, and a KressModified Challenger-95E. While the Caseand Cat proved to be almost as stalwart asthe men, the Kress was soon recognized asa “fuel burning encumbrance.” It had atendency to rear up, digging deeply withthe rear wheels. The two trailers of fuel theKress started out pulling had to be cachedearly in the journey. In the deep snow theCase tractor went from pulling five fueltank sleds to barely pulling two. The Catwent from two sleds to one.

“We’re not power limited here, we’retraction limited,” Wright wrote.

When problems arose, the crew found away to solve them, sticking to their motto“all is well.”

“We’re talking about complete hitchesbreaking and they’re arc welding it on thespot,” Metcalfe said. “This is a dedicatedgroup of well-oiled machines. None coulddo better. John Wright shows incredibleleadership skills.”

The traverse drove at night, running 12or more hours in the constant sunlightseven days a week. The living quarterswere set up with all the necessities of lifeand none of the luxuries. Up to eight menlived together in a space the size of a ship-ping container. They had daily showersand heated pre-made meals in themicrowave. An Iridium phone allowedthem to check e-mail. But there was notime for recreation. Though someonebrought a kite, “we didn’t fly it becausewe were too tired,” Metcalfe said.

The traverse crew is working at theShear Zone this week and expect to arriveback at McMurdo prior to Feb. 1. Thenthey’ll re-examine plans for next year,which had been to make it all the way tothe South Pole and back.

“They’re going to do a lot of things dif-ferently,” Metcalfe said.

John Wright inscribes his name on a post marking the southernmost point of the traversethis season, having gone 690 km.

Traverse From page 1

Photo by Scott Metcalfe / Special to The Antarctic Sun

“We’re not power limited here,we’re traction limited.”

- John Wright


Prof i leBy Kris KuenningSun Staff

Susan Weber used to make the bigdecisions for big corporations. Nowthe Michigan native is scrubbing toi-

lets at the South Pole.“I like to put myself in totally new sit-

uations,” she said. “I need that. It’s noteasy, but I think it’s good for you.”

It’s not the first time the adventurous49-year-old has instigated dramaticchanges in her life.

Her last corporate job was businessdevelopment manager for a large oil com-pany. Based in Moscow for two years, shetraveled much of Russia by train.

That time changed her and made herlong for a simpler life.

“When the project finished there I wentback to the States. There were no otherprojects that really interested me so Iasked for a year leave-of-absence.”

Her company gave her six months.When it was up, she resigned.

She had found a new application for herbusiness skills, helping to run a dog mush-ing business in Minnesota.

“It was more intriguing because it wasnew to me,” Weber said. “The dogs are myfavorite for sure.”

A few years ago, one of Weber’s dog-handlers was receiving regular e-mail andphotos from a friend at McMurdo Station.

“That’s how I learned that a ‘regular’person could come down here,” she said.“I’ve always been fascinated by the conti-nent. I’ve read everything I could find. I’mfascinated by winter – the cold, the snow,the space, the empty expanse – I’m capti-vated by all that.”

When she made up her mind to applyfor a job, she was willing to do whatever ittook.

“I would have worked anywhere on thecontinent, doing anything,” she said.

In April 2003, Weber flew down to theRaytheon Polar Services job fair inDenver. She wanted to be there in personbecause she felt her experience wasn’tgood “on paper.”

South Pole area manager BK Granttalked to Weber at the job fair.

“I liked her diverse background ... whatan interesting professional path,” Grantremembered. “And she seemed like shewas willing to take on a bit of a challenge.She had a great attitude and asked lots ofquestions, which indicated she really wasthinking about what it would take to behere and work here.”

Weber flew home from the fair on aSaturday. Grant called the following

Monday to offer her the janitor position atSouth Pole and the next day Weber said“yes.”

“I called my parents and told them, ‘Ihave big news. It’s good.’ When I toldthem, my mother was dead silent but myfather said ‘that’s great!’” Weber said.“My father is my biggest supporter in thisventure. My parents are extensive travel-ers. This is the only continent they haven’tbeen to, so they’re getting a kick out of myvisit.”

With her aging parents still in goodhealth, Weber felt the opportunity to cometo Antarctica was now.

At the South Pole, Weber is making themost of her experience. In her free time,she works in the store and the greenhouseor helps prepare the week’s bagels in thekitchen. She jumps at every opportunity tohelp science groups or explore the station.

“Everything is not the way I thought itwould be,” Weber said. “Everything is notas easy as I thought it would be.”

Passing through McMurdo, Weberabsorbed the history by visiting earlyexplorer’s huts.

“McMurdo was more special than Iimagined,” she said. The South Pole, shesaid, has a different kind of beauty, oneshe wasn’t prepared for.

“I love it here now … that never-endingwhiteness and the snow patterns.”

Now, she said she is starting to lookforward to the flight out of Antarctica andthe realizations that leaving will bring.

“It’s pretty overwhelming to comehere,” she said, but she’s not sure if she’lltry to return.

“I’m leaving that open because I thinkit’s a process. It feels so differently nowthan it did five or six weeks ago.”

Weber is willing to go wherever thatprocess takes her.

“I changed so much when I lived inRussia as to how I wanted to live,” shesaid. “Maybe it will happen again. I decid-ed I wanted to experience some of thoseother opportunities and from this therecould be some other revelation.”

Out of her comfort zone

Susan Weber left behind a mushing businessto be a janitor at the South Pole this season.Above, cargo handler Amanda Betz givesWeber an Antarctic-style mushing experi-ence.

Left: Weber volunteers to help make theweek’s supply of bagels.

Photos by Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic Sun

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