Field Work

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are ~30 miles away across sea ice and awesome glacial shaped mountains, so helicopter is the only option for transportation. I had my first flight Wednesday! You have to wear all your gear (Big Red, snow pants, bunny boots) which isn't bad because it gets cold in there fast. Then you fasten your seat belt which is as complicated as a child's car seat. Each helmet has a microphone so you can talk to each other and the pilot, and you can hear the pilot communicating with his team on the ground. The flight is about half an hour and the sights are beautiful- I only wish the commute was longer.

We can request how much time we would like on the ground, but ultimately it depends on the helo schedule. Most of our trips will be day trips, but there are members of our team that go out and camp for a few days, and there are members who camp the whole season. There are huts set up at the major sites so camping there doesn't look too rough, and they are equipped with everything except running water.

Ruth enjoying the ride

Helicopter preparing to abandon us in the field

And he's off!

Martijn using this time for a much needed nap

Dr. Ross Virgina catching up on some sleep

View of MacTown from the helo. That giant blue building is my dorm!

The field work is really fun and most of my time is spent staring up at the mountains and glaciers. It's crazy to look out and not see any life, but know that we will find hundreds of nematodes in our soil samples.

Camp site at F6

Adding water to one of the experiments

Dr. Diana Wall

Behind me is my Master's project

I was really excited to see my project

Ruth at F6

Learning how to collect samples

I wish you could see how beautiful it is here- my photos just don't do it justice. In addition to being a poor photographer, the bright skies and dark sunglasses make it impossible to see the camera screen so there are a lot of blind point-and-shoot pictures...