DOCSLIB.ORG

The Antarctic Sun, November 19, 2006

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Antarctic Sun, November 19, 2006 November 19, 2006 Organisms abound below sea ice By Peter Rejcek Sun staff he occasional skua swooping around McMurdo Station scav- Tenging for food, or the odd seal lounging next to a crack in the sea ice, is generally the only reminder for many here that there is life in the Antarctic aside from human beings. SEE RELATED STORIES: But below the swath of seemingly The Antarctic The Sun impenetrable ice that separates the Foram superglue on page 11 station and the Royal Society Range, Room to breathe on page 12 about 65 kilometers away, a riot- ous and colorful marine community thrives in McMurdo Sound. See MCMURDO on page 9 Rob Robbins / Special to Crary Lab celebrates 15 years on Ice Quote of the Week By Steve Martaindale metal plaque was not. Now ence that wasn’t even on the “I’m so tired of Sun staff 15 years old, the Crary Lab, horizon when the 100-percent A plaque outside the Albert P. as it is more popularly known, design was approved.” looking at every- Crary Science and Engineering has proven to have the elas- Kottmeier, now director of one through trees.” Center at McMurdo Station tic qualities intended from its science support for Raytheon — Woman commenting on notes that the building was ded- inception. Polar Services Co., was among the number of fake plants icated on Nov. 4, 1991. That “The design of the Crary a group of scientists consulted in office spaces. was the original plan, but the Lab was very flexible to concerning requirements for a ever-unpredictable Antarctic accommodate the various dis- new lab. That was in 1984. By Inside weather had other ideas and ciplines of science that would the time plans were approved ceremonies were pushed back use it,” said Steve Kottmeier, and the first part of the building Road trippin’ to Marble to Nov. 5. “not only in a tactical sense was ready for use, new research Page 3 The event was obviously but also strategically so that it was already forcing the first flexible, even though the cast could accommodate new sci- See LAB on page 7 Rocking out in German Page 14 AntarcticSun.usap.gov 2 • The Antarctic Sun November 19, 2006 The core of the project Cold, hard facts All about us Race and gender White: 94.67 percent Black: 0.70 percent Hispanic: 2.90 percent Asian/Pacific Islander: 1.51 percent Native American: 0.23 percent Gender: 32.33 percent females Age Youngest: 18 Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun Oldest: 68 Cliff Atkins, Cristina Millan and Terry Wilson (left to right) examine a fresh sediment Mean (average age): 37 core at the ANDRILL drilling site. ANDRILL is searching through geological history to Mode (most common age): 28 understand the past and future impacts of global temperature change on Antarctica’s ice mass. Next week’s Sun will contain full coverage of the massive undertaking. Most popular names Males: David Females: Susan Top three most-represented states: Colorado, Washington, California 48 states represented (no one claims Delaware or Rhode Island) These statistics are for the 863 RPSC con- tract workers on all stations and ships. Source: Cori Manka, McMurdo human resources specialist Level 1 Comix Matt Davidson The Antarctic Sun is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the United States Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its primary audience is U.S. Antarctic Program participants, their families, and their friends. NSF reviews and approves material before publication, but opinions and conclusions expressed in The Sun are not necessarily those of the Foundation. Use: Reproduction is encouraged with acknowledgment of source and author. Senior Editor: Peter Rejcek Editors: Steven Profaizer, Steve Martaindale Copy Editors: Ben Bachelder, Rob Jones, Traci Macnamara, Cori Manka, Melanie Miller, Erin Popelka, Bethany Profaizer, Travis Senor, Emily Stone Publisher: Valerie Carroll, Communications manager, RPSC Contributions are welcome. Contact the Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407. Web address: AntarcticSun.usap.gov Subscribe: Click on the link on the right side of the homepage and follow the directions. November 19, 2006 The Antarctic Sun • 3 Sea ice strong-arms USAP into backup plan Fleet operations grooms new route to Marble Point for fuel, supply deliveries By Steven Profaizer Sun staff The iron grip of the sea ice has pre- vented the annual fuel tanker from reach- ing Marble Point Refueling Station since January 2004. No one yet knows if the sea ice will clear out this summer. But Marble Point is a crucial fuel stop for access to the McMurdo Dry Valleys, and fleet opera- tions isn’t taking any chances on it running dry. The department groomed a new snow route this season to facilitate the transport of regular supplies and about 350,000 liters of fuel to Marble Point’s thirsty tanks. Fleet operations will divide the fuel into four different trips down the nine-hour route to Marble Point. It will also make Photos by Gregory Murphy / Special to The Antarctic Sun two regularly scheduled supply trips along Above, heavy equipment operator Richard the new path. Vaitonis walks among ski-equipped tanks that The gnarled, old sea ice between are used to transport fuel to Marble Point McMurdo and Marble Point is covered Refueling Station. Sea ice has kept the station with ice defects like cracks and hollow from being refueled for the last three years. pockets in ever-increasing numbers. Last season, these features forced fleet opera- Left, the side mirror on a tractor shows the tions into canceling the second of its typi- fuel tanks in tow along the snow route to cal crossings to Marble Point and helped Marble Point. Fleet operations had to create necessitate a bulldozed snow route. and maintain an overland route to the refuel- “It would have been impossible to get a ing station this season. traverse over to [Marble Point] this year,” said Gerald Crist, fleet operations supervi- Reed and John “JP” McMullan. The two- there were some troublesome sections that sor. “The sea ice is looking progressively man team worked 15- and 16-hour days proved unavoidable. worse.” for a week to complete the 80-kilometer “The worst section was from Cape The surface between McMurdo Station path. Bernacchi to Marble Point – the last 12 and Marble Point is annual sea ice, which They had to use their best judgment to miles,” Reed said. “It had everything you is ice on top of the ocean that should be decide the exact location of the route, but do not want to see on a sea ice traverse: broken up and pushed out to sea each sum- they did have some help. pressure ridges, melt holes, rough ice from mer by the pressure of tides and the force At the end of last season and the begin- dirt blown down from the Taylor Valley. It of Antarctic storms. ning of this one, a fleet operations team had it all.” This has not happened completely since was able to take helicopter flights to survey He said it took about six passes from 2001 when a massive iceberg, B-15A, the sea ice between McMurdo and Marble each of the bulldozers to get this section stopped near McMurdo Sound and pro- Point. It determined the best possible path smooth enough that it wouldn’t put the tected the ice from the natural stressors and plotted a general course using GPS. fuel sleds at risk. that normally wipe the sea ice slate clean “It gets a little tricky at times operating each year. a dozer while following a [GPS] heading All USAP activities are subject to the “In past years, when the sea ice would and bouncing around on the ice,” Reed environmental assessment process, under go out annually, the surface, as a whole, said. the Protocol on Environmental Protection had the characteristics of a large pool The helicopter scouting mission proved to the Antarctic Treaty. Short supply tra- table,” said Marty Reed, Marble Point a success, and the team was able to elimi- verses, such as the traverse to Marble traverse leader. nate many of the major problem areas by Point, have been assessed as part of the The Marble Point route was made by planning the road around them. However, overall USAP program. 4 • The Antarctic Sun November 19, 2006 Perspectives Perspectives Leading the program in a new era By Christina Hammock Special to the Sun First there had been the question of what to use as my radio call sign. “Cryo Chick” had to be replaced with “Cryo Chris.” Next came inheriting the cryo shack, for- merly an admitted bastion of male pride Christina Hammock with its over-sized pipe wrenches, pres- fills a tank with sure gauges and intimidating giant tanks. liquid helium in the As a prank, I decorated it completely in South Pole station’s pink. Then there were those power meet- cryo building. She ings with the astrophysics principal inves- worked during the tigators when all the pressure was on the 2004-05 seasons only gal in the room. as the first woman These were some of the many unique cryogenic technician moments I experienced as the first woman at the South Pole. cryogenic technician at South Pole during the 2004-05 summer and winter seasons. Luckily, the interesting challenges of my job far outweighed the few bumps along the road. Pink décor wasn’t my only contribution to the cryo shack. During my tenure, a number of advances were made Courtesy of Christina Hammock / Special to The Antarctic Sun to the cryo operation – automation, com- the first female research associate has been tem and generate real-time sea ice images puterized monitoring and advanced supply a much easier transition.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Drilling to the Beds of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets: a Review
    Annals of Glaciology 47 2007 1 Drilling to the beds of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets: a review Charles R. BENTLEY, Bruce R. KOCIy Ice Coring and Drilling Services, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1225 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706-1612, USA E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT. We give a review of drilling to the beds of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, with a history of just a century. We use a chronological rather than a geographical ordering to emphasize the way drilling has developed. The review is divided into two parts: core drilling and hole-only drilling for access to the beds or the deep interior of the ice sheets. This is an overview, not a comprehensive report on each project. While we have endeavoured to include all projects that fit our selection criteria, we have not provided all the technical details. INTRODUCTION Army Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment In this paper we give an historical review of drilling to, or (USA-SIPRE). In Greenland, two holes were cored, the first nearly to, the beds of the two polar ice sheets, with a history reaching a depth of 296 m on 27 August 1956, and the of just half a century. The focus on drilling that reached the second reaching a depth of 407 m in late boreal summer beds arose from a paper contributed to a workshop on of 1957. Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments in Grenoble, France, Meanwhile, in 1956, a duplicate of the Failing rig was in April 2006. We expanded our coverage to Greenland, shipped to Antarctica, arriving in December at Little America because the drilling histories in Antarctica and Greenland are V, from where it was shipped to Byrd Station in October intimately intertwined.
    [Show full text]
  • The Microstructure of Polar Ice. Part I: Highlights from Ice Core Research$
    *ManuscriptView metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Click here to view linked References provided by Electronic Publication Information Center The Microstructure of Polar Ice. Part I: Highlights from Ice Core ResearchI Sergio´ H. Fariaa,b,∗, Ilka Weikusatc, Nobuhiko Azumad aBasque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Alameda Urquijo 4-4, 48008 Bilbao, Spain bIKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Alameda Urquijo 36-5, 48011 Bilbao, Spain cAlfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany dDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188, Niigata, Japan Abstract Polar ice sheets play a fundamental role in Earth’s climate system, by interacting actively and passively with the environment. Active interactions include the creep- ing flow of ice and its effects on polar geomorphology, global sea level, ocean and atmospheric circulation, and so on. Passive interactions are mainly established by the formation of climate records within the ice, in form of air bubbles, dust particles, salt microinclusions and other derivatives of airborne impurities buried by recurrent snowfalls. For a half-century scientists have been drilling deep ice cores in Antarctica and Greenland for studying such records, which can go back to around a million years. Experience shows, however, that the ice-sheet flow generally disrupts the stratigraphy of the bottom part of deep ice cores, destroying the integrity of the oldest records. For all these reasons glaciologists have been studying the microstructure of polar ice cores for decades, in order to understand IDedicated to the memory of Sigfus´ Johann´ Johnsen (1940-2013).
    [Show full text]
  • Review on Subglacial Till and Bedrock Drilling
    Technical Report PRC 12-02 REVIEW OF SUBGLACIAL TILL AND BEDROCK DRILLING Pavel G. Talalay Polar Research Center Jilin University, China February 2012 REVIEW OF SUBGLACIAL TILL AND BEDROCK DRILLING Abstract: Drilling to till and bedrock of ice sheets and glaciers offers unique opportunities for examining processes acting at the bed. Four types of subglacial drilling technologies are considered: (1) non-rotary sampling; (2) non-core penetrating; (3) pipe-string rotary drilling; (4) electromechanical cable-suspended drilling. The different bedrock drilling technologies are reviewed and discussed. The procedure of till and bedrock drilling and the geological description of retrieved debris-containing ice and bedrock cores are given. Copyright 2012 by Polar Research Center at Jilin University. All rights reserved. Printed in the People„s Republic of China. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Cover: Subglacial core samples from Vavilov glacier, Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, 1988 (Vasiliev and Talalay, 2010) 2 REVIEW OF SUBGLACIAL TILL AND BEDROCK DRILLING Contents 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 2. Subglacial environment and drilling methods ………………………………………… 6 3. Non-rotary sampling ……………………………………………………………………….. 10 4. Non-core penetrating ………………………………………………………………………. 15 5. Pipe-string rotary drilling …………………………………………………………………. 22 5.1. Conventional drilling ……………………………………………………………… 22 5.2. Wire-line drilling ………………………………………………………………....... 25 5.3. Coiled tubing drilling ………………………………………………………………. 27 6.
    [Show full text]
  • THE HISTORY of EARLY POLAR ICE CORES Chester C
    ERDC/CRREL TR-08-1 THE HISTORY OF EARLY POLAR ICE CORES Chester C. Langway, Jr. January 2008 Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. “Snowflakes fall to Earth and leave a message—.” Henri Bader (1907-1998) Cover: Thin-section micrograph of a matrix of individual ice crystals from the 250-m depth (about 800 years old) from the Camp Milcent ice core. The different colors are due to the different orientations of the crystals. The larger crystals are about 1 cm in the elongated diameter. The small dark circles, better observed within the lighter crystals, are entrapped atmospheric air bubbles, incorporated and formed in the upper snow layers, originally as pore spaces. With time and increasing depth and overburden load pressure, they transform into individual air bubbles. Techniques of extracting the bubbles from ice core specimens, and analyzing the gases, provide chemical data on past changes in ancient atmospheric compositions. This report commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Third International Polar Year (IGY) and the ongoing Fourth International Polar Year (IPY). ERDC/CRREL TR-08-1 January 2008 THE HISTORY OF EARLY POLAR ICE CORES Chester C. Langway, Jr. USA SIPRE / USA CRREL / University at Buffalo Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. ii ERDC/CRREL TR-08-1 Abstract: The scientific knowledge of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and the subsequently derived Earth history, has been greatly increased during the past 50 years. Much of the new information was obtained from various studies made on a relatively small number of deep (300–400 m) and several very deep (some over 3000 m) ice cores, recovered from the inland regions of both ice sheets by different national and international research teams.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Drilling Bibliography
    St. Petersburg State Mining Institute ICE DRILLING BIBLIOGRAPHY Part II: Russian Drilling Arctic and Non-Polar Regions Bibliography Compiled by P.G.Talalay October 2004 Russian Drilling Arctic and Non-Polar Regions Bibliography is considered to be the second part of the Ice Drilling Published Database compiled by the recommendation of the MEETING ON DEEP ICE CORE DRILLING (16-19 September, 2004, Schneefernerhaus meteorological observatory, Germany). Russian Drilling Antarctic Bibliography consists from almost ninety references published mainly in Russian journals and collections of scientific articles such as Data of Glaciological Studies, Infor- mation Bulletin of Soviet Antarctic Expedition, Transactions of Soviet Antarctic Expedition, Trans- actions of Leningrad Mining Institute, etc. Some of them were written or translated to English (such references are marked by * in the front of the first author). Most of the bibliographies are accompanied by the codes of the US literature databases (ReoRef, CRREL Acc., etc.). For example, the GeoRef database is compiled by American Geological Insti- tute (AGI) and includes Antarctic Bibliography and Bibliography on Cold Regions Science and Technology [http://www.coldregions.org/]. All documents of the GeoRef database can be ordered through AGI’s GeoRef Document Delivery Service [http://www.agiweb.org/georef/dds/index.html]. The world's largest collection of international polar databases, including CRREL's Bibliography on Cold Regions Science & Technology, is available only by CRREL employees. Non-CRREL em- ployee should contact National Information Services Corporation (NISC USA) [email protected] [http://www.nisc.com]. In order to help using of Russian Drilling Arctic and Non-Polar Regions Bibliography, all bore- holes drilled by Russian researches are listed in Appendix.
    [Show full text]
  • 600 KB; PDF Format
    7th INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON ICE DRILLING TECHNOLOGY Pyle Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA 9-13 September 2013 Co-sponsored by: Ice Drilling Program Office – Ice Drilling Design and Operations (IDPO-IDDO) International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) International Glaciological Society (IGS) Conveners: Mary Albert (Ice Drilling Program Office, USA) Charlie Bentley (Ice Drilling Design and Operations, USA) Frank Wilhelms (Alfred-Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven) 7th International Workshop on Ice Drilling Technology CONTENT COMMITTEES p.2 PROGRAM p.3 SESSIONS Challenges & Emerging Technologies p.5 Logistics & Drill Camp Operations p.10 Shallow and High-Altitude Drilling p.13 Intermediate Depth Ice Drilling p.17 Hot Water Drilling p.20 Special Aspects of Ice Drilling Technology p.26 Drilling Fluids p.30 Directional Drilling & Replicate Sampling p.32 Future Drilling Projects p.36 Deep Ice Drilling p.37 Rapid Access & In-situ Probes p.40 Warm Ice, Subglacial Penetration & Sampling p.44 POSTERS p.50 LIST OF ATTENDEES p.78 1 7th International Workshop on Ice Drilling Technology COMMITTEES LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Mary Albert (Co-Chair; Dartmouth, USA) Charlie Bentley (Co-Chair; University of Wisconsin, USA) Frank WilHelms (Co-Chair; Alfred-Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven) JosepH Souney (University of New Hampshire, USA) Mark Twickler (University of New Hampshire, USA) Tony Wendricks (University of Wisconsin, USA) PROGRAM COMMITTEE Frank Wilhelms (Alfred-Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Chair of Program Committee) Olivier
    [Show full text]
  • Usa Crrel Snow and Ice Testing Equipment
    e ' l S R 1 4 6 Special Report 146 USA CRREL SNOW AND ICE TESTING EQUIPMENT Herbert Ueda, Paul Sellmann and Gunars Abele S e p t e m b e r 1 9 7 5 GB 2401 .C6 CORPS OF ENGINEERS, U.S. ARMY no.146 COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LABORATORY 1975 HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. LIBRARY MAR 176 Bureau c t Reclamation; Denver, Colorado The findings in this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other authorized documents. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION DENVER LIBRARY 92097519 c;\ Unclassified 92097519 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (Wien Data Enterad) READ INSTRUCTIONS REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE BEFORE COMPLETING FORM 7 1. R E P O R T N U M B E R 2. GOVT ACCESSION NO 3. RECIPIENT'S CATALOG NUMBER ^ / o Special/Keport 146 y 4. T I T L E (and Subtitle) 5. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED USA CRREL SNOW AND ICE TESTING EQUIPMENT 3 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHOR*» 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER*» r s Herbert Ueda, Paul Sellmann and Gunars Abele 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT, TASK AREA ft WORK UNIT NUMBERS *7 ^ U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory^ Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 11. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 1^y R E P O R T D A T E September 1975 ÿ U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory 13. NUMBER OF PAGES Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 17 14.
    [Show full text]