On the Web at http://www.asa.org January 2, 2000

Published during the austral at McMurdo Station, , for the United States Program Searching the for space rocks By Aaron Spitzer The Antarctic Sun

With a glimmer of pride in his eye, researcher Ralph Harvey gently lifts the lid of a wooden box, revealing a fist-sized, fractured black stone. Harvey found the rock earlier this season in Antarctica, but it came from 200 million miles away. The stone is a meteorite, which traveled to Earth from the vast asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. And Harvey, a geology professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, is a meteorite hunter. Ever since he was a graduate student in 1987, Harvey has been coming Break on through south on what he calls an “Easter egg The U.S. Coast Guard Polar Star cuts through fast in McMurdo Sound. hunt” for space rocks. Now he’s the head The ship began clearing a channel last week to allow resupply vessels to dock at McMurdo Station’s ice pier—the southernmost port on Earth. Photo by Bob Zook. of the project dubbed ANSMET—the Antarctic Search for Meteorites. According to Harvey, Antarctica is the best spot on Earth to search for meteorites. More than 16,000 Going with the flow extraplanetary stones have been found By Josh Landis here, including half of the Mars rocks The Antarctic Sun ever discovered on Earth. It’s not that more meteorites fall Standing on the bank of the biggest river in Antarctica, the other side looks little here than elsewhere. It’s just that in more than a running jump away. It’s tempting to try to make the leap, but the is Antarctica, they’re easier to find. too cold for a slip in the stream, and nearby rocks serve as convenient stepping-stones. On the Ice, there’s no soil or Doctoral student and researcher Mike Gooseff, however, is up to his boot- vegetation to hide space rocks, no covered ankles in the icy Onyx River. He balances a long, shiny metallic instrument on running water to wear them down, a the streambed and calls out numbers to fellow researcher Ethan Chatfield, who’s plain white background to see them perched by the water’s edge recording the data in a notebook. The instrument, which against, and few other stones to confuse looks like a golf club, measures the depth and velocity of the water at intervals across them with. In many areas of Antarctica, the stream. When all the numbers are crunched, the stream’s volume and flow will be any rock in sight is a meteorite. determined. Of course, most meteorites that fall “Listen to that raging,” exclaimed Gooseff upon hearing the river at its strongest, here become buried in , carried swiftest part. The sound of gurgling and rushing is strange for a place where water is along by and, after eons, dis- most often locked in place by the cold. charged amid in the sea. But in Gooseff and Chatfield, along with hydrologist Jon Mason, are the Stream Team, certain places, especially where the polar and it’s their job to monitor 18 gauges set up at numerous streams in the Dry Valleys. See “ANSMET”—Page 2 See “Stream”—Page 5

Antarctican of the Nostradamus of The plane truth / Baring it all / century / Page 3 the south / Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 2 January 2, 2000 The Antarctic Sun “ANSMET”—from Page 1 siveness of the hunt, he said, “You plateau meets the Transantarctics, ice end up with a The week in weather flows into mountain cul-de-sacs and, really representa- unable to advance further, evaporates or tive sample of Palmer blows away. what’s coming H/ 46 F In these areas of “blue ice,” glaciers down to Earth.” L/ 29 F H/ -18 F can be worn down by up to three inches a When a • Min Wind Chill: 3 F day. The meteorites are left behind and, meteorite is Max Wind: 58 mph L/ -27 F over thousands of years, they start to pile spotted, it’s Min Wind Chill: -76 F up. assigned an Max Wind: 41 mph The researchers don’t have an identification • elaborate system for determining where number and its these pileups might be. Though they use location is re- McMurdo satellite images to identify areas of blue corded by GPS. H/ 37 F ice, “It’s a rare blue-ice spot where the Then it is placed in L/ 21 F • meteorites are actually concentrated,” a sterile bag and Harvey said. “You’ve just got to go out kept frozen until it Min Wind Chill: -13 F and look for them.” can be shipped to Max Wind: 22 mph And that’s what ANSMET has been the Johnson Space doing, for the last 23 years. The program Center in Houston, started in 1976, shortly after a group of where all of ANSMET’s specimens are belt, hurtling on a trajectory toward Japanese scientists happened upon a collected. Earth. remarkable concentration of meteorites The Beardmore researchers have But not all meteorites come from near Antarctica’s Yamato Mountains. already found several hundred meteorites the asteroid belt. According to Harvey, Today, ANSMET is the best and cheapest this season—most of them walnut-sized about one in 2,000 comes from elsewhere. source for scientists to acquire extraterres- rocks called chondrites. According to At least six rocks found in Antarctica trial material. Harvey, the stones are chemically have been determined to have arrived Hunting for meteorites in Antarc- comparable to the sun. They are leftovers from Mars, including one which excited a tica is less romantic than it sounds. A from the time when the Earth and the frenzy of scientific curiosity three years group of Harvey’s researchers, currently other planets were formed. ago when it appeared to bear evidence of conducting a transect search in the Foggy Almost all meteorites found on Martian life. Bottom region of the Beardmore , Earth begin in the asteroid belt, where an According to Harvey, it’s not has spent the last several weeks driving enormous ring of dust and debris hangs surprising to find bits of other planets in snow machines at a snail’s pace, back and in limbo, pulled in one direction by the the snows of Antarctica. “You’ve got this forth in a parallel line, systematically Sun’s gravity and in the other by Jupiter, transfer of material between the planets sweeping the area. the solar system’s largest planet. going on at a fairly steady rate,” he Harvey likens the process to These opposing forces send the explained. “I’m sure there are bits of mowing a lawn, only with more overlap asteroids pin-balling into one another. Earth flying around in space.” on each pass. Because of the comprehen- Sometimes, one will ricochet out of the

ContributetoMcMurdo’sMillenniumTimeCapsule! Seekingsmallmementos,images,journalentries,etc.,tocommemoratethe millenniumandtobeopenedin25years.BringtotheMcMurdoHistoricalSociety meetings,Sundaysat6:30p.m.intheLibrary,orcontactEdAndersonat [email protected].DeadlineisJanuary20.

The Antarctic Century and nine Scott and a small party men ring in the new century at ascend Ferrar Glacier, The last hundred years in Antarc- after becoming the becoming the first to travel tica have transformed our understanding first to winter on the continent. on the polar plateau. of the continent and its interaction with the rest of the world. 1900 1903 While it’s impossible to chronicle every achievement and accomplishment 1902 1904 that occurred below 60 degrees south, the Robert Scott makes his Modern Antarctic whaling following are highlights from the last first attempt at the begins when first whaling hundred years on the Ice. South Pole, reaching 82 station on South Georgia degrees south. Island is established. The Antarctic Sun January 2, 2000 3 Letter to the editors Antarctican of the century poll Don’t dump on Navy “It has to be Shackleton, of course. No What is this, a pick-on-the-Navy newspaper? The one else has gone through close to what he Antarctic Sun in the December 12, 1999, article “Re- experienced, without ever losing a man. He claiming the Ice” mentions the Navy in connection with loved this place. It haunted him, and he came a dump area on the . In the following back again and again.” week’s issue, the article “Testing tainted ” again The above sentiments, submitted by Dale mentions the Navy, this time in connection with Lynn Gardner, were shared by many of the pollutants in . respondents to the Antarctic Sun’s informal Neither of the comments are derogatory, but both Antarctic Person-of-the-Century poll. In all, 17 portray the Navy in a less than complimentary way. It’s of the 50 votes cast by press time were for Sir , the indomitable Irishman as if fingers are being pointed at the Navy for doing Sir Ernest Shackleton something that was standard practice and would have who first came south with Robert Scott in 1902 1874-1922 and returned with death-defying expeditions been done by any agency at that time. Hey, after all the of his own three times after. NSF was there, so why didn’t they put a stop to the A far distant second in the polling, with four votes, was Roald dumping and pollution? Amundsen, the man who first achieved the Pole. No votes were cast for If there had been environmental regulations in Robert Scott, who led the second and ultimately fatal expedition to 90 effect during the time when the Navy managed Mc- degrees south. Murdo for the NSF, you’d better believe the Navy Third place was a tie, with three votes each going to Adm. Richard would have followed the regulations to the letter of the Byrd, America’s premier Antarctic explorer, and the founders of the law. Antarctic Treaty, the pioneering international agreement which in 1959 My point is that no single agency or country is dedicated the continent to peace and science. responsible for the pollution of Antarctica. Until very Uncommon answers from the Heroic Age included , recently every single participating country, and every who was Shackleton’s photographer on the Endurance expedition; Jean- private party that has had expeditions, bases or camps, Baptiste Charcot, who explored much of the for has had a dump of some sort. France; and Sir , who headed the Royal Geographic The Navy has played an important and long role Society and was patron of numerous Antarctic expeditions. in Antarctic history and culture. If the Navy is to be Recent Antarcticans receiving votes for person-of-the-century remembered, don’t let it be for management techniques included Chuck Gallagher, Edward “Mickey” Finn, Jules Uberuaga, Rob that are unpopular or politically incorrect for today but Robbins, Ted Dettmar and Ann DalVera. were the accepted norms for that period in time. Less specific suggestions included, “the person who brought beer —Chief Radioman Billy-Ace Penguin Baker to the Ice,” “the person who discovered this hell-hole” and “the guys U.S. Navy, Retired who took care of the dogs during the 1955 crossing.”

The Antarctic Sun, part of the United States Antarctic Program, is funded by the National Science Foundation. Opinions and conclusions expressed in the Sun are not necessarily those of the Foundation. Use: Reproduction and distribution are encouraged with acknowledgment of source and author. Publisher: Valerie Carroll, Antarctic Support Associates. Editors: Jeff Inglis Josh Landis Aaron Spitzer Haveyougottenyour2000calendar? Contributions are welcome. Contact the Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our WehaveaveryniceoneavailableattheStore! office in Building 155 or dial 2407. Web address: http://www.asa.org TheStoreisopenSunday,January2,11a.m.to4p.m.

Edgeworth David and a party Shackleton and three Edward Wilson, “Birdie” from Ernest Shackleton’s others sledge to within Bowers and Apsley Cherry- make the first ascent 97 nautical miles of the Garrard embark on “the worst of . South Pole. journey in the world.” 1908 1909 1911 1909 1910 1911 David, Douglas Shocking British society, On December 14, Amundsen, Mawson and Alistair announces four companions and 18 dogs McKay reach the South he will attempt to reach the reach the Pole after 57 days. Magnetic Pole. South Pole. 4 January 2, 2000 The Antarctic Sun Station and vessel updates

South Pole Station Palmer Station By Tracy Sheeley By Bob Farrell As usual, our station on the polar of the six AMANDA holes are complete Palmer Station celebrated Christ- plateau remains a hub of much activity. and have been deployed. The first one mas with a fabulous feast prepared by The Christmas spirit truly began with a to be tested exceeds expectations. The our two excellent chefs with help from visit from Santa (disguised as the ANG) holes are 6,900 feet deep. The third hole many talented community members. with gifts of mail and freshies in the will be deployed on New Year’s Eve. Plans are now underway for many days preceding the weekend. Most of The Pole has also been hosting folks to ring in the New Year atop the the station population enjoyed two some visitors. An Australian and a glacier behind the station. days off. The festivities began on British skier arrived at Pole from the We have had the privilege of Friday with the annual gift exchange. in 47 days, achieving hosting sound artist Doug Quin for the Christmas morning began with world-record time and distance records past few weeks. Doug has been prepar- the South Pole tradition of the “Race for their unsupported manhaul. Their ing several pieces for broadcast around Around the World.” The race circles the plans to continue to McMurdo were the world including, NPR’s “All Things ceremonial and geographic poles, so thwarted by a fuel leakage which Considered,” New Zealand Radio, and participants cross every time zone. contaminated their food. shows on both German and Belgian Contestants raced in every imaginable Also at the Pole are two film radio. His web site, way, from walking to snow-machining crews: one German and one from the www.antarctica2000.net, is an excellent to sitting on a couch on the back of a States. The German crew is filming overview of his experiences here at pickup. After the race, a dignified AMANDA neutrino research, and both Palmer Station and includes many ceremony was held in the galley and crews will be documenting the Pole as sound clips from his recordings. Doug participants were awarded T-shirts. we move into the year 2000. is being assisted in the field by Mc- A day of rest and relaxation One of the highlights of filming Murdo veteran Steve Dunbar. Together followed, giving all a chance to whet will be a live broadcast of the annual they have recorded the local wildlife, their appetites for the Christmas feast, moving of the geographic South Pole the inner sounds of the glacier and the marker, which will take place at 4:30 which was scrumptiously prepared by multitude of sounds beneath the a.m. New Year’s Day. Other activities our dedicated galley staff and volun- surrounding waters. planned for the celebration include a teers. Station science has remained busy New Year’s Eve party (surprise!), a Construction on the dark sector with a few delays due to high winds. laboratory will be completed within a pool tournament, and, of course, a The area wildlife population is on the week. Interior work will take place good dinner. A variety of other rise with chicks hatching in all of the over the upcoming winter season. expeditioners are expected to arrive on local bird colonies. Work continues on the new power or near New Year’s Day, including All of us at Palmer Station would plant arch. One crew is working on the more skiers and snow buggies—more like to wish our friends in the rest of buildings underneath the arch as on this in our next update! the USAP all the best for a happy and another adds the external rings. Happy New Year to all! prosperous new millenium. All is on track with science. Two

Check out the Sun websites of the week: http://www.nsf.gov The National Science Foundation’s website, http://www.rpsc.raytheon.com including detailed information on the activities of Raytheon Polar Services Company’s plans for the Office of Polar Programs. http://www.asa.org the U.S. Antarctic Program. Antarctic Support Associates

On January 18, Scott Shackleton, seeking to be first Shackleton dies on and four companions to cross Antarctica, abandons board the and achieve the Pole. All his ship after it’s crushed in the is buried on South die on the return trip. ice of the Weddell Sea. Georgia Island. 1912 1915 1922 1913 1916 1923 Mawson returns to his base Shackleton and two others The beginning of after the deaths of his two reach South Georgia Island large-scale factory companions on a trip after a 15-day ordeal from ship whaling in the though Land. Elephant Island. . The Antarctic Sun January 2, 2000 5 “Stream”—from Page 1 Their work is part of enced by the the National Science sediments,” said Foundation’s Long Gooseff. “Coupled Term Ecological with that is nutrient Research Network. dynamics, like what The goal of LTER is to kind of transforma- chart ecological tions do you see?” changes over long A transforma- periods of time and tion of a different across many different kind that’s being environments. seen more and more Eventually, it is is the increased hoped, the informa- presence of humans tion will provide a in the timeless better picture of how terrain. Indeed, the earth is changing. things change more At first glance, slowly in the Dry calling a contempo- Valleys than most rary research project anywhere on earth. “long term” in a place Ancient, where rain hasn’t mummified seal fallen in as many as carcasses are still two million years may covered with skin seem oxymoronic. But and fur. Drainage Ethan Chatfield records data as Mike Gooseff measures the depth and velocity of the patterns from ice the Onyx and other Onyx River. The Stream Team is responsible for monitoring 18 sites in the Dry Valleys. that melted hun- Dry streams Photo by Josh Landis. are the faintest, most dreds or thousands finicky tendrils of enormous bodies of warmest months. The rest of the year it is of years ago furrow the ground. And water flowing frozen out of the moun- frozen solid. And it runs into the middle footsteps in the loose, fluffy tains. The slightest change in their of Wright Valley, pooling at a place called mark the place where people have been— behavior should, theoretically, magnify a Lake Vanda. The flow of the Onyx into whether it was yesterday or decades ago. less detectable shift in the Earth’s overall the dead-end Vanda is countered by the The same fragility that makes the environment. constant winds that sweep the valley, Dry Valleys an ideal place to chart global It’s an idea the NSF believes in. evaporating the water and ablating the change also makes them extremely Since 1980, 21 LTER sites have been ice. susceptible to those who tread there. established from the to the Antarc- “It’s been a good season,” said Like Gooseff, Chatfield is working tic. Each one encompasses a unique Gooseff. “It’s a little disappointing that on another project of his own. He’s ecosystem. The Dry Valleys, which joined we have four streams that haven’t flowed looking at the re-growth rate of algae in the network in 1993, constitute polar (much), but other than that things are and around the streams, as part of the desert oases. Work there is focused on going well.” assessment of human impact in the area. microbial life, lakes, and streams. The In addition to his Stream Team “If algae were destroyed by LTER site near Palmer Station, on the duties, Gooseff is exploring other aspects walking,” he asks, “how long would it other hand, looks at polar marine life, of the environment. He’s concentrating on take to grow back?” including krill and seabirds. the saturated areas around the flow, It’s a question that so far has no The Onyx River is a unique body of called hyporeic zones. It’s an area where a definitive answer. It’s also one that needs water situated in a rare valley on an lot of chemistry and biology take place, to be answered, for the number of people incomparable continent. Its drainage but little is known about it. in the valleys—tourists and scientists pattern is the opposite of any surround- “I want to know how the water that alike—is on the rise. ing areas. The river runs only during the moves in and out of the stream is influ-

Britain opens a marine Richard Byrd and a The first woman, biological station on South crew of three become Caroline Mikkelsen, sets Georgia Island, the continent’s the first to fly over the foot on the continent at first sustained scientific effort. South Pole. Vestfold Hills. 1925 1929 1935 1928 1934 1937 Taking off from Deception Byrd becomes the first person to In the first real attempt to Island, winter in the continent’s interior, regulate Antarctic whaling, nine makes the first flight in alone at an encampment on the nations sign the International Antarctica. Ross Ice Shelf. Convention on Whaling. 6 January 2, 2000 The Antarctic Sun Faces What is your New Year’s on resolution?

“Not to drink any more... or any less.” “Do more exercise, get fit “Just getting by is enough.” Ryan Luedtke “To be nicer to my roommate.” and drink less.” Madison Hall Air Terminal Operations Brandon Miller Tom Robbins Power plant Recreation London Sunday Times

RossIslandChronicles byRichardPerales Allright!Who stoletheChinese Okayeverybody!It’salmosttime! firecrackers?

Ohno!Mywatchhasstopped! Lookslikeeverybodywillmakeit toworktomorrowmorning.

Nazi Germany drops swastika- U.S. Navy commences Australia establishes George Dufek becomes engraved darts on Dronning , Mawson base, the first the first person to stand Land in an effort to claim bringing 4,700 men to large, permanent at the South Pole since the territory for the Third Reich. Antarctica. scientific station. Scott’s expedition. 1939 1947 1954 1956 1940 1950 1956 Byrd establishes Little In the first truly international McMurdo Station America III at the Bay expedition, Sweden, Norway and established; 93 men of Whales. Britain set up a joint base in winter-over the first year. Dronning Maud Land. The Antarctic Sun January 2, 2000 7 Dufek’s predictions Our Antarctic Week Monday Compiled by Ed Anderson Slide show, Madison Hall: “Traveling and paragliding in New Zealand and Australia,” In his 1959 book, Through the Frozen Frontier, 8:30 p.m., Galley commander Adm. George Dufek made some predictions about life and work in Tuesday Antarctica in the year 2000: Swing dance class for beginners, 6:30 p.m., • “The scientists are gathering again for another International Gym Geophysical Year. For them there are no horizons.” Wednesday • “The settlement will be well laid out.” Buildings cannot burn Bingo, 8 p.m., Gallagher’s because they are made from ore deposits from the Queen Victoria Range Thursday in Antarctica. January birthday bash, 8-9 p.m., Coffee House • Seasonal workers here will mine minerals. People will make three (bring ID for free drink) times their normal wage and not pay any income tax. Families with Friday children will live in houses of their own. Children will enjoy , Night Shift slide show, Tobias Schunck: “A hockey and skiing. Year on the Natty B,” 8 a.m., Coffee House • Large windows, made from a new material discovered here that Saturday cannot break, will allow perfect views of the Antarctic landscape. Hot air Helo ops party, 8 p.m., Helo hangar jets will keep them clean at all times. Sunday • Nuclear energy will be used for power. It will be no longer Golf tournament, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., necessary to transport fuel over long distances. Williams Field. Sign up on the Recreation • They will have a land airfield and airplanes from all over the Board. world will land here in any weather. The planes will fly 5,000 mph. • There will be a guided missile range for carrying mail and light cargo. Ten percent of the missiles will miss. If you have an item for the weekly calendar, e-mail us at • “These are my dreams for the year 2000. You will be the pioneers [email protected], call 2407, or drop by our office of tomorrow. You will discover whether my dream has come true.” in Building 155.

100 years of solitude

Photographed on New Year’s Day, 1900, these are the survivors of Carsten Borchgrevink’s party. The group was the first to winter on the continent, at Cape Adare in . Their hut, built in 1899, still stands. “New Year’s Day was fine and bright, the first we have had for three weeks, and a fitting one for the beginning of a new year. I lay on the roof of the hut most of the day, basking in the genial rays of the sun.” —Louis Charles Bernacchi

Vivian Fuchs becomes the first to cross the continent, Nuclear power plant Antarctic tourism begins from the Weddell Sea to the installed at McMurdo; with a luxury cruise to the Ross Sea. shuts in 1972. Antarctic Peninsula. 1958 1962 1965 1957 1959 1965 1968 International Twelve nations sign the Last whaling station on Construction begins at Geophysical Year Antarctic Treaty, South Georgia closes due present location of begins. South Pole dedicating the continent to scarcity of whales. Palmer Station. Station constructed. to peace and science. 8 January 2, 2000 The Antarctic Sun The tail of the plane

By Josh Landis “When we got into the McMurdo The Antarctic Sun Sound area the weather turned bad very rapidly, and as we came in for a landing COLD HARD Anyone familiar with air operations we had something like 35 knot cross winds at McMurdo knows of Pegasus as the that were 90 degrees to the runway, and FACTS downed plane that gave its name to the that’s out of limits for the Connie ... We F blue ice runway near . The knew it was going to be a rough landing. Compiled by MSgt. Robert Lafaye plane is still there and it’s had a lot of We heard the engines backfiring a bit and visitors since it crashed almost 30 years everybody was anticipating a touch down. The U.S. Air Force is made up of ac- ago. But it never came. Instead, [the pilot] tive duty members, Air Force Reservists For all the attention it attracts, added power and pulled off.” and the Air National Guard. however, few know the story of how “Finally, on the last pass we did Pegasus got to where it is today. touch down, and no sooner than we Within the Reserves, there are three On October 8, 1970, the plane touched down than evidently the right types of employee: departed from Christchurch, bound for wheel hit a snow bank and was sheared Traditional Reservists with a civilian job McMurdo. The weather prediction had off, and then the right wing hit and broke and minimum military commitment of one been favorable but by the time the C-121 off, and from the way it felt to me the tail of weekend a month and two weeks per year Super Constellation arrived, visibility had the aircraft slid around to the front, so to Technicians who are full-time federal deteriorated to zero. Blowing snow made speak, and we were sliding down and off employees with one weekend of duty per the runway invisible. With nowhere else to to the side of the runway tail first.” month and two weeks a year go, the pilot was forced to attempt a The ordeal wasn’t over. It would Active Reserves with a full-time job in landing. take rescue crews an hour just to locate the the Reserves paid at the Active Duty rate The VXE-6 aircraft bounced off the plane in all the blinding snow as tempera- ice runway, lost its right landing gear, its tures hovered just above zero, then several The Air National Guard also has differ- right wing, and its nose gear. It broke apart more hours to transport everyone back to ent types of employee: upon impact, sending pieces flying McMurdo and attend to any injuries. Guard members working outside the hundreds of yards. All 80 people on board the plane United States, under the command of the Bobby Gene Russell, chief photo- walked away from the crash, but the plane Air Force graphic officer of VXE-6, was on board and remains on the ice shelf, with no immedi- Guard members assigned permanently described the incident in Charles Neider’s ate plans to move it. overseas, like those in Christchurch book, The Edge of the World. Active Guard working full-time at home, under the command of the governor of their state Technicians who are full-time state employees with one weekend of duty per month and two weeks a year Traditional Guard members who have duty one weekend a month and two weeks a year

The rotation of members of the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard involves the entire unit. Some full- timers in Antarctica also train and sup- port personnel back at home. They may travel back and forth two or three times a season.

First women at South Pole: Pam In the longest possible Young, Terry Tickhill, Lois Jones, South Pole dome Air New Zealand DC-10 traverse of the continent, an Eileen McSaveney, Kay Lindsay dedicated. crashes on Mount international team crosses and Jean Pearson. Erebus, killing 257. from the peninsula to Mirnyy. 1969 1975 1979 1989 1972 1978 1987 Davis Lewis single- Emilio de Palma Greenpeace establishes handedly sails a becomes the first person a base at Cape Evans to sloop to Antarctica. born in Antarctica, at an monitor human impact Argentine base. on Antarctica. The Antarctic Sun January 2, 2000 9 Perspectives

A splash in the southern sea

By Toby Wood Here are the rules: You must wear shoes for the 50-yard trot Special to the Sun through the ice to the hole—and the sprint back to the shed—so frostbite doesn’t ruin your feet. (You have to work the next day!) So there I am, stark naked at the bottom of the Earth, You shouldn’t wear any clothes besides your shoes because looking out across the great ice plateau at the sun just barely upon ascent from the water they may freeze to you in the minus setting upon the vast horizon, contemplating jumping into the 10 F air. You must also be accompanied by a harness wrapped polar sea. around your waist, in case of a heart It was time for the annual Polar attack. (There is a rescue crew nearby Plunge over at . An elite—and drinking coffee in their warm truck.) somewhat insane—group of individuals Once you are finished you reserve took the leap into the great Southern bragging rights to the Polar Plunge Ocean and, just for a moment, experi- Club, but have to buy your own patch enced the foraging ground of the seals, and hot cocoa. penguins and whales. Am I crazy? Wrapped only in a blanket, I try Maybe. to convince myself that this is a good Back in the world I’d heard rumors idea. It is now my turn to take the of idiots jumping recreationally into plunge. water so cold that if it weren’t for the salt I’m running down a series of concentration it would be frozen. snow steps to a path, and then looking Some may do it for pure pleasure. into a hole of sea water. The run there is Others, pure torture and stupidity. Me? not so bad, dry shoes, blanket flapping Well, to this day I’m not sure of the The Polar Plunge hole. Photo by Anthony wildly, and the sun setting in the Castagna. significance of my actions. background. Life is good. I stand at the bus stop and wait for Then there I stand, hesitant but the bus to pick me up and take me a few miles to the other side of willing. I drop my blanket and the bitter cold of the Antarctic air the bay, where the fun would begin. brushes against my bare bum. I slip the already-frozen harness On the trip over, we sit quietly in a deep trance, trying to around my waist and someone takes my photograph. I jump. psych ourselves up—a feeling once equaled by those high school Now up to this point I was quite macho and brave, like the bus rides before a football game. How do you prepare for the Greatest American Hero who hasn’t landed yet. Sure I can do this. unknown? I can handle this! Splash! The van pulls up and the driver cautions that only the Basically when you jump into 28 F water your body goes plungers get off here. No spectators. This must be my stop. into a state of shock. The flight-or-fight reaction kicks in instantly. I get out and look around. I feel like an astronaut on my Like a frightened little baby I splash around screaming for own planet, as close to the moon as I may ever get. Only a few mommy, blinded by idiocy and frigid cold even though the water miles from my warm bed to what seems a lifetime away from is 30 degrees warmer than the air. sanity. My hands wave in the air until I can firmly grip the iced- We are guided into a small wooden shack where a handful over rails of the wooden ladder. At this point all machismo in me of people are changing into their birthday suits to endure the is lost to the sea. I stand up and without smiling for the camera or thrills and chills of being submerged in 28 F water. I did the same, covering myself, I break world records sprinting back to the shed, still unsure of the consequences. hanging from ... well ... anyway.

Noway’s Boerge Ousland The Cape Roberts Project In accordance with the becomes the first person drills the deepest bedrock Madrid Protocol, the last to cross Antarctica alone hole in Antarctica: 3,084 huskies leave Antarctica. and unaided. feet. 1994 1997 1999 1994 1996 1998 Whale The annual mid- U.S. Naval Support Sanctuary established winter airdrop to Force Antarctica to protect feeding McMurdo ceases for decommissioned. VXE-6 grounds of whales. economic reasons. makes last flight. 10 January 2, 2000 The Antarctic Sun Profile Antarctica’s renaissance man

By Steven C. White he radioed back to Little America: “No symphony I have Special to the Sun ever heard, no work of art before which I have ever stood in Laurence McKinley “Larry” Gould played a large part awe ever gave me quite the thrill that I had when I reached in making Antarctica as we know it: a continent reserved for out after that strenuous climb and picked up a piece of rock science and dedicated to the hard work of people from all to find it sandstone. It was just the rock I had come all the nations. Second in command during Byrd’s 1928 expedition, way to the Antarctic to find.” first director of the U.S. Antarctic Program and charter head It showed that metamorphic mechanisms played on of the Special Committee for Antarctic Research, he was a early sedimentary deposits before ice descended over the principal designer of the original Antarctic Treaty in 1959. continent. Forty years later, in 1969 with Grover Murray on His leadership began Antarctica’s modern era. the , Gould found a vertebrate fossil in the Gould first came to Antarc- same sandstone formation that matched fossils found in tica as the head geographer for South Africa, indicating the two continents had been con- Adm. Richard Byrd in 1928. He nected. completed geographic surveys by That one rock helped define plate tectonics, and air and dog sled. One sledge trip revealed that “Terra Incognita” had the same origins as the covered 1,525 miles along the other continents. His report to Washington was verified as Transantarctic Range and was the “one of the truly great fossil finds of all time.” Gould opened first accurate study of that terrain a body of knowledge within Antarctica on which others have and geology. built, and continue to build today. His work on that original After the war, Gould returned to the Ice as the first U.S. expedition generated a list of Director of the Antarctic Program during the International firsts that still defines how people Geophysical Year of 1957-58. Following that effort, he was live and work in Antarctica. He instrumental in creating the original Antarctic Treaty. was the first to support deep field It was his voice that called out to protect the continent camps by air; he headed the first for those values we now share among all nations, to make scientific expedition; and his was the first voice to protect this continent unique from all others. the continent from commercial exploitation. In a speech he made in 1984, Gould looked back on that The British made the first aerial surveys in Antarctica. first international effort: Like Byrd, they flew from improved facilities like Williams “The IGY was not governmental, but it was supported Field, designed to launch and recover aircraft safely. Gould’s by governments. It was not survey of the Rockefeller Range in 1928 was the first use of military, but frequently sup- airplanes at unimproved sites. His pioneer efforts estab- ported by the military. It was lished a tradition that keeps us working in places like Siple not internationalized . . . for Dome and Upstream B. each nation ran its own pro- However, not all his efforts could be considered gram, but the whole provided successful. He suffered the same risks and difficulties we international cooperation on an still contend with on every excursion into the field. Remem- unprecedented scale. There was ber Skier 95 in the last season? Gould’s Trimotor is a magical quality about the IGY still stuck in the snow near the Rockefeller Range. in the way it lowered interna- But, Gould found important lessons in every occur- tional barriers and opened rence. A plane destroyed on the ground led to important closed doors. There was a insights and a greater body of knowledge. simplicity, a flexibility and In 1981, Gould said, “Today, aircraft are measurably freedom from political consid- more flexible and efficient; oversnow vehicles really do eration hitherto unknown.” work; and radio, which we introduced into Antarctica and Gould neither sought nor received recognition for which eliminated the isolation of that continent forever, much of his work. Almost resistant to notoriety, he focused provides superb communication.” Aircraft and radios were on his science, trying to further its role in our modern world. not Gould’s only modern-era firsts. Six different geographical features in Antarctica carry He led the first scientific expedition in Antarctica. his name, including the Gould Coast, south of Siple Dome Many whalers and explorers had traveled to Antarctica near the Queen Maud Mountains. The Office of Polar before, but no one had visited solely for science. Not only Programs, an agency he helped to create, also christened its responsible for generating maps, he catalogued and catego- newest research vessel for him, the R/V Laurence M. Gould. rized all the rocks he found. After climbing the to Mt. , Photos courtesy Carleton College library collection.