Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, , for the United States Antarctic Program October 24, 2004 Antarctica from Above

Photo by Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Special to The Antarctic Sun The 10 p.m. twilight glints off Mount Suess, as seen from a helicopter hovering over the Mackay north of McMurdo Station. This photo was taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, an Antarctic Artist and Writers grantee this season. For a better view of his photos, see a full-color version of The Antarctic Sun at www.polar.org and at his website, www.yannarthusbertrand.com. Turn to page 11 for more photos and page 12 for a profile of the photographer.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK Chip off the red planet “Antarctica is made By Emily Stone carefully collected by the 4-person team, of chocolate and Sun staff shipped frozen to NASA’s Johnson Space marshmallows.” The Antarctic meteorite hunters knew Center in Houston, and then split so that a - Woman admiring photos they’d found something good when they small chunk could be sent to the Smithsonian of ridges rising from the spotted the crusty black rock on a Miller Institution for analysis. snow near the Dry Valleys. Range ice field last year. In July, the team learned “The field notes said, ‘this is very, they’d found a piece of Mars. very, very sexy.’ Three verys,” said The piece is a 1.3 billion- INSIDE Ralph Harvey, head of the U.S. year-old volcanic meteorite, Antarctic Search for Meteorites weighing 715 grams. Lava holds clues to program (ANSMET). Martian meteorites are magnetic flip — page 7 The hunters had to wait rare finds. Eleven of the 31 months before learning what known Mars meteorites Ground ozone plays they had discovered. The Courtesy of Ralph Harvey fist-sized rock first had to be A Mars meteorite found last season. See Mars on page 8 hide and seek — page 9

www.polar.org/antsun 2 • The Antarctic Sun October 24, 2004

terra incognita by chico The low humidity makes the Antarctic the driest continent on Earth, which is why many things tend to dry and shrink.

Cold, hard facts The ice of the Ice “I think we’ve been cover 16 million square kilome- here too long” ters or about 10 percent of the Earth’s surface — mostly in Antarctica.

The surface area of Antarctica’s ice sheets, at 13.6 million square kilo- meters, is enough to accommodate 8.7 billion NHL-sized hockey rinks.

The volume of ice in Antarctica’s ice sheets is 30 million cubic kilometers. matt davidson If you were to melt Antarctica’s ice sheets, sea levels would rise by 73 meters.

The ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland hold 77 percent of the world’s fresh water.

Given average consumption, it would take a million people more than 80 years to drink iceberg C16.

Sources: “The Arctic and Antarctic”, by Jack Williams; Dr. Jeff Kavanaugh, glaciologist; Marianne Okal, graduate student studying C16

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the United States Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its pri- mary audience is U.S. Antarctic Program participants, their fami- lies, and their friends. NSF reviews and approves material Crossword: explorers by john deaton / answers on page 8 before publication, but opinions and conclusions expressed in the Sun are not Across: necessarily those of the Foundation. 1. Made first sighting of Antarctica in 1820 Use: Reproduction and distribution are 2. Explored ice sheet wall he named Victorian Barrier encouraged with acknowledgment of source 3. Led first winter expedition to spend the winter and author. on the Antarctic continent in 1899 Senior Editor: Kristan Hutchison 4. Built the oldest continuously operated base Editors: Brien Barnett, Emily Stone in Antarctica named Omond House. 5. Led the first circumnavigation of Earth and Copy Editors: Amanda Barnett, unsupported walk across Antarctica in 1993 Karl Horeis, Wendy Kober, Hunter 6. First crossed Antarctic Circle in 1773 Slaton, Mark Williams Down: Publisher: Valerie Carroll, 1. Drove a tractor to the South Pole in 1958 2. His team reached the magnetic South Pole Communications manager, RPSC in 1909 without him Contributions are welcome. Contact the 3. Reached S. Pole Dec. 14, 1911 Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit 4. Made 3 sealing / scientific expeditions to Ant. our office in Building 155 or dial 2407. and wrote “A Voyage Toward the South Pole in the Years 1822-24” Web address: www.polar.org/antsun 5. First to reach both N. and S. Poles October 24, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3 For those leaving the Ice, it’s ... A fresh, wonderful world By Kristan Hutchison Sun staff Frank Thompson smelled grass and trees before his plane even landed in Christchurch, New Zealand. “It’s amazing how tuned your senses are,” said Thompson, three days after Frank returning to Christchurch from his fourth Thompson, left, shares winter as an aircraft ground equipment a beverage mechanic at McMurdo Station. with fellow A heightened sense of smell is just one winterers of the changes people deal with as they at Bailie's, adapt to life after a winter in Antarctica. a favorite Months of isolation also leave them high- watering- ly sensitized to sound, light and people. hole for people Suddenly they are doing things they returning haven’t for seven months, including dri- from ving and paying bills. It takes some adjust- Antarctica. ment, but after seven months or longer on Kristan the coldest, driest continent smelling noth- Hutchison / The ing but diesel, food and humans, most rel- Antarctic Sun ish their return. “The best thing about going to the Ice is lowed the scent for 40 meters before find- hours in cafes drinking coffee. leaving,” said Thompson, who plans to ing the flowerbed. Thompson’s first night back, he return for another winter in January. Renee Magyar was on the same flight walked through Christchurch streets with On the flight to New Zealand he felt the and rejoiced in the rain that greeted her his friends making a mental list of all the humidity in the air while the plane was when she stepped off, the first she’d felt in kinds of food they wanted to eat still several miles from Christchurch. a year. — sushi, Thai, Mexican. ... They’ve Walking down the street after landing he “Everything was so fresh and moist. checked off quite a few since, though he sensed a strong whiff of flowers and fol- There was a slight rain when we landed almost walked out of a restaurant with- and it was a lovely feeling to have rain on out paying — a classic mistake for win- my face,” she said. terers who haven’t needed money for In the morning she was excited to see a seven months. cat at the hotel and ducks swimming on “The reality hits too when you remem- the Avon River, the first animals she’d ber you’ve got to pay to do your laundry,” seen in 12 months. said Tom Hamann. The winterers also are hyper-sensitive Remembering to pay can be easier than to noise and people. The sound of birds remembering how to drive, especially on singing woke Lynn Hamann at 3 a.m., so the correct side of the road. When Fisher she woke her husband, Tom, to hear it, too. first arrived in New Zealand she rented a Two months after returning to the “free car for a 10-day road trip — in the left lane. world,” Traci Fisher is still so in awe of “I scraped along a few curbs and got the beauty and colors in nature she some- honked at a few times while going through times becomes teary eyed while running in roundabouts,” Fisher said. “But it was the park in Manchester, England, where great to be on the road again.” she is now. While they revel in the food, smells and “I just don’t take the beauty in nature, freedom, winterers also become frustrated especially all of the colors, for granted like by waiting in lines and dealing with so I used to,” she wrote. many people. Fisher found she’s more irri- Surprisingly, though they just spent table in crowds. months in temperatures -40C and below, “You notice when you come back off many winterers wind up shivering in the Ice how much time we spend waiting Christchurch’s damp spring weather. in traffic and waiting in line and things “You’d think you’d be acclimated to all that I just consider a waste of your life,” of that,” Thompson said. “I think it has to said Lynn Hamann. do with the humidity.” Thompson sometimes slips away to his Used to dining in a cafeteria night after hotel room or the Botanical Gardens for Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun night, the returning Ice people indulge some quiet, but like many of the winter Just three days after leaving a winter in McMurdo, Tom and Lynn Hamann prepare their cravings. Tom Hamann went straight crew, he’s headed somewhere even better. for their next one by having their tuberculo- for a crisp iceberg lettuce with creamy “This time next week I’ll be in Fiji,” sis skin tests checked at a Christchurch hos- dressing. Matt Miller immediately bought Thompson said. “I think anyone can adapt pital as part of the physical. an apple and four oranges. Fisher spent to that.” 4 • The Antarctic Sun October 24, 2004

Perspectives Perspectives Discovering new days in the long night

By Peter Rejcek magical threshold of -100F (-73C). That A friend of mine who previously win- happened June 7, though only for a few tered at the South Pole imparted these words minutes. It seemed inconceivable, almost of wisdom shortly before he got on the horrific. How could you survive out there, plane at the end of the 2003-04 summer: even with every stitch of extreme cold “Pete,” he said, with deadpan serious- weather gear available? A few Polies, the ness, “wintering at the South Pole won’t be vanguard, joined the 300 Club that day. I the worst mistake you ever make, just the thought it wasn’t for me. longest.” Yet a few weeks later, on a long week- I must admit there have been days here end, the temperature once again plunged when his words came starkly to mind. Like and perhaps the greatest membership drive reading tea leaves at the bottom of a cup, I of the 300 Club began. I remained adamant would look at my cracked and bleeding against joining, yet that evening against all hands, starved for moisture, and see a dis- better reason, I found myself completely mal and endless future of cold, darkness and Photo by Andrea Dixon / Special to The Antarctic Sun nude and in the sauna with four other guys, drudgery. Only a few months before I came Peter Rejcek outside the elevated dorm (left). cooking ourselves in that little oven at about here I had been diving on some tiny islands 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally, unable to off the east coast of Malaysia, contemplat- at 12:30 p.m. and work until 2:30 p.m., stand the heat anymore, we made our dash ing life as a dive bum for the next few years. break; and then back to work until 5 p.m. to the Geographic Pole and into one of the But now, as I write this, outside my win- Three days out of the week I go to the gym, world’s most exclusive clubs. dow there is an orange and golden sliver on where I ride the stationary bike to nowhere, I can’t honestly say I experienced at the the horizon, auguring the return of the sun, though I’ve probably put on enough miles time the sort of epiphany Camus believes and casting a new light on the winter. to cycle to McMurdo and back. his protagonist Sisyphus undergoes. My I’m reminded at a time like this of the The evenings are mainly spent reading goals were far more modest: reach the pole French existentialist novelist and philoso- and watching movies and surfing the and return to the dome before losing any pher Albert Camus. In his famous essay Internet (though with the changing satellite vital extremities. Only after the ordeal was “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Camus draws a times, the latter pleasure is now mainly over, talking about it with all of the other very important lesson from a condemned reserved for the weekends). I sometimes Polies, hacking the bitter cold out of our man. Sisyphus was an ancient Greek king, wonder how people wintering at the South lungs and warming frostnipped ears, did I banished to Hades for a crime against the Pole ever survived here before the Internet, find myself on that pinnacle. There I gods. His punishment was to roll an enor- and certainly no one outlasted the long win- didn’t find isolation, but rather a communi- mous boulder up a hill every day, and after ter night without watching scores of movies ty that I finally felt a part of in a way you reaching the top, the rock would tumble on worn-out VHS tapes and scratched-up never can in Dallas or Boise, Idaho. I final- back down the hill. Sisyphus would then DVDs, right? After a winter here, my ly understood, if just below the surface and repeat his task ad nauseum. knowledge of the cinema is second only to briefly, what it meant to be here. Camus drew a parallel between the myth Roger Ebert’s. There have been other moments, though and the drudgery of everyday life (not to Sundays are rarely less disciplined than even more brief and ineffable: my first auro- mention the endless six-month night at the the weekdays. We get up for our 9 a.m. ra that shimmered like a green drape in the South Pole). He posited that at the moment movie — a particular highlight was discov- breeze; looking out on the moonscape of the when Sisyphus was at the hilltop and before ering a Beta copy of that garish 1960s car- ice plateau and knowing this is the closest he returned to the task of retrieving the boul- toon version of “The Hobbit” — in the I’ll ever come to outer space; and meeting der, there was a fleeting moment of tran- library and drink coffee until we reach a caf- and making friends who have lived in mud scendence — when a person is at the pinna- feinated nirvana. More surfing, more read- and straw huts in Kenya or biked their way cle, and for however briefly, can rest a ing, maybe the gym, martial arts class, crib- across America. moment and see the vastness and value of bage, movie and bed. There is a rather annoying minstrel in life before him. Then repeat. “The Hobbit” cartoon who sings a ditty That’s life at the South Pole. But then there are moments that shake throughout the movie in a wavering voice. It Most days start around 6:20 a.m. for me. you out of your routine, that remind you that begins, “The greatest adventure is the one Out of bed, grab a bagel and off to the com- perhaps only a thousand other human souls that lies ahead.” But we don’t understand puter lab to read an electronic copy of The out of the billions that have lived and died those adventures until a new day has begun. New York Times Digest. The rest of the day have ever experienced this particular spot in is even more regimented: Begin work at the dead of winter. Peter Rejcek wintered at South Pole 7 a.m. and keep at it until 9:30 a.m., break; One of those moments occurred when Station. He has written for The Antarctic work until 11:30 a.m., lunch; back to work the temperature first plunged below that Sun and Kwajalein Hourglass. October 24, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 5 around the continent

PALMER Summer begins ...

Kerry Kells Palmer correspondent After a smooth crossing of the Drake Passage, the Laurence M. Gould arrived at Palmer Station on Oct. 3. The last ship had departed Palmer June 2 with the remaining summer scientists and crew. The pancake ice we passed on the way down was a pre- cursor to the station’s situation. Surrounded by thick ice and snow, Palmer Station was a mere few buildings in a blanket of clean Photo by Ryan Said / Special to The Antarctic Sun snow with no open water in sight. Thick Palmer people guard against unwanted intrusions of the mind while poking fun at visiting snow covered Arthur Harbor on our north scientist Ryan Said whose project uses groups of antennas to study auroras. It’s said some and Hero Inlet on our south. Sheathbills, people near a station in Alaska wear aluminum foil hats fearing radio waves are having Elephant and Crabeater seals had already some influence on them. arrived at station. The wintery weather continued this past His research group collects data from ed in late September and really picked up week, with gusts to 100 kph and 10 cm of around the world. Inan’s program maintains steam the first week of October. snow falling. Open water could be seen past a buoy that collects data from the South At the top of the prep list is the skiway, the islands in front of the station with a huge Pacific Ocean, several hundred miles south- with the seasons first flight scheduled for tabular iceberg on the horizon. Snow and east of New Zealand. The research is also Oct. 23. Operators Jake Speed and Rob wind are not unusual to Palmer Station, but linked to the HAARP facility (High Shaw started leveling the skiway in early warm weather is common during the austral Frequency Active Auroral Research October, and then began grooming it. The summer months. Program) in Alaska where some local resi- process takes many days, and a week’s It was a busy five day port call with pal- dents believe the mass of antennas is the worth of work can be lost in a single storm. lets of new science equipment, station mate- government’s attempt to read their minds. The utility crew of Slay Harwell, Nick rial, station refueling, mail and freshies. They protect themselves from possible Buchinger and Moe Madding are on the Seven people departed station, but the pop- “mind reading” and “mind control” by front lines of readying the outlying build- ulation grew to 32 with summer personnel. wearing tin hats. In appreciation of Said’s ings, like the Jamesways in summer camp. Two scientists also arrived at station: Brett science lecture, he was greeted at dinner the Among their responsibilities, the utility Pickering with Bill Fraser’s Long Term next day with a variety of aluminum foil technicians must fire up the furnaces and Ecological Research (LTER) in penguin and hats to protect against mind control. make the buildings accessible by the time seabird research and Ryan Said with Umran SOUTH POLE the winter population moves out to summer Inan’s Very Low Frequency group. camp. That happens in the last week before On Oct. 13, Said, a graduate student at ... winter’s nearly over summer to make room for the new crew. Stanford University with the Department of The cargo/materials department is also Electrical Engineering, gave the science lec- By Peter Rejcek preparing for the arrival of summer. Dehlia ture on his work titled “Lightning, the Sun, South Pole correspondent Sprague, South Pole materials supervisor, and Aurora: Where Palmer Fits In.” What a long, strange trip it’s been. and her crew will prepare the do-not-freeze His research studies global thunderstorm The winter of 2004 is nearly over at the storage area for incoming freshies and other activity, its affects on radiation belts and the South Pole, and the sun once again is cir- perishables, restock the janitorial arch and lower ionosphere. Said explained the layers cling the horizon in its slow ascent toward dome for the summer crew and stage the of the atmosphere and the ionosphere, the summer. That means it’s time to start pol- flight line for outgoing cargo before the first Earth’s magnetic field, solar wind and the ishing the good silver — and finding the rest plane arrives, among other work. data collected at Palmer Station. With an of the silverware — because company is Speaking of supplies, the biggest winter audio sample, we listened to the clicks of coming. crew ever at the South Pole has put quite a radio atmospherics emitted by lightning Preparation for the incoming summer dent in the food stores. Sprague estimated strikes and the whistles of lightning-gener- crew, which will reportedly top out at about see Continent, page 6 ated “whistler waves.” 240 people as early as mid-November, start- week in weather

McMurdo Station: Palmer Station: South Pole Station: High: 16F / -9C High: 39F / 4C High temp: -48.3C / -54.9F Low: -13F / -25C Low: 7F / -14C Low temp: -58.3C / -72.9F Max. sustained wind: 29 mph / 47 kph Max. sustained wind: 45 mph / 73 kph Peak Wind: 24 mph / 39 kph Windchill: -47F / -44C Windchill: -9F / -22.8C Highest Physio: 10,916 ft / 3,341 m 6 • The Antarctic Sun October 24, 2004 “If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t tened with chocolate chip muffins. And Continent From page 5 do anything different.” along with plumber Frank Garcia, Sprague While a prodigious amount of work was helped ensure many Polies didn’t look too her crew transported about 450 kg of food a accomplished this winter, there is still much scruffy by offering free haircuts. week from the dome to the new station, for to do before the new South Pole station is Sprague was certainly one of the Polies a total of more than 14,500 kg of food for completed in 2007. One can get a sense of who carried on the long tradition of volun- the winter. The crew also moved almost what’s still left to do by looking at the teerism here. 25,000 kg of food from the outdoor storage whiteboard in C-Note’s office — filled end “No matter how spectacular the auroras berms into the dome, with the help of Shaw. to end with notes like a physicist’s chalk- or how extreme the weather is, it is really “Yes, we are big eaters here at Pole,” she board full of formulas trying to unravel the the people that we live and work with that said. chaos theory, uncertainty principle and the- make the winters here at Pole so unique and At the other end of all those numbers is ory of relativity all at once. special,” she said. Dan Naber, the South Pole waste manage- An even larger winter crew of more than — Angie Rutherford contributed to this ment specialist. Not including 100 people, about 70 of them working for report the waste generated by Facilities, FEMC, will eclipse this year’s record popu- Engineering, Maintenance and Construction lation to make one last push toward the (FEMC) the community produced about 19 2007 final construction goal. SHIPS metric tons of food waste, more than 2 metric tons of glass, Nathaniel B. Palmer 4 metric tons of burn- ables, 4.5 metric tons of Compiled from reports by Karl Newyear cardboard and more than The research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer a metric ton of alu- left Lyttelton, New Zealand around mid- minum. It will take about night on Oct. 12. It took a couple days for 25 flights to remove all people to get their sea legs, and the crew that waste, Naber said. was treated to snow flurries on the morning “As long as we have of Oct. 15th. enough people and time, Beginning that day, researchers started it should be flown back conducting hourly measurements of the (this) summer,” he said. water temperature at different depths, which Though the list of continued nearly flawlessly through the rest work to accomplish of the week. Researchers also got good data before the summer’s first on the ocean currents. flight was long, construc- The ship crossed an oceanic front on tion will continue unabat- Oct. 16, which was demonstrated by a 4C ed until each member of drop in the surface water temperature. The the FEMC crew rede- number and variety of seabirds seen from Photo by Peter Rejcek / Special to The Antarctic Sun ploys. It’s been the Angie Rutherford inscribes her the bridge dropped correspondingly. The biggest construction win- name on the 2005 South Pole geo- whale observers have yet to make a con- ter ever at the South Pole, graphic marker Oct. 1, as Allan firmed sighting, though not from lack of with about 45 people out Day looks on. Day spent about 60 trying. The next day, the NBP crossed over of the 75 wintering work- hours working on the new marker, 60 South latitude and arrived officially in ing for the department, which is made of bronze and cop- Antarctica. The ship, headed toward Mertz according to Carlton per. Dehlia Sprague designed the marker, which will be officially Glacier, shifted its course a little to the Walker, FEMC manager. unveiled Jan. 1. At left, carpenter west based on recent ice images. Building pods B1 and Dave Nastrom glues down vinyl for As of Oct. 18, no whales or sea ice had B2 will be complete flooring in a closet in Pod B2 in the been spotted. The barometer was dropping when the first plane new South Pole station. and winds and seas were picking up. The arrives, except for some crew hopes to be inside the ice edge soon. flooring, some minor work and installing “It’s going to be huge,” C-Note said of furniture. Communications areas on the first the 2005 winter. Laurence M. Gould floor of B3 will be ready for cable work this A six-day workweek throughout the win- summer, added Walker, also known to ter kept everybody busy, but some found the Compiled from ship reports The research vessel Laurence M. Gould everyone as C-Note. time to do more, like Naber and Sprague. recently returned from annual maintenance The biggest challenge of the winter for Naber, from Alaska, pitched in to help FEMC was getting materials in and out of with snow removal and skiway grooming. in Louisiana, where the ship managed to the new station, especially in July, the sec- Most mornings he can be found in the miss being hit by four hurricanes. The Gould returned to work at the end of ond-coldest month ever on record for the kitchen dish room helping clean breakfast September and is currently dropping off South Pole. FEMC burned through the dishes. But it’s the chance to get back into a materials as quickly as they came. Naber Caterpillar tractor that excites him. penguin researchers at Copacabana Field said the winter crew produced about 50 “I’ve been looking forward to it for Camp before continuing on to Palmer Station. metric tons of non-recyclable waste, 6.5 months. I love driving,” he said. “I had an The ship arrived in Punta Arenas in metric tons of cardboard, more than a met- awesome winter. Ever since I got into the ric ton of plastic, 9 metric tons of light metal program I’ve wanted to winter here.” September through wintry rain, snow and 44 metric tons of wood debris. Sprague, who also has wintered at and wind, “a far cry from the heat of the Gulf,” wrote marine projects coordinator Though a veteran of 16 seasons with the Palmer Station, frequently lent her culinary polar program, this was C-Note’s first win- talents to the kitchen. She cooked gourmet ter at the Pole. Of the experience, he said, meals and kept the FEMC crew well fat- see Continent, page 7 October 24, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 7 Antarctic lava holds record of magnetic field By Brien Barnett field behaves normally, Tauxe said scien- Sun staff tists can understand better the likelihood Paleomagnetist Lisa Tauxe has a bet of it changing. with a colleague, but already knows she The magnetic field shields against won’t collect on it. harmful cosmic rays from the sun and Perhaps 500 years from now if the affects telecommunications equipment. Earth’s magnetic field holds steady and But modern researchers and companies doesn’t reverse polarity, her heirs may have little to go on to predict major receive a token treasure. Meantime, she’s changes in the field. trying to learn more than she already “It’s no enormous health hazard,” knows about the invisible but real magnet- Tauxe said. “But (if the field changes) ic field that encircles and moves through solar storms could be more severe and the Earth. communications could get messed up.” Last season, Tauxe, of Scripps Tauxe, who started working in paleo- Institution of Oceanography and author of Photo by Lisa Tauxe / Special to The Antarctic Sun magnetics in 1977, said she believes the “Paleomagnetic Principles and Practice,” Jasper Konter prepares to drill a core sam- record in the rocks will reveal some of the and three other researchers dotted the Ross ple in a basalt lava flow in the answers to questions such as: Island area with 70 sample sites, eventual- region. The plastic sheeting protects him — What is the structure of the average and his clothes from water and glycol used geomagnetic field? And, ly drilling some 700 rock cores. The basalt in the drilling process. flows they sampled date back 1 million to — Why does the magnetic field reverse? Her questions are not new. In the 1600s, 5 million years. The team cored at sites components begin to align with the mag- including Hut Point, , Cape William Gilbert looked at records of netic field. Once fully cooled, the rock sailors who used the magnetic field for Barnes, Taylor Valley and the foothills of locks in this record. Flow after flow begins the Royal Society Range. navigational purposes to make his hypoth- to reveal a history of the magnetic field esis likening the field to a bar magnet. It’s “We didn’t have a single day to spare,” and may reveal when the field changed she said Tuesday by telephone. “We got similar to when iron filings are placed on a polarity or otherwise was different than it sheet of paper next to a bar magnet. The the 70th one and looked at each other and is today. Scientists have shown that flips said, ‘We’re done.’ ” filings align to the current and form a pat- occur at random, the last one being about tern of wide arching curves radiating from Locked inside the stone-cold lava flows 800,000 years ago. north to south on each side. of the region are clues to Back in the lab, Tauxe and a graduate the age of the flows and changes to the Modern research has been conducted research student will coax clues from the since the 1950s. The differences in today’s magnetic field. rock in a delicate, labor-intensive process. The Antarctic collection is one of a research, Tauxe said, are the vastly better They will heat and cool the samples in laboratory methods and tools to obtain number of sites worldwide that are being stages — to temperatures as high as 580 investigated and analyzed to determine information about the magnetic field from degrees Celsius and back again — until samples. The goal is to establish a baseline characteristics of the planet’s magnetic the scientists detect both the direction and field. of prediction for the next 200 years or more. intensity of the magnetic field at the time. “You have to find out what it does on Other sites include Chile, the Azores, Other researchers will determine the age average to figure out whether it’s unusu- Costa Rica, Arizona, Idaho, Alaska, of the rock using radioactive isotopes. al,” Tauxe said. Australia and the far north near There are several reasons to study mag- And when she does, she may be able to Spitsbergen, Norway. Well-dated lava netic history, Tauxe said. Because the collect on that bet. flows are key to this research because reg- magnitude of the field has dropped sub- ular volcanic eruptions provide records of stantially during the last few thousand National Science Foundation-funded research in this the Earth’s magnetic field. years, some wonder whether it is headed story: Lisa Tauxe, Scripps Institution of As that lava cools into solid rock its for a reversal, or flip. By studying how the Oceanography, http://sorcerer.ucsd.edu/index.htm

north again on Oct. 8. OTHER NEWS Continent From page 6 The voyage north through the Gerlache Strait and then west of Brabant Island was RPSC contract extended Steve Ager. spectacular, but winds remained high, gust- The Drake Passage calmed down for the ing to 107 kph. Raytheon Polar Services Company will Gould’s first passage of the summer season. The winds and seas forced the crew to continue providing support services for But sea ice slowed its progress to Palmer draw the first two water samples with a the U.S. Antarctic Program through 2010. Station and interrupted some of the water submersible pump, rather than launch a The $546 million, five-year contract temperature measurements, as ice broke the sensor off the back deck. extension runs from April 2005 through wire holding the sensor. The seas calmed on the final day of the March 2010. The Gould arrived at Palmer Station voyage and several seasick passengers Raytheon’s initial contract began in April around 9 a.m. Oct. 3 to find the pier coated emerged from their cabins for their first real 2000 as five-year contract with an option to with ice from recent rains. Tying up took meal in days, wrote marine projects coordi- renew for an additional five years. Raytheon several hours. Then the containers on the nator Andy Nunn. provides science, operations, maintenance pier had to be chopped free of ice before After four days of reloading and collect- and communications support for the anything was unloaded. After five days of ing new passengers, the Gould was at sea National Science Foundation’s U.S. unloading cargo and fuel, the Gould headed again, following the familiar route south. Antarctic Program. 8 • The Antarctic Sun October 24, 2004

Mars From page 1 were found here. This meteorite is particularly valuable because it belongs to a group of Mars meteorites known as nakhlites. This is the seventh nakhlite on record. All the nakhlites are believed to have come from the same volcanic event and are among the oldest known rocks from Mars. They are named after the Egyptian city of Nakhla, where the first meteorite of that type was retrieved in 1911 after, as legend goes, fragments struck and killed a dog there. The older the rock, the more it can tell scientists about Mars’ past, explained Harvey, a geology professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “The rock has potentially recorded not only a volcanic event 1.3 billion years ago, but all of the ensuing activity on Mars,” he said, like the rock’s interactions with the planet’s fluids and atmosphere. “What you’ve got is a little recorder, if you will. That’s what us geologists do – we play that back.” Eighty-five scientists have requested a small piece of the rock to use in their own experiments, according to Timothy McCoy, the Photo courtesy of Ralph Harvey/ANSMET curator in charge of the national meteorite collection at the A scientist at the Antarctic Meteorite Processing Center handles the Smithsonian. Mars rock collected last season in Antarctica. The scientists will analyze the samples with different goals, buried over time. The ice is slowly moving toward the sea, but it such as searching for evidence of life, or learning more about gets blocked in places by mountains and forms ice cul-de-sacs. Martian volcanoes. Others might dissolve a piece and measure the Over millions of years, the ice surface at those bends evaporates, different isotope levels inside. exposing more and more meteorites, Harvey said. ANSMET tar- “There are a lot of little signs there that lead us toward a pic- gets these areas for their hunts. ture of the environment of Mars over the last billion years, and ANSMET sends out two teams a year, a 4-person reconnais - that’s pretty cool,” Harvey said. “Thirty chunks of rock from sance team and an 8-person systematic search team. The recon- 90 billion miles away is really more than we could ask for. It’s a naissance team usually spends a couple days to a week at each dream.” site, checking to see if it’s worth returning there. If it’s deemed a McCoy, who was in charge of classifying the meteorite, said he good spot, a systematic search team will go there another year and could tell it was a nakhlite as soon as he looked through a micro- spend the whole season collecting meteorites. scope at a one-inch long, hair’s width thick piece known as a thin This year the reconnaissance team will work at a number of ice section. Nakhlites are full of minerals that crystallized in the rocks fields throughout the mid-range of the Transantarctic Mountains, as they hardened. Under the microscope, they look like bits of from the Zanefeldt Glacier in the south to Buckley Island in the bright stained glass against a dark background, or like the view north. The systematic search team will work at the LaPaz ice through a colorful kaleidoscope. fields, approximately 400 km from the South Pole Station. “The texture of this type of rock is so distinct that you can’t Last year’s reconnaissance team found the nakhlite on Dec. 15, possibly mistake it for something else,” McCoy said. “They’re the third day of its six-week season. The group used snowmobiles really pretty.” to scan the blue ice field in the Miller Range of the Transantarctic McCoy said this meteorite has clearly interacted with liquid in Mountains, about 750 km from the South Pole. its lifetime, but it’s not yet clear what kind of liquid. He is one of “We just knew it was something unusual,” said Nancy Chabot, the people who requested a sample to analyze more fully. McCoy a research scientist at Case Western who was on the reconnais - plans to compare the new nakhlite to volcanic rock from a lava sance team. flow in Ontario, Canada. That flow is one of the few places on The rock was particularly black and quite shiny, Chabot said. Earth that may be similar to the flow on Mars where the nakhlite The black crust, called a fusion crust, is created because much of originated. McCoy hopes the comparison will help determine at the meteorite’s exterior gets burned off when the meteorite enters what depth in the flow the meteorite originated. Earth’s atmosphere traveling at 10 km to 20 km per second. It also ANSMET teams have been searching for meteorites in appeared very crystalline, which Chabot said usually indicates Antarctica since 1976. Meteorites fall evenly all over Earth, but that the rock came from a planet. Antarctica is a particularly good place to look for them. The two ANSMET teams collected a record 1,358 meteorites Antarctica’s advantage is two-fold, Harvey explained. last season, Harvey said, including not only the nakhlite but a cou- “If you want to find ple new moon rocks and some interesting rocks from asteroids as Answer to crossword things that fall from the well. sky, lay out a big white Chabot said there’s little doubt about whether it’s worth send- sheet,” he said. “And ing the systematic search team back to the site. Antarctica is a big “I can say that definitely with this discovery and the other white sheet 3,000-miles things we found at the Miller Range, the answer is yes.” across.” Since 1969, more than 16,000 meteorites have been found in The second reason has Antarctica, more than doubling the number available for study. to do with the way ice For those working at or visiting McMurdo Station, there are three flows across the conti- types of meteorites on display at the Crary Laboratory. nent. The meteorites get sprinkled across the ice, NSF-funded research in this story: and many end up getting Ralph Harvey, Case Western Reserve University, http://geology.case.edu/~ansmet/ October 24, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 9 Seeing through ozone’s disappearing trick

Linnea Avallone is watching the Antarctic sunrise for signs that Photos and story by Kristan Hutchison it is setting off a chain of chemical reactions in the air we breathe. Sun staff In the Arctic, the returning sunlight inter- was rush hour on Route 36 in Boulder, near Environmental Protection Agency puts out acts with compounds stored in the snow to the University of Colorado, where she is an air quality warnings. trigger the sudden loss of ozone near the associate professor of atmospheric chem - Another reason to study ozone is that its ground each March. She arrived at istry. movement through the atmosphere is simi- McMurdo Station on Aug. 20 to see if the Pollutants can react with the ozone and lar to mercury. Mercury becomes a health same is true at the opposite end of the world. cause it to disappear, as demonstrated at concern when it works its way into the food “It’s a lot more complex a phenomenon McMurdo that day, but that is only one chain, building up to dangerous levels in than people originally thought,” said cause of ozone loss near the ground. She fish in some areas. In the atmosphere, mer- Avallone, who also has studied ground- wants to determine the others. cury is too diffuse to track, but tracking based ozone on the sea ice north of Alaska, In 1985 researchers discovered that sur- ozone, which is 1,000 times more common, at Canadian Forces Station Alert in northern face ozone would occasionally disappear could give scientists an idea of how the mer- Canada and in Spitsbergen, Norway. Two suddenly in the far Arctic. cury moves from the air into the water. seasons ago she set up her $75,000 monitor- “It was happening in such remote places This year Avallone moved her project to ing instruments at above people didn’t really care,” Avallone said. a hut on the ice 19 km from McMurdo, McMurdo. Now they do. The low-level ozone loss where the air remains pure. An unmuffled “We had such strange results two years seems to occur only in springtime, once Honda engine rumbles inside the hut, keep- ago we decided to take a step backward and there is sunlight and open seawater. ing the computers and air analysis working. look at some simpler things,” she said. Avallone thinks snow may also play a role It’s exhaust is vented away from the plastic The most surprising data from that year in either absorbing or releasing chemicals tubes that run through the roof, sucking in were collected on a windless day in August. that react with ozone. If that’s true, under- samples of air to monitor the ozone, nitro- The cold, still air held in fumes from vehi- standing the process could help researchers gen oxide and carbon dioxide. Avallone cles and boilers. Levels of nitric oxide predict how the ozone will react around snowmobiles out almost daily to crouch on spiked to 300 parts per billion, and the snowy cities like Denver and Toronto in the the floor in front of a laptop, checking that ozone content plummeted to zero. The next winter. the instruments are working correctly. day the wind picked up again and the air Ozone high in the stratosphere protects Usually graduate students Sean Davis and cleared. The only other time Avallone the planet from the Sun’s radiation, but it is Lars Kalnajs go with her. recorded that much nitric oxide in the air toxic if breathed in high concentrations. The “All you can see is what nature brings presence of ozone near the ground in con- you,” Avallone said. centrations above 50 parts per billion is con- NSF-funded research featured in this story: sidered a health hazard and the Linnea Avallone, University of Colorado, http://lasp.colorado.edu/~avallone/winfly04.html Ozone’s two sides: high and low Generally ozone near the ground, where Linnea Avallone studies it, doesn’t receive as much attention as the protective layer of ozone 24 km above the Earth. At that ele- vation, the ozone layer acts as a sunblock for the world. The seasonal thinning of ozone above the Antarctic, first reported in 1985, is like a gap in the sunscreen, leaving the continent exposed to the full force of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation for several months. Science technicians at the South Pole send up balloons regularly to measure the ozone hole caused by ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons. This year the hole was about 20 percent smaller in area than last year. It currently covers about half the conti- nent, exposing Antarctic workers to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation, according to the most recent World Meteorological Organization Antarctic Ozone Bulletin. Near the ground the same ozone plays a different, more destructive role. The US Environmental Protection Agency regulates ground-based ozone as one of five major air pollutants. Usually ozone makes up 25 to 30 parts per billion of the air we breathe, but the concentrations have been increasing worldwide in pace with the burning of fos- Atmospheric chemist Linnea Avallone checks sil fuels. Eventually this could hurt plants and animals, including humans. A high con- ozone monitoring equipment while graduate centration of ozone can cause shortness of breath, chest pains, wheezing, coughing and student Sean Davis watches. Above, they inflammation of the lung lining. It also can inhibit the growth of plants. return to the hut after collecting snow samples. 10 • The Antarctic Sun October 24, 2004 All-Sky Imager, SPIFI report back from winter night By Brien Barnett gen, neutral carbon and carbon Sun staff monoxide in and around the clouds Two projects were particularly where stars are born in galaxies. Holding on successful this past austral winter at “We try to find out how molec- South Pole. ular gas is fed into the center of our to Helium galaxy and towards the central This winter the All-Sky Imager Many winter astrophysics gathered images of proton auroras, black hole,” Nikola said. projects depend on liquid heli- according to Yusuke Ebihara of Despite some challenges, um to keep the instruments including poor weather and limited Japan’s National Institute of Polar cool enough to gather data, but Research. helium supply, the wintering scien- liquid helium is notoriously The institute cooperates with the tists were able to put SPIFI into difficult to store. It boils at U.S. National Science Foundation operation. -269C and can escape through Another obstacle the scientists to operate the imager in Antarctica. hairline cracks. This year the The images of the auroras were overcame was working outside in supply of helium lasted until captured with highly sensitive the winter cold to operate a special around Aug. 8, said Nicholas optics and a camera. They revealed refrigerator that cooled SPIFI to an Tothill, the wintering station operating temperature of 0.06 that in addition to electrons, ener- science leader at South Pole. getic protons were precipitating degree above absolute zero. “That was pretty unexpect- over Pole. Once operational, SPIFI ed,” said Jesse Alcorta, cryo- showed it could record information “We believe that the origin of the genic technician for Raytheon protons is in most cases the vicinity about ionized nitrogen in the Milky Courtesy of Yusuke Polar Services. “We would of the outer edge of Earth’s magne- Ebihara/Japan’s National Way and other galaxies. This Institute of Polar Research have hoped for at least another tosphere,” Ebihara wrote The wavelength is not accessible at the month out of that.” Antarctic Sun. From top to bottom, instrument’s alternate home atop three aurora snap- Since then, the astrophysi- The magnetosphere is a cavity in Mauna Kea in Hawaii. cal equipment has been wait- which the Earth’s magnetic field is shots from June, 14, “SPIFI is currently the only show proton (blue), ing for a resupply of helium, constrained by the solar wind and instrument that has the large band- due at the Pole Nov. 8. electron green (green) width and sensitivity to carry out the interplanetary magnetic field. and electron red (red) Alcorta expects the difficul- “South Pole is the ideal site for precipitation over the those observations in external ties with storing helium may capturing such proton images South Pole. galaxies,” Nikola said. be solved by the construction because of less contamination from This summer, Nikola and others of a new cryogenic facility at will add some equipment so operators can the sunlight during the austral winter season.” the South Pole, which should In another project, an instrument to study switch easily between submillimeter windows. be completed by January. The the birthplace and nursery of stars in the Milky That will allow data to be recorded even on building will keep the helium poor weather days. SPIFI will return to service Way and other galaxies returned to service and storage containers protected in the next austral winter. made its debut on the Antarctic Submillimeter from the Pole’s extreme weath- Telescope and Remote Observatory, AST/RO, Also this year, SPIFI team members sub- er and allow technicians to at the South Pole. mitted a paper to the Astrophysical Journal transfer helium inside. based on earlier research. It is being reviewed The South Pole Imaging Fabry-Perot “It’ll probably be a big step Interferometer, SPIFI, met the goal of proving before publishing. forward,” Alcorta said. it could operate at the station, reported Thomas For a fuller explanation of NSF-funded resarch in this story: Masaki Ejiri, National Nikola of Cornell University. helium at the South Pole, see The spectrometer detects light in the sub- Institute of Polar Research (Japan), http://polaris.isc.nipr.ac.jp/~asi-dp/; Gordon Stacey, the June 21, 2004 Antarctic millimeter wavelength region of the spectrum. Sun. It examines radiation emitted by ionized nitro- Cornell University, http://astro.cornell.edu/~spifiweb/spifi

What are you most excited to see or do in Antarctica?

“To see the “Making our “Penguins… plants that grow supplies last and when I’m back near Palmer still being able to in McMurdo.” Station. I had no deliver tasty idea that plants product to our grew in cold, hungry, Antarctica.” overworked, underpaid staff.”

Cara Ferrier Delma Irvin Kelly Kozdras Sr. Asst. Supv. Lab chef, County Offaly, Chicago, Ill., South Operations, Denver, Ireland, third season Pole electrical engi- Colo., first season. neer, first season October 24, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 11 lying through golden evening light over the Dry Valleys, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, arguably one of the world’s most famous photographers, set down his own camera and turned to the journalist beside him. F “Here, let me take one for you,” he said, reaching for The Antarctic Sun camera. “The light is better on my side.” These are those photos...

Photo by Kristan Hutchison/The Antarctic Sun Yann Arthus-Bertrand shoots out a window installed for him in one of the Petroleum Helicopter Inc. A-Stars. Antarctica from Above

Photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand A ridge in the Asgard Range. ight is so important in my work, to show me the shadow, the color, the move- ment,” Arthus-Bertrand said. L From above, he seeks out patterns on the ground. He uses the helicopter like a fly- ing tripod, instructing the pilot to nudge it down or over until he finds the right angle. “The pilot is very important for me,” he said. “They are really between me and the photo- graph.” The black and white shapes created by freezing and thawing in the dirt behind Black Island remind him of elephant skin and he begins snapping. The Erebus Glacier Tongue is like a fish bone laid on a white dinner plate. “To see something beautiful like that with- out a camera — I become mad,” he said.

West Beacon peak. t was 10:30 p.m. and the light was fading when the heli- copter stopped to refuel at Marble Point for the trip back to McMurdo across the sea ice. Even though she’d been Irousted from bed to pump gas, fuelie Wendy Mahovlic greet- ed Arthus-Bertrand with a smile. He insists on taking her photo too. Though people rarely appear larger than ants in his most famous photo book, Earth from Above, Arthus-Bertrand has a keen interest in the people he flies over. “You must love people. If you don't love the people, you need a different job, so when I'm flying like this I think I need to speak with the people,” he said. 12 • The Antarctic Sun October 24, 2004 Profile Sharing a higher perspective By Kristan Hutchison lenges. He lost about 20 rolls of film Sun staff because the cold made them so brittle they our thousand feet above an broke. Shooting out the open window of a Antarctic glacier last week, French helicopter, his fingertips froze through the photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand thin fleece gloves he wore, but anything slid open the helicopter window thicker would have made the camera hard Fand leaned forward into the blast of freez- to handle. He didn’t notice the cold anyway ing air. After a few measured clicks of the until he set down the camera. camera, he tucked it between his knees and Taking off around 7 p.m. most nights to selected another from the collection laid catch the best light, Arthus-Bertrand trav- out on the back seat, the largest with a lens eled to Mount Erebus, through the Dry a half-meter long and as big around as a Valleys and Transantarctic Mountains and salad plate. south over Minna Bluff. In two weeks at McMurdo Station, As the helicopter hovered over a semi- Arthus-Bertrand spent 30 hours in the air circle of black moraine on a white glacial Photo by Kristan Hutchison/The Antarctic Sun and used up 250 rolls of film. The best pho- field near Garwood Valley, he happily sang French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand tos will become part of a scientific data- a few bars in French as the shutter clicked, directs the helicopter pilot as they fly over the bank of the Earth seen from above, which then whispered “merci.” Dry Valleys near McMurdo Station, searching for the perfect shot. he started in 1995 under the patronage of “It’s like a gift you receive, the picture,” the Ecological Science department of the he said as the helicopter moved on. “It’s three homes and he visited all day with the United Nations Educational Scientific and exactly the thing I want to do with aerial family living there. He took them in the Cultural Organization. photography, you know, to show the thing helicopter. They killed a goat for him. By “When I began the project, I was think- you cannot see from the ground.” the end of the day he and the patriarch of ing to do it in five years and now I know In many of his well-known aerial pho- the family were speaking like brothers. that I am never going to be finished,” he “Speaking with him very deeply, he said. “It is a life job.” “When you fly, there’s no border. told me his only ambition was to feed His first application to the National Everybody’s the same from the top.” his children,” Arthus-Bertrand said. Science Foundation was turned down. “My ambition and his ambition was The US program usually only gives — Yann Arthus-Bertrand very far away.” grants to Americans. Arthus-Bertrand This awareness of the people he flies went instead to the French base at Terra over and photographs stuck with Arthus- Adelie in 1999 and published photos from tos, the ground becomes a tapestry, a rich Bertrand, who decided two years ago to there in Earth From Above. The book of weaving of color and texture that only at a begin interviewing them. He and his staff aerial photos from 150 countries became closer look becomes a place. He hopes are asking the same questions of 20,000 highly successful, selling close to 2 million viewers will see in it not just the beauty of people around the world, from Indian farm- copies. More than 30 million people have the Earth, but a deeper message. ers to UN chief Kofi Anan. In McMurdo seen the free photo exhibit. “All my photography is done to think. last week he videotaped more than 20 peo- “Mr. Bertrand has an enormous follow- It’s not to say, oh, the world is beautiful,” he ple answering questions such as: What ing; Earth from Above is everywhere, and said. “We are trying to explain everybody is makes you angry? What is your favorite one indeed wonders why others’ aerial pho- responsible for this planet.” song? Why is there war? And what do you tographs don’t do for the viewer what Arthus-Bertrand already had a love for think happens after you die? Bertrand’s do. But that is the art and the nature when he discovered both photogra- So far, the answers from more than 700 artist at work,” wrote Guy Guthridge, who phy and flight. He began using a camera to people representing more than 16 countries oversees the Antarctic Artists and Writers document a pride of lions on the Masai show how much everybody is the same, grants for the NSF. He invited Arthus- Mara reserve in Kenya from 1976 to 1979. and at the same time different depending on Bertrand to reapply. “I see the potential for “In this time, I became a photographer, their culture, economy and experiences. delivering new and memorable antarctic because it was quite evident to me that “It’s interesting when you’re challenged images from one of the most viewed parts sometimes what you can explain in photog- with some of these questions,” said Alan of Antarctica—the McMurdo Sound raphy, you cannot explain in writing,” he Shaw, a worker in fleet operations whom region.” said. Arthus-Bertrand interviewed. “They’re the At first, Arthus-Bertrand hesitated to At the same time he was taking tourists sort of questions you don’t ponder unless return to the Antarctic, assuming the area up in a hot air balloon to support his fami- you’re put on the spot.” around McMurdo would be just more snow ly, and discovered another perspective from As a continent shared by all, Antarctica and ice. the air. already is an example of what the world “It’s so far to go to work for 10 days,” he “When you fly, there’s no border,” could become, Arthus-Bertrand said. said. Others on his staff convinced him it Arthus-Bertrand said. “Everybody’s the “It is a country of everybody, everybody was too good an opportunity to turn down. same from the top. There’s no religion, no is your family.” Arthus-Bertrand said. “We Last week he e-mailed them to admit they race.” have to live together. When you think about were right. A decade later he was back in Africa and ecology, everybody thinks about sustain- “Really, I think it’s one of the 10 best had another experience that led to his able development now, but first live in trips I’ve taken,” he said. newest video project, Six Billion Others. peace. Nothing’s going to happen if we Antarctica’s beauty comes with chal- His helicopter landed in a small village of don’t live in peace.”