Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program December 28, 2003

Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun A helicopter lands behind the kitchen and communications tents at Beardmore Camp in mid-December. Back to Beardmore: By Kristan Hutchison Researchers explore the past from temporary camp Sun staff ike the mythical town of Brigadoon, a village of tents appears on a glacial arm 50 miles L from Beardmore Glacier about once a decade, then disappears. It, too, is a place lost in time. For most people, a visit to Beardmore Camp is a trip back in history, whether to the original camp structure from 19 years ago, now buried under snow, or to the sites of ancient forests and bones, now buried under rock. Ever since Robert Scott collected fos- sils on his way back down the Beardmore Glacier in February 1912, geologists and paleontologists have had an interest in the rocky outcrops lining the broad river of ice. This year’s Beardmore Camp was the third at the location on the Lennox-King Glacier and the researchers left, saying there Photo by Andy Sajor / Special to The Antarctic Sun Researchers cut dinosaur bones out of the exposed stone on Mt. Kirkpatrick in December. See Camp on page 7 Some of the bones are expected to be from a previously unknown type.

INSIDE Quote of the Week Dinosaur hunters Fishing for fossils “The penguins are happier than Page 9 Page 11 Trackers clams.” Plant gatherers - Adelie penguin researcher summing Page 10 Page 12 up the attitude of a colony

www.polar.org/antsun 2 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

That’s the way it is with time son. It slows down for no one. Gee Dad, the year sure went fast. Cold, hard facts Coast Guard icebreakers (based on Polar Star) Crew: 15 officers, about 125 enlisted, Like the fish on this line. You never You can lie and 15 more with helicopter crews know when your time is up so you around and let it have to make the best pass you by or Crew age: About half the ship is 18-25 of it. you can set new Deployments: Six months challenges to help you improve Length: 121 meters yourself. Weight: 12,000 metric tons

Fuel total: 4.9 million liters

Speed open water: 22 kph That’s quite inspirational Dad. So Me. I don’t have time for that. I’m what new challenges have you set for Range: 560 km/day and up to 42,000 too busy. km without refueling or breaking ice yourself for the New Year? Fuel consumed per day breaking ice: 190,000 liters or more

Movement: Operates with three, 5- meter diameter, four-blade, controllable- pitch propellers, each weighing 42 metric tons.

Source: U.S. Coast Guard

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the National Matt Davidson 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 before publication, but 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. Senior Editor: Kristan Hutchison Editors: Brien Barnett Kris Kuenning Copy Editor: Melanie Conner, Geoff Jolley, Wendy Kober, JD Menezes, Mark Williams Publisher: Valerie Carroll, Communications manager, RPSC Contributions are welcome. Contact the “Before I begin tonight’s lecture, remember to stand at the Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407. back of the room near the exits so you don’t make a fool of Web address: www.polar.org/antsun yourself leaving early when you get bored!” December 28, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 3 Station greenhouses produce Green Antarctica fresh food, feel-good environments By Kris Kuenning Sun staff here is a place in Antarctica where, even in the dead of winter, you can lie back in a hammock and bask in T bright light. You can pluck pansies for a light snack, smell the fresh herbs or just hang out with a tiny forest of lettuce or a small jungle of tomato plants. It’s the McMurdo greenhouse and though it’s only 200 square meters, it’s some of the most valuable real estate on station for the people who live and work on the barren shores of Ross Island. Greenhouse technician Rob Taylor knows the greenhouse is more than just a place to grow food, especially in winter. “Winter is when the greenhouse is most effective,” Taylor said. “Not only does it grow food for the winter population, but the people are also more deprived.” Photo by Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic Sun The McMurdo greenhouse generates up Greenhouse technician Rob Taylor relaxes in a hammock at the McMurdo greenhouse. to 140 kg of food each month. From lettuce for salads to mint for Cuban cocktails, Taylor supplies both the central kitchen and individ- non-native springtail. hall and at the greenhouse itself. Taylor ual requests for greenhouse produce. “There are native Antarctic springtail, but believes the greenhouse is a popular hangout In winter, when the station is cut off from this turned out to be a non-native, subtropical because it allows people to re-connect with resupply flights, the greenhouse is the only variety,” Taylor said. plants. source of fresh food for the 200-odd resi- Springtail live only on live plants, so it’s “Humans have evolved with plants, but in dents. Harvesting 250 heads of lettuce every arrival is still a mystery. Rob first tried to this area of Antarctica, you have humans 10 days means winterers have salad a couple combat it with soap, which breaks the surface without plants and I believe that when you times a week. of the water and drowns the insect. take people out of their evolutionary back- In summer, when the number of people Though springtail is not harmful to the ground, it does something to the psyche … rises to more than 1,000, the greenhouse sup- plants, its existence was a potential threat to Even if they haven’t realized they’ve missed plements the regular shipments of fresh food the delicate Antarctic environment and even- it. That’s how I feel, anyway. I like the fact from New Zealand. tually the plants were destroyed, the green- that I grow food for people but it’s more than To comply with the Antarctic house emptied and frozen out. that,” Taylor said. Conservation Act, everything is grown The only thing that survived was a lemon hydroponically. tree planted from seed several years ago by Palmer “Soil contains microbes and microbial previous greenhouse technician Chris Wilt. There’s no greenhouse at Palmer colonies,” Taylor said, “so it would be theo- The McMurdo greenhouse has no glass. Station. Monthly supply ships from Chile retically possible for the microbes to escape In a continent with only one long summer alleviate the pressure to grow fresh veg- into the environment.” day and one long winter night in a year, the etables at the tiny station on the Antarctic Instead, the plant roots are either directly greenhouse’s artificial lights create night and Peninsula. suspended in the liquid nutrients or support- day every 24 hours for the plants. “Space is the biggest issue right now ed by a non-soil agricultural mixture. “Plants do most of their respiration at for Palmer Station,” said station manager Signs outside the greenhouse warn smok- night, so keeping them in constant sunlight Joe Pettit, “We don’t have quite the moti- ers not to touch the plants. There are two rea- means they’re unable to exhale,” Taylor said. vation to create a greenhouse.” sons for this, Taylor said. The artificial lights provide different spec- Not only is nicotine toxic to a lot of plants, trums of light for 16-17 hours a day but Taylor said it still doesn’t approach the level South Pole but processed tobacco can carry the tobacco Nibbling on nasturtium leaves at one end mosaic virus, which is devastating for plants of sunlight. And while most plants like a humidity level of 60-70 percent, Taylor says of the tiny South Pole greenhouse, Jack like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Giacalone is enjoying the last season in the he’s lucky to maintain 20 percent humidity in “Because it’s a linked system, if you touch greenhouse under the dome before it is the dry Antarctic conditions. one plant, it is transferred to the whole rung,” replaced by a high-tech growth facility in Taylor said. Still, the plants thrive. They are lush, green and good producers. the new station in February. To combat a virus, all the plants have to be Giacalone and his girlfriend Theresa “You have to force the plants to become destroyed and the greenhouse started from “Tree” Menke are the volunteer caretakers accustomed to different growing environ- scratch. for the greenhouse. They and 14 others pitch In early October, a subtropical insect ments. You don’t want to make it super cushy for them.” in to produce lettuce, fresh herbs, tomatoes, found its way to the greenhouse. Taylor cucumbers and even avocados in the noticed specs of moving dust on the sur- But the plants make life just a little more face of the water. It turned out to be a cushy for McMurdo residents – in the dining See Greenhouse on page 4 4 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003

Greenhouse From page 3 coldest, driest place on earth. Giacalone said the current greenhouse is very labor intensive. Keeping the plants alive requires daily checks of nutrient lev- els, acid levels and water temperature. There is also misting, planting and harvest- ing to be done. The 30 square meter green- house under the dome can produce up to four to five pounds of fresh vegetables a week. Giacalone and Menke spend about 15 hours a week working in the greenhouse. “It’s quite a workload but there’s not a lot else going on,” Giacalone said, “And I’d rather be busy.” The biggest challenge is the dry air. A humidifier keeps the greenhouse between Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic Sun 47 and 58 percent humidity. Jack Giacalone tends the greenhouse at the South Pole. But, in many ways, running a green- house is easier at the South Pole than it Agriculture program at UA. pungent herb plants. A small “recreational” would be back home. Though the 1,000-watt lamps pump out hydroponic system in the enviroroom will “There are no insects, no aphids, no par- enough light to emulate 40 percent of a be accessible to everyone, Giacomelli said. asites … almost,” Giacalone said. Tucson summer day, they are cool enough The equipment is scheduled to arrive at Like McMurdo, the biggest threat to the to touch. The water-cooled bulbs, designed the South Pole a few weeks before the sta- South Pole greenhouse is the tobacco mosa- by former South Pole worker Phil Sadler, tion closes for winter in mid-February. The ic virus. mean plants can grow closer to the lamps, growth chamber should be up and produc- Working in the greenhouse gives making more use of the growing space. ing for this winter, but the official dedica- Giacalone the same kind of satisfaction of “It’s going to be bright,” Giacomelli said. tion of the greenhouse won’t be until growing and producing that he gets at the “And that will make the plants grow faster.” November 2004, after the station re-opens vegetable garden he cultivates at his home All the water and nutrients are reused in for the following summer season. in Hawaii. the system. Carbon dioxide is pumped in for A Webcam in the growth chamber will “The conditions are ultra harsh here. To the plants’ respiration. The environment allow the university professors and students have stuff growing is very unique,” he said. inside the growth chamber will be comput- to watch the plants grow. It could also be er controlled and monitored, but plant care used as a diagnostic tool if there are prob- Space age greenhouse and harvest will still require a human hand. lems with plant health. The empty South Pole landscape is often The 45 square meter space in the almost- Giacomelli said this system demon- compared to outer space. Now an indoor completed wing of the new South Pole sta- strates the potential for growing in a closed growth chamber at the Pole may be a fore- tion includes twice as much growing room as system on a Mars base. runner to supporting a base on Mars. the smaller greenhouse under the old dome. “It would not work on a space station The automated growth chamber has been There’s also more room for the people. because there is no gravity, but it could designed for the National Science The growth chamber will be separated function on Mars.” Foundation by the University of Arizona. from a lounge area by a glass wall. In the so- The design would be lighter, though. “It’s like no other growth chamber in called “enviroroom,” people will be able to Giacomelli said the South Pole growth the world,” said Gene Giacomelli, direc- see the plants, enjoy the intense light, chamber has been built for “heavy, long- tor of the Controlled Environment increased humidity and even smell the more term use.”

If you could pick a New Year’s resolution “It would be, ‘stop “That they would “Two simple snoring in the TV take a shower.” words: chill out,” for somebody else, lounge.’ ” Brandon Grantham, Rusty Rodriguez, Joe Pettit, Palmer South Pole network soil yeast researcher at what would it be? station manager from engineer from Las McMurdo Station from Boulder, Colorado, 14 Vegas, first season. Seattle, third season. seasons. December 28, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 5 around the continent

and Vega islands were picked up on Dec. SHIPS 23-24. The Gould first tried Dec. 19 but heavy Polar Star near McMurdo multi-year ice, icebergs, and ice floes blocked the way from all directions. A satel- By LCDR April Brown lite photo sent from Palmer Station showed Mac Ship Ops/Coast Guard Liaison the ship would have had to move through Just in time for Christmas, the Coast about 35 km of ice to reach them. Guard cutter Polar Star arrived at the ice The researchers on Seymour and Vega edge about 31 km northwest of McMurdo islands said they received several centime- at midnight on Dec. 24. Her sister ship, the ters of snow. The snow cover and winds Polar Sea should arrive about New Year’s Photo courtesy of Skip Owen / Special to the Antarctic Sun hampered the search for fossils for several Eve to help. Children ages 3 to 13 and residents from days. You may have heard the fine whine of Argentina’s Esperanza Station gather on the deck of the Gould with Captain Mike On the upside, the personnel at two stealthy HH-65 Dolphin helicopters Argentina’s Esperanza Station in Hope Bay buzzing about. Polar Sea will bring a third Terminel for a photo during a tour of the on the Antarctic Sound noticed the Gould helicopter, making a total of three heli- vessel. The Gould was the first ship of the season to stop there. steaming back and forth and invited the copters in the area and 22 “Coasties” crew to visit. Since the ice blockade looked added to the town’s population. There are like it would be in the way for a while, the nearly 300 sailors on the ships. Rumors of plagiarize the infamous “Wheeler”). Gould anchored off Esperanza at approxi- an invasion are greatly ... understated. Get Polar Star started the break-in on five diesel electric engines and three shafts, mately 3 p.m. local time. The Argentinian your shopping finished soon. Seriously, children of families at Esperanza Station, though, Coasties are a great bunch of folks and made all of 27 meters. It was impor- ages 3 to 13, toured the Gould, with their and they look forward to visiting town, tant to gauge how much she could do on teachers, mothers and the station pediatri- shopping, having fun and making friends. diesels first. She then switched to a diesel- gas turbine (a modified aircraft engine) cian. For the children, it was a nice break It takes hard work to keep an icebreak- after a long winter. The Gould is the first er operating down here every season. The combination on the center shaft, providing a lot of power and control without rampant vessel to visit this season and the station’s icebreakers and resupply ships are critical annual resupply vessel still is several weeks in keeping McMurdo, Scott Base and gas consumption. Unfortunately that combo soon proved away. They were fascinated with the ship. South Pole Station open year round. Let’s “It was a first for me to have a group of face it, no gas, no groceries, no go. The inadequate and the Star had to switch to three turbines, one per shaft, as the Sea kids tour the vessel in Antarctica. We thor- National Guard and other air crews work oughly enjoyed having them aboard, hard to help the stations, but there still had to do early last season for brute strength. Three turbines can momentarily although they put quite a dent in the Pringle isn’t a single plane that can bring in nine supply,” marine projects coordinator Skip million gallons of fuel and 10 million produce up to 75,000 horsepower per Owen said. pounds of cargo at once. That’s why the shaft, and then drop to about 60,000 horse- power. At that rate, the ships will burn The Argentine station hosted a dozen of ships come down each year. the crew from the Gould to dinner later, and Polar Sea is on her fourth consecutive about 190,000 liters of fuel a day. it was a warm and pleasant visit in the best Operation Deep Freeze mission because I am going to have an icebreaker pool, Antarctic style. of the extremely thick ice conditions of the and the lucky winner who can guess clos- est to the time when Polar Star makes her The Gould left Hope Bay Dec. 20 for last three years. Speaking of ice condi- another attempt to reach Seymour and Vega tions, helo ops folks, PHI helicopters and first approach to the ice pier will be the recipient of some fine Coast Guard para- islands, but was turned back again. The the survey team helped measure the ice ship went instead to King George Island, edge out to 30.3 kilometers. The thickness phernalia. I will have a sign-up sheet post- ed, or you can e-mail me the date and time where seven members of one science group ranges from 2.5 meters thick in the first- were able to fly out on a chartered aircraft. year fast ice out near the edge, to 3-4 to the minute. E-mail Brown, April in the McMurdo directory in Outlook. That gave the Gould several more days to meters thick closer to McMurdo, includ- try to reach the researchers on Seymour and ing the turning basin near the ice pier. All Vega islands. that ice is beneath nearly a meter of snow, Laurence M. Gould The crew celebrated Christmas Day which is bad for icebreaking because the with a fine meal, carols around the vessel, snow dampens the blow of the bow and Compiled from reports by Skip Owen and a cruise photo on the foredeck with all causes friction on the hull, slowing the After four-plus days of waiting for the ship way down. It’s sort of like trying to Laurence M. Gould to break through heavy break a fluffy pillow with a hammer (to ice to reach them, field camps at Seymour See Continent on page 6 the week in weather

McMurdo Station Palmer Station South Pole Station High: 37 F / 3 C Low: 14 F / -10 C High: 43 F / 6 C Low: 28 F / -2 C High:-7 F / -22 C Low:-16 F / -27 C Wind: 28 mph / 45 kph Wind: 47 mph / 76 kph Wind: 25 mph / 40 kph Windchill: -17 F / -27 C Windchill: 17 F / -8 C Max physio-altitude: 3,099 m 6 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003

Continent From page 5 SOUTH POLE the scientists, support and crew present. Play recalls expeditions On Dec. 26, the Gould made it through the pack ice. Although the ship still had a By Vincent Scott fair distance to go through the Antarctic Pole correspondent Sound, Owen reported the sight of open This month, members of the South Pole water was a great relief as was good weath- Community Theatre presented a reading er. He estimated the Gould would return to of Ted Tally’s play, “Terra Nova.” The Punta Arenas Dec. 29. play, first presented at the Yale School of Drama in 1977, is adapted from the jour- nals and letters found on the frozen body Nathaniel B. Palmer of Captain Scott. The play follows Scott and his Terra Nova expedition on their Compiled from ship reports journey combined with flashbacks of chats After leaving Lyttelton Dec. 18, the Photo Cara Sucher / Special to the Antarctic Sun between Scott and his young wife Nathaniel B. Palmer headed south with An Adelie penguin tends to her chick near Kathleen, as well as imagined scenes good weather and calm seas for several Palmer Station. between Scott and his Norwegian rival days. Then on Dec. 21 the weather turned insulation. The year 1985 introduced win- Roald Amundsen, whose party beat for the worse, with sustained winds at 65 Scott’s to the Pole by a month in ter research in pack ice thanks to the ice- kph and gusts to 110 kph. The crew and December 1911. strengthened Polar Duke. Between the others aboard report a happy Christmas. The cast included Kris Perry reading years of 1995 to 1999, the Port of Nagoya the role of Scott, Peter Rejcek as Public Aquarium in Japan was the first to PALMER Amundsen in Act I, Vincent Scott as culture Antarctic krill through a complete Amundsen in Act II, Paddy Douglas read- Lectures and new life life cycle, a milestone achievement in Antarctic krill research. ing Scott’s wife, Kathleen, Ethan Dicks as Bowers, Andrea Dixon as Oates, T. Regan After a long work day, a boat trip out to By Kerry Kells as Wilson, and Dave Bell reading the role Torgersen Island allows an introduction to Palmer correspondent of Evans. Palmer Station continues to have phe- a second phenomenon in the Peninsula area. One can actually witness the hatch- Logistics Supervisor Paddy Douglas, nomenal weather. Our usual cloudy dark who read the part of Kathleen, said she ing of a penguin chick, parents feeding skies have cleared to offer some sun dur- was “struck by how we take the station for their chicks and the sight of these black ing our holiday preparations. The rare sun- granted – and at how easy it is for us to shine casts shadows on the glacier and and gray fuzzy newcomers. The Adelie colony is full of the soft “peep peeps” of forget that it has been paid for dearly.” makes the water around us sparkle. Most “I was clearly moved by the responsi- the penguin chicks. Although Fraser’s days allow for extensive boating opera- bility felt by Scott towards the expedition group of seabird researchers, affectionately tions. Among all the usual activities, two and his men.” stand out this past week. termed “the Birders”, say the colonies are On Wednesday, Langdon Quetin talked small overall, and still in decline, the new about the history of krill research at chicks look healthy. Certain nests are mon- Palmer. He spoke about the vessels, scien- itored throughout the summer season. tists and advancements in laboratory facil- They monitor when the chick hatches from ities. The ships used for transportation and its egg. The standard incubation period is research began with the motor vessel 33 days from the second egg. The survival Hero, then the Polar Duke and now the rate is one and a half chicks per nest. The main threat at their young age is the preda- research vessel Laurence M. Gould. He tory brown skua. After a trip out to Biscoe talked about the smaller research vessels used to collect krill samples. First were the Island, our seabird researchers tell me that raft-like vessels and trawlers which gradu- only a few gentoo penguin chicks had hatched due to the later breeding season for ated to the Zodiac they now use, termed gentoos. Hatching times for other seabirds, “Rubber Duke” for the advanced krill col- brown skuas and giant petrels, fall a couple lection capabilities it has. Numerous weeks later. The Birders will continue to researchers began their research in our monitor the colonies of penguins and other area. For Quetin, research continues. seabirds and the survival of the chicks. He gave a short biography of Mary Palmer Station continues to be full of Alice McWhinnie who wintered at activity, both at station, on our seas and on McMurdo in 1974 and moved over to the the surrounding islands. Not only does the Palmer side for krill research. She community of Palmer have the opportuni- designed a large aquarium with constantly ty to learn and ask about the science con- flowing seawater, which kept the krill ducted in our area, but also to witness sci- alive in the laboratory. Quetin’s first sea- ence in action in the hatching of the son was 1981 to 1982 along with Robin seabirds. As we prepare for the holidays Ross and Bill and Peggy Hamner. Photo courtesy of Susan Weber / Special to the Antarctic Sun here with the final decorations, wrapping Above, Scott’s expedition. Bottom, pictured Some more advances of the late 1970’s presents and preparing the dinner, Palmer and early 1980’s include the transportation left to right, top row: Paddy Douglas, Sheri Station researchers and support personnel Mason, Vincent Scott; middle row: T. Regan, of live krill back to home laboratories, wish everyone in the USAP a happy and Kris Perry, Ethan Dicks; bottom row: Dave which was successful due to temperature safe holiday season. Bell, Andrea Dixon December 28, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 7

At left, researchers crowd the Beardmore Camp kitchen tent while waiting for flights in mid-December. Below, boxes filled with rocks and fossils wait on the outskirts of Beardmore Camp to be sent by plane then ship to researchers’ universities.

Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun Camp From page 1 are still more fossils to find in the hills. Though weather kept the researchers the research teams cooked their own meals “I’d really like to see us have more from reaching their field sites as often as when they returned from the field sites, camps like this,” said chief scientist John they hoped, when they did they made some working over camp stoves in expedition Isbell, from the University of Wisconsin- interesting finds, including a new dinosaur, tents. That changed the camp dynamics. Milwaukee. fossilized fish, petrified trees and evidence “There’s not a central gathering point or It was the sixth time the U.S. Antarctic buttercups once bloomed there. central gathering time,” said paleobotanist Program has set up a large hub camp to “It’s been successful, especially consid- Edith Taylor from the University of Kansas support deep fieldwork by rock hunters. ering the weather,” Isbell said. “If you Lawrence, who made an effort to meet “Last time we did this was at reach 25 percent of the original plan other researchers anyway. Shackleton (Glacier),” said camp manager you’ve had a real successful season.” In the evening some of the researchers Dave Zastrow. Many of the same Though only two percent of Antarctica congregated in the communications tent or researchers were at that camp in 1995, is exposed rock and dirt, what is exposed sometimes the kitchen tent, checking on which at about 150 people was one of the includes some of the best-preserved fossil the flight schedule and sharing tales of the bigger field camps. This year’s Beardmore sites in the world, with unique evidence of day. camp was a third the size, with about 50 the Earth’s earlier inhabitants. The fossils “We’re biologists. We don’t want to just people and 40 tents. The size is partially reveal an ancient history, but it carries a see this (fossil) dead in the rock. We want driven by the kind of work done. The pale- modern message, said Molly Miller from to know who was chewing this,” Edith ontologists needed helicopters and some- Vanderbilt University. said. times Twin Otter airplanes to carry them to “The main thing is, people have to Sometimes they also swapped rocks. rocky sites in the surrounding mountains, understand their place in space and time,” Loren Babcock from Ohio State University up to 12,500 feet high. At times the camp Miller said. “What this is showing is the found fossilized tree trunks, almost two seemed more like an airport, with heli- Earth, or what is on it, has changed tremen- feet in diameter, which he gave to the pale- copters, Twin Otters and LC130 planes all dously.” obotanists. landing and taking off. “If we’re going to understand our place “Normally what comes out of these “It takes everybody to bring it together on earth, we need to understand what’s camps is a lot more integrated science,” - camp staff, helo pilots, scientists,” Isbell come before us.” Babcock said. said. In all, more than 9,000 kg of rock and The camp has faded into the snowdrift, The camp was supposed to be fully run- fossil were flown out of the camp. Most of as a crew of carpenters dissembled the ning by Dec. 1, but a storm in McMurdo it will be shipped back to the geologists structures and reassembled them at Moody delayed the helicopters and researchers and paleontologists on the vessel, arriving Nunatak. The tents will stay there until from reaching Beardmore Camp for days. at their universities in April. The best spec- about the first week of February, support- Then five days of wind at the camp itself imens are tucked into their luggage, testing ing two other geology and paleontology grounded the helicopters, said mechanic the airline weight limits. research projects. Then it will become Andy Young. To keep the size of the camp smaller, another layer of history. PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY 8 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003

Pyramidal-shaped Scott tents used for the Beardmore Camp in December are the same style Robert Falcon Scott carried up the glacier, and eventually died in on his way back. Nowadays the dome- shaped mountaineering tents are also used. Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun Early explorers left rock legacy By Kristan Hutchison way to the Pole,” said paleobotanist Tom preservation is among the best in the world. Sun staff Taylor. Scott also had a fossil of Glossopteris, a rom the first time explorers trudged As Shackleton and Scott leaned into the plant. A few years later the presence of up the Beardmore Glacier, they were wind and their harnesses on their separate Glossopteris fossils on all continents was collecting rocks. expeditions, they had plenty of time to used as the first proof of continental drift. As Ernest Shackleton hiked up notice the geology of the hills. Modern “As plant fossils go, it’s pretty famous,” F geologists have continued to return, still said Edith Taylor. the 100-mile glacier in 1908, he and his men found seams of coal among the sandstone researching many of the features the early Molly Miller spent six days at Mt. and a rock with plant impressions. explorers first noted. Bowers where Scott collected the “We can only take with us small speci- Shackleton wrote “The glacier is evi- Glossopteris fossils. The famous explorer mens of the main rocks, as weight is of dently moving very slowly and not filling as was in her thoughts as she collected the importance to us,” Shackleton wrote in his much of the valley as it did at some previ- same kind of fossil, still of scientific inter- journal. “From these small specimens the ous date, for the old moraines lie higher up est. geologists must determine the general char- in terraces.” “We thought of that often. ‘Wow, he was acter of the land.” This year Allan Ashworth was digging here. He must have been freezing to death,’” The coal and fossils proved that into the old moraines, finding evidence of Miller said. “In terms of geology, it does Antarctica was once lushly vegetated. historic glacial advances and recessions. feel very historic.” “That was some of the first evidence that Ashworth did most of his work this sea- Scott died sometime after March 29, Antarctica was not always glaciated,” said son at Oliver Bluff, where Scott had also 1912 with the rock still on his sledge. Some paleobotanist Edith Taylor. noted the old moraines. Ashworth has read historians have suggested he might not have But the most talked about rocks from the Scott’s journal for clues of places to look for died if he hadn’t taken the time to gather Beardmore probably are the 16 kg of geo- more deposits. those rocks on his way back down the logical samples Robert Falcon Scott collect- “Those guys went very slowly and they Beardmore Glacier, and then tried to haul ed, the only thing left on his sled when the might have noticed things,” Ashworth said. the extra weight. rescue party found him dead in the spring of Edith and Tom Taylor thought of Scott as “We like to tell people we won’t go to 1912. they collected plant fossils from Skaar that extreme to get fossils,” said Edith Polar historians are as interested in the Ridge, looking down at the site where Scott Taylor. stones as geologists are, because the extra stopped to collect coal and fossils of wood Her husband agreed: “I’d dump mine in weight on the sled and the day spent col- and leaves on his trip back from the South a heartbeat.” lecting them were among the factors leading Pole. Scott noted the “beautifully traced It’s not a decision they have to make. the men to stop short of their next depot, 17 leaves in layers, also some excellently pre- Now geologists and paleontologists can col- km away. served impressions of thick stems, showing lect tons of rocks without worrying about the “It gives you a great sense of the historic cellular structure” on a piece of coal Wilson weight. They and their samples are flown when you stand there and the wind is blow- picked up. The Taylors still come to out by helicopter and LC130 airplane, then ing and you think they manhauled all the Antarctica because the quality of plant the rocks are shipped north on a vessel.

PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY December 28, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 9

Paleontologists search for dinosaur bones at a site on Mt. Kirkpatrick. Photo by Andy Sajor / Special to The Antarctic Sun Dinosaur hunters dig up new beast By Kristan Hutchison About 100 feet above the cry- Sun staff olophosaurus, mountaineer Peter Braddock ielding hammers, crowbars spotted another bit of exposed bone. He and dynamite, the dinosaur showed it to Hammer, who identified it as hunters tracked down a new either part of a pelvis or shoulder of a sauro- animal, but they couldn’t get pod. W Blaster Marty Reed set charges of dyna- all their quarry home. Paleontologist Bill Hammer suspects the mite near the surface of the rock at three newly uncovered bones on Mt. Kirkpatrick foot intervals. A boom like fireworks could be the remains of a primitive sauro- exploded down the mountain, but only the pod, a type of herbivorous dinosaur with six dinosaur hunters were close enough to long neck and tail that lived from 248 mil- hear it. lion to 65 million years ago. Though “The main thing is you have to use light Hammer won’t know until he has time to charges so you fracture the rock,” said study it back in the lab, it is likely to be a Reed, who fractured the rock to within a new species. foot of the bones. “Anything we find down here is very dif- From there the team worked with pick ferent from other parts of the world,” axes, rock hammers, crow bars and rock Hammer said. saws to free the beast locked in rock. The The last time Hammer visited Mt. team retrieved about 1,500 lbs of rock and Kirkpatrick, 13 years ago, he dug up the bone, but left more buried in the hillside. remains of the first, and only, carnivorous “I’m happy with what we found,” dinosaur found in Antarctica. The 22-foot Hammer said. “There’s still more going cryolophosaurus turned out to be the oldest back in there. We probably have another of its kind from anywhere in the world. whole season’s work there.” “We know very little about the early Hammer also wanted to visit five other Jurassic, particularly on the southern conti- Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun sites where dinosaurs may be hiding, but nents,” Hammer said. The only other Bill Hammer shows one of the new bad weather kept him from flying there. He Jurassic site in the southern hemisphere is in dinosaur bones found on Mt. Kirkpatrick believes many of the ridges between the South Africa. With about 35 percent of the ton from a Canadian maker and tried to peaks may hold Jurassic bones. cryolophosaurus’ skeleton, Hammer was drive back across the border. “There’s actually a lot more out there able to create a model of the entire dinosaur. “It was too crazy a story to make up, but than it appears on the map,” Hammer said. A month after Sept. 11 he picked up a full- we still got hassled,” said Hammer, who sized reconstruction of the dinosaur skele- NSF funded research: Bill Hammer, Augustana spent two hours convincing customs offi- College. cials the dinosaur was legitimate. The skele- ton is now displayed at Augustana University, where Hammer teaches. This month Hammer led a team of six back to Mt. Kirkpatrick, hoping to retrieve any remaining cryolophosaurus bones, and find something new. He found about 35 more bones at the cryolophosaurus site, including vertebrae and a toe. The bones may belong to cryolophosaurus or other dinosaurs from the same site.

Marty Reed sets dynamite to crack open the rock above hidden dinosaur remains.

Photos by Andy Sajor / Special to The Antarctic Sun PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY 10 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003

Photos by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun Above, Tom Taylor shows a vertebraria, a fossilized root structure from the Glossopteris plant, to fellow paleobotanist Pablo Puerta. The white of the star pattern was left by the spaces between the swamp plants roots. The upper Permian fossil was found on Skaar Ridge in the central Transantarctic Mountains. At left, paleobotanist Edith Taylor wraps fossils in rags and packs them in boxes for shipping home. Botanists gather leaves and seeds in stone By Kristan Hutchison see what you find,” said Tom. survived the trees in Antarctica by millions Sun staff They look for rocks with clear layers and of years. ased on bulk, the Taylors’ plant gath- some black in them, indicating the presence The Taylors have also found tree trunks ering trip to Antarctica was a huge of organic material. with the rings still preserved, showing a success. “It’s luck,” said Tom. growth record. The growth rings were 10 The paleobotanists shipped “And persistence,” said Edith. times wider than those found on trees in B Both have paid off for the couple. The Alaska today, probably due to a warmer cli- home about 4,000 kg of leaves, seeds, stems, roots and tree trunks, all in rock. fossils they collected on this trip will be mate and the longer growing season. “We got a special award for taking home added to the collection at the University of “These plants were growing at higher the largest chunk of the continent,” joked Kansas, already the second largest collec- latitude than any plants are growing today,” Edith Taylor. tion of Antarctic plant fossils in the world Edith said. It’s the third time she and her husband with about 50,000 rocks. Many fossils from In the Gordon Valley, the fossil trunks of Tom have been to the Beardmore Glacier, their previous visits led to a greater under- 99 Dicroidium trees stick up from the so they knew just what they were looking standing of ancient foliage. ground, all 0.75 meters to 0.9 meters tall. for and where to find it. The goal was to A fossil the Taylors left on display at the They still have root structures in the ground. collect perimineralized plants, a rare form Berg Field Center has seed ferns pressed “It’s like you cut the forest off with a of preservation in which the cell walls into its surface, as detailed as if they’d just chain saw and then turned them all to remain and silica fills in the spaces. Even been cast in plaster. The rock is 220 million stone,” Edith said. She suspects the trees the embryos within the seeds can be seen. years old “give or take a month,” said Tom were killed by a flood. “It is the rarest preservation for plants,” Taylor, with his usual humor. The Taylors still have many questions to Edith said. The seed fern is unique because it is part answer about how trees adapted to survive Antarctica is one of only three places in of an extinct group of plants with leaves like the long, dark winter. It is possible the trees the world with such well-preserved plants ferns and seeds like flowering plants. On a dropped their leaves, had smaller leaves or from the Permian age, and the only site with previous trip the Taylors found seed ferns had some other adaptation, Tom said. He plant fossils of that caliber from the Triassic. with short shoots sprouting from them and hopes the answer is waiting inside one of This time they were heading back to Skaar seeds attached, similar to a gingko tree. It the stones they shipped home. Most of their Ridge, near the camping site where Scott was a trait that had never been found in the work will be back in the lab, where they’ll collected coal and wood fossils, where fossil record before. oversee students slicing the rock with dia- they’ve collected many important fossils “We carried that specimen back in our mond blades and then using acetone film to before. laps,” Tom said. collect the preserved plant cells from the “It’s like a compost heap you’ve turned Tom’s specialty has been fungi. At the fossil surface. to stone,” Edith said. Permian site he found branches eight to 10 “It’s just one page out of a huge novel The Taylors know which sites and rocks cm in diameter with clearly visible rings that you get to read when you open that par- are likely to contain the fossils, but it’s still and cells. White holes were left throughout ticular rock,” Tom said. a bit of a treasure hunt. the petrified branch in a pattern recogniz- “There’s a great serendipity to it. You able as white pocket rot. The same fungus NSF funded research: grab a rock, take a chisel, break it open and still lives in trees in the U.S., having out- Edith and Tom Taylor, University of Kansas, Lawrence.

PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY December 28, 2003 The Antarctic Sun •11 Fishing for fossils By Kristan Hutchison Sun staff oren Babcock looks at the bare rock in the Transantarctic Mountains and sees Lgreen forests alive with animals. “I see ponds, forests, somewhere down there eruptive fissures and some reptiles swimming around,” said Babcock, a paleon- tologist from Ohio State University. “I see, in my mind’s eye, something similar to the reconstructions you see in books.” Babcock reconstructs the past from frag- ile fragments – an insect wing pressed in stone, the print of fish scales, the marks left by soft shells the size of sunflower seeds. “We’re looking mostly for exceptionally Photo by Loren Babcock / Special to The Antarctic Sun preserved fossils,” said Babcock, who was Alycia Rode stands next to a view of rock likely to have fossils on Carapace Nunatak. working with fellow paleontologist Steve Leslie and graduate student Alycia Rode. mer and it shows there’s fossil,” Babcock lake beds from all oxygen, Babcock said. “Think about what it takes to preserve an said. “It is incredible. These are some of the “That, combined with sudden burial, is insect wing. You know how delicate they most fossiliferous rocks I’ve ever seen.” usually what causes exceptionally preserva- are.” He suspects similar deposits exist along tion,” he said. He’ll be able to determine Most paleontologists look for bones, the entire 1,280 km of the mountain range. what it was back at the lab, studying the teeth and shells. Those are the hard parts of Many of the fossil rocks are flat slabs of rock structure under an electron microscope the body most likely to last long enough for fine-grained sedimentary stone, which the and using chemical and mineral analysis of phosphates or other minerals to replace the researchers will split open carefully in the the rock. cell structure. But only 15 percent of the lab and then look at under the microscope. Representing creatures seldom pre- creatures in an ecosystem have hard skele- They’ll also do chemical analysis. The served, the fossils could also give paleontol- tons, inside or out. The other 85 percent sel- rocks are like history books. Babcock can ogists a better idea of how things evolved. dom leave a trace. see insects, crustaceans and plants on the “We found stuff that had not been “Our fossil record is strongly biased cover, but is waiting to read the rest of the recorded (before) and what’s really unusual toward those creatures that had mineralized story on the pages inside. here is we got a more complete set of crea- skeletons,” said Babcock. “Once these things are split back in the tures from sedimentary river beds than He is trying to counter the bias by seek- lab we expect to dramatically increase the before,” Babcock said. “They help to fill in ing out the rare specimens of softer body number of organisms we know to be there,” some of the details of an ancient ecological parts, particularly arthropods, the family of Babcock said. Even on the surface, many of community.” spineless animals that includes spiders, the rocks show remarkably clear pictures of “These kinds of deposits also give us crustaceans and insects. the past. An inch-long wing, shaped like a incredible anatomical information about Antarctica is one of the very few places dragonfly’s, is etched onto the surface of a these sort of creatures, information that in the world where such insubstantial speci- sand-colored stone. The threadlike web of would normally be absolutely inaccessible mens have been fossilized from the Jurassic veins shows clearly. From other sites around to us,” Babcock said. age, 160 million years ago. The other sites the Beardmore Glacier Babcock’s group The fossils also tell researchers about the are in lower latitudes, Brazil, Italy, China caught six anchovy-sized freshwater fish, climate at the time. The remains of egg-lay- and the Green River Formation crossing complete with eye sockets. ing creatures show the temperature was at Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. As the only “It’s unusual to find complete fish like least 10 C for a few weeks, since that’s the high-latitude site, Antarctica allows that with the scales on and everything,” he temperature they require to incubate. The Babcock to look at differences in the said. “They look like someone just pulled presence of fish shows it was warm enough lakebed biology of different latitudes during them out of the water.” for the water to be liquid for extended peri- the Jurassic period. Babcock would like to figure out why ods and flying insects also indicate a During a week on Carapace Nunatak, these sites are so well preserved, and the warmer “greenhouse” world, Babcock said. Babcock’s group filled 14 boxes with slabs number of fossils he found may help. He “Once we’re done with this study, this of rock wrapped in white rags, about 315 kg knows he is looking at old alpine lakebeds. will almost certainly be the best known in all. With years of experience behind him, Something kept scavengers and burrowers Mesozoic lake deposit in terms of fossiliza- Babcock easily found fossils in the layer of from disturbing the sediment while the crea- tion history,” Babcock said. tan rock striping the red-brown basalt cliffs tures buried in it fossilized. It may have of the Kirkpatrick Formation in the been a sudden change in the lake salinity, NSF funded research mentioned in this story: Transantarctic Mountains. the introduction of toxins, volcanic ash or Loren Babcock, Ohio State University, “One or two cracks with the rock ham- sulfur dioxide, or an event that cut off the www.geology.ohio-state.edu/~lbabcock/

PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY 12 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003

Layers of rock show the periods of time near the Beardmore Glacier.

Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun Permian past pictured

By Kristan Hutchison as the Permian Triassic Boundary. Based She’d also like to find one of the crea- Sun staff on changes in the land surface, Isbell tures still in its burrow. The burrowing Like trackers, John Isbell and Molly believes tectonic forces were involved. animal was closer to mammals and from Miller read the clues left in streambeds He’s found streambeds that changed the the same branch that eventually evolved and animal burrows to tell a larger story direction of their flow, indicating a dra- into mammals, Miller said. about life 250 million years ago. matic change in the ground slope. “The fundamental question we’d like to When they first come to a geological “The patterns are more reminiscent of answer is: Did early mammals evolve here site, it looks like a jumble of rock. tectonic changes,” Isbell said. “You see at this high latitude?” Miller said. Examining it closely, layer by layer, the one change in one area, another in another She’s found animal trails fossilized on rock begins to make sense, like the pieces area.” stone. Miller looks at lines scratched on of a puzzle put in order. The picture they The glacier during the Permian also stone, like Chinese calligraphy, and reads are putting together of the Permian and appears to have been smaller than previ- them. Triassic ages answers questions about the ously thought and advancing into a lake, “It’s all so dramatic. You’re not looking environment, climate and animal life. Isbell said. at a dead bone. You’re looking at an ani- “We, in a sense, try to paint a picture of One of the ways Miller can tell which mal walking across 230 million years the physical environment and the dynam- way the streams flowed and where the ago,” Miller said. ics,” said Isbell, from the University of lake was located is by following animal Though the story Isbell and Miller are Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “It’s really like a burrows left in the banks. Many of the bur- reading is an ancient one, they say it still mystery or a puzzle and we’ll walk up and rows are just a half inch wide, left by applies to the modern world. just be frustrated, scratching our heads, insects or arthropods. “What this is showing is the Earth, or wondering what’s going on. Then it will A mammal-like reptile, about as big what is on it, has changed tremendously,” start to fall into place, like finishing a around as a soup bowl, also tunneled Miller said. novel.” through the softened ground. The tunnels Isbell and Miller came with a long list filled with other material, leaving tubes NSF funded research mentioned in this of questions to answer about the Permian two to three meters long winding through story: and Triassic ages. Isbell has the start of an the rock. Molly Miller, Vanderbilt University, answer for one of the questions, on what “The behavior is recorded in rock. By [email protected] caused the mass extinction of animals reading it we can learn things about life in John Isbell, University of Wisconsin- between the two ages, an event referred to streams,” Miller said. Milwaukee, www.uwm.edu/People/jisbell/

PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY December 28, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 13 Discovering Antarctica’s leafy past By Kristan Hutchison Bluffs for three weeks. At Sun staff their campsite the wind whis- uttercups once bloomed tled and roared over the glaci- below where the Beardmore er. Nights were so cold BGlacier flows, along with Ashworth’s sleeping pad and shrubs and other tundra plants. blanket froze to his cot and Millions of years ago the glacier- one morning he woke with his filled valley was a fjord, with a lips stuck to the tent. Their glacier advancing and retreating on work site, 100 yards away the southern end, said paleontolo- from the tents, was protected gist Allan Ashworth. Digging in the from the winds. debris left by that more ancient “It’s one of those things glacier, Ashworth and fellow pale- where the camp was kind of ontologists, Jane Francis, David miserable, so there was incen- Cantrill and Steve Roof found the tive to go to work,” Ashworth unlikely remains of a tundra envi- said. ronment. Much of their work was “You hear that Antarctica is done 60 feet up the side of white and snowy and nothing liv- cliffs, sometimes on ladders ing,” said Francis. “Then you hit a or in harnesses rigged by the rock and open it up and there are group’s mountaineer, Forrest leaves.” McCarthy. Some of the rock Ashworth believes the glacier had to be broken open with advanced and retreated four to five dynamite by blaster Marty times in the area where they were Reed before the researchers digging on Oliver Bluffs. With each could pry it out. When they retreat plants colonized the fresh found a layer of fossils, it glacial deposits, only to be buried as could take several days to the glacier pushed forward again. excavate. Photos courtesy Steve Roof “It’s just this tiny little window Above, paleontologist “You spend a lot of time between glaciers when the rivers Steve Roof digs for searching and not finding flowed and carried these things that plant fossils on anything, and then when you the glacier ground up,” Francis said. Oliver Bluffs above find a gold vein you follow “It’s quite amazing that anybody the Beardmore it,” Francis said. ever found them, because they’re so Glacier. They’re shipping home rare.” Right, leaf fossils col- about 60 boxes of rock, total- The ancient glacial deposits lected by Allan ing nearly two tons, and many were exposed in the sides of the Ashworth's group. of the discoveries will come Oliver Bluffs as the modern as they examine those more Beardmore Glacier carved its own closely. way through the valley. “Most of the things we “They include landscapes that work on are pretty small, so existed with life on them,” would push up through the dirt and re-estab- discoveries on them are Ashworth said. “Basically in places we lish, leaving concentric layers representing almost always going to be made in the lab,” could peel back a layer and reveal an the sediment and growth patterns. Ashworth said. ancient tundra.” “It sort of tells us of the dynamics of the The rocks Ashworth brought back from The group uncovered the wood and system and how these plants struggled to the same site in 1995 contained beetles, leaves of a relative of the Nothofagus, com- survive,” Cantrill said. insects, mollusks and a fly that had never monly known as the southern beech tree in They’ve also found about six types of been found in Antarctica before. South America, Tasmania and New Zealand moss and seven flowering plants, including “They contain organisms we previously where it still grows. buttercups, complete with seeds, leaves and didn’t know were there and they help our “The form we find here is not a tree. It’s pollen. The vegetation is mostly low, creep- understanding of Antarctica’s climatic his- at best something that crawled out along the ing plants, similar to what is found in the tory and also the evolutionary relations,” ground,” Ashworth said. Alaska tundra. Ashworth said. Dave Cantrill discovered a cushion plant, “You can actually see how the plants which grew in the shape of a mound about were growing along the ground and NSF funded research mentioned in this the size of a basketball top. The cushion between boulders and were tenacious,” story: Allan Ashworth, North Dakota State plant grew outward in annual layers. Each Cantrill said. University. time it was buried by sediment the plant The five-person team camped on Oliver www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/ashworth/

PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC CENOZOIC 248 206 144 million years ago 65 PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY 14 • The Antarctic Sun December 28, 2003 Profile Teacher learns by doing

By Kristan Hutchison Sun staff ndrew Sajor is better equipped than most eighth-grade science teachers Ato dig up dinosaurs in the Transantarctic Mountains with a jackham- mer and pickax. Having first spent 23 years fixing power lines in storms, he knows how to use tools in bad weather. “Working out in the field, a lot of the tools we use are the same I used in the power industry,” said Sajor, a teacher from Plattsburgh, NY, who came to Antarctica in December as part of Teachers Experiencing Antarctica. The National Science Foundation funded program gives science teachers a chance to experience field sci- ence and incorporate their experience into their curriculum. Five other teachers came to Antarctica as well. Seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Amy Stoyles is working with Laurie Connell studying yeast growing in the Dry Valleys. Eighth-grade teacher Colleen Brogenski went up Mount Erebus with vol- cano researcher Phil Kyle. Sajor worked with paleontologist Bill Hammer’s team, camping on the Beardmore Photo courtesy Andy Sajor Glacier and retrieving dinosaur bones from High school science teacher Andy Sajor gets hands-on experience with a paleontology team at Mount Kirkpatrick at 3,800 meters. Beardmore Camp. In his online journal at www.tea.rice.edu Sajor wrote: “I count myself extremely for- excitement of going out in a storm to fix As a teacher, Sajor rarely cracks open a tunate to have landed with Dr Hammer, for sparking lines. textbook. Instead, he has students learn by a number of reasons. First, when you men- “You built something every day, so you doing. For physical science demonstrations tion to someone you are going to the walked away and you said ‘I did that,’” he uses lineman’s tools and examples from Beardmore Glacier, their eyes glaze over Sajor said. “You had a visible, tangible his own experience. He’s built a wind tunnel and they become very envious. To a person, sense of accomplishment, which is pretty for students to test airplane wings they’ve they all comment that that place is the real nice to have.” designed. Sometimes he leads the students Antarctica. Second, working on the removal After many years, Sajor was spending outside to analyze stream beds and sediment of a rare and exotic fossil, life doesn’t get most of his time training the other linemen, structure. any better. Third, to be attached to a team of and he realized that was the part of the job “They can start to see the forces of uni- world-class scientists.” he liked best. A friend working at forminteranism,” said Sajor, referring to the The paleontologists also felt lucky to Plattsburgh State University College con- geological theory that changes occur slowly have Sajor along. He turned out to be a use- vinced him to go back to school for a teach- over time and clues to what has happened ful member of the team, jumping in to do ing degree. can be found by looking at what forces are everything from fix computer problems to He finished the degree without expecting currently at work on the landscape. “The move heavy rocks. to get a job as a teacher, since jobs were present is the key to the past.” “He’s definitely very outgoing, very hard to come by. Then a local school called Sajor also pursues research projects dur- friendly. He’s got just an incredible wealth and offered him one, at a fraction his line- ing the summer, giving him lots of hands-on of expertise,” said Nate Smith, a graduate man salary. Despite the pay cut, his wife, science experience to bring back to the student working on the team. “He pitched in Kathy, and daughters, Brooke and Zoe, classroom. In the past summers he has as much or more as everybody on the team.” encouraged him to take it. worked with the Institute for Global Sajor took a very circuitous route to “They said, if it’s going to make you Environmental Strategies and gone to sea teaching, and Antarctica. He grew up in happy, do it, and I did. I’ve never been aboard the research vessel Oceanus to study Westchester County, NY. While a college sorry,” Sajor said. the paleocurrents of the Gulf Stream. He student in Plattsburgh he was hired as a line- Now Sajor teaches ninth grade and enjoys working with scientists, who tend to man for the City of Plattsburgh Municipal accelerated eighth grade science, as well as be professors. Lighting Department. He stayed, eventually twelfth year physics and an astronomy lab at “They’re all educators as well as becoming chief lineman. Plattsburgh State University College. researchers,” Sajor said. “That’s what “I was happy for a long time,” said Sajor, “I kind of spread myself all over because should happen at the high school level as who enjoyed working outside and the it’s just fun. I love doing this,” Sajor said. well.”