December 9, 2001 The Antarctic Sun • 5 around the continent

the station store. PALMER The visit was reciprocal. During the four and a half hour visit, crew members Making room for foreigners as well as British Antarctic Survey (BAS) By Tom Cohenour scientists from the ship enjoyed tours of Palmer Station correspondent the Palmer facilities. And station person- The call came in unexpectedly. "Palmer nel and scientists had the opportunity to Station, Palmer Station, this is the James visit and tour the JCR. Pizza and drinks Clark Ross. Do you copy?" were enjoyed in the station lounge, shop- It was Chris Elliot, the captain of the pers enjoyed PalMart (station store) and a 325 foot (100 m) British research vessel British film crew had a chance to conduct RRS James Clark Ross (JCR) requesting interviews with some Palmer scientists. permission to make an early port call at The BBC (British Broadcasting Palmer Station. The JCR wasn't expected Corporation) crew traveling on the JCR is for another 10 days. Because of heavy sea doing a program about science in ice in the southern part of the Lemaire Antarctica. They were pleased to be able Photo by Kevin Culin/Special to The Antarctic Sun Channel a change in schedule was needed. Bill McCormick and John Penney exorcise a to interview Dan Martin with the prey broken tunneling machine. "We can make that work," responded component of the Long Term Ecological Station Manager, Bob Farrell. "We'll be Research (LTER) (BP-028-O), and Dr progress, sometimes with the tunneler happy to see you again." Charles Amsler and Dr Bill Baker. Both machine, sometimes by hand. They say they An influx of visitors to a small station Amsler and Baker are part of a team of can do at least as much by hand as with the requires careful planning and a well-coor- seven conducting research on the machine, but the machine is easier on the dinated effort for it to go smoothly. After Chemical Ecology of Shallow-Water body. So when the machine breaks down, years of such activity, Palmer has it down Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates we do what we can to get it back online. to a science. The entire station pulls (BO-022-O). We'll even go to extremes. Like hold an together to make it happen. Each summer Even on such a short notice, the visit by exorcism for the poor thing. People brought they host approximately 1,400 visitors the JCR was a huge success and marked amulets, drums and cowbells. There was over a 10-week period; on average, 140 another milestone in the long standing dancing, chanting, preaching, bagpipes, vio- visitors per week. Keep in mind that cooperative relationship the USAP enjoys lins and Korean exorcism music. Offerings Palmer reaches maximum population at with the British Antarctic Survey. were made to appease the tunneler machine only 46. Now imagine adding 140 new gods (don't ask). Our prayers and wishes for faces. SOUTH POLE future tunneler machine good health went The arrival of the JCR marked the up and we're hopeful for success. beginning of the visitor season. Space ships, an exorcism The Operations department is pushing "They'll be here in five hours," the last of the snow mountains away from announced Farrell over the intercom. and Polar tourists the station and out past the cargo berms, Immediately the call went out for vol- By Judy Spanberger which are on the very edge of our little vil- unteers to act as tour guides, set up the gal- South Pole correspondent lage. It takes a while to move these long ley, bake brownies, make coffee and work The weather this past week at Pole has piles of snow. A dozer pushes the snow into been clear, sunny and warm. Temps in the a pile and then starts at the end of the pile minus 20s, which feels like a heat wave to and pushes the snow over the top of the pile us. Perhaps it's due to the measly 4 percent in the direction that the snow will eventual- humidity here, but if you stand in the sun ly end up. It's like watching a very slow and out of the wind, the effect of the radiant caterpillar make it's way out to the edge of heat is intense. Many people are walking the berms. around with slight sunburns on their faces. We've had a couple visits from the Thanks to the clear weather we've been Twin Otter crew this week. The ATRS getting up to five flights a day and the (Advanced Technology for Radar cargo people have been quite busy. Sounding of Polar Ice-formerly known as Material is coming in and construction SOAR) project came through and spent continues to make visible progress on the the night. ATRS is the under-the-ice radar Photo by Tom Cohenour/Special to The Antarctic Sun elevated station. The British ship James Clark Ross The tunnel crew continues with their approaches Palmer Station on Nov. 30. See Pole on page 6

the week in weather

McMurdo Station Palmer Station South Pole Station High: 37F/2.5C Low:13F/-10C High: 42F/5.5C Low:25F/-4C High: -21F/-29C Low:-32F/-35.4C Wind: 58 mph/93 kph Wind: 62 mph/100 kph Wind: 26mph/42kph Windchill: -29F/-24C Precipitation: 1.67 inches/40mm Windchill: N/A 6 • The Antarctic Sun December 9, 2001

Pole From page 5 Science From page 4 mapping project that looks for lakes and other "reliving" McMurdo-style diving until a make a great start at collecting for labo- anomalies under the polar ice cap. Last year strong storm broke up the fast ice. Now ratory assays. The lab work is now well they mapped Lake Vostok. I had a chance to on some days we have open water suit- underway and we are looking forward talk with one of the scientists on that project able for boat diving in the diverse and to another great season in Antarctica! while they were here and asked about the beautiful communities that surround the rumor of a space ship being the cause of the Palmer-area islands. Other days the Dr. Chuck Amsler is Associate heat that keeps Lake Vostok liquid. Not true, winds and/or currents bring pack and Professor of Biology at the University of according to their data. There's a small mag- smaller brash ice into the harbor that is Alabama at Birmingham. netic influence, but that could easily be caused too dense for zodiacs to pass through. Read more about the day to day div- by many of the rocks found on the continent. So those are days for the lab or for div- ing and other research activities on an They believe that there's a small somewhat ing through the packed ice bits right off interactive Web site designed and oper- active volcano at one end of the lake that might the station boat dock. ated by the UAB media relations depart- be providing the warmth. Oh well, there goes a Fortunately, even the marine com- ment for K-12 school and general com- great story. The other Twin Otter took out the munities right beside the station are rich munity outreach. The URL is AGO group for a two week camping trip. and diverse so we have been able to www.wow.uab.edu. We had our first tourist plane of the season this past Sunday morning. A DC3 operated by Adventure Network flew over from Patriot Hills. Six tourists from Taiwan, two field guides and three crew members spent three Needed: A dose of hours at Pole. They gathered for pictures at the Pole and were given a small tour of the station. That's right, it was a three-hour tour. original thinking Henry Kaiser, a participant of the NSF- sponsored Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, was here for the weekend. Henry travels all over the world and creates guitar music to remind people of a particular place. Get your best work published in the On Saturday night he played with our own band, ThunderJug, in the summer camp lounge Prose, Poetry and Photography Contest Jamesway. We have a remarkably good band here at Pole, but when Henry played with sponsored by The Antarctic Sun them, the music rose to a level that you might see in a cool seedy jazz bar in Chicago (if you were lucky, and had gotten there on a good Photos: Categories for wildlife, scenic, people and other. One entry per category. night). It was great, and by their grins it Prose: A complete fiction or nonfiction story in 300 words or less. seemed the band was having as much fun as we were. It was hard not to stand there, maybe Poetry: Whatever inspires you. swaying with the beat, grinning and reminding yourself that you were standing in a large insu- E-mail entries by Dec. 31 to [email protected], or bring them by lated tent at the South Pole. It was delicious fun, and one of those things that makes being The Sun office in building 155. Call x2407 for more information. down here a special experience.

“A CD of photos “How about a pic- “I’d put a piece of the of Palmer Station ture of our LC- World Trade Center or a bag of 130s?” in there and I'd put a What would you put in Cheetos.” Rich Fabio, note in there saying Jennifer Tabor 109th Crew Chief at ‘This is the day the a time capsule at the Food Service McMurdo Station, from world changed.’” South Pole? Supervisor Assistant Saratoga Springs, N.Y. David Ricks at Palmer Station, Avionics Systems Specialist from Sterling, Alaska at McMurdo Station from Albany, N.Y.