January 8, 2006 New picture at Pole operations Ice claims By Peter Rejcek Sun staff many lives At 1 p.m. on Dec. 26, Neil Conant put himself out of a job when he announced that over time the transition of the operations By Steven Profaizer center from under the South Sun staff Pole Dome to the new elevated “Today was the day I station was complete. would give anything in The veteran communica- this world to turn back.” tions operator was temporar- So starts Charles ily brought to Antarctica to Bevilacqua’s Jan. 6, 1956 help operate the old ops center journal entry. That was while the new one was brought the day he witnessed the online. Conant was philosophi- death of a young Navy cal about witnessing the end of tractor driver, Richard an era. Williams, during the first “That’s progress,” he said. month of construction of “Things change.” McMurdo Station. And how they’ve changed. Throughout Antarct- The Station Operations Center Photos by Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun ica’s brief history with (SOC) is the new ground zero A look at the new South Pole Station Operations Center is inset into people, it has claimed a photo of its high-tech audio/visual monitor, ringed with camera views of various areas of the station. many lives — about 60 See COMMS on page 7 of which occurred as part of the United States program in Antarctica On the Prowl over the last 50 years. Bevilacqua’s journal is just one of many similar Meteorite hunt attracts scientists accounts that tell the tale from universities around the world See DEATH on page 8 By Peter Rejcek Kelley is one of Ralph’s Harvey’s 12 so- Sun staff called meteorite hunters, a band of geologists Quote of the Week Mike Kelley studies asteroids so far and mountaineers who scour the continent’s out of reach that he needs a powerful tele- See METEORITE on page 10 scope in Hawaii to observe them. For a “Salad again? chance to handle a meteorite — a tangible What are we, offspring from this celestial body — he’s willing to spend six weeks in the outback of rabbits?” Antarctica. — Person apparently “By using meteorites and asteroids oblivious to the together, you can begin to understand the preciousness of freshies. early part of the solar system,” explained Kelley, a researcher from Southern Georgia University. Detailed studies of meteorites Inside can tell him about the history of the aster- oid itself, revealing the ancient story of the Pier gets ship-shape solar system. “In some cases, you can find Page 3 meteorites and asteroids that are a dead-on Ralph Harvey / Special to The Antarctic Sun match, so you can then place that meteorite One of the smallest meteorites found this field Poet adds it all up back to its original location in space.” season measures less than one centimeter. Page 12 AntarcticSun.usap.gov 2 • The Antarctic Sun January 8, 2006 Building a foundation Cold, hard facts McMurdo’s Central Workers continue Building — Building 155 construction of the facility for the new 10- Beds: 249 meter telescope at the South Pole Tables in the dining hall: 78 Station on Dec. 28. The telescope Public computers: 16 is designed to survey gal- Offices: 9 axy clusters and make fine Bathrooms: 8 angular scale measurements of Faucets at the automatic hand- the cosmic micro- washing station: 6 wave background radiation. The ground shield for Viking helmets available for check the telescope will out at Gear Issue: 3 be roughly the same size as the ATM machines: 2 old South Pole Dome flipped Barber shops, saunas, radio sta- upside down. tions, mailboxes, stores, signed bowling shoes in a display case, Frosty Boy soft serve ice cream machines: 1 Source: McMurdo housing department, visual observations Carlton Walker / Special to The Antarctic Sun The Antarctic Sun is funded by the Level 1 Comix Matt Davidson National Science Foundation as part of the United States Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its primary audience is U.S. Antarctic Program participants, their families, and their friends. NSF reviews and approves material before publication, but opinions and conclusions expressed in The Sun are not necessarily those of the Foundation. Use: Reproduction and distribution are encouraged with acknowledgment of source and author. Senior Editor: Emily Stone Editors: Steven Profaizer, Peter Rejcek Copy Editors: Amanda Barnett, Andre Fleuette, Rob Ford, Bill Jirsa, Rob Jones, Hilary Oliver, Brian Spigel Publisher: Valerie Carroll, Communications manager, RPSC Contributions are welcome. Contact The Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407. Web address: AntarcticSun.usap.gov January 8, 2006 The Antarctic Sun • 3 Unique ice pier provides harbor for ships By Emily Stone Sun staff Every summer, an icebreaker, fuel tank- er and resupply vessel arrive at McMurdo Station. They dock at what is essentially a huge, steel-cable reinforced, floating ice cube. The ice pier is a one-of-a-kind creation. It was built for the first time at McMurdo in 1973 and has been perfected over the years so that it can last several seasons before having to be discarded. Before 1973, ships either moored to the sea ice in McMurdo Sound and ferried cargo to land, or tied up along the fast ice — ice that’s attached to land — along the shore of Winter Quarter’s Bay. The first option was costly and dangerous and the Emily Stone / The Antarctic Sun second was wearing away at the fast ice. The Krasin icebreaker pulls up to the McMurdo Station ice pier on Jan. 6. The ships’ warm water discharge was melt- ing the ice at a rate of up to three square The next major step comes when the the pier’s edge and direct runoff water into kilometers of surface area a year. ice reaches 2.7 meters thick. At this point, them so there’s a weak fault line running So the Navy invented the floating pier 2,500 meters of 2.5-centimeter-thick steel parallel to the edge. When the icebreaker as an alternative. Six piers have been built cable is crisscrossed on the surface to keep comes in, it hits the pier and that section since then. the sections together should cracks devel- shears straight off along the even line. The process takes nearly a full year. It op. Another layer of cable is set down after “We’re real tickled with that,” Crist starts in early winter once the ice in the another meter or so of ice develops. said, explaining that it was discovered bay has become just over half a meter Divers periodically check the integrity “by trial and error, like most things down thick, making it strong enough to support of the pier to look for cracks and to make here.” The method is less costly and more equipment. The area is then surveyed and sure the pier hasn’t gotten so deep that it environmentally friendly, he added. flagged, and depth gauges are placed. Then will start hitting some of the higher parts The final stages are putting up a warm- the surface is scraped free of snow. along the bottom of the bay. ing hut and tower building, where opera- “Any amount of snow acts as insula- Once it’s reached its full thickness for tions headquarters are located. Then the tion,” explained Gerald Crist, supervisor the season, the crew installs more steel ships arrive. Depending on the season, they of the station’s fleet operations department, cable as mooring lines to attach the pier to can be here for a couple weeks or nearly a which builds the pier. land. During the winter, the pier was held couple months. The problem with insulation is that it in place by the surrounding sea ice. But Once they clear out, the National holds in the heat from the water during the once the icebreaker arrives, the pier needs Science Foundation decides if the pier is winter. At just below zero degrees Celsius, to be connected to land to keep it from strong enough to keep for another year. that water might not sound so warm. But floating away. A bridge is installed at this If it’s deemed sound, winter maintenance it’s a relative hot tub compared to the air point so trucks and equipment can drive is planned to improve and prepare the temperatures that can plunge to negative over the 15- to 18-meter wide moat. The pier for the next season. If more depth is 30 or negative 40 degrees Celsius. moat is necessary to get the pier into deep needed, the gravel will be scraped off and Fleet operations personnel use the enough water so the ships can dock there. new water will be added over the winter. If cleared snow to build berms along the By this point, the pier needs to be the surface is uneven, it will be leveled by edge of what will become the pier. The insulated from the summer sun and tem- flooding low areas with fresh water. berms are frozen to create a dam that will peratures as warm as 10 degrees Celsius. If the pier has run its course, an ice- trap water on top of the pier as it is flooded A layer of gravel is spread to keep the ice breaker tows it out to sea. Cables are and thickened. cold and to provide a wear-resistant surface stitched through it with the help of divers The crew uses small pumps at first to for the trucks and heavy equipment used to and the ship hauls it out of the bay.