FEBRUARY 7, 1998 Last of the Season Published during the austral summer for the United States Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Winter Camps Thrive Into the Long Night 43 Stations and Summer Staff say Goodbye 18 Nations on Ice story by Brenda Joyce Resupply Vessel Arrives story and photo by Alexander Colhoun orty-three stations from eighteen Fnations will winter-over this season rom his roost but less than 1,200 people will be ‘on the Finside the ice’ after February ends. ‘Tower of Power’, a McMurdo’s metropolis of 170 residents converted air traffic will outnumber the combined population of control facility, Jackie all six Argentinian winter stations. Samuel monitors a Typically, less than 20 people per base will flow of activity that keep the lights on around the continent. makes a beehive ...cont. on page 2 seem like a retirement home. Cranes lower one steel container INSIDE after another off the decks of the M/V Explorers Outpost Discovery Hut is Greenwave as Navy the most historically significant build- cargo handlers move ing on the continent. from perch to perch, Adventure Destination More than unstrapping and 10,000 shipborne visitors are expected dechaining the 20- to visit Antarctica during the 1997-98 foot long steel boxes. austral summer Inside the tower Angela’s First Stripe In the Navy just the radio squawks, telephones ring and Bunny boots and extreme cold weather gear in hand, Than Pulsifer makes his way to one year, Angela Wash’s career has the airporter bus bound for Pegasus Airfield. Pulsifer is one of several hundred summer been launched from McMurdo’s ice instructions are given employees that will be making their way home in the next three weeks. runway. to drivers and han- dlers across the station. This controlled chaos to 12 million dollars in the process of purchas- The IGY’s suc- Legacy of the IGY means one thing: resupply. ing over 30,000 separate items, many of which cessful and cooperative science is uni- must be custom made. Sugar and flour, steel plates and rubber versally credited with paving the way tires, electric switches and medical bandages Living and working in an extreme environ- to the Antarctic Treaty. –everything a town needs to survive– all ment requires extreme equipment. Supplying One That Got Away The demise of arrived in McMurdo on the 508 foot long M/V South Pole station is particularly challenging as the first fish ever caught within the Greenwave on Friday. the temperatures there frequently drop to fifty and sixty degrees below zero. Antarctic circle is as unlikely as the Laden with 600 steel containers, the ship’s notion of a house cat living at the arrival marks the end of a resupply effort that “Our suppliers come in proudly claiming South Pole. began eight months ago in Denver, Colorado. their machines can work at 30 below,” said Trujillo. “We smile and tell them the South Good For Anything Being a GA is a “We have four people who do nothing but Pole is negative 30 on the warmest day. We bit like being a Navy Seal: you've got expedite,” said Dave Trujillo, Antarctic need equipment that can manage 100 below. to be ready to do anything and go Support Associates (ASA) purchasing manager. That requires heated hydraulic fluid and special anywhere at any time. “They’re on the phones all day, talking to ven- seals.” Profile Serendipity, palms and a long- dors and making sure people get what they ing for adventure have guided Brenda need.” In addition, all equipment bound for the South Pole must break down to fit inside an Joyce on a life adventure Shackelton From July to October the team of buyers LC-130 Hercules aircraft for transportation to himself would have been proud of. go on a shopping spree, racking up a tab close ...cont. on page 7 2 February 7, 1998 The Antarctic Sun Winter On Ice ...cont. from page 1 CORRECTION: Peninsula stations are closely grouped charged from a wharf at the southern tip of In a story written by Bill McCormick (“Field Camp Adelaide Island while Halley is built on Christmas,” January 10, 1988) we incorrectly start- and in frequent contact. Nine different ed his story with a Black Island locator. nations cluster on King George Island and the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell McCormick’s Pyramid Fuel-Cashe Camp adventure often collaborate on projects. Sea. Supplies are landed by ship on the ice took place at edge of the Koettlitz Glacier which edge and then towed by SnoCats on sits between the Royal Society Range and Mount Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, Discovery. aided by research vessels, center much of sledges to the base, some 12km away. their work on the abundant marine life Easily the most isolated of the UK sta- near South America. tions, Halley can only be visited twice a year by ship. South Korea, China, India and Japan REUNION: established bases during the ‘80’s and No base, however, endures more than The Old Meet The New ‘90’s. Japans own “heroic age” pioneer, Vostok. It has experienced the coldest Nobu Shirase, explored The Bay of recorded temperature on earth (–128.6˚F) Personnel of Deepfreeze I&II will hold their annual Whales in King Edward VII Land in 1911 and is located at the geomagnetic South reunion in Denver, Colorado, May 6-10, 1998. –the same year Amundsen reached the Pole at the center of the East Antarctic ice Meet the legends and hear the stories of both mili- Pole. sheet. The Russian scientists also suffer tary and civilian personnel who built the first stations, from financial problems inherited by their spent the first winters and were the first to set foot at the With only 70 people in the summer country from the former Soviet Union. Geographic South Pole after Captain Scott. and 20 in the winter, Poland’s Arctowski For more information contact: Charlie Bevilacqua, 81 Station is perhaps the most international In 1996 the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer broke through June’s pack ice to bring Orchard Peach Road, Burlington, MA 01803-3230; or base. Cooperative studies are carried out leave a message on: (781) 933-4525. with 11 nations including Bulgaria, Peru, tons of food and supplies to 38 Russians Spain and Belgium. marooned at Vostok when their supply ship was turned around for mechanical European bases circle the entire conti- and financial problems. The scientists nent and fan out to the sub-Antarctic were stranded and surface vehicles had to islands claimed in the days of early explo- haul food from Mirny, their resupply Sun Site: ration. point, 500 miles away. http://www.antarctica.org/ Australia’s modern communications While the days of map-making explo- keep their three continental stations in southpole/antarctica.html rations are over, it is unlikely that the touch with each other and their web pages heroic age will ever really end on the sev- Catch up with the Belgian keep the world in touch with them. enth continent. ✹ unsuported transantarctic Only 12 Kiwis, neighbors to expedition team. McMurdo Station, will remain at New Zealand’s Scott Base while France’s Dumont d’Urville will have less than 20 winter-overs. Italy’s Terra Nova Bay will close on February 28th. SANAE4, the current South African Station, was completed in 1996/7 after SANAE3, built in 1980, was crushed under 25 meters of snow. A party of 20 completed last season near the Fimbul Ice Shelf. Some stations have it easier than others. Two extremes are the British Halley and Rothera Research Stations. Rothera’s supplies can be easily dis- S ANTARCT TE IC A P The Antarctic Sun, part of the United T R S O D G E R T I A N M States Antarctic Program, is funded by U ★ ★ ★ ★ the National Science Foundation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Opinions and conclusions expressed in N A N T O I IO T The Sun are not necessarily those of the N A A D L S UN CIENCE FO Foundation. Use: Reproduction and distribution is encouraged with acknowledgement of source and author. Editor: Alexander Colhoun Publisher: Valerie Carroll, ASA photo by Susie Brown Contributions are welcome. Contact The Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our office in As the sun sinks lower onto the horizon, Antarctic workers know that winter is on its way. Building 155 or dial 2407. Web address: http://www.asa.org The Antarctic Sun February 7, 1998 3 aboard the Nimrod, determined to reach the South occupants. Sixteen men shared the cramped quar- Pole and show up his former leader. He made his ters until enough sea ice formed to allow a return base at Cape Royds but used the Discovery Hut to Cape Evans. Despite the less than ideal condi- Explorers as a forward supply depot. Having lost an entire tions one man wrote, “those Hut Point days sled full of food in a Beardmore Glacier crevasse, would prove some of the happiest in my life. Just Shackleton and three men got to within 97 miles enough to eat and keep us warm, no more –no Outpost of the Pole. frills nor trimmings: there is many a worse and The return journey was an epic fight against more elaborate life.” starvation. Dr. Eric Marshall collapsed and had to Scott did not make it back from the Pole, per- by Ted Dettmar be dragged on the sled by the three other remain- ishing 140 miles south of Hut Point. But another ing men.