17 December 2007
McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
31F, Scattered Clouds
My name is Stephanie, and I am a graduate student with Ohio State University. My research focuses on using GPS to study crustal deformation in Antarctica, and this blog is meant to document my experiences in Antarctica, or “the ice” as it is affectionately known by many. This is my third time down to the ice, but only my second season. By season, I mean summer in Antarctica, from about October through February, when the sun is out for 24 hours a day. In 2004/2005, I was here putting out GPS equipment throughout the Transantarctic Mountains as part of the TAMDEF project (Transantarctic Mountain Deformation Project). Now I am here continuing that work as part of a project called POLENET (Polar Earth Observatory Network). POLENET is a project aimed at improving the coverage of geophysical observations in Antarctica and the Arctic, with a dominant focus on GPS (my interest) and seismology.
I can never get enough of the planes we come down on, it’s always interesting. They are all military planes. No commercial flights to Antarctica! Sometimes we use C-130 Hercules (herc for short) and sometimes we use the bigger C-17 Globemaster III. Great names, aren’t they?!
This time around we took a C-17. I have to say, I always look forward to the crew going over safety procedures, and not for the proper life-saving reasons, but because it’s so hilarious. Not your typical stewards and stewardesses. Here is a photo of the safety briefing, and the guy with the microphone is talking about some procedure for putting some gas mask or something over your head in the event of an emergency.
Check out the guy with the bag on his head. No disrespect, but seriously, that’s funny. Can you imagine if they did this on a commercial flight?
