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Archive for December, 2008


Beneath the Bridge

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) Sometimes, when walking around McMurdo Station, one can encounter some interesting things. When we walk from the cafeteria to our office in Crary Lab, we take a little bridge to get over some pipes. In over a week of crossing that bridge many times a day, I never noticed what was lurking beneath... {Read More »}



Diving by Proxy

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- Last week, we shot footage of our colleague John Weller preparing to SCUBA dive under the ice. I felt a definite pang of regret that I wasn't joining him in the 28 degree water... {Read More »}



Little Ice

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- When you first come to Antarctica you are overwhelmed by the enormity, vastness and seemingly endless large structures of ice which dominate this continent (see my last dispatch). These larger scale visions persists until you begin to look closer... {Read More »}



Gorpmatic

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) Solomon helps remote field camps with food. Today we found him making up one of the most important foods - gorp. Check out the cool tool he uses to mix the tasty treat... {Read More »}



Big Ice

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- When you first come to Antarctica you are overwhelmed with the amount of ice. Every direction you turn you are surrounded by it dominating and controlling the landscape, white against white. Beautiful and powerful... {Read More »}



Foodstores

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) Peggy Malloy is THE person you want to be friends with if you are going out into the field with decent food. She is responsible for the field camp food stores... {Read More »}



Royds Tranquility

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- First time this has happened, but I was sitting today for a spell just to watch the penguins here at Cape Royds and the only sound was that of the blood going through my ears... {Read More »}



The Courage to Question

OFFSHORE NEW HARBOR CAMP, ANTARCTICA-- There’s something weird about staking bamboo flags into Antarctic sea ice. Plunging the remnants of a regal plant into an environment so different from its own rings untrue. The natural wonder of bamboo’s fortitude against majestic Antarctic landscapes gives me pause. It’s only then that the reality of my situation strikes me... {Read More »}



The Eve of Discovery

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- It has been a rollercoaster week. This time last Friday, I would have been desperate to get my hands on some data. I was the kid that asks for homework. I was aimless and lost without it... {Read More »}



Observation Tube at the Penguin Ranch

PENGUIN RANCH, MCMURDO SOUND, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) At the Penguin Ranch, the scientists not only observe the penguins above the ice, but also below the ice. They do this with the "observation tube". Anchored above a hole in the sea ice is a tube... {Read More »}