This is the view to the north from the desk in my room at the bunkhouse. The houses and power lines of Kaktovik are visible, and the fog doesn’t seem that bad, especially given the blue sky. However, this is a “sucker hole” that can trick you into thinking that visibility is good, when in fact, you happen to just be in a hole of clarity in an otherwise thick fog bank.

This picture is from the same perspective, an hour later. The fog has mostly lifted – now, beyond the houses, a hangar (about ¾ of a mile away) and the northern horizon of sea ice are visible.

The reductions in flight time have given me time to catch up on coursework and get some reading and thinking done. Even when the schedule is very busy, sometimes the helicopter can be a surprisingly good place to think. The pilot is obviously busy during flight, and as passengers we are always scanning the ground for bear sign – tracks, kill sites, carcasses. However, once you get into the rhythm of scanning and tracking, your mind can return to the larger concepts of the project, turn over the data you have collected so far, or move onto other questions. I suppose it is similar to any situation where you put several people into close quarters for several hours of travel – interesting conversation can come up, or people can mostly travel along in their own minds.

We have been talking recently about how to interpret some of our data in regards to polar bear diet. We have months of analysis before we can begin drawing conclusions, but the summary of our data up until now can provide suggestions. One of the reasons the polar bear diet is interesting is that it is fairly simple in comparison to the closely-related brown bear (grizzly bear). Polar bears mainly eat seals, and this is reflected in their dentition, whereas many brown bears consume a wide variety of food items, including lots of vegetation.

The canine and incisor teeth of an adult polar bear. Polar bears have evolved larger canines because these stabbing teeth are useful in hunting, and polar bears hunt more than most brown bears. Polar bears also have reduced molars because they eat less vegetation than most brown bears, and therefore have a reduced need for grinding teeth.

The galley staff once again put out a great spread for Christmas dinner in which beef Wellington and lobster tails were the main course. Dessert included raspberry rhubarb pie and cheesecake which were both delicious. The celebration lasted late into the night with music and dancing in the galley.

For those that didn’t have too much fun the night before was the Race Around the World. I have to admit, I was feeling it a bit the next day but I was able to hop out of bed and make the 10am starting time. The race doesn’t necessarily need to be run. Some people walked, some skied, and some rode snowmobiles. In fact some rode a giant chariot, a hot tub, a stationary exercise bike (being pulled by a snowmobile), and a smoke breathing dragon! Some of the folks really out did themselves with the construction of these things. I found it pretty hilarious.

The giant chariot made by the IceCube folks.

Stationary exercise bike being towed by snowmobile.

Smoke breathing dragon and hot tub.

I ended up jogging the race and completed the two and a half mile track around the world. It was a ton of fun and I’m glad I pressed through and finished it. I haven’t been doing any jogging lately so being at a physiological altitude of 10,500 ft, and running on a uneven packed snow surface, let’s just say I was happy that I was able to finish. I’ve ran in some cold weather back in Wisconsin but this was another level. I think race time temperature was -18F which was probably 30 degrees colder than any day I ran back home. My lungs were definitely a little on fire after the race.

Hilary Smith the recreation coordinator at the start of the race.

My frosty face at the end of the race.

The winning runners were Curtis Moore who posted a blazing 17:17:43 for the men, and Emily Thiem at 20:48:33. Good on them!

The later part of the week brought us 2010. New Year’s Eve fell on Thursday night and unfortunately the station didn’t have off work on the actual New Year’s Day so the big party was on Saturday night. Three bands had been working hard practicing together for their New Year’s bash performance. The gym was all decorated and there was even a little “patio” made up that was quite cozy. I was very impressed with the bands. They really did a great job and it looked like they had a lot of fun performing. First up was a bluegrass band, then the Violent “Flemmes” doing Violent Femmes covers, and lastly was just a good ol’ rock band. People really know how to create some fun environments down here that’s for sure.

First up: Bluegrass!

There were probably five other people playing not in the picture.

The “Patio” and party decorations.

Eli, the lead singer of the Violent “Flemmes.”

Ethan has sort of an Elvis voice.

And finally, of interesting note, there was a BBC film crew over the last few days. They are busy creating their next series “Frozen Planet”. It is going to be similar to the Planet Earth series but with a focus on the Polar regions. Apparently the last episode is going to be about “People at the Poles”. I’ve heard that the South Pole only gets a four or five minute segment in the episode but I’m excited for it to come out. Especially since they filmed me launching and ozonesonde and collecting some air samples! I’m pretty sure they will use some of the footage. They seemed pretty happy with it.

That should about catch you up with what has gone on over the last couple weeks. Things look to be pretty busy for the month of January. I do get to go to Christchurch for a week of R&R on Jan 18th which I’m looking forward to. With that coming up, it will be winter before I know it!

Photos Courtesy of Reinhart Piuk

Below is a table of all the dried food we brought with us. We had an additional frozen food, butter, bacon, sausage, etc, which is not included in the table. But this offers insights into our daily lives in the field.

Our pantry set up in the field in our main tent.

Here’s a menu for most of our meals. We were in the field until February 2. I forgot to record the menu for the last few days, but it continued in a similar trend.

Friday Jan 8

Lunch: Cabin bread and tuna
Dinner: Assorted freeze dried meals

Jan 9
Breakfast: Oatmeal with dried fruit
Dinner:Chili relleno w/ mozzarella quesadilla, corn and refried beans

Jan 10
Breakfast: Oatmeal with frozen Maine wild Blueberries
Lunch: corn and refried bean burritos with cheddar cheese
Dinner: coconut milk, vegetable, corn and tofu stir-fry with Thai peanut chicken

Jan 11
Breakfast sandwich English muffin with Canadian bacon and provolone cheese
Pea soup, dried carrots and bagels
Quinoa, three bean salad and curried tofu

Jan 12
Oatmeal with frozen strawberries
Bagel sandwiches with sun-dried tomatoes hummus and fried ham
Potatoes, boiled vegetables and chicken with mustard sauce

Jan 13
Onion and potato hash-browns with bacon and sautéed onion on English muffin
Lunch in the Field
Rotini with sun-dried tomato, mozzarella, spinach and chorizo tomato sauce

Jan 14
7 grain hot meal with dried cranberries
Bacon and English muffins
Pepperoni pizza, pepperoni and mushroom pizza and pepperoni and olive pizza

Jan 15
Oatmeal with frozen blackberries
Lunch in field
Spring rolls, oyster mushroom, carrot and green pepper quinoa with peppered chicken and asparagus

Jan 16
Oatmeal with dried cranberries
Roast beef on bagels
Chirozo, ground beef green chili and refried beans with mozzarella burritos

Jan 17
Bacon on toast
Lunch in field
Falafel, three bean salad, macaroni with pesto, TVP and mushroom sauce

Jan 18
Hot 7 grain meal with frozen strawberries
soups
Enchilada, beef and bean burrito sweet Italian sausage in vegetarian chili

Jan 19
Bacon on English muffin and/or bagel w/ cream cheese
Lunch in Field
Tortellini (cheese and tofu) in coconut thai sauce w/ green beans

Jan 20
Oatmeal with frozen strawberries
Polish (El Slawek’s) Potatoes, hash brown and Canadian bacon (late lunch)
Apple and blueberry cobbler (freeze dried)

Jan 21
Oatmeal
Lunch in the field
Angel hair w/ tomato sauce and sweet Italian sausage

Jan 22
Couscous w/ raisons and walnuts
Bacon and English muffin and/or bagels
Beef and bean burritos with fajita vegetables

Jan 23
Oatmeal w/ almonds, peaches and apricots
Bagels with cream cheese
Asian rice(coconut and curry sauce) with chicken and cauliflower, broccoli carrot mixed
vegetables

Jan 24
Oatmeal w/ fruit (apples and raspberries)
Bagels cream cheese
Roast Beef, hash browns (black olives and jalapeno), corn, peas and carrots

Jan 25
Oatmeal with mixed dried fruits
English muffins and bagels
Pork tenderloin, asparagus and carrots and quinoa

Jan 26
Hash browns with cheese
English muffins and bagels
Pizza (beef pizza, tuna pizza, Hawaiian pizza)

Jan 27
Hot dogs on English muffins
Hot dogs and pepperoni on English muffins
Burritos (pre-made frozen), chili relleno

Jan 28
Oatmeal with caned peaches and canned strawberries
English muffins with cream cheese, jelly and/or pepperoni

An ice core.

We work in shifts for the packaging because it is easy to get tired and cold in our working environment. Part of ensuring the ice cores do not get damaged, and that they maintain their utility for different chemical and physical analyses, is making sure that the ice cores get no warmer than -20°C. So, the building where the cores are stored and packaged is cooled to -25 °C! It is hard to believe but often the air temperature outside is around 10°C warmer than where we work!

The drilling and ice core handling facility at the start of the 2008/2009 field season.

As we learn the packing process (I will go into more detail in another blog), we are also learning all of the nuances of staying warm for extended periods of time at -25°C. My technique, that I learned from the veteran ice core handlers, is to keep the core of your body really warm and that way your fingers and toes get enough warm blood to not get too cold. On top I wear 2 wool tops, a wool sweater and two down jackets. On the bottom, I wear two pairs of wool longer underwear and insulated bib overalls. Thick socks and boot liners with my sturdy blue boots keep my toes warm. Surprisingly, with all of the layers keeping the core of my body warm, I can get by with some light gloves on my hands!

Heidi covered in frost after work in a -25ºC environment.

Another trick, and one that I like the best, is eating LOTS of food. Both the galley where we eat and the warming hut where we can take breaks are stocked with cookies, crackers, and candy bars! It is not uncommon to eat 3 candy bars a day! I rarely eat candy at home so it is quite a nice treat to eat so much candy and know that my body is using all of the calories just to stay warm!

I am off to work now but I hope to get more posted soon! There is so much to share! Stay tuned for how to sleep in a tent in Antarctica, the ins and outs of a hot shower at WAIS Divide and much, much more about ice cores and they story they can tell! I will do my best to get photos posted too but internet is a real luxury here and we only have 5 hours of satellite internet a day! Sending photos is against the rules but I will try to figure something out!

Captain Alex

Captain Alex talked with our life boat group, and explained the importance of the immersion suits, and that we are not expected to wear them if we are going into the life boats. Apparently there have been cases of individuals using them in life boats getting overheated and suffering from other problems as well. And there isn’t a whole lot of room to remove them when you are inside the life boat.

The life boat rations, in a lovely display the catering guys put together for us.

Since the life boat rations were going out of date and being replaced, we got to sample them at dinner. They have a pleasant smell that reminds me of coconut. The taste however is more like cardboard. And they are very dry. I hope there is a lot of water in the life boats if we need to use them!

We are finishing up at site U1341 tonight, and heading out to the last site on Bower’s Ridge. This one is the shallowest of the three on the ridge at 850 meters, so the pipe should be in place by morning, and it could be a quick turn around for each core recovery. We’ll have to be on our toes to get everything processed.

By popular demand I am posting links to some video blogs I’ve been putting together to document some of the living and working spaces on board the JOIDES Resolution. It is a very informal tour, originally intended for a small audience, but since so many people liked them there, here they are!

This is a tour of my stateroom:

This is a tour of the main deck living accommodations:

This is the rest of the main deck areas, laundry and galley:

This is the lower tween deck, and the entertainment facilities there:

And this is the forecastle deck, labs and office space:

I hope you enjoy these, and if there is something you want to see, let me know!

A large adult male polar bear, anesthetized and laying on a gray tarp for BIA analysis.

Footprints of the same male. His footprints are side-by-side and consist of two rounded prints topped with short, sharp imprints from his claws. My handprint, small by comparison, is just to the right.

Without food, it is generally thought that animals go through 3 phases of fasting. Phase I occurs directly after a meal, when an animal breaks down carbohydrates from the food for energy. In phase II, hours to days have passed since that meal. The animal begins to burn its body fat for energy, and importantly, the animal mostly avoids breaking down its protein (e.g. its muscles) for energy. Finally, in phase III, the animal runs out of body fat and begins to burn its protein for energy. These three phases are broad categories, and many animals prolong a phase or a transition between phases to survive periods without food. Polar bears in the summer may be in a prolonged phase II – we plan to find out using BIA and other measurements.

Weather has been poor this week. It has been overcast with temperatures mostly in the teens (Fahrenheit), and snowfall and ice fog dramatically reduced visibility. Some days we have not been able to fly at all; other days we launched but flew only several miles before being turned back by low visibility and icing conditions. Our helicopters are only instrumented for flight with visual references (in other words, they do not have the instruments which commercial airliners can rely on in reduced visibility) and there is no point in flying when you cannot see bears. While we wait for better weather I have been able to get other work done – and I have managed to catch the last twenty minutes of “The Incredible Hulk” movie twice, on the television in our living space. The skies began clearing during dinner this evening. Hopefully we will get out tomorrow!

On a recent capture, brief sunshine ended when this bank of clouds and snow followed us home.

This week has been very windy as well. At capture sites, we set up a wind shelter to make sampling easier. Collection bags full of bear breath are visible in the near side of the shelter.