October 23 2002L

It was a busy day on the ice. The day started at the seemingly unthinkable hour of 7 which on another day would be just fine but today could only be likened to being kicked softly by a steel toed boot in the ear. Breakfast was quick and we all ran down to the dive hut to get Stacy and Oliver in the water ASAP. They dove near McMurdo with Aaron, newly arrived Kathy, and myself (Andrew) tending to the hole. This simple task of keeping the hole clear of ice is almost constant work with a net in the cold. That and the divers don't really like sitting on the edge of the whole so there is the immediate rush to get everyone in the water. In any case, it is an excuse to get off of McMurdo and into the fresh and sunny air. Their dive went well and we got back to the labs with the samples at ~9:45.

The group split up at this point. Stacy, Kathy, Dan, and Aaron stuck around and did another sampling round while Oliver and myself ran off to drill holes at another site. The drill site was Cinder Cones which is about an hour north of McMurdo. The drive was bumpy over rough ice but the Piston Bully charged along without any problem. We met the drilling rig close to the site. The drill rig is one of the most impressive things that I have seen down here. The front is a large tractor (with treads) followed by a drill that is on a trailer with treads followed by a dive hut (no treads but skis), and finally a small trailer that had the not so small drill bit on it. The operators were very skilled and could drill holes faster than we could drill pilot holes. They would drill through 9 ft (3 meters) of very hard sea ice in less than five minutes. During the day we drilled six holes, one of which has the dive hut over it and the others are exposed to the outside. The other holes are there in case something closes up our primary hole (like a seal) plus they extend our range in how far away we can dive. We cannot surface in case of a problem like in a normal dive because of the ice we never venture far from the hole. By having additional holes close together we can venture farther on any given dive because we can surface at those holes if we do find an unforeseen reason to terminate the dive.

The drill bit is a grusome looking tool.

Here the bit is being cleared of snow while it is drilling.

The tractor driver then pushed the dive hut in place and left us to place warning flags so people don't fall in the dive holes. The dive hut is wonderful. It has a couch, chair, and most importantly a heater. As Oliver walked in to the dive hut he found a visitor had shown up. In less than an hour since we had drilled the hole, a weddell seal was pearing in the hut. It was startled by Oliver's presence and swam away.

The day ended with a stirring presentation by Dr. Manahan from USC on metabolism rates and efficiency of sea urchin larvae and how much more efficient the protein synthesis is in the Antarctic vs. the temperate species that have been studied off of California. A wonderful end to a busy day.

Aloha,
andrew