Filler, Gratuitous Pictures, and Farewell

Oakden writing.

Hi there. Well, not a huge amount of photogenic or even noteworthy stuff happened today. Jonna had penguins and glaciers to write about, and I get meetings...oh well.

The morning was taken with lab and organizational activities: returning extra food and gear from New Harbor, transferring all the accumulated samples from formalin to alcohol, computer backups and organization, and chipping out some new holes. Our 2 fingees had their first encounter with brash ice. Brash ice consists of small chunks of broken ice or anchor ice that float up to the underside of the sea ice. It can form very deep layers (I've encountered layers 6m deep). Brash ice can be a real pain, since it continues to float up as it is dipped out, and it can also float in from surrounding areas. The new CTD hole had about 4 feet of brash ice. Jen and Craig dipped for quite awhile, and didn't seem to be making progress, so sent out a plaintive call for reinforcements. Between the 2 of them and Dan and Jim we finally got the hole cleared right before lunch.

	The happy Apirites logging and packing samples for the trip home.

After lunch there was a meeting of all the divers called by Mike Lang, the NSF diving safety officer, and Rob Robbins, the head of the McMurdo dive program. We discussed (or griped about) the good and bad things about Antarctic diving, and made suggestions about possible improvements in the program. It was a lovely meeting. Afterwards, Craig and Jonna chipped some more holes, while the rest of us continued to futz in the lab. After dinner, there was a small gathering to say goodbye to Adam Marsh, who is deserting his students to go back to Delaware.

	Dan preparing the tripod for the timelapse camera.

Soooo--in an effort to convey to people far away in warmer climes what it is like to live at McMurdo, I'll talk a little about dorm life. We all live in Dorm 203A (for location and outside view, go to http://www.mcmurdo.gov/community/general/webmap/map2.html). Our dorm is 3 stories, with bathrooms on each floor, a lounge with TV and exercycle on the first floor, and a laundry room with washers and dryers on the second floor. We're divided between 3 rooms. Stacy and Jonna have the largest room (since Stacy is a PI), so their room has become the center of occasional social activity (generally to do with putting on costumes in preparation for parties). They have a refrigerator, and since they have a corner room, windows that look 2 directions.

Jonna and Stacy's room, showing spiffy decorations	Another view of Jonna and Stacy's room

Jim and Craig's room is more utilitarian, without the frippery of the women's room. Dan and Jen also share a room, but for some reason my camera wouldn't work there... You'll have to imagine what it looks like. They are 3 doors down from Craig and I, so have a similarly spectacular view out their window.

	Severely cropped view of Jim and Craig's room, highlighting the stunning view of dorm 203C out the window.

This will be my last posting, since I'm leaving for Fiji in a couple days to thaw out, then will head back to MLML to catch up on my backlog of work for the last couple months. Craig will take over as web editor. I made my last dive today (I'm writing this on 11/18), which was a bit melancholy, because while I hope and expect to get back here again, one never knows. I have greatly enjoyed my time this trip, and wish to congratulate Stacy on putting together a fine group of people and an excellent research program.

This is an awesome place. While it is easy to get caught up into the flurry of trying to get things done, all one has to do is look up and take in the surroundings to be jolted back into the reality of this continent. The air is so clear that everything has sharp edges, even the mountains 70 miles away across the Sound. The colors are stark whites, grays, and blacks, with occasional crystal blue ice and skies. It is hard to not feel like an alien here, and while Antarctica can be mortally dangerous, it isn't actively hostile (to anthropomorphize), just indifferent. I feel it is good to recognize and be part of things bigger than oneself, and being here helps put things in perspective. Over the past weeks I have been able to re-connect with the reasons I became a scientist, which are sometimes buried under the avalanche of meetings, reports, proposals, and bureaucracy back home.

Even though the rest of the group will keep working for a couple more weeks, I will no longer be here. With 4 digital cameras between us (formerly 5, before Craig's drowned), as well as a couple film and video cameras, we generate quite a few pictures, only a fraction of which make it onto the web site. Therefore, as a bit of a retrospective, I've gone back through the photo archives and selected 25 additional photos for your perusal. Since the size of the page exceeds the limit I've set on everyone, you need to click the "Retrospective" button below to see them.