New Harbor, Antarctica

Jonna's Journal Day

Being at a field camp is a lot of fun. Our camp here at New Harbor is great. The living quarters are set up in two adjacent Jamesways connected by a hallway. One Jamesway is the kitchen and dining area and the other is the sleeping area. The hallway between the two is where we have our computer station and the entrance to the kitchen station is our radio and telephone area. Even though we are in a very remote place we have a phone line enabling us to make phone calls and connect to the internet.

	camp at New Harbor.

For the next couple days we will have Marty and Oly from Fleet Operations sharing our camp with us. Marty is our dive hole blaster and Oly, a heavy equipment operator, is his assistant. They blasted four holes yesterday that we were able to clear today. Today they continued to work on blasting more holes for us. All told they will blast a total of 12 holes for us. At each study site two holes are blasted; a dive hole and a safety hole.

After the holes are blasted we leave them to sit overnight for the holes to freeze about a foot deep. Today we cleared the four holes that Marty and Oly blasted yesterday. These holes require a lot more work to clear than the ones that are drilled. First a chainsaw is used to cut a rectangle within which smaller blocks are sawed up. Next, a pair of tongs is used to remove the blocks. What remains in the hole are smaller ice chunks and a very thick icy slush that would be perfect for making Slurpies if it wasn't salty. We finish preparing a hole by dip netting out all the ice chunks and slush. Today I was more tired and sore after clearing these four holes than at any time yet on our trip. I told Stacy that next year she should budget in money for a group masseuse who could double has a shoveler, dipper, and siever!

New Harbor is at the mouth of Taylor Valley, one of several Dry Valleys on this side of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys have been set aside as environmentally sensitive areas and as such there is an extensive environmental code of contact that we adhere to. The Dry Valleys ecosystem contains geological and biological features that date back thousands to millions of years. Many of the ancient geological and biological features could be easily and irreversibly damaged by inadvertent human actions. Unusual communities of microscopic life forms, low biodiversity, simple food webs with limited trophic competition, severe temperature stress, aridity, and nutrient limitations are other characteristics which make the Dry Valleys unique. At New Harbor there are at least two mummified seals on the shore. Mummified seals are known to occur far into the interior of several of the Dry Valleys. No one is quite sure what caused these seals to come ashore and move inland - it is a mystery. But one thing for sure, the seals met their end because they got too far from the sea.

	mummified seal

The motto here is "no release, no impact". All human waste and grey water is contained and shipped back to McMurdo. We use pee bottles everywhere in the Dry Valleys. Like in McMurdo there is an extensive recycling system here where everything we use and throw away has a specific container and is ultimately shipped out. And we make every effort to be careful with the various fuels we use and are well prepared to clean up any spillage that might occur.

Jenn laid low today because she has a version of the crud. We benefited from Jenn 'taking it easy' because she played mom; baking bread and lentil soup for lunch and preparing us a delicious dinner of chicken Florentine followed by chocolate cake for desert. Jenn's version of taking it easy is a normal person working hard. In addition to doing all the cooking she also spent a large part of the day helping us to clear dive holes. As my sister once told me, "Jonna, you hang out with girls who could chew the bark off of trees".

While we were busy clearing blasted dive holes, Scott, a helicopter pilot, was busy making supply runs from Marble Point to our camp her at New Harbor. We are the first folks to use New Harbor Camp this year and there was a little misunderstanding about what supplies were supposed to be here for our arrival. A land based traverse was made earlier in the year that brought out a bunch of fuel and other supplies. The sea ice was too rough for the heavy equipment such as the Challengers to come into New Harbor so all the stuff meant for here was transported to Marble Point. When Stacy and Dan got to camp there was a lot of supplies missing and so yesterday and today Scott has been transporting our supplies from Marble Point to our camp here at New Harbor. Scott is an amazing pilot. He can put 5, 500 gallon drums of diesel on a 'x' marked in the sand.

An interesting landmark west of our New Harbor camp are three bore holes. The holes are marked "D.V. D.P. Bore Holes 8, 9, and 10. Lat. 77deg 34.641deg S, Long. 163deg 31.093E, Completion Date 12 Nov. 1974, Total Depth 185.47". I have no idea who drilled the holes or why they drilled the holes. Perhaps to study the soil composition, perhaps to study the permafrost depth; your guess is as good as mine. The way the bore holes are marked reminds me of photographs I have seen from Tibet or Nepal. Even though we are at sea level here at New Harbor, the landscape is more like what you would think of seeing in the Himalayas.