Sea Ice Training and Site Reconnaissance
We went out on the sea ice for the first time yesterday. We went with Alasdair, a USAP sea ice expert, to learn about safety (especially vehicle safety) around sea ice cracks.
After learning about ice crack safety, we proceeded South across the sea ice to the edge of the McMurdo Ice Shelf and began looking at potential sites for our main field camp. We want to find a site on the sea ice that’s close to scientifically interesting sections of the ice shelf (there are many factors), and near a place that our vehicle tracking team can get up onto the shelf safely with minimal detour.
Our vehicles performed well on the sea ice despite the cold.
We learned over the radio that the air temperature out on the ice was -41 F! Fun fact: -40 C and -40 F are the same temperature.
We had a beautiful day out on the sea ice, including views like this one back toward the station.
A view of McMurdo Station with Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror in the distant background. (photo: Peter Kimball)
Reporting by Peter Kimball