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Monday, March 24, 2014

In Town (ish)

I'll be talking a lot about this place so I thought I'd start this post with a map. First Antarctica.


McMurdo Station is located on Ross Island at the tip of Hut Point peninsula, the very southern tip of the island.


Cape Royds is the western point and the most southern Adelie penguin colony. Cape Crozier, where I'm headed for the season, is the eastern point right on the edge of the Ross ice shelf.



McMurdo Station is both a very small town (people there just call it "Town") and a very big place. First day was a blur: briefings, getting keys, finding our lab space, setting up internet access, picking up linens for our dorm rooms and other small tasks. Megan and I were the neophytes, staring wide eyed, not sure how or what to do, or where anything was.
McMurdo. The blue building is the most important: dorms, station store, and galley


Because it was our first time in Antarctica, Megan and I had several days of safety training. First up, sea ice safety. We spent all day out on the sea ice, learning how to determine if a crack was too wide to drive various vehicle across. And enjoying the stunning scenery.
Mt. Erebus, the active volcano on Ross Island

Wind and snow make beauty

First Adélie Penguin!

Barne glacier

Iceberg near the Barne glacieer grounded and hemmed in by sea ice





 Next day, we started snow school (aka Happy Camper), an overnight training where we learned how to set up a camp in snow and ice and wind. We had a great group and it turned out to be super fun despite (or because of) the 40 mph wind.
Lining up gear helps you find it in a white-out

Building a snow wall to shelter the tents


Dug in kitchen to get out of the wind

Me and my layers

Mt. Discovery across the sound

Flags mark safe routes over the ice

With our training mostly complete, we were able to think about penguins again. Cape Royds, the closest penguin colony to McMurdo, was still accessible by snowmobile over the sea ice so we took a day trip out to do the breeding census. Royds is small enough that the entire colony can be counted in just a few hours. I was so excited to get my first close look at a penguin. Unfortunately, there wasn't much time to savor the experience as we dove right in to the counting.
Cape Royds colony ~ 2000 pairs nesting here

Penguins! Everywhere!

Shackleton's Nimrod hut at Cape Royds

Penguins trekking to the edge of the ice


On the way back to town, we stopped by the Barne Glacier and the grounded iceberg again and had a look inside an ice cave in the side of the iceberg
Hard to tell but this is me



Ice cave blueness


A fantastic and packed few days. Next up, Cape Crozier! One of the largesAdélie colonies in the world and my home for the next 10 weeks.






















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