Getting from Here to There

Fieldwork takes place in what is fall in the Northern Hemisphere, but spring in the Southern. The fall in the Northern Hemisphere is spring in the Southern. In Antarctica, there are 24 hrs of light during the summer. The sun rises to only about 10 o’clock high and moves around in a circle during the 24 hrs. In the winter, it is too cold to do fieldwork and it is dark 24 hrs/day. In the summer in the Transantarctic Mountains, where we do fieldwork, it is usually around –30° F in the summer and can be –70-90° in the winter.

The U.S. has 3 permanent stations on the Ice (as it’s called): McMurdo, South Pole and Palmer (on Antarctic Peninsula). McMurdo has around 250 people that ‘winter over’ and around 1000 there in the summer.

Transportation: We fly commercial to Christchurch, NZ and then fly military cargo planes from there to Antarctica. The New York Air National Guard flies the transport planes, either jets early in the season when the runway is still frozen and hard, or ski-equipped LC-130 prop transport planes later in the season. The LC-130s also fly between McMurdo and South Pole, as well as taking field parties into field sites that are too remote for helicopters. This season, our team is relatively close to McMurdo, so they will be moved by helicopters and by Twin Otters, small planes that land on skis.

McMurdo is built on Ross Island in the Ross Sea – a volcanic island with an active volcano, Mt. Erebus.

After arriving in McMurdo, field party members who have not been there before must go through Field Safety Training. Here you learn how to travel across glaciers and usually you have to build a snow shelter (usually a snow cave) and stay in it overnight. You also learn how to rope yourselves together if you are traveling over crevassed areas. -Co-PI and Curator, Edith Taylor