Leaving the Ice

After leaving the Valleys, I had some time to kill in McMurdo. While dealing with drying out my samples, an ordeal that was more complicated than it sounds, I also did some walking. My friend, Nick (one of the firefighters), got a page about the possibility of penguins out at Hut Point. By the time we got there, the penguins had moved on but there were a couple of lethargic seals laying on the sea ice.

Even here, you can see the sea ice is starting to change. Since here, the powers that be in McMurdo have closed the roads out on the sea ice and progressively moved operations back to the margin with the Ross Ice Shelf.

I was supposed to leave the ice on December 16, but the flight was delayed in Christchurch. At 3:30AM on December 17, we were transported out to the Pegasus sea ice runway to catch our flight off -- a South African C100, which made for quite the ride. Cramped seats, leaking pipes, windows and all. All told, it took about 7 hours and we cleared customs faster than I ever have, with the exception of coming back from the Bahamas.

Flowing Water in the DRY Valleys

Kathy and I took a trip up to the Wright Valley on December 10 in another search for windblown sediments. We set down near the Stream Team's gauging station for the Onyx River. The Onyx is the longest river in Antarctica. It actually flows away from the coast, as there is a glacier blocking the exit. The glacier forms Lake Brownworth, which in turn feeds the Onyx.


We had five hours of ground time, so we spent it hiking in a big loop from the Onyx east to Lake Brownworth on the south side of the valley and back on the north side. We came across some pretty impressive windblown formations against the lee side of the hill slopes. There were also some pretty impressive ventifacts in the area, which I also sampled.

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After talking to the Limno Team about their bundt pan experiments, it was decided that I would be the one to collect them this year. In doing so, I also get direct access to the samples. I was emailed a series of coordinates for each of the three transects of 9 pans: one at each of the major lakes in the Taylor valley (Fryxell, Hoare, & Bonney).

On my first run, Lake Fryxell transect by the F6 camp, two of the nine coordinates I was given were incorrect and one of the bundt pans set ups and been completely torn apart by the wind.
The transect at Lake Hoare went swimmingly. Lake Bonney, however, had it's own trials.

At Lake Bonney, technology failed me. Both my in-use batteries and the back-up batteries for my GPS died by the time I got to the fifth (of nine, again) bundt pan. I attempted to find the rest by line-of-sight and was successful, except for the ninth pan. In the end I had to call it lost because I was cutting it close on time to make it back to Lake Bonney in time for my helo flight back to Lake Hoare.

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By the time I started hunting for bundt pans (and really from the time I went to Bonney the first time...) the moats on the lakes had started to open up in earnest. This makes crossing the lakes a very treacherous and, more often than not, a wet one. There's nothing quite as surprising as stepping on what appears to be solid ice, only to fall through and be wet above your boots in icey, glacier-fed lake water. There are even waterfalls coming off the glaciers!

It is around this time of year that the boats come out to get to the solid ice for those that find themselves needing to cross the lakes. It is also this time of year that the ATVs are no longer used, making lake walking take even longer.

Hoare crystals form along the margins of the thicker ice and where the lakes and the glaciers meet. These appear to be a function of the melting and refreezing of these relatively shallow portions of the water

Lake Bonney Extravaganza

December 1-4, Sandra (Lake Hoare's assistant camp manager) and I headed upvalley into the Lake Bonney basin. We dropped our sleepkits off at the camp itself, and got a ride back to the Marr Glacier and Upland Ponds area to sample. (Above left, the Marr and a pond; above right Bonney basin; left, Taylor glacier and a ventifact)

The area is very picturesque. The Marr feeds five ponds in an upland plateau that then drain down into the Hoare basin.

As we continued out of the upland area into the Bonney basin proper, we started encountering large-scale ventifacts that are a stark reminder of the power of the winds that whip through the valleys. The ventifacts are formed when the strong winds blow sediment and abraid away parts of the rocks. If enough of a catchment is formed, sediments can get caught inside and blown around to create bowls and other hollows.

On the second day, we headed out onto the lake itself. Lake Bonney is divided into two lobes
divided by the Bonney Riegel, which creates a "Narrows" separating the lobes (see left).

The western lobe terminates (or, technically, is fed by) the Taylor Glacier. The Taylor Glacier is home to another Special Feature: Blood Falls. Blood Falls is thought to be an ancient sea that was incorporated into the glacier. It is a major source of nutrients in Lake Bonney. When it's flowing, it looks like the glacier is bleeding, but since it wasn't, my pictures just looks like a large mud stain.

We continued up from the lake onto the Riegel and back to the western side of the Hughes Glacier to the other part of the ventifact fields. These were even larger scale than before, as noted by the fact that I actually was able to catch a nap in one.

















After some setbacks on day three that gave us a late start, Sandra and I decided to hike the Matterhorn -- one of the tallest peaks (~2000m) in the valley.
The hike started out with beautiful weather and an initial three hour push up a scree slope. Most of the time the scree was just at it's angle of repose -- the point at which they can no longer maintain stability. It was frustrating to say the least. But onward and up!

Then we hit the area with exposed bedrock, which was much easier to climb though steeper. Another hour got us to a rolling plateau covered in red scoria cinders and granitic ventifacts, which made for an interesting contrast in colors (below left).


Much to our dismay, just as we were about to start the last leg of the climb (up the snow pack on the LaCroix Glacier to the final ridge) the weather suddenly changed, as it is wont to do. We had been seeing whispy cirrus clouds coming through, but the skies had remained blue. When we finished our break, though, the skies had turned to grey and it had started to snow! We waited a while to see if the weather would break and we could continue on, but to no avail. The temperature had dropped ~10^oC easily and the cold forced us back down.

75% of the climb was an accomplishment, as most don't even try it. It just gives me (another) reason to come back.

The last day of our adventure, we got a very late start, though it was purposeful this time. We were both a little dehydrated and fatigued from three solid days of hiking (not to mention the epic mountain climb from the day before).
Luckily, the hike back to Lake Hoare was the "low route" along the valley floor. The only uphill we saw were in the form of short, rolling hills. We followed the Priscu Stream that ends at the eastern end of Lake Bonney.

The hike was beautiful, especially once the weather began to clear. Sandra and I were definitely a little fatigued during it, so it was nice for a leisurely hike back home. We were looking forward to sleeping in our own tents and eating with our field/trail family.

Other than my sampling, our other objective during this hike was to locate as many mummified seals as we could. A team will be coming in January that is trying to date the seals, but they don't have helo hours -- so seals within a day hike of Lake Hoare camp are preferred.



Probably my favorite area I've visited so far in the Valleys is known as the Defile. It is the narrow area between the Suess Glacier and the Nussbaum Riegel that acts as a wind funnel and large-scale sediment trap. So not only is the area beautiful, but it's also incredibly useful for my research.

The Defile was also the last bit of hiking before we entered the Lake Hoare basin (and a subsequent ATV ride back to camp for the exhausted hikers!)

The Lake Bonney experience was definitely a fun one, but it was good to be back home.

Victoria Dunes &Turkey Day

On November 25, Kathy came from McMurdo to Lake Hoare for the combined purpose spending Thanksgiving with us and helping me out with part of my project. We headed up to the Victoria Valley to check out the sand dunes.

Neither of us had been there before, so we didn't know what to expect. What we saw where large-scale "whaleback" dunes just upvalley from the lower Victoria glacier. Interestingly, the ripples on the dunes and the dunes themselves indicate that the dominate wind-direction that forms them is out of the east. The predominant winds in the valleys come out of the west off the ice sheet and proceed downvalley. More investigation into this phenomena is definitely needed!
The dunes are an Antarctic Special Feature. This means that anyone wanting to visit or sample needs to inform the NSF environmental representatives beforehand, document our landing sites, and make a concerted effort to minimize our impact on the area. It turned out that this was easier than it seemed since the environment is so dynamic -- despite the day being warm, sunny, and with relatively little wind, by the time we left our footprints were already blowing away.
Our flight back across the Wright Valley and over the Asgard Mountains and down the Canada glacier back to camp went very smoothly.
All of the mountain ranges that separate the valleys are covered in glaciers that are part of the East Antarctic ice sheet. The view is kind of surreal and gives you the real feel of Antarctica.

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While we may be staying at a field camp in the Dry Valleys, that does not mean that we don't celebrate the holidays with a good show.














Thanksgiving at Lake Hoare is celebrated with gusto (and LOTS of food). Luckily, this year, we also got a load of freshies in a couple days before the festivities. Generally, any groups that are in the valleys are invited to partake in the feast. Our initial count was 28 people, but weather on Thanksgiving Day kept the helicopters grounded at McMurdo, drastically cutting our head count. In the end, 14 of us were there to eat the food of thirty. We had leftovers for days (which made lunch easy!), and the pie:person ration was 1:2. Excellent odds for those with a sweet tooth!