The entire team is back in McMurdo, but there is still more work to be done. All of the camp equipment has to be inventoried, cleaned, separated, and returned to the Berg Field Center (BFC). Team members carefully organized and stored the equipment upon arrival in Mac Town so that the sorting, cleaning, and return process took ½ day.Each Principal Investigator is assigned a "cage" or storage area. The cage is used for storing camping equipment and supplies as the teams prepare for field deployment and after returning from the field. At the end of the season, the cage must be cleaned out and all field gear returned to the BFC. In addition to the camping gear, all equipment used for communications (satellite phones, GPSs) and the food must be returned.
Dave is wondering where he is going to store all of this gear.
The sleep kits and backpacks are sorted and ready to be returned.
The next day Dave and Sean sorted through the ice cores to determine which ones require immediate analysis at Boston and Princeton Universities, and which can be stored at the National Ice Core Lab Repository in Denver, Colorado.
Dave and Jackie in the core storage facility which is kept at a temperature of -20 degrees C.
Joe spends some time in the lab measuring the ice content of the soil from his research locations.
Joe looks the part in his white lab coat and safety glasses.
Stay tuned for a summary of the drilling season.