Another day in the land of the ice. And another day where flights were being canceled left and right. That makes two days in a row. The weather hasn’t been particularly bad, but when visibilities are low, planes aren’t allowed to fly. This seems like a good place to talk about the weather conditions down here, and what happens if and when things get ‘bad’.
Condition THREE:
Normal, good weather. Normal weather for Antarctica that is. Condition TWO: Any one of the following is true.
Wind speed between 48 and 55 knots. Visibility better than 100 feet but less than 1/4 mile. Wind-chill between -70F and -100F . Condition ONE: Any one of the following is true.
Wind speed greater than 55 knots. Visibility less than 100 feet. Wind-chill worse than -100F. So, just because we’re in condition 3 and have been for the entire time we’ve been here does not mean that it is always safe to fly. For this reason we have been put on hold and our original flight to WAIS Divide has been pushed to next Tuesday. This doesn’t really cause any problems; it just gives us more time to hang around here in MacTown. That should leave time for stories, short day trips (hopefully!), and more pictures!
Mactown Sign
Brandon and Ann, PolarTREC teachers, in front of the McMurdo Station, Antarctica sign.
Today was spent making more preparations for the field. We began work on the drill this morning, making sure the hoses were connected and working, making sure the generators were generating power, etc. So far everything looks good. Don’t worry; we have plenty of spare parts, though that doesn’t mean we want to have to use them. What may take an hour to repair in a heated facility with air tools may take a half-day or more in the field where temperatures are well below freezing, the wind is blowing non-stop and we certainly don’t have any air tools.
Our primary mode of transportation in the field is going to be a snow mobile, snow machine, skidoo, whatever you prefer to call it. In order for us to be able to use these, we had to take a short snow mobile training class. The main focus was the repair side of the machine and how to fix things when they break. Once again we’ll be carrying a number of spare parts that we hope don’t need used.
Skidoo
Bob offering some advice and tips during skidoo training.
Overall, preparations are going well. We still have a few more things to get taken care of over the next several days, but not it just becomes a waiting game. We’re scheduled to fly to WAIS on Tuesday, weather permitting of course!
Tomorrow: Crevasse Training! This should be interesting!