Journal Entry
Race Report
Me and Dr. Adams at the completion of the Antarctic Half Marathon. 13 miles of running on the McMurdo Sound sea ice. Good weather (in the 20's with a 10 mph wind), good route to run on, good friends, and good brats at the aid stations.
The course was an out-and-back. On the way out, the wind was at our backs. The sun was shining and we had perfect winter running conditions. Notice my jacket tied around my waist. Coming back in was another story. All clothing was put back on as we headed into the wind. (Photo by Byron Adams)
We had amazing motivational cheering folks for us along the way. Here we had a trumpet player firing up some Rocky theme music. I wonder how she kept her lips from freezing to the lip piece. (Photo by Byron Adams)
At the end of the race, we got hauled back to base in a PistenBully. It is a type of snow cat. Pretty bumpy ride, but we were thankful for the lift. (Photo by Byron Adams)
Here is a fun little 3-minute video of the McMurdo 1/2 Marathon
Lab Visit With Our Kiwi Friends
We were honored by the visit of three scientists from Scott Base, which is operated by New Zealand (also known as "Kiwis"). Josh, Becky, and Megan are shown in the picture below visiting with Dr. Adams and Dr. Mike Goseff. He is the lead P.I. of the whole Dry Valley LTER. It was very educational visiting with these three New Zealand friends. Becky will be leaving in just a few days to spend time, hundreds of kilometers from here, studying dissolved minerals in glaciers. It was interesting to note, that this is Becky's first time here and she only received a month's notice prior to deployment.
Dr. Adams invited some of his New Zealand (Kiwi) scientist friends into our lab and gave a great tour. Their base (Scott Base) is within walking distance of our United States base, McMurdo Station. Dr. Adams and I got a chance to spend an hour or so with our Kiwi friends as he gave them a tour of our lab. We then ate dinner together. They gave us an invitation to have dinner at their base tomorrow night. One of the New Zealanders (Meagan) is the outreach person for New Zealand. She is working on Antarctic lesson plans for K-12 students in New Zealand. She will be a great contact to collaborate with.
Becky, Meagan, and Josh being shown the Touch Tank found in our lab building. (Photo by Byron Adams)
Check out this sea spider. This animal would be the size of your fingernail in most oceans. Here, they can be the size of a dinner plate. The extremely cold water here holds more oxygen. The increased oxygen helps fuel cellular growth making aquatic organisms much larger. This is called gigantism.
Me checking out the touch tank.
After dinner with our Kiwi friends, we all stayed there in the Galley to listen to the Sunday night science talk. This scientists told us about his project where he launches his instruments 120,000 ft into the atmosphere to get readings where he studies light from black holes.
This was our planning meeting. We are putting dates on the board for when we will be flying out to our different field locations. Trips to the field requires a lot of planning. We need to get our helicopter flights, camping equipment, food, and science equipment.
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