We finally arrived at WAIS Divide. Our flight departed as planned and now the crew is here learning the ropes and getting used to how to survive constantly cold temperatures. Our team of 11 is now complete and we are spending the days packing up ice cores that spent the winter at WAIS Divide. Last season many of the ice cores were characterized as brittle ice and were too fragile to make the long journey back to the United States. So, now that the ice has "relaxed" and is more stable, we are packing up about 1,000 meters of ice and getting it on airplanes back to McMurdo.
The welcome sign at the entrance of the WAIS Divide galley.
We work in shifts for the packaging because it is easy to get tired and cold in our working environment. Part of ensuring the ice cores do not get damaged, and that they maintain their utility for different chemical and physical analyses, is making sure that the ice cores get no warmer than -20°C. So, the building where the cores are stored and packaged is cooled to about -25 °C! It is hard to believe but often the air temperature outside is around 10°C warmer than where we work! It will certainly be an adjustment getting used to the temperatures! Since we sleep in unheated tents we are in the cold for a good portion of our day. Life here will be an adjustment and I look forward to sharing with you all of the challenges and joys of working in the middle of ice sheet!
Heidi in the ice core basement, where cores are stored and the temperature was about -20C.