A view of the helicopter site at McMurdo Station.
Initial Impressions... I've been here at McMurdo for a day now, and have been learning where everything is and how to do things. Everyone I meet is super helpful, friendly and very good at what…
Landing at McMurdo Station
G-063 Makes It to the Ice in One Go! I can't believe this, but right now, I'm on a C17 cargo jet, on my way with G-063 to Antarctica! After the long PolarTREC application process, and nearly a year…
The army of Big Red coats at the Clothing Distrubution Center.
Getting Outfitted This morning we checked in at the Clothing Distribution Center. Its at the airport and they had a short orientation to the Antarctic Program and what to expect. We got to watch a…
G-063 on the loose in the botantical gardens of Christchurch, New Zealand.
G-063 hits Christchurch Our research team's official USAP identification number is G-063, so that's what I'm calling us. There are 7 of us, and 5 are traveling together, to be joined by 2 more in…
Arrival at the Christchurch airport!
Arrival in New Zealand! After countless hours wadded up into uncomfortable airplane seats, we've arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand! It was so wonderful to get out of the airport and be here!…
Team packing science equipment
The Eve of Departure Wahoo! We leave TOMORROW! I'm really looking forward to what will surely be an epic experience. We've all been doing so many things to get ready. The U.C.Davis crew has been…
Explaining Bunny Boots
Outreach Activities The last few weeks have been a whorl-wind of visits to classrooms and libraries across the Sacramento area. My goals is to share the upcoming expedition with my community members…
All of the parts to a satellite phone
Hello? Hello Again? Knowing that communicating from a remote field camp will be challenging, the fabulous people from PolarTREC arranged for a satellite phone to be sent to me to practice with…
Sock collection
I've been busy getting a lot of small things, and big things, ready to go for our expedition, and getting pretty excited as our time draws near. One of the big items has been getting "Physically…
Stories from the Rocks Today, we continued to explore the formations of well-preserved carbonates that tell story after story of what early Earth was like. We visited the Carrara formation, which…
Me, taking some field notes at the Beck Springs formation.
The formations we are looking at out here in the Mojave Desert have drawn countless geologists because they tell a story of early Earth. The time periods represented here span from the late…
This chap must have taken a wrong turn...
Actually, we are just southeast of Death Valley, exploring rock formations that rise above the Mojave Desert. It's not lost on me that as a team, we will be going from one of the hottest places on…