I am amazed by the changes that we have seen in McMurdo in the few days we have been here. The sea ice that covered the area in front of the station has mostly disappear in a couple of days. When we arrived to McMurdo there was only a narrow passage of open water through which I thought the boat would leave port. The ice started breaking on the very windy day we went to Hut Point (Wednesday). I remember leaving for the Castle Rock hike on Thursday morning and seeing some of the ice missing, but was extremely surprised when we came from the hike to see a a very large area of open water.
This is how McMurdo Station looked when we arrived on February 14
This is how McMurdo Station looked three days after we arrived on February 17
View of the Ross Sea on February 15 at 11 pm. Compare to the same picture 23 hours later.
View of the Ross Sea on February 16 at 10 pm. Compare to the same picture 23 hours before.
Some of the people who stay regularly at the station seemed surprised as well by this change. And now that we are aboard the Palmer, the ice captain, who has been sailing these waters for 18 years, said he has never seen so much open waters. As I tell my students, one event does not imply climate change, as climate is defined as the average conditions of along period of time (I would say, at least 10 years). If we keep seeing these much melting of the sea ice over time, then we can talk of climate change. we should still be attentive for the next years as to what is happening to the sea ice coverage in this area and all the polar regions.
We have on board a couple of scientists that were also on the previous cruise of the Palmer. Max is one of them, and he also talked about the rapid change in sea ice they observed in a couple of weeks. They left McMurdo in late January and found, two weeks later on their return, the lack of ice I described above. Here is apiculture he took when they left McMurdo on January 29, and one I took today as we leave McMurdo on February. It is hard to see that today there is no ice in the picture because of the light.
View of McMurdo Station from N.B. Palmer on January 29. Picture by Maxim Grand.
View of McMurdo Station from N.B. Palmer on Feb. 20
Another big change around here is the approaching sunset. There was a lot of light at midnight on Tuesday when we arrived. There was still some light oat midnight on the 19th, but not as much.
McMurdo is going through a very large change, as its population goes from about 1000 to a couple hundreds. We arrived at the transition period between Summer and Winter. There have been a lot of flights when weather has allowed, so the people and equipment that will not winter over can leave. We have seen quite a few airplanes arrive and take off. One interesting detail is that they cannot stay overnight at the station. They cannot turn off their engines or the cold would damage them.
View of one of the planes leaving McMurdo as the station transitions from summer to winter.
McMurdo's population forms a very tight community. The regular residents know each other pretty well, so it is interesting to walk around the halls of the main building and hear people leaving the station saying goodbyes to their close friends. A lot of them will see each other in six more months when they will return for another Antarctic season.