Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 12/30/2007 - 17:21
Forums
Antarctic Weather Stations

Kirk,

 

Thank you for the audio files, it adds a whole new dimension to the journals!  I like the combination of your voice, the music festival and the wind.   I wish you had the bandwidth to send video files.

 

I have a guess about the photo:  Are the tracks attached to a pickup or some other type of truck?

 

I also have a question:  I teach Earth Science and I have tried to imagine the rock/soil I have seen in the pictures around McMurdo.  Is it all volcanic basalt, scoria, pumice etc. from Mt Erebus?  Is there solid bedrock or just loose volcanic fallout?

 

It sounds like you really deserve a couple of days rest after the effort you put into to get to McMurdo.  Enjoy the sights.

Have fun and make memories...

 

Jeff Peneston

Liverpool High School, Liverpool NY

Sun, 12/30/2007 - 18:49

Kirk Beckendorf

Hi Jeff,You win the prize!!! The tracks are part of a pick-up, see the pics on today's report (once I have it posted in a little while). 
I'm glad you like the audio. I'll checkout shooting some video with my little point and shoot camera.
I'll also check with a geologist I met this morning on your geology question.
Kirk 

Sun, 12/30/2007 - 19:27

Kirk Beckendorf

Hi again Jeff,I just walked down the hall to talk to Mike a geologist who I met this morning. He is not a volcanologist (he said they will be here on the 2nd). He told me that the rock is basalt and there is not true bedrock but Ross Island is basically just an accumulation of volcanic debris.  Ross Island is made of two volcanoes, Mt Terror and Mt. Erebus. Erebus is still active with a lava lake inside the crater, IN the 1980's it erupted throwing car size rocks about a kilometer away. Mt Terror is dead. You may want to check out this website which includes live video images of the crater.
http://erebus.nmt.edu/index.html
 kirk

Mon, 12/31/2007 - 06:45

Jeff Peneston

Kirk,
Wow!  Thank you for such a great web page.  The videos of Mt. Erebus eruptions shot from the volcanic rim are excellent.   I have just emailed the link to the other 6 Earth Science teachers in my building so we can all share them with our classes.
 
If the fundamental mission of the teacher on a PolarTREC trip is to translate the experience and communicate it back to students and teachers in useful ways, then you are hitting the bulls eye!
 
If your get time and bandwidth, you might enjoy one of the videos I have posted from trips with my students.       http://fc.liverpool.k12.ny.us/%7epeneston/
 
Have a Happy New Year!
 
Jeff Peneston
Liverpool High School

Wed, 01/02/2008 - 15:40

Kirk Beckendorf

Hi Jeff,Glad you are liking the posts.
After one of the webinars, I at your videos and field trips. You do some cool stuff.
kirk