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Microorganisms in Antarctic Glacier Ice

Lindsay, I liked your journal about Camp Life. Since my classes are talking about sustainability and recycling we have a couple of questions for you. 1) How do you get fresh drinking water at camp? Do you have to bring it all in, or can you filter glacial melt? 2) When all your waste returns to McMurdo, how do they process it there?

Thanks, You guys are working really hard and we appreciate your pictures and journals!!! Betsy Wilkening

Tue, 10/27/2009 - 23:39

Lindsay Knippenberg

Hey Betsy!
Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. We will have internet here for a couple of days and then it will be out for another couple of days. It is pretty unpredictable. As for your questions.
Fresh Drinking Water - We put stabilizers on our boots and drag our sled over to the glacier face and collect glacier berries or small pieces of ice that break off the glacier terminus. Then we drag the berries back to camp and put them in big pots on top of of kerosene heaters and wait for them to melt. Once they melt, we just drink the water without filtering or boiling. 
Where does the waste go? - The waste that we create goes back to McMurdo where it is sorted again and then it is packaged and shipped out in January on a big ship that takes it back to the US. Once it gets back to the US, it is processed then landfilled or incinerated. One of the cool things is that 65% of the waste created from the US Antarctic Program is recycled. Mostly this is due to the dilligence in sorting all of the trash. 
Thanks for the questions!
Lindsay