It’s Saturday, the day we celebrate Thanksgiving. The plan was for everyone to be off today but the researchers in the Fosdick Mountains desperately needed re-supply so here I am working from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. I did get a chance to talk with Mom, Mike, and Larry, (brothers) and Rose (sister). I also IM’d Heather and Trey and spoke briefly with Deni, Chris and Jenni. Everyone sounded happy and “full”.

The snow is melting rapidly here now and small rivulet’s are flowing down the main street. The upside is that the temperature is very pleasant (relatively speaking), the wind has died down and the sun is out (24 hours a day). What else could you ask for?

Something funny happened at dinner last night. The guy I was sitting with told me that the rumor mill had it that I ran 10 miles every day (must go along with the drill sergeant thing). I assured him that was not the case although I do spend an hour on the tread mill walking uphill. It seems that, in a small community like this, with few other distractions to entertain them, the rumor mill is the entertainment of choice. It’s kind of fun to hear what people can come up with and to watch how many of them believe the rumors. “We don’t need no stinking soap operas “, we are one. The good thing is they are not character assassination rumors just plain old run of the mill rumors.

The Story Continues: The Trip to Antarctica

For his trip to Antarctica, Scott purchased the Terra Nova. He had, originally, wanted to bring the Discovery (the ship he used on his first expedition), but the owners would not sell it to him. He settled for the Discovery’s sister ship, Terra Nova that had also been used during the first expedition. During the trip South Scott wished more than once that he had chosen a different ship. It was warm, but it leaked. During a storm on December 2, 1910, the bilge pumps stopped working and the crew had to empty water from the ship using buckets. The storm also caused problems for the animals. The dogs that were leashed on the top deck were being thrown around and the horses in the underbelly of the ship were slowly being covered in water. When all was said and done the expedition lost one dog and two ponies. It was a difficult loss, especially since one dog and one pony had died before the Terra Nova left port. It could have been seen as a bad omen, but the captain and crew kept in good spirits. Just over a month after they had left New Zealand the men of the Terra Nova spotted the smoking peak of Mr. Erebus. The initial plan was to land near Cape Crozier, but they were unable to do so because of the sea ice. They sailed back to the familiar territory of McMurdo Sound and stopped at the Skuary, which Scott quickly renamed Cape Evans in honor of his second in command, Teddy Evans. As the men were unloading the boat, disaster struck once again. Ponting, the expeditions photographer, was almost eaten by a group of killer whales, and one of the very expensive motorized sledges that Scott had brought fell through the sea ice leaving them only two.

If you will forgive me I’d like to reprint the story of Robert Scott on his ill fated trip to the South Pole. This information was given to us on our trip to Scott’s Hut previously mentioned in the blog. I’ll include one excerpt per day along with my own blog entries. I will then add one actual entry from the daily log Scott kept on the trip. If you’re not interested just skim over the history and zoom on to the blog entry. I found it fascinating but then again I like watching paint dry.

The Story Begins:

In 1908 Robert Falcon Scott decided that he would take a sabbatical from his life as a military man and once again set out to the southern most continent to stake his claim. He did not know at the time that his “run” for the South Pole would become a race, or that it would be the last journey he would ever take. After a few years of fundraising Scott was ready to go to the pole. In 1910 he and his men sailed from New Zealand into the familiar seas leading to McMurdo Sound. The journey is unforgettable, and the men have become heroes.

I’d like to take a moment here to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Although I am not with my family, as some of you may not be, I’m with them in spirit. I can smell the turkey cooking and taste the crescent rolls melting in my mouth. (ain’t imagination a great thing). Just eat yourself silly and have a good nap afterwards.

Just a quick note. I had a busy day yesterday. We had traffic all day and as many as nine airplanes on the frequency at one time. In that way I guess it’s like back home. The days before Thanksgiving are the busiest air travel days of the year. It sure made the day go by quickly.

The last few days have been quit balmy. The temperature has soared to nearly 32 degrees. Everyone is out walking around in windbreakers. I’m thinking bathing suits are next.

Sex in the City

Social events here are quit interesting. The rooms or “cubes” that people live in are quit small and allow for little privacy so “roomies” tend to spend as little time there as possible. It’s like being on a cruise ship in that way (but not any other).

One of the regular events is the Tuesday night get together to watch the TV series Sex in the City. Usually about 20 people (mix of men and women) gather to watch two episodes. They began with the first season, first episode and continue on until the season ends or we run out of episodes. The interesting part is that after the first episode of the night plays someone initiates a discussion (usually having something to do with the episode just viewed but not necessarily so).

The discussion this week revolved around the subject of what women want in relationship vs. what men want (DUH). It evolved into a discussion of what is necessary in a relationship to make it a viable long term commitment (the women mainly wanted to know that). It was a fairly lively discussion that lasted about 20 minutes. Then it was on to the next episode.

To me the interesting thing is that people talk to each other here including people they know and don’t know. It’s very refreshing to think that we still have these skills since we practice them so little (at least in my observation). What do you think and could you find someone who is willing to talk about it?

I went to the latest science talk last night. It was presented by a PHD from Cambridge University, England. I loved his accent. The presentation was a little; forgive me for saying it, boring. He is studying the gases released by Mt. Erebus and studying the lava lake in the crater. Apparently it is one of only 3 volcanoes in the world that has a perpetual lava lake in the crater. Above and beyond that it was like someone describing uncle Ernie's gas passing skills complete with graphs and photos (I’ll just let you ponder that for a moment).

One last note we have a local newspaper that you can access online go to Antarcticsun@USAP.gov or just google Antarctic Sun. Cheers

I received a request to describe the “grid” used here for aircraft navigation. It’s a very foreign concept to those of us in the aviation business. My goal is to keep it simple and hopefully short so you won’t use this as a substitute for your daily sominex.

The first problem you run into as you near the pole (north or south) is that all the lines of longitude (the ones that go north and south on the globe) converge at the poles. Simply that means that at the equator the lines are the furthest apart and small navigational errors can be overcome. As the lines approach the pole they come closer and closer until they touch meaning a small navigational error can have significant consequences. Think of the lines on a basketball as you picture the lines of longitude.

The second problem is that the “magnetic pole” and the “geographic pole” are two different places. (Not bad you say but consider that the magnetic and geographical poles are almost 1000 miles apart here)(Actually the magnetic pole is not even on the Antarctic continent). Further, in the early days of aerial navigation pilots used a magnetic compass to navigate. So by using his compass only, the pilot, without correction, could never get to the geographic pole. (the place everyone wants to go) Because the poles are so far apart celestial navigation became the preferred navigation. (This is the same type of navigation used by Christopher Columbus on his way to the new world) It would be a little like using a slide rule (if you can even remember what one of those is) instead of a computer for navigation.

To further complicate the issue the magnetic pole is always moving so charts must be regularly updated with the current location of magnetic south as well as the annual rate at which it is moving. (Are you still with me?) So now picture those lines on the basketball not meeting at the bottom but somewhere on the side and always moving.

This problem was first noticed when working around the North Pole. The North Pole was first explored because it was easier to get to because you didn’t need to cross huge bodies of water in primitive and unreliable airplanes. (Also, I think they were really looking for Santa Claus and they knew he didn’t live at the South Pole). Also pilots don’t carry their maps is the shape of globes but rather as flat maps like you would use on a road trip (unless of course you’re using your computer or a Garmin Navigation System).

Finally someone, in a fit of genius, said lets just draw our own lines of navigation on the flat map with the geographic pole as the center and make the lines of longitude and latitude the same distance apart, parallel to each other, not coming to a point, much like the street layout in Salt Lake City where everything is neatly organized around the Mormon Cathedral in the center with streets going out, in squares, north, east, west, and south. (This is getting a little long. You might want to pause here for a brief nap to refresh your brain cells)

What really made this grid navigation possible was the advent of computers in the cockpit. This new grid system could be programmed into the navigation system of the airplane so the pilot didn’t then need to make accommodation for all the whacky stuff descried above. If you wanted to go north to the pole you flew north. If you wanted to go home you went south. Easy, everyone was excited. (Take a moment here for a quiet cheer; don’t disturb the babies or the neighbors though)

If you know Rodney Dangerfield you will understand this next paragraph. Even though the Antarctic Continent is much, much larger than the Arctic and arguably much more important in its affect on our global environment it was treated like Rodney. It got no respect when it came to the use of the grid map. Gobbledygook you say get to the point. Interestingly they just took the same grid map used for the North Pole without making any accommodation for the fact that the South Pole is on the other end of the globe. Hence when you are flying to the South Pole your navigation equipment tells you that you are going north, ala the North Pole, and visa versa. Is that all clear as mud now?

It really is a good system unless you work in the control tower where they must deal with airplanes that have these fancy computers and helicopters which don’t. So here at McMurdo, when a fixed wing airplane calls in to say he is north of the airport and a helicopter calls in to say he is south of the airport they are both approaching from the same direction. You can see the problem. For the pilots it’s a great system for the control tower folk not so great. The good thing is there are two square lights in the ceiling of the tower cab. One is grease pencil marked for grid directions, the other for true (magnetic) directions. So when you see a controller looking at the ceiling of the tower he is not rolling his eyes in disgust, he’s just checking to see which direction you’re coming from.

So that’s it. Aren’t you sorry you asked? For more information on this (which I suspect you will not want) talk to me when I get back.

I’ve still got it. I can still make a short story long!

Firefighters

I had dinner tonight with a table full of firefighters. They are a team in every sense of the word. They train that way and that training seems to translate into their private lives as well. Tonight we had Alaskan (seems kind of funny here) king crab legs and prime rib. They ate mass quantities of the things and rotated around the table to go to the food line to get more every time the plate ran low. The group included old and young, men and women. The young are here to get experience for possible future work in the States. The old were reliving the excitement of working again. Some here worked the summer season in national forests fighting fires. It’s a little bit of a change for them here since they don’t cook and clean in the firehouse but eat here with everyone else.

We had a Herbie today. It’s like a Nor’easter in the New England area. When they occur the whole town grinds to a halt. There was lots of snow and wind to mix it up. No flying today and maybe tomorrow. I spent most of the day sleeping. Three 12 hour mid shifts in a row will wear you out. My hats off to medical people who work all those long night shifts in our hospitals.

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday. Instead it’s celebrated on Saturday to give everyone two days in a row off. Apparently we do the same thing on Christmas. The Thanksgiving meal is handled like meals on a cruise ship. You sign up for a one of three seatings for the meal. They decorate the dining hall and most people dress up as best they can to give the meal a special feeling. For many of the people here it’s the closest thing they have to family. The day will be a little tough for me. I’ll miss being around family for sure and I’ll really miss the great food Deni puts together. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
P.S. in the next couple of days I'm going to delete pictures in the gallery so I have room for some new ones. If you want to copy any now is the time.