wildlife... Wildlife!

I got to see sea-ice. I walked on frozen ocean. Just under my soles lay shades of blue that I’ve never seen in nature. Pure, clear and vivid blues with an iridescence that defined the sensation of cold.



Today was my one day off during the work week. Right now it’s Wednesday, which is a bit of a downer because 90% of the folks at McMurdo have Sundays off, and I miss out on spending time with a lot of my friends. However, having a weekday off has definite perks.

I was invited to join some scientists and research techs on a field trip out to Cape Evans. I was to help them collect Antarctic fish from the traps that are set in the fish-huts some 15 miles from the research station, out on the sea-ice. The researchers are looking at the physical mechanisms that allow these fish to survive in the frigid waters (-28 deg-F) of Antarctica. The fish produce a protein that behaves as natural antifreeze; they also have a higher salt content that keeps them from freezing solid.

We bounced out to Cape Evans in a vehicle called a Piston Bully, which is a relatively small (by Antarctic standards) track-driven vehicle. Imagine a miniature unarmored tank.

Halfway out to Cape Evans we came across a group of seals that had surface through a crack in one of the pressure ridges. They were just kind of resting and lounging on the sea-ice surface, so we pulled the Piston Bully over and moseyed over to have a look. It was funny to realize that these four blubbery creatures were the first living creatures (other than human) that I’d seen since arriving on this continent. There are no bugs here… no migrant birds have arrived… and McMurdo has a no pet policy.

After snapping photos of the seals we bounced along in the Piston Bully for another half an hour to reach the small fish huts that cover the ice-fishing holes. I help the scientists haul up the fish traps, but otherwise I mostly sit around and take in the experience. When the windows are covered in the fish hut, the hole through 6ft of sea-ice glows as though it were a fluorescent portal to another world.

After finishing at the fish huts, we are permitted to hike around Cape Evans a bit. With the research station far out of sight, the remoteness of our environment really sets in, and it’s a wonderful feeling.

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(Click on either picture to be linked to other images from the day trip... do it!)