Lake Bonney Chem Lab

My roommate, George Harrison, on the left, built the new Lake Bonney Chem Lab in the shop and then he, myself, Graham Love and Sparky spent five days there erecting it. Here we are discussing the best way to flip the twelve foot by sisteen foot floor over.
G. Love and George Harrison in the Jamesway doorway.
The chem lab was built in four foot by eight foot wall panels so that it could be slingloaded by helocopter to Lake Bonney.




G. Love putting in the roof rafters.
View from the helo pad


One of the older labs that will also eventually be replaced as the lake rises because there is no lake outlet.
Some of the stuff that is Lake Bonney Camp. A Polar Haven on the lake ice, the Jamesway, propane tanks, fuel barrels and the new Chem Lab.

What we were really building. Two days after the Chem Lab erection, I came back out with Tim Burns and Aaron Barbee to add the deck and stairs to the lab.
Interior of the Chem Lab.

Looking towards the narrows.

Finished building

Helo refueling at Marble Point on the way back to McMurdo

Crary Lab Tour

Crary Lab touch tank. It's kind of like an Antarctica petting zoo full of strange creatures - and I'm just talking about the people from the carpenter shop.

In The Carp (Carpenter) Shop

Nickie and Tirzah in Condition 2

Tirzah Juskalian thinking inside the box

Nickie Gerome and her field camp toilet seat production

Carps playing Dominoes after work in the shop

Flomax fuel pump winter berm storage boxes for Siple Dome Field Camp

Return to McMurdo

View from the Carp Shop deck

Carp Shop at 7:30 am with crescent moon and Ob Hill

The Christchurch Earthquake

It takes about a week from when I leave home to get back to McMurdo. We spend three nights in Denver for training and then two nights in Christchurch before flying to the Ice. It is not the same in Christchurch after the February 2011 earthquake that killed 200 people and devastated the downtown. The city center is still closed and many buildings have been torn down. It's sad to see how hard Christchurch was smacked down, but the city and it's people are resilient.

Heading North

Leaving today (Feb. 16) on a Air Force C-17 heading back to New Zealand, or redeploying as they call it here. It has been a good but long season, and I, like most everyone else, am ready to leave.

I've added some pictures from my last two field camp trips. Enjoy.

WAIS Divide Deep Field Camp

A final toast as we prepare to close and leave WAIS Divide. We were the last camp standing.

Winter Berm storage. This is to prevent the pallets from drifting over with snow during the long winter.

Dr. Charlee McClellans "Artic Oven" tent. Skiway markers are visible in the background.

The Carps

Just after condition 2

Condition 2 (Condition 3 is normal, Condition 1 is don't go outside)

Jonathan Castleberry-Scott

Me in front of the Arch. Here the scientists are drilling down through the ice to study the gas in the ice cores to learn about the earth in past years. It goes back about 100,000 years. They have reached 3330 meters so far. This is the deepest US ice core in the world.

It is flat white here, except for the man-made winter berms.

Robyn and Angela

The Artic Chief - this is the Carp's warming tent, lounge, etc.

A fine fishing hole. Hold on Dr. McClellan, looks like you've got a big one!

Angela and a "dead man" - these are what we bury in the snow to anchor the RAC tents, the dead man that is, not Angela, although Angela would probably work just as well.