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Although the U.S. International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition team has encountered blizzards, extreme wind chill and below-zero temperatures during their expedition this winter, the researchers remain positive.
The team includes Paul Mayewski, University of Maine marine and global sciences professor and director of the Quaternary and Climate Institute, and UMaine graduate students Susan Kaspari of Lakewood, Colo., Dan Dixon of London, England, Blue Spikes of Garden City, Kan., and Leigh Stearns of New York City.
The team is currently in the middle of the west Antarctic ice sheet headed toward the South Pole with two Caterpillar Challenger 55 vehicles and three multipurpose structures in tow. The structures are used for cooking, sleeping and scientific research.
Each structure is on a separate sled and attached to the “Cats” with a tow bar, according to Ann Zielinski, Research and Administrative Coordinator of the Quaternary and Climate Institute.
The team’s only access to the outside world is limited to expensive satellite phones.
The researchers are working to collect snow samples, ice cores and other data in hopes of answering some questions about the earth’s changing climate. The ice cores yield clues to weather conditions up to 200 years ago.
The team went through extensive training at McMurdo Base before venturing out. They underwent a 48-hour “snow school,” teaching them how to build igloo-like structures and dress properly for the cold weather. They also learned how to react in dire situations.
“The most difficult of these scenarios involved planning how to find a lost teammate that had wandered away in a whiteout,” the team wrote in its logbook Nov. 11.
The ITASE team was set back for three days in November due to stormy weather. Part of the team was stuck in Christchurch, New Zealand. Snow and wind delayed the team again later in the expedition. A foot of deep, soft snow covering the ice also made travel difficult. Due to the setbacks, two members of the team had to leave the expedition on Dec. 5 to meet prior commitments.
“The howling winds and heavy clothes made it almost impossible to hear one another as we slogged across the snow and up the side of the glacier,” the team wrote on Nov. 13. “The weather was deteriorating as we progressed and before we knew it we were in a whiteout. Brian, thinking he was driving straight, had actually driven in a circle around the only building anywhere out in this area.”
ITASE investigators began mapping out the traverse route when they chose a line from Byrd Station to the South Pole. Team members Gordon Hamilton and Stearns then created a detailed route selection using high-resolution satellite imagery, according to the Nov. 14 log.
The route is a total of 1,158 kilometers and the team can travel 0.6 kilometers on one gallon of fuel. The expedition requires a total of 76 50-gallon barrels of fuel. This amount of fuel would have added too much weight to the already heavy cargo. To solve the problem, the New York 109th Air National Guard parachuted four barrels of fuel to four sites along the route. Zielinski stressed the importance of the support of the Air National Guard in the ITASE program, through the National Science Foundation.
“Those pilots are so good,” she said. “They have a huge role in the whole Antarctica program.”
The Guard is also helping to rebuild the South Pole Station.
Despite the difficulties involved with living and working in Antarctica, it is evident from the logbook that the team is working well together and able to enjoy the positive aspects of the trip.
“The people that are attracted to working in Antarctica are generally high-energy, adventurous people with a curiosity of the world, and this is what makes being part of the community so special,” Kaspari wrote on Nov. 16 from McMurdo Base.
Dixon described in one entry the beauty of a phenomenon called “diamond dust.”
“The air masses in Antarctica are so cold that moisture actually condenses right out of the air without needing any condensation nuclei,” Dixon wrote on Nov. 23. “The ice crystals that form in this manner are minute and called ‘diamond dust.’”
The team noticed other natural beauties in mirages and “fogbows,” which are similar to rainbows.
Team members said they found the igloo-like construction they made during snow school to be quite warm.
“I was surprised how cozy and warm the cave was and slept like a little bear in my corner of the cave,” an entry from Nov. 5 said.
The team also got the opportunity to observe a large Adelie penguin colony. Penguins are among the few species that can live on the icy continent.
The team is underway again, this time with firmer snow and faster traveling conditions. They left Byrd Space Camp on Saturday, Dec. 7.
“It feels really good to be moving on and gaining ground again. Everyone seems a lot happier now that we are progressing,” Dixon wrote in the most recent logbook entry. “The science never stops around here.”
