By Dr Elanor Bell reporting from the McMurdo Dry Valleys

The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (160˚-164˚E, 76˚20’-78˚20’S), represent the coldest, driest ecosystem on Earth. They form the largest ice-free region in Antarctica, with approximately 30% of the ground being free of ice and snow. The region hosts a number of perennially ice-covered (3-6 m thick) lakes that support active, low diversity, microbial communities. I shall spend three months in Antarctica studying these tiny but important organisms.

Click here for a 5 minute youtube clip of the expedition.

Kitting up in Christchurch

I arrived in Christchurch on 12^th February and one of the first things I did, besides get over jetlag and find a Thai restaurant, was get kitted up with my Antarctic gear at the Clothing Distribution Centre (CDC).

The kit we received is depicted below: a ‘Big Red’ parka (far left), white bunny boots (far right), thermals, gloves and lots of socks all of which have to be returned at the end of our time.

The operation was very military. Briefing; watch DVD; hand over your laptop for US government security clearance (and sticker to prove it); go to a single sex changing room; collect two bags full of clothes already sorted for you; try on everything to check that it fits; repack bags according to a strict protocol, i.e. certain items to be worn on the flight, certain in checked baggage and certain in carry-on. All liquids and gels had to be checked in just like a commercial airline.

The morning of our travel to Antarctica (15^th February), we had to be back at the CDC by 06:30 to sort out our baggage, clear security and watch a safety DVD.

The flight South

The flight took five hours on a C17 Loadmaster US army aircraft. I sat in a seat that was far more comfortable and had a lot more leg-room than a commercial flight. Given that there were only 12 of us and 6 crew we also had about 10 seats each! The aircraft was enormous - or at least seemed so. A cavernous space filled with cables and wires and pipes running along the interior, metal clad gangways and very few, tiny windows. First class-sized seats were arranged cinema-style and facing forward, 4 abreast, in the central area but there were also webbing seats along the sides of the aircraft facing inwards. Cargo was stored at the back behind the last row of seats.

There was a single, small toilet at the front which didn't flush well and only had sterile hand wipes to use afterwards - I can't imagine how horrible that would get if the plane were full of 100's of squadies.

In-flight catering consisted of packed lunches in paper bags that we were handed as we boarded, and two coolers with water in at the front.

The oxygen masks were huge, plastic bags that you place your whole head inside and there was no mention of removing high heels in the safety briefing because we were all wearing the same gear: big, white, rubber-soled, ‘bunny’ boots; thick grey socks; black thermals and fleeces; black, windproof, bibbed trousers; huge red parkas with faux fur-lined hoods; plus orange kit bags full of mandatory gloves, hats, goggles and balaclavas.

I was lucky enough to be invited up into the cockpit and I spent a lot of time taking photos from there. The skies were the clearest blue and the pack-ice and ice bergs were a familiar but stunning sight. I had amazing views of Mount Erebus (an active volcano) and the Dry Valleys where I am conducting my fieldwork.

The cockpit crew comprised military personnel: two women, two men. The women both fly commercial aircraft when they aren’t flying the Antarctic runs. They have Heads up displays (HUD) that digitally impose information about altitude, position etc. in projected in front of them so that they can keep their ‘heads up’ whilst flying rather than looking down at instruments - important when there is really low definition due to the snow in the Antarctic. I was still in the cockpit next to the pilots as we landed on the ice runway with no seatbelt on, I hasten to add!

Arrival at McMurdo

Arrival at McMurdo was quite an experience. The place is HUGE! Like a mining camp come military base and every building is a really unattractive brown. We were bombarded with information as we arrived, given a tour of the labs (which are better than any University I have ever been in) and then shown to our dorms. I shared with another Brit (Jill Thurman from Lancaster University) for the first few days but I got my own room complete with en suite basin and shared bathroom after a few days. The dining area (a.k.a. the galley) is immense; rather like a school or university hall with self-service catering, soggy, overcooked food and set meal times.

‘Mac Town’ supports over a thousand people in the summer months and there were >800 on base when we arrived. That number is now down to ca. 200. Needless to say, the food has improved now that the cooks are catering for fewer people. With a thousand people come a thousand facilities and McMurdo has a large shop selling everything from souvenirs to ladies underwear, a café, several bars, a barber shop, 2 gyms, saunas, a bowling alley, a hospital, a fire house with year-round, dedicated fire fighters, and a chapel. There is even a ‘taxi’ service you can call if walking a few hundred yards between each building becomes too taxing. This fact might explain the number of overweight people that were on base when we arrived?! A lot of the facilities have closed down now that summer is officially over and we are in to the so-called ‘Extended Season’, but the shop opens daily, the gyms are still available and one bar remains open on a BYO basis.

Luckily, I get the best of both worlds: 3-4 days on station followed by 3-4 days in the field. That means plenty of home-cooked, tasty meals in the field, and a comfy bed and hot shower ‘in town’.

Certified Happy Camper - or certifiable?

Within a few days of arriving I was off to Happy Camper School for two days to be field trained. Initially, we were station-bound, watching DVDs  about safety and environmental awareness but we soon headed out into the field to a Kiwi camp about 30 minutes drive from McMurdo. We (10 of us plus Matt, the instructor) travelled in a Hagglund (my favourite mode of transport during Davis winters - see right) and a Piston Bully (another caterpillar tracked vehicle).

We had spectacular weather the first day with blue skies, no wind and ca -10^oC (they talk Fahrenheit here and I have no idea what that means half the time). However, the wind started to pick up some time during dinner and, sure enough, a blizzard blew up in the night. They call it a Condition 1 as visibility, temp and wind are bad enough that you are effectively confined to barracks. Condition 2 is bad weather but you can go outside. Condition 3 is good visibility, ‘warm’ temperatures and little wind. We were at Condition 1 all night but it had abated to Condition 2 by the morning. However, we still got out of bed to low vis and blowing snow, which made it interesting dismantling our tents. Yes, tents! We didn't make a snow cave as anticipated; partially time available and partially because there isn’t any snow in the Dry Valleys to make one in an emergency anyway.

Instead we pitched a Polar Pyramid/Scott tent, 4 mountain tents (normal 2 people tents) and made a couple of snow trenches/coffins that two of the hardy men in the party chose to sleep in. We also spent hours cutting snow blocks to build a 12 foot wall around the camp area. Just as well, as it prevented our tents being buried by the blizzard. I shared a mountain tent with Jill and on the whole was really warm. Once I’d got over the being constricted in a bag feeling I did actually get some sleep, despite the howling wind.

We learned to use camp stoves, re-hydrated dried food in bags for dinner and then generally pottered around getting used to being outside and seeing which of our issued gear suited us. Several people had never been to the Antarctic before so a lot of the training was dedicated to overcoming the omnipresent fear that you are going to freeze to death!

The morning of the second day was a little tougher because of the weather conditions but I enjoyed it because there was more activity. We had to work hard to break up the camp first thing and load up the vehicles.

Then we went into an A-frame hut (Kiwi owned) to warm up and have breakfast whilst receiving briefings about radios and risk assessments. Next we ran two emergency scenarios outside: 1) A ‘vehicle on fire’ scenario where we had to abandon a vehicle, offload the emergency gear, set up a tent, boil a litre of water and set up an HF radio to call for help as quickly as possible, whilst dealing with issues such as hypothermic companions that the trainer threw in at random. Secondly, we did a search and rescue for 2 missing souls (1 victim being me). We victims had to hide in the snow whilst the others roped up and went searching with blindfolds on and their hoods up to muffle sound, mimicking whiteout conditions in a blizzard. It took 40 minutes for them to find us both in separate places and given the conditions really were bad and definition was poor, I am surprised the scenario of hypothermic victims didn’t become a reality for us – sitting in the snow waiting to be found was a little chilly.

After a final debrief and lots of polar horror stories in the A-frame, we headed back to base for more DVDs about helicopter safety and the Dry Valleys environment, and our graduation as certifiably Happy Campers.

Thursday is American Night

Scott Base, the NZ station, is ca. 1.5 miles from McMurdo and although the Kiwis have an open invitation to come to McMurdo whenever they please, Scott Base is so small that they have to designate an ‘American Night’ on which they open the doors to the ‘Yanks’. Every building at Scott is painted 'Chelsea cucumber' green. It beats the American brown but is far less interesting that Davis' legoland colours. Nevertheless, the base is very cosy inside and far more homely than McMurdo. Last Thursday, the 3 Brits (Jill, Jackie Parry and myself) walked over with the express purpose of exploiting both our accents and our gender to get an invitation to dinner. Needless to say we were completely successful because out of a winter complement of 16 people, only 5 are women, and inevitably, more are always welcome!

As well as the dinner invitation, I scored some NZ Marmite: I was in their shop and asked if they sold Vegemite. They didn't and were horrified at my taste in yeast extract. I was immediately challenged to a NZ Marmite vs. Vegemite taste test in their galley (dining area). I actually really liked their Marmite (much sweeter than ours and quite similar to Vegemite) so they donated a jar from their supplies. Yum!

Antarctic Heritage

Both Scott Base and McMurdo have a number of heritage sites that are being restored:

Only twenty minutes from McMurdo, at Hut Point, is Discovery Hut, the shack erected by Scott in 1902 as a staging post (see right). I have walked out there a couple of times to clear my head after a long day in the lab and I hope that we have the opportunity to look inside before we leave. The hut is kept under lock and key and can only be entered with a guide and special permission.

Lake Bonney - Dry Valleys

At the time of writing I have had two, 3-4 day trips out to Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley for fieldwork and am about to head out again for another 4 days. Getting ready to go is a challenge in itself, especially the first time you do it. Our only way to reach the Dry Valleys is via helicopter and as a result there is a strict 'staging' protocol. At least 48 hours before you want to fly you submit a helicopter request form online including the accurate weights of all your bags (in pounds). The bags themselves have to be packed and labelled 24 hours before you fly and are stored at the heli-pad so that they can be loaded by the crew before your flight.

Lake Bonney is a double lobed lake with a glacial sill in between the lobes. It is about 5 miles long and 37 m deep. I will detail more of the science at a later date, but suffice to say, the environs are stunningly beautiful. The camp is situated on the East Lobe of the lake and it takes 7-8 minutes to walk across the ice to the sampling site (note the very rough ice surface that needs to be navigated). I have also been sampling at the West Lobe and this is my favourite spot so far: the Taylor Glacier spills down into the lake and there is an iron-rich seep which forms ‘Blood Falls’ depicted above. The person in our standard issue Red Parka gives you an idea of the scale of it. For more about camp life and the joys of filtering lake water stay tuned for the next installment… if I ever find time to write it.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (160˚-164˚E, 76˚20’-78˚20’S), represent the coldest, driest ecosystem on Earth. They form the largest ice-free region in Antarctica, with approximately 30% of the ground being free of ice and snow. The region hosts a number of perennially ice-covered (3-6 m thick) lakes that support active, low diversity, microbial communities. The lakes are hydraulically stable (stratified) because:

1. their ice-covers impede wind-driven mixing of the water
2. they have steep salinity gradients and
3. there are few water inflows

Lake Bonney is situated in the Taylor Valley. It is ca. 5 miles long, ¾ mile wide and 39m deep at its deepest point. The lake is divided into two lobes: the larger East Lobe alongside which the field camp is located, and the West Lobe which abuts the Taylor Glacier (see panoramic image above).

The ice cover was 2.7 m thick when we arrived but it is beginning to get thicker - and very uneven - as winter sets in. However, in summer a moat melts around the periphery and this freezes smooth and glassy each autumn, creating a perfect ‘road’ for driving 6-wheel, all terrain vehicles (ATVs) between lobes (see above right).

Melting holes

In order to carry out any limnology in Antarctica, it is essential to make holes in the ice-cover to access the water column below. It took 2.5 days to make a hole ca. 1 m in diameter for my experimental work. We started by drilling half way through the ice with a 10” Jiffy Drill auger and allowing water to percolate up through it. We then fired up a generator to power a Hotsy® and attached a glycol-filled melter; first a trombone and later a coiled ‘hot finger’. When lowered into the hole, the melters slowly but surely opened the hole to the required width. Unfortunately, it is a fuel-hungry process. We used 40 gallons of petrol and 40 of diesel to melt the hole!

A smaller, 10” diameter hole is maintained open on each lobe of Lake Bonney for several months of the year to facilitate the weekly sampling that takes place for the Long Term Ecological Research project (LTER). A Weatherhaven^TM is erected over these, and a propane heater ensures that equipment and hands stay warm whilst collecting and processing water samples – very luxurious compared with what I’ve endured before on frozen, wind-swept lakes.

Algal incubation experiment

One of the main reasons I am here is to run an algal incubation experiment for Dr Rachael Morgan-Kiss at Miami University, Ohio, USA. A green algal species, Chlamydomonas raudensis, was isolated from a depth of 17m in the East Lobe of Lake Bonney in 1989. Since then, it has been held in a culture collection in the US and used as a 'lab rat' by various scientists. Now it has come home! Mike Lizotte, from the University of Wisconsin, and I set up the experiment on 23 February.

In a fiddly, slippery, 3 hour long operation, fifteen, ca. 90 cm long dialysis tubes were prepared and each filled with 500 ml of algal culture, and then attached to a pre-fabricated stainless steel frame. The frame was subsequently lowered to a depth of 17 m in the lake and anchored to a wooden frame rigged across the ice hole.

The incubation will run for 5–6 weeks. Each week I haul up the frame, remove two dialysis tubes and filter sub-samples of the algal culture collected onto a selection of specialized filters for photosynthetic pigment and molecular analyses.

The aim of the experiment is to investigate how the algae alter their photosynthesis as we transition from 24 hours daylight to approximately 10 hours of astronomical darkness per day, by the end of our time here. Given that the Taylor Valley is surrounded by tall mountains, the lake is currently in shade for much of the day and the algae are already experiencing near-total darkness at 17 m. However, this doesn’t stop them sun-seeking, and the first time I sub-sampled the experiment, they’d swum to the top of the tubes in an attempt to reach the light!

Viral experiments

When I am not playing with algae, I am experimenting with bacteria and viruses. Viruses are a major cause of bacterial death and play an important role in the carbon and nutrient cycles in microbial foodwebs. I am following how viral-bacterial interactions change as we transition toward darkness, in particular the rates of viral infection of, and production in, bacteria.

I collect water samples each Sunday before I leave Lake Bonney camp and use it to run experiments in the lab at McMurdo. These involve staying up late at night to run 24 hour long incubations, hours of filtering water, hours of making microscope slides and yet more hours of counting virus particles. If you would like a taste of what the latter is like, pick a cloudless night, lie on the ground outside and try to count all the stars you can see!

Lake Bonney camp

Lake Bonney camp is a home away from home and surprisingly comfortable for one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. The camp comprises a selection of buildings for living quarters, laboratories and amenities. When we aren’t working, we spend most of our time in the toasty warm Jamesway, a 55.7 m², semi-circular structure with a vestibule at one end.

Inside we have a kitchen/dining area complete with fridge, stove and microwave; a large freeway stove on which we constantly melt lake ice for water; and a washing-up area. Food is stored outside in a ‘freezer’ in the ground. For heating and electricity we rely on a generator, lots of propane heaters, and solar panels. Communications are solar-power based and increasingly unreliable as the season progresse

I am always asked how one goes to the toilet in Antarctica - the answer being: very quickly! At the camp we have an outhouse with a men’s ‘urinal’ consisting of a funnel, attached to a hose pipe, feeding into an external ‘pee barrel’. For the women, a ‘pee can’ that can be emptied into the funnel. Given it is -30˚C now, it is best not to let any skin at all touch the can! Everyone uses the 'poo bin' with its luxurious Styrofoam seat cover (see right), the trick being not to pee at the same time! In the field we carry around plastic bottles to pee in. Depending on the weather, women have the choice of using their 4u2P (say it out loud and you’ll understand): a plastic funnel and tube carefully shaped to mould to the female form. Bottles are thawed and emptied into the pee barrel on return to camp. All the human waste, plus grey water from washing dishes and bodies, is flown back to McMurdo at the end of the season for treatment and disposal.

Since science is a priority, there are three 8.9 m² labs at the camp. Two are for water processing and filtering and one is for radio-isotope use.

Sleeping quarters are all outside in individual mountain tents or Scott tents. I, however, as a transient camp member, sleep in a Weatherhaven™ on the lake (see right).

It looks very civilized but in fact being on the lake ice means it is colder than a tent pitched on the ground and, despite there being a heater, propane use is rationed, so I never have it on. That said, I am usually toasty warm in two sleeping bags with a standard issue hot water bottle...

Seals, ice caves and ventifacts

One of the best things about spending four days a week at the camp is the occasional foray into the beautiful surroundings.

My favourite haunts are the hill behind the camp where there are hundreds of ventifacts (rocks carved by the wind); and the West Lobe of the lake where the Taylor glacier spills into the lake and provides Blood Falls and ice caves to explore, and where mummified seals wallow eternally on the ice.

Back at McMurdo Station

The extended season is coming to an end, the field camps have been closed, the helicopters have made their last flights and we are now confined to McMurdo until the C17 can come and collect us. I don’t have reams to write this time but I thought I would share a few last images of, and thoughts about, McMurdo and some of the things that have been happening lately.

The last 1.5 weeks being station-bound has given me the opportunity to explore a little more and take some photos of the places where we spend most of our time. Obviously, the majority of my time is spent in the lab working. However, I do occasionally get to sleep (provided I am not running 24 h experiments) in my large and comfortable dorm room (see pictures below). In summer, everyone has to share, with up to 6 people per room, but we have had single rooms this season. My room has a hand basin in it and an en suite bathroom that I share with the adjacent room.

Food is always high on my list of priorities so plenty of time is spent in the galley scouting for lactose-free offerings (picture above right). Everyone’s favourite day is Wednesday when we get Mexican food for lunch accompanied by massive platters of freshly baked cookies.

Some of my time has been spent in 'The Store' buying goodies. The shop rivals any local convenience shop I've been in and doubles as an off license and video rental outlet. Of course, for shopping you need money and McMurdo has its own ATM machine!

The rest of my time is spent wandering between the various other buildings in my 'Big Red' parka and heavy boots. Finding my coat to put on after meal times in amongst all the others is often a challenge.

Weather

The weather has been very changeable and we’ve had several big storms. The picture above shows just how visibility can drop when snow starts blowing around. McMurdo seems to have its own micro-climate: it can be Condition 1 at McMurdo yet you fly only a few miles along the coast and the sun will be shining beautifully. Fifty four nautical miles away at Bonney Camp there will be neither a breath of wind nor a cloud in the sky. We had the weirdest weather of all at Easter when within a few hours we shifted dramatically from -26˚C and an icy wind to a strong katabatic wind (gusting to 30 knots) which raised the temperature to 0˚C for a couple of days! It was so warm that all of the snow melted and the ground was damp.

Easter at Bonney Camp

Talking of which, Easter Sunday was the one and only day off the science team has had all season. Eleven members of the science group congregated at Bonney Camp (the rest were at McMurdo) for a weekend of playing sardines in the over-crowded Jamesway, hiking and eating delicious, camp-cooked food. We were treated not only to chocolate eggs from the Easter Bunny, but a full roast dinner, pumpkin pie and chocolate brownie cake. One of the best things was that I got to move out of the Weatherhaven™ and into a Mountain Tent and discovered just how much warmer it is sleeping on the ground than over ice. As you can imagine, I didn’t move back to the Weatherhaven™ once the Easter guests had gone.

There was also a spectacular full moon on show on Good Friday that made for some awesome photo opportunities.

Polar Plunge

Just to prove how certifiable I really am, on 28 March to took part in the all women’s Polar Plunge.

The event was held at Scott Base to allow the women who wanted to plunge naked into icy seawater some privacy. I opted for shorts and T-shirt, but that rendered the -1.8˚ C water no less cold and the ice floating around at the surface no less sharp.

Luckily, the Kiwi’s had lent us the use of a heated hut so we were soon wrapped in blankets and warm again.

An alternate career?

We had an end of season party on Saturday night. Several live bands played.

The last band, Muschnuckle, had three guest backing singers from a rather famous British girl band, incognito as B3 (a.k.a. British Beaker Babes). They sang enthusiastic, if not always tuneful, renditions of Black-Eyed Peas' 'Let’s get it started'; Young MC's 'Bust a Move'; and 'Mustang Sally'. 

There were a sizable crowd of groupies in attendance so the bouncers were hard at work.

Hut artifacts

One of the more academic of our extra-curricular pursuits has been visiting Scott Base to see some 101 year old artifacts from Shackleton’s Hut at Cape Royds. There are 4 restoration experts wintering at Scott Base working on items from both Cape Royds and Scott’s hut at Cape Evans. The items range from paper labels, through clothing and equipment, to oozing cans of food that require vacuum packing.

This is my last entry from McMurdo. It has been the most amazing experience: it has been very successful scientifically and has fulfilled a long-held ambition to see the Dry Valleys. I will be very sad to leave the Antarctic but also glad to get home to family and friends. Speak to you all in or from Scotland soon - if the plane can reach us that is...