McMurdo Day 10: A Day in the Life

I've been getting asked what I do in a typical day here in McMurdo, so I thought I'd do a "day in the life" post about what I did yesterday.

0630: Wake up and get dressed. Everyone has been talking about how unseasonably warm it is here (read: slightly below freezing. not warm at all by my account). But this means I am usually warm enough for a day about town in a layer of wool thermal underwear, fleece sweatpants, and my down puffy jacket. Plus gloves, a buff, and a hat.

0700: Breakfast! I make the quick jaunt from my dorm to the galley. Hot breakfast is served from 6:00-7:30, but the galley is always open with drinks/cereal/to-go leftovers in giant fridges. I had a bowl of oatmeal with raisins/coconut/honey, eggs, bacon, and some canned fruit. We had apples for the past week, but now it appears that we are out of "freshies" (fresh fruit).

0800: After stopping back by my dorm to grab my backpack, I headed into the PASSCAL office in Crary. I usually spend the first part of the morning checking emails from work and family. Avi (my PASSCAL co-worker) and I also walked up to the NSF representative's office to ask her about any flight updates for our group heading our to WAIS.

Looking up the hallway at Crary. It's built into a hill, so there is a steep staircase or ramp to walk between the three phases (aka floors in normal language).

0830: We had a POLENET team meeting in the POLENET office (it's just down the hall from the PASSCAL office). There wasn't much to discuss today; just the updates Avi and I had about if/when we are heading to WAIS (basically, nothing new).

0900: Avi and I sat down to make our to-do lists and plans for the day. We also started charging some huge 70lb batteries that we moved out of storage yesterday. We will use these for our Castle Rock test site setup.

1000: Avi and I called the other 2 members of the PASSCAL Polar Team back in Socorro. We discussed how to prioritize packing our science cargo if we end up on a smaller Basler plane heading out to WAIS. We also talked about some possible work Avi and I can do from McMurdo if we don't make it out to WAIS at all this season.

The office phone. This is one of the newer models -- it even has a speakerphone option!!!!! Wowza!!!!

1115: We took a short hike halfway up Ob Hill to take a quick inventory of another PASSCAL test site. The test site is right next to the location of the old nuclear reactor that was at McMurdo in the 50s.

PASSCAL's Ob Hill test site. The orange dome and box are ours. The double solar panel thing to the right is UNAVCO's (a facility like PASSCAL, except they specialize in GPS instead of seismic data).

1230: Off to lunch in the galley. I had lasagna, green beans, and lemon coconut bread. Plus seconds of the lasagna (it was so good) and a cookie. Since we are in Level Blue now, I got to make new friends at lunch. I sat with the head doctor on station, someone who works in hazardous waste, and the lead PI of a different science group.

1300: After lunch, Avi called his family, and I walked down to Building 156 to take a quick inventory of some solar panels. Building 156 is one of the many places PASSCAL equipment is stored at McMurdo. Some equipment is in our office, most is in the Milvans (huge metal shipping containers), and the "DNF" (Do Not Freeze) equipment (like sensors and solar panels) is in Building 156.

PASSCAL equipment in Building 156.

Me looking real enthused next to orange sensor domes. We put these over our seismometers to decrease wind noise. They are extremely difficult to get out once buried in snow.

Me (for scale) next to one of our giant orange enclosures. These enclosures generally hold eight 70lb batteries and the other equipment (datalogger, harddrive to store data, modem, and charge controller).

Hole in the building to lower equipment down using the hoist. We moved 8 batteries and one orange enclosure down the other day. I got to drive the truck to take them up to our lab!

1400: Avi and I walked up the hill to the Science Cargo building to ask them about how to package Lithium batteries to take with us into the field, and any tips for packing equipment to go in a Basler.

On the way back to the lab, we walked past the PistenBully parking. PistenBullies are these adorable little vehicles with treads that people use to drive out on the ice to do work instead of a Mattrack. I really really want to drive one of these, but unfortunately the equipment we are taking out to Castle Rock is too big to fit, and we'll have to take a Mattrack instead.

Look at this little PistenBully!! So cute!! Don't you just want to give it a little hug????

1430: We worked on prioritizing our science cargo for the scenario where we fly out to WAIS on a Basler. We don't have exact numbers on what our weight limit for cargo will be, so we broke it up into tiers, based on essential equipment and priority sites.

1600: Stopped by the POLENET office to chat. Erica and Peter (the seismic and GPS grad students, respectively) are giving a talk this Sunday on the science of the POLENET experiment. I'll be sure to write about the highlights once they present!

1630: Working on this blog post and emailing my family (I only have internet access in the office). Plus a snack of the apples I brought from New Zealand. I am having to break into my stash now that the galley is out of fresh fruit.

1730: Headed back to my dorm room to get ready for a hike. I put on a lot of sunscreen (I learned the hard way that sunscreen is super important down here.... my nose is still peeling from the day we took out the GPR) and packed my pee bottle, just in case.

1800: Ob Hill Loop hike with Erica. It was EXTREMELY windy. We truly thought we were going to be blown off onto the ice and have to live with the seals. The views were spectacular, though. 

I've been going hiking or skiing most days after work. One of the great things about never-ending sunlight is that there's plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors!

I took a picture of Erica taking a picture of the cool sea ice. It is cracking and breaking up where it meets the land.

Spectacular!

Obligatory SEAL PICTURE!!! Look at all of them!!! Just hanging out on the ice!!!!

1900: Dinner time! I had Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, veggies, and cardamom cake with milk.

1930: Erica and I stopped by the craft room to pick up some supplies.

2000: I took a shower and then headed down to the dorm lounge to do some crafting. Erica knitted and I painted! It was a very relaxing evening.

2200: Bed time! I stayed up painting a little later than I intended (oops!)

 

Yesterday was a pretty typical day for me in McMurdo. Today we have forklift training (otherwise known as "pickle" training), so expect a post about that soon!