The first few days here have been packed with trainings.
Here are the trainings we've done in days 1-4: Skidoo (snowmobile)
training, an Outdoor Safety Lecture (so we can go on hiking trails
beyond McMurdo), truck training (I am now qualified to check out the
pooled truck and drive it around the station), and Antarctic Field
Safety training (since my team will be headed out to a deep field camp).
I've also been running around town (we call McMurdo "town" because it really is like a small town) trying to locate all the science equipment with my co-worker from PASSCAL. We shipped down all the science equipment we would need for this field season several months ago -- in order to arrive in Antarctica when we'd be working here, you have to send cargo out the door months in advance.
We had a bit of a hiccup locating the seismometers we shipped, but talked to the friendly folks in the Science Cargo building and found it with their help.
Everyone here is so nice and helpful. All the science groups have offices or lab spaces in Crary, McMurdo's science building. Crary is built into a hill with 3 phases (or floors, in normal-people speak). The first floor is mostly admin, the second floor has all the geosci groups (including me!), and the third floor has an aquarium for the bio groups. Most science groups have temporary office spaces, but a benefit of working for PASSCAL includes a dedicated office space for me and my co-worker. Plus, there is a loading dock right outside we can use to stage our equipment.
On Wednesday, some of my field team took a hike up Observation Hill (everyone around here calls it Ob Hill).
Comments