This trip might rival my flight over the summit of Mt. Erebus as the coolest day
ever. And as an aspiring volcanologist, I don't say that lightly.
The original purpose of this trip was for Lee and Dave to service the AWS (Automatic Weather Station) out at Cape Bird. Avi and tagged along to scout out a location for a seismic station -- PASSCAL is supporting the Erebus Backbone Network experiment next season, and we will be installing a station near Cape Bird, so we wanted to get eyes on the location.
The pilot and helitech, Ryan and Katrina, were there to, ya know, fly the helicopter. The head of Helo Ops (Helicopter Operations), Hailey, also went along to scout out some trash from above and possible flight paths for other trips. And finally, we also had a boondoggler along for a morale trip -- one of the nurses in the clinic.
So, needless to say, we had a full team crammed into the Bell 412 helicopter.
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Map of Ross Island, from Wikipedia (it's the best map I've found..). We landed on Cape Bird off to the right side (where the "Cape Bird Hut" is labelled).
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On the way out to Cape Bird, we flew past Shackleton's Hut, built in 1908 on his Nimrod expedition (during this expedition, Shackleton's team were the first to climb Mt. Erebus).
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Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds.
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An ice pick on a hill, left by Shackleton's crew in 1909.
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We'd been weather delayed for going out on this Cape Bird trip for almost a week at this point -- low clouds and fog over the coast prevented the helicopters from landing. I thought we'd have to turn around because there was a huge cloud bank sitting over Cape Bird, but the pilot (Ryan) managed to find an opening and got us through!
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Low cloud bank over Cape Bird.
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We started to land on the helicopter pad (aka rectangle on the ground marked with rocks), but there was a seal napping! We hovered mid-air for a few minutes as the seal freaked out and moved away. Seals are not very fast overland creatures...
As we unloaded the helicopter to walk over to the AWS site, the seal just glared at us. I am sure they were having a very peaceful nap before we flew in and ruined it.
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The annoyed seal watched us unload the helicopter (likely thinking we were the worlds' largest skua).
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Eventually the seal fell back asleep. (Photo credit: Dave)
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There is a huge Adélie penguin rookery right next to the AWS site, which the helicopter cannot fly too close to (because it might disturb the penguins). So we landed farther away and took a short hike up the hill to the site with the toolbags.
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Here's a map of the penguin rookery ASPA (Antarctic Specially Protected Area). We landed at the Oct-Feb landing pad and hiked up to the AWS site.
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We hiked along the beach (past the seal), past the Kiwi hut (a hut used by New Zealand penguin scientists earlier in the season), and crested the hill. And holy cow. There were thousands of penguins dotting the hillside just beyond.
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| Our first view of the penguin rookery. Every single dot is a penguin. (Photo credit: Dave) |
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| We all immediately stopped to take pictures. (Photo credit: Avi) |
After a break to take in the sites and take pictures..... time to help service the AWS site! There wasn't much to fix, so Dave and Lee did a general check-up and tied loose wires down while the rest of us continued to stare dumbstruck at the penguins.
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| Cape Bird Automatic Weather Station (AWS). (Photo credit: Dave) |
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| There were a couple of skua watching over the station. (Photo credit: Avi) |
The noise and smell of the penguins was incredible, and unfortunately, pictures can't really capture the ruckus. Since there is very little fresh water in the Antarctic desert, Adélie penguins have a diet heavy in sodium. They concentrate the salt in their waste products, which are excreted either as poop or from their nasal glands. These waste products, high in sodium and potassium salts, are a great home for many types of bacteria.
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| Me and the penguins!! (Photo credit: Avi) |
Oh yes. Science. We were here for science. Avi and I took a hike up the hill with Hailey (the helo ops manager) to look for good landing spots to set up our seismic station next season. We found a few potential spots, but will have to keep in mind the restricted helicopter flight paths (due to the penguin ASPA).
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| Discussing a landing spot. (Photo credit: Avi) |
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| This looks like our best landing spot away from the AWS site. (Photo credit: Avi) |
All science objectives completed, we hiked back down the hill and along the beach towards the helicopter. This was a night flight (we left McMurdo at 7pm), so there were no flights on the schedule after us. Meaning... we were in no rush to pack up and had time to watch the penguins play on the beach.
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| Adélie penguins hanging out on the sea ice washed up on the beach. (Photo credit: Dave) |
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| Look at that lil guy! (Photo credit: Dave) |
We saw some penguins fighting over a pebble they had found on the beach. The scientists who study this penguin colony have seen pebbles in the stomachs of dead Adélies -- one of their research questions is why the penguins are eating rocks (and if there are any patterns to the kinds of rocks they ingest).
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| Another curious penguin walking along the beach towards our group at the helicopter. (Photo credit: Avi) |
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| Eventually, the whole group followed the brave penguin. (Photo credit: Avi) |
We saw so much wildlife: seals swimming gracefully, and a pack of orcas way off-shore (the orcas native to the Antarctic waters don't eat the penguins or seals; they feed on fish). We also saw a raft of penguins (that's the word for a group of penguins while swimming). They were porpoising, meaning they swam underwater for a short distance and then would jump out of the water, allowing them to take a quick breath without having to slow down.
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| Raft of penguins porpoising! (Photo credit: Dave) |
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| Two penguins taking a nap on the beach. The one on the left has a little ice pillow. (Photo credit: Avi) |
What a truly special day! I am so grateful to have gotten the chance to see so many penguins in their natural habitat.
Also, to be with a group of people that are better at taking pictures than I am...
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| The Adélies run with their wings out and look just like little toddlers (they fall over a lot, too..). (Photo credit: Avi) |
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Me and the rookery (the sun was in my eyes..)! (Photo credit: Avi)
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