After two weeks of traveling, training, and testing of equipment, we finally made the ~40 minute helicopter flight from McMurdo Station, across the frozen sea ice of the McMurdo Sound, past New Harbour into the mouth of Taylor Valley, past Commonwealth Glacier, over Lake Fryxell, and over to its north shore to the permanent Fryxell Camp (see above). The Fryxell Camp consists of six buildings: a main hut with a kitchen, heating stove, desk space for working, a communications room, and a large dining table (where I am sitting now). The hut also has patchy internet access, which allows me to update this blog!
There is also a generator shed, which houses power generation equipment and readouts. The camp is primarily run using three large solar panels, but has a backup gas-powered generator to supply the camp if the solar panels are unable to keep up with the demands of the camp, or in the case of an emergency. The last four buildings are small sheds that serve as scientific laboratories - one general purpose lab, one electronics lab, one chemistry lab, and one radiation lab. These are to fabricate and fix equipment, or to prepare samples until they can be returned to McMurdo Station for additional analyses. The panoramic image above shows the Fryxell Camp along the northern shore of beautiful Lake Fryxell. Lake Fryxell is a permanently frozen lake, although its margins thaw out every year as the weather warms in the austral summer and then refreeze every austral winter. In the background of this image are the Kukri Hills (with several mountain glaciers also visible), and behind me is the Asgard Range. On the far left of the image is Commonwealth Glacier, and on the far right is Canada Glacier, which flank the Fryxell Camp. You can also see the large polygonal fractures on the flat ground in front of me - these formed through the continual freezing and thawing of the frozen ground, which create regularly spaced cracks that fill with sand and expand over time. It's a very interesting process, and one we see across the surface of Mars where we know ground ice is present. Our first few days at the camp have been dedicated to setting up our tents (despite there being several buildings, there are none dedicated to sleep quarters, so we sleep in tents), organizing our personal and scientific gear, and getting used to "camp living." We've also taken some short trips to nearby sites of biological interest, collected some preliminary data and samples, and have learned a lot of "big picture" information that will help us in our upcoming field work. Our goal is to relate the data that we can collect from orbit to the observed microbial communities that live in the soils and streams within this valley, so any observations or information that we have to refine our techniques is extremely helpful. Following these initial observations, we managed to complete our first successful run-through of our data collection and analytical procedures yesterday, finally shaking out all of the known bugs before our field season kicks into full swing, which will be tomorrow. After one last day of preparing our equipment and refining our methods, we'll be taking a helicopter to the other side of the lake to reproduce our methods, collect data, and begin our intensive and long-lived field season. Lastly, I just wanted to thank Northern Arizona University again for supporting me and my student in our research efforts down here in the Antarctic. Thank you!
1 Comment
4/12/2020 10:30:48 pm
When you are away from your home for a certain reason, you have this instant desire to go home just because you feel like you need the feeling of being at home. but it is weird because when we are at home, we usually take this blessing for granted. By the way, how was the experience for your students? I am sure that it was something that I can never do because I am not really an outdoor person. I prefer staying at home so I am pretty sure that this activity is not yet for me.
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About the Author(S)The contributors to this blog are the students, faculty, and other researchers in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Northern Arizona University. If you have any suggestions, or would like to contribute to this blog, please email mark.salvatore@nau.edu for more information. Archives
January 2019
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