non-human life form seen at pole

Unique views of Antarctica prevailed in the Antarctic Photo and Writing Contest, like the abovephoto, which takes the standard “hero shot” at the South Pole ceremonial marker to an unexpect-ed level. Photography judge Joan Myers, a fine-arts photographer and National ScienceFoundation artist grantee, said of the photo she chose for first in the “other” category, “What anodd view of the South Pole marker....Somebody went to a lot of work here. They probably had a lotof images that didn't work and I'm sure the photographer's hands were getting very, very cold.”Other winning photos and writing start on page 11, or go to www.polar.org/antsun to see the pho-tos as they’re meant to be, in color.

Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program

www.polar.org/antsun

Photo by Eric Muhs, TEA at the South Pole

By Mark SabbatiniSun staff

The annual ceremony at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station of placing amarker at the exact bottom of the worldisn't the place one normally finds unex-pected guests.

But this year four skiers appeared asfinal preparations were underway. The vis-itors arrived to cheers 10 minutes beforethe event that traditionally greets the NewYear, getting as much of a surprise as thePole dwellers who spotted the group.

"To be honest, it was a bit overwhelm-ing," said Paul Landry, a guide who led the

46-day private expedition. "We're togetherfor 46 days and then there's like 30 or 35people there asking us questions."

It may be the first time surprise visitorshave appeared at the ceremony, said JerryMarty, the National Science Foundationrepresentative for the station. The skierssaid they were simply finishing a final 30-hour push to reach the Pole, with no ideathe ceremony was occurring that day.

At 10 a.m. Dec. 29 - timed for the sta-tion workers' day off instead of NewYear's Day - a new pole with a speciallydesigned marker for 2003 was placed at

Self-portrait from a kite

Photo, Poetry and Prose Festival

Lost skua finds Polepage 3

I N S I D E

“That’s a Darwin Awardwaiting to happen.”

Q U O T E O F TT H E W E E K

— South Pole scientist referring totwo men trying to traverse thecontinent on kite-pulled sleds

Celebrating year’s end,Pole style page 18

See Marker on page 9

Marking a wandering Pole

January 5, 2003

First place other

See Rock on page 18

New way todate old stoneBy Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Particles showering the Earth couldtell geologists how long particular rockshave been on the surface.

Trees show their age in rings, ice inlayers, people in wrinkles, but stones area bit trickier. Geologist Paul Renne col-lected rock samples from the Dry Valleyslast month, hoping they will help himcrack the code of argon-38, an arcane iso-tope created as certain atoms are bom-barded by particles from tiny nuclearreactions in the atmosphere. Isotopes areatoms of a chemical element with differ-ing mass numbers and physical proper-ties.

Renne is attempting to determine therate at which argon-38 is created. Thengeologists could measure argon-38 inrock samples to establish their ages.

“If we knew somehow that the rate ofthis incoming radiation was constant orpredictable, then we could tell how longthose layers have been exposed,” saidRenne, who has a three-year researchgrant from the National ScienceFoundation.

This could become a new and impor-tant tool for geologists.

2 • The Antarctic Sun January 5, 2003

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the NationalScience Foundation as part of the United

States Antarctic Program. Its pri-mary audience is U.S. AntarcticProgram participants, their fami-lies, and their friends. NSFreviews and approves material

before publication, but opinions and conclu-sions expressed in the Sun are not necessari-ly those of the Foundation.

Use: Reproduction and distribution areencouraged with acknowledgment of sourceand author.

Senior Editor: Kristan HutchisonEditors: Melanie ConnerMark Sabbatini

Copy Editor: Liz Connell, Wendy KoberPublisher: Valerie Carroll,Communications manager, RPSC

Contributions are welcome. Contact theSun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visitour office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

So these are the Dry Valleys everyone keepstalking about. I don’t see what the big deal is. There’s nothing here but rocks...not even snow!

Look there’s amicroarthropod, an

Antarctic springtail. Theyare the largest terrestrialcreatures on the continent

and only grow to 2 millimeters

in length.

WHAT?! AND WHAT ARE WE, TOURISTS?!

Maybe I ought toswallow it to showit who really is theking around here.

There’s a good chance your stomachwill keep it alive for some time. I’m

sure there’s plenty for it to eat in there.

If you put your finger in your mouthdeep enough like you taught me, you

can upchuck him out and then ask forforgiveness.

ErebusNumber of active volcanoes in Antarctica: 3Southernmost volcano: Mt. ErebusDiscovered: In 1841 by James RossNamed: For one of his two ships, aGreek name for the ring of darknessthe dead had to pass throughHeight of Mt. Erebus: 12,280 feet (3,794meters) above sea levelArea covered by Mt. Erebus: about 400square miles (1,035 sq. km)Average temperature on the volcano’sslopes: -20F (-29C) in summer;-60F (-51C) winterTemperature in the lava lake: about1,652F to 2,066F (900C to 1,130C)Age of Erebus: > 1 million yearsAge of the summit: < 100,000 yearsFrequency of eruptions: Strombolian(lava bombs) – several times a day;Ash–infrequentFirst time a lava flow was observed: 2000-2001 seasonSources: Mt. Erebus Volcano Observatory, NSF and New Mexico Tech

Tip: Most clues list a base or station of a country

Across1. Vostok5. Artigas7. Maitri10. Great Wall11. The committee the bases operate under (acryn.)12. Escudero14. Arctowski16. Vernadsky17. Scott18. Palmer19. Dumont d’Urville

Down2. Marion Island3. Comandante Ferraz4. Bases are assigned a number based on this6. Rothera8. Syowa9. King Sejong11. Where all points converge13. Mawson15. Esperanza

Solution on page 19

Katabatic Krosswords: Countries with bases in Antarctica

2

6

3

5

7

64

8

109

8

13

15 16

15

18

1

18

Squares too small? No pencil to erase your mistakes? Try our interactive online puzzle at www.polar.org/antsun

5

12

15

17

6

12

16

5

5

14

18

19

1

5

7

5

11

14

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3 4211

January 5, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 3


The conspiracy theorists have it right:Every so often residents at theSouth Pole experience the shock of

seeing a life form that absolutely is nothuman.

It happened again last week, as a skuathat apparently strayed hundreds of milesfrom its natural habitat was spotted in thevicinity of the Amundsen-Scott SouthPole Station. The birds are common alongthe shores of Antarctica – at least 800miles (1,280 km.) away – where there isplenty of food for them, but it is the firstsighting in two seasons at the Pole.

There are no bird experts at the Pole –hardly a surprise, since winged creaturesaren’t supposed to be there – but the col-lective opinion is wind or other weatherfactors help push the occasional skua wayoff its intended course. Tracy Sheeley, thestation’s communications supervisor, saida bird’s chances of making the long returnjourney without food are generally poor.

“It’s nice to see a non-human life formfor a change,” said Sheeley, a resident ofTalkeetna, Alaska, who is working herfifth season at the Pole. “People arealways excited, but that poorlittle guy is doomed.”

The good news is the skuaspotted Dec. 29 was still ableto fly and was relativelyplump, indicators it was inbetter health than some previ-ous birds, according to sever-al people who have spentmultiple seasons at the sta-tion.

A number of people saidthey spotted the bird late inthe morning or early in theafternoon before it flew offtoward field camp sites a fewmiles away. There were nosightings mentioned afterSunday evening.

“Compared to the other ones I’ve seendown here, that one looked good,” saidScott Smith, a plumber who recalled fourskua sightings during the eight seasons hehas worked at the station.

But the skua was hardly finding lifeeasy: Smith said it was trying to eat one ofthe orange flags along the station’s ice run-way when he saw the bird.

Ruth Ofstedal said she and three co-workers went looking for the skua afterSmith told them about it. She said theyfound the bird resting on a snow bermalong the ice runway before it eventuallyflew off toward the new elevated stationbeing constructed.

“Some people want to keep it as a pet,”she said. “Of course they’re fantasizing.”

The Antarctic Treaty forbids disturbingnative wildlife, so well-intentionedthoughts of assistance are not possible.

Skuas, closely related to the gull fami-ly, typically have a wingspan of about fourfeet and weigh two to four pounds. Theyare known as scavengers who eat sea life,steal penguin eggs and clean up carrion fornourishment.

On a very rare occasion they may findfood scraps at a settlement – an incident at

McMurdo Station years ago where it“rained” chicken bones dropped by raid-ing skuas is local legend – but the chanceof a stray morsel from the South Pole’stightly closed outdoor waste bins is essen-tially zero. A few workers suggested theskua spotted at the Pole might fare betterunder the South Pole dome, where somefood waste is temporarily stored in largeopen boxes, but doubted the bird wouldfind its way there.

Late October to mid-December is typi-cally the breeding season for skuas, witheggs hatching in late December to lateJanuary. The estimated lifespan of thebirds is about 11 years.

There are two species of skuas found inthe Southern Ocean, the Antarctic (alsoknown as the brown) and the south polar.The latter breed is more commonly foundin Antarctica, although they are often seenfollowing ships at sea and have been sight-ed as far north as Greenland and theAleutian Islands in Alaska. DenebKarentz, the National ScienceFoundation’s science representative atMcMurdo, said she spotted one a fewyears ago during a boat trip near SanFrancisco.

By early Sunday evening theskua spotted at the Pole hadmade its way toward the SPRE-SO camp about five miles away,landing near a goose windsockbeing used at the ice drillingsite. A few miles away, PaoloRapex, an electronics engineerfrom the University of Rome,said he also spotted the birdabout 328 feet (100 meters)from his research camp at about6 p.m., thinking at first it was arock until it moved.

“I stopped the skidoo and itwas a very big bird,” he said. “Itcircled us and followed theroad. It was an incredible sightbecause we didn’t expect it.”

Non-human life form seen at Pole

A skua flies near one of the run-way markers at Amundsen-ScottSouth Pole Station on Dec. 29.Stray birds find the Pole aboutonce every other year on aver-age, straying hundreds of milesfrom their native habitat.Photo by Scott Smith/Special to The Antarctic Sun

[ T h e c r e a t u r e ]

w a s t r y i n g t o e a t

o n e o f t h e o r a n g e f l a g s .


Antarctic whales were heavily har-vested during the first half of the20th century. More than two mil-lion of them, mostly baleen

whales, were caught in the southern hemi-sphere during this time, reducing populationsto fractions of their original sizes. Baleenwhales are toothless, with modified kerati-nous (same material that your nails are madeof) plates that make up their filtering appara-tus, baleen. They are huge, and feed on muchsmaller marine organisms such as krill orcopepods. Most of them undergo long annu-al migrations from their low-latitudebreeding areas to the high-latitude feed-ing grounds.

During the whaling period thewhales were caught mostly for theirblubber (which is the most importantsite of fat, which was used as fueloil), but meat and bones were alsoexploited. Extreme depletion ofmany populations of various species(especially the largest one – the bluewhale), along with development ofalternate, cheaper ways of producingproducts previously made fromwhale parts, led to a decrease in com-mercial whaling and eventually to itsend in 1984.

Current low sighting rates of cer-tain species of whales (e.g. blues and fins)make obtaining reliable estimates of theirpopulation numbers using traditional,visual survey techniques difficult. We aretaking advantage of the recent develop-ments in computer technology to use arelatively new method to study whales:acoustics. Baleen whales, such as blue,fin, humpback, right whales, etc., areknown to produce low frequency, species-specific calls. By making continuousacoustic recordings, it is possible toobtain long-term records of the abun-dance of calling animals in an area, andalso to observe their seasonality and dis-tribution patterns.

We have developed autonomousrecording packages that are moored to theseafloor and record low-frequency sounds(up to 250 Hz; this is sufficient for moni-toring blue and fin whale calls, as well asparts of minke, humpback and some seal

calls). An autonomous recording packageconsists of a hydrophone, a data loggingsystem, 36 gigabytes of hard disk space,an acoustic release, ballast weights, flota-tion and lots of batteries. These instru-ments can currently be deployed andmake recordings for 400 days, providinga relatively cheap and efficient way tomonitor baleen whales. This method isparticularly useful in regions like theAntarctic, which are not easily accessibleand have extreme environmental condi-tions during long periods of time.

We can supplement our long-termrecordings with real-time recordings fromsonobuoys deployed from an underwayship. Sonobuoys are expendable listeningdevices that transmit real-time audiorecords of underwater sounds to the shipvia a radio signal. These data can be usedin conjunction with visual observationsfor verification and calibration of thelong-term seafloor data.

Our project is part of the U.S. SouthernOcean GLOBEC (Global OceanEcosystem Dynamics) program. Themain goal of the SO GLOBEC program is“to understand the physical and biologicalfactors that contribute to enhancedAntarctic krill growth, reproduction,recruitment and survivorship throughoutthe year.” And no such study would becomplete without an understanding of therole of krill’s predators: penguins, sealsand whales.

Our group collaborates with the

International Whaling Commission onthis project. The International WhalingCommission has been conducting visualsurveys of whales around the Antarcticcontinent for many years, and recentlyhave been trying to expand their surveysand tie the distribution of whales to eco-logical parameters. By using both themore traditional methods (visual surveys,as well as photo-identification studies andtissue sample analysis) in conjunctionwith the novel methods (acoustics), weare able to obtain a more complete picture

of the whale distributions in thewest Antarctic Peninsula region.

We have participated in five SOGLOBEC cruises in the westAntarctic Peninsula region over thepast two years. During this periodwe have made some exciting dis-coveries. Most notably, blue whalesappear to remain in the westAntarctic Peninsula throughout theyear and do not all undergo season-al migration. Fin whales, on theother hand, seem to follow the moretypical pattern of migration fromthe higher-latitude areas in the win-ter. This finding could have animpact on our understanding of theeffect of foraging of whales on krill

during the winter months. In the future wehope to investigate this impact further,and also to gain a better understanding ofthe interactions between the whales andtheir environment.

This year we will be doing a finalrecovery of our eight instruments thathave spent the past two years recordingalong the continental shelf in the westAntarctic Peninsula. There are endeavorsunderway, however, to deployautonomous recording packages at otherlocations around the Antarctic in collabo-ration with other countries’ Antarctic pro-grams, including the British AntarcticSurvey and the Australian AntarcticDivision.

Ana Sirovic is a Ph.D. student atScripps Institution of Oceanography, inLa Jolla, Calif.

Monitoring whales along thewest Antarctic Peninsula

Photo courtesy of Ana SirovicThree humpback whales swim in front of the NathanielB. Palmer in the Gerlache Straits.

speaking

of science...By Ana Sirovic


around the continent

A rush for the holidaysBy Anne LewisPole correspondent

Christmas came to the Quiet SectorScience on Dec. 26, 2002, out at SPRESOCamp (89 55’41.32”S-144 26’30.06”W).The Ice Coring Drilling Services drillers— B. Bergeron, D. Braun, M. Pender andT. Gacke — reached a new record depth of203.4 meters for a continuous core samplefrom the South Pole Region.The previous record was202.4 meters taken in 1982.The drillers will continueusing the same 4-inchelectromechanical drill toachieve a final depth of over300 meters.

The South Pole’s briskChristmas morning kickedoff with the Race Around theWorld. Festive runners,dome-head walkers, sofa sit-ters, snowboard-skiers andPisten Bully riders all gath-ered to join in on the 2.3-mile course looping the cere-monial Pole. Allister Knox ofthe Jeffries Science Group was the top malewinner with a time of 17.57 minutes. LeislSchernthanner was the top female runnerwith a time of 26.34 minutes.

South Pole’s New Year’s party was arockin’ good time. The evening got off toa great start with DJ Joe Speidel spinnin’the tunes. The dance floor was alreadygroovin’ by the time the first band, NPQ,hit the stage, moving the crowd with a var-ied set including songs by Third EyeBlind, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Earl Keen andGreen Day. All were duly impressed bythe set’s close. Next up was Clear andCopious, who rocked the house with songsby Queen, Social Distortion, the Ramonesand Black Sabbath. Now that’s Rock &Roll. Later came South Pole’s official BoyBand – Minus 98 Degrees! The squeal andswoons of the audience were evidence ofthe group’s overwhelming cuteness andlip-sync ability. If given the chance, theycould probably even sing. Another dose of

NPQ and Clear and Copious sealed thedeal – along with the “Near Year’s” count-down long about 12:30 a.m. Close enoughfor Dec. 29 by the Pole’s standards.

The ITASE (International TransAntarctic Scientific Expedition) traversearrived at the SPRESO Field Camp (fivemiles out from Pole) at 1:17 p.m. on Jan.2. The aim is to describe and understandenvironmental change in Antarctica overthe last 200 years. Team members are tak-ing ice cores at 100 km intervals, collect-

ing surface snow and ice samples, meteo-rological readings and collecting radarprofiles of the ice sheet. The multi-yeartraverse started at Byrd Surface Camp,extended to old Siple Station and has nowcompleted this season’s final leg to theSouth Pole.

PALMER

SOUTH POLE

McMurdo StationHigh: 44F/7C Low:20F/-7CWind: 42 mph/68 kphWindchill: -13F/-25C

Palmer StationHigh: 46F / 8C Low: 32F / 0CWind: 43 mph / 69 kphMelted precipitation: 1.6 mmSnowfall: none

South Pole StationHigh: -5F / -20C Low: -22F / -30CWind: 15 mph / 24 kph

the week in weather

Photo by Jon Emanuel/Special to The Antarctic SunAt the South Pole station ‘Near Year’ Party.

Glacier Search & RescueBy Tom CohenourPalmer correspondent

Most people try to avoid crevasses butthe Glacier Search and Rescue (GSAR)team at Palmer Station actually tries tofind them. By knowing where the crevass-es are and which way they run, the GSARteam can flag a safe route to keep peoplefrom falling in.

Crevasses are fissures or clefts inglacial ice, ranging in width from a few

inches to several feet. The depth canreach over a hundred feet (33 meters).

Glaciers look like rivers of ice. Somemove quicker than others but in doing so,they ride up and down according to con-tours of the Earth. The rise and fall caus-es cracks, or crevasses. As the glaciermoves, the cracks open and close.

“Think of a Snickers bar,” said GSARteam leader Jim Waters when describinghow crevasses form. “Slowly push up inthe center and down on the two ends. Ifyou do that, you’ll see the chocolate crackin a few places.” That’s how a glaciercracks. As it slowly moves over a ridgeon the contours of the Earth, it extendsuntil the sheer weight of the ice causesthe glacier to crack and form a crevasse.

Waters studied at the American AlpineInstitute and was an Outward Boundinstructor for two summers in Oregon anda member of the ski patrol in Jackson,Wyo. He’s traveled on glaciers inCalifornia, Washington, Oregon, Canadaand in the mountains of Ecuador.

GSAR training began several weeksago for eight new members recruitedfrom the summer personnel arrivals, ofwhich many have previous mountaineer-ing experience. Orientation included ropeuse, knot tying and equipment issue toteam members. Training exercises arenow being conducted on the glacierbehind Palmer Station and in crevasses.

For the uninitiated, some of the gearissued to team members might sound for-eign: crampons, ice screws, carabineers,prussic rope, figure 8 and picket. Not onlydoes the team need to know how to use thegear, but they also need to know when,under what circumstances, and what theacceptable safety limitations are for theiruse. Someone’s life could depend on it.

The ropes and various knots used by theGSAR team are an art unto themselves.Names like double-fisherman’s, figure-eight-on-a-bite, follow-thru and water-knotonly begin to describe the amazing array oftwists, loops and curls. And each knot hasits purpose. “Ideally, each team memberwill be able to tie each knot perfectly whilestanding in a cold shower with their eyesclosed,” said Waters.


What is the dumbestquestion you’ve ever beenasked about Antarctica?

“What is the elevationat Palmer Station?

(while viewing aphoto of the dock)”

Chris VitryPalmer network adminis-

trator from Denver, Colo.

“Probably ‘Is itcold downthere?’”

Robert Schwarz, South PoleAMANDA

researcher fromMunich, Germany

Photo by Mark Sabbatini/The Antarctic SunAn independent adventurer struggles to get a kite-powered buggy moving at Amundsen-Scott

South Pole Station on Dec. 29. He and his colleague hoped to revolutionalize Antarctic travelby making a 650-mile journey across the continent in 10 days on the buggies. Such a trip nor-

mally takes two months on cross-country skis. However, the men abandoned their attemptafter only a few days, saying unusually calm wind made it impossible for them to travel.

“Somebody asked ifwe could see theTrans-Alaskan

Pipeline.”Dave Weimer

McMurdo power plantoperator from Palm

Harbor, Fla.

The ATIC payload was successfully launched at 6 p.m. Dec. 29 and as of Friday was trav-eling at an altitude of 124,000 feet at 20 knots. It’s position was latitude 73°49.20 S andlongitude: 66°20.40 E. The Boomerang payload will be launched at the next calm weatheropportunity, possibly as early as today. Observers are asked to stay outside of the launchpad perimeter. The balloon flights can be followed in real-time athttp://192.149.107.13/ice0203.htm. Officials at the long-duration balloon facility arerequesting people not call for flight updates since personnel are occupied with launchplans.

T wo ways to cross the continent

Photo by Joan Myers/Special to The Antarctic Sun

Science circumnavigates by balloon... Others try kite...


NOT REALLY THE NEW YEARAT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD


Being at the South Pole means beingable to toast the New Year 24 times – oncefor each time zone – since they all mergeat the bottom of the world.

Make it 25 if you go to the “official”party.

Extraordinary as such things mightseem by normal standards, for some Poledwellers it’s as cliché as being able towalk “around the world” in only a secondor two. For many researchers and supportstaff the biggest thrills of the New Yearcome from more ordinary thrills in anextraordinary setting.

Most anyone willing to go on stage canbe a rock star. Partyers may go throughrummage bins for fancy clothes or showup for the dance in snow boots. The“beaker juice” gets nearly as many com-ments for its fresh fruit chunks as its otheringredients. And a few souls may ventureinto the frigid outdoors and visit the SouthPole marker wearing less than their stan-dard expedition gear.

“It’s always neat when you’re workingdown here because of the lack of facili-ties,” said Frederick McDougall, an elec-trician working his ninth season inAntarctica and sixth at the Pole. “Youhave to do with facilities like (throwingthe station party in) the heavy shop.”

McDougall was the singer and violinistfor one of three bands that played in thestation’s “Near Year’s” party on Dec. 28,held in the workshop where heavy equip-ment work normally takes place. It’s theonly place large enough to hold the sta-tion’s 220 summer residents. Also, sincethe population puts in a six-day workweekwith Sundays off, a premature weekendparty is generally the preferred alternativeto asking most people to work after only afew hours of sleep in the middle of theweek.

But just getting ready here is a differentexperience. Heavy shop workers spenttwo days getting their work area cleared,including steam-cleaning the walls.Trouble is, there are no drains on the floor,so it’s an eight-hour task to collect all ofthe water and haul it away for proper dis-posal.

“The reason we like to do it is becauseit gives us an opportunity to clean this areagood,” said Dave Anderson, a heavy shopforeman from Meridian, Idaho, who isworking his first season at the Pole and

third in Antarctica.For many who are thousands of miles

from home, traditions go out the window.Cameron Lewis, a communications opera-tor working her first season at the Pole,said her typical New Year’s celebration isa large bonfire with friends.

“Everybody gets together and throwstheir Christmas trees on,” she said.

With no trees anywhere near the Poleand no fires – one of the biggest hazards inAntarctica – Lewis spent part of the after-noon helping decorate the heavy shop forthe party before showing up with thecrowd a few hours later.

Still, plenty of patterns from the out-side world are recognizable here. Peopleleave work a bit early to get ready for thenight ahead. The party, scheduled to beginaround 8:30 p.m., doesn’t really get goinguntil a couple of hours later as everyone isstill getting dressed up (or down) andarrives fashionably late for the celebra-tion. There are a few gripes as hot waterruns out in some dorms as numerous peo-ple take showers (limited by station rulesto two minutes twice a week) and do laun-dry.

In rooms near the shop, band membersmake sure their instruments and oversizedwigs are ready for the stage. It will be thefirst performance of the season for all ofthe groups.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been in aband,” said Michael Boyce, a carpenterfrom Denali Park, Alaska, who is workinghis fourth season at the South Pole. Butthe rhythm guitar player got premierequipment for his debut gig: an expensivemodel, designed for cold weather, made ofgraphite and epoxy-injected wood left byprofessional musician Henry Kaiser. Hevisited the Pole last year and played inwhat some call the best gig ever.

Boyce is playing in the band “NPQ,”short for “not physically qualified,” a termapplied to those who don’t meet the nec-essary medical standards for deploymentto Antarctica. A second band, “Clear andCopious,” is a common reference to theextremely dry air of the station and theneed to constantly drink fluids. A third“rumored” group, known as the “BoyBand – Minus 98 Degrees” will show up

Photo by Mark Sabbatini/The Antarctic SunDave Anderson, center, sprays water on the floor of the heavy shop at the Amundsen-ScottSouth Pole Station Dec. 28 in preparation for a “Near Year’s Eve” party that evening.

See Near Year on page 8


just before midnight and do its bestimpression of a lip-synced 80’s teeny-bop-per band as a hoard of the station’s womenencourages them on.

Outside the station is silent – an unusu-al sensation since construction on a newstation building and related work typicallygo on 24 hours a day. Some residents arescattered throughout some other buildingsas midnight nears, playing cards in thesmoking lounge or watching movies in therecreation room. And an unlucky few haveto work, keeping watch at the radio com-munications center or getting ready for themidnight meal served to employees whowork the overnight shift.

A sign in the dining hall asks residentsto wash their own dishes, since only oneperson is on overnight “midrats” duty,instead of the usual four. The cook is MarkLehman, a Yellowstone Park residentworking his fifth season at the Pole, whois preparing assemble-it-yourself fajitasfor the larger than normal crowd that may– or may not – appear.

“It’s one of those nights where every-body shows up or nobody shows up,” hesaid.

Still, Lehman is able to get away longenough to play trumpet for one song in theheavy shop. As midnight nears the grow-ing crowd pays less attention to the chipsand pickled eggs and more to the dancefloor, but when the midnight hour strikesthere is no pause whatsoever to observe it.

“This is a ‘Near Year’s’ party. We don’tdo a countdown,” said “Cookie” JonEmanuel, head of food service at the sta-tion and lead singer and bassist of “Clearand Copious.”

At 12:30 a.m., an impromptu count-down finally happens. The party continuesfor a few more hours, with the “NPQ”drummer Doug “Dog” Forsythe filling infor both bands after his “Clear and

Copious” counterpart Solan Jenseninjured his hand while playing.

Many are up by 10 a.m. that day forone of the big events of the season: theannual dedication of a marker that signi-fies exactly where the geographic SouthPole is. A new marker has to be placedeach year because the ice shifts at a rate ofabout 39 feet per year.

Talk of another party surfaces as thereal New Year’s Eve approaches Tuesday,but on a much more informal scale. B.K.Grant, the station’s area director, said alarge number of people typically stay up tobring in the real New Year, but tend to dis-appear from whatever gathering they’re atfairly quickly to get a bit of sleep beforethe day shift begins.

“Six a.m. comes pretty early,” she said.

Near Year From page 7

Mark Lehman, the night shift cook at the South Pole, takes a shortbreak to play trumpet during a song at the station’s “Near Year’s Eve” party.Photo by Robert Schwarz/Special to The Antarctic Sun

South Pole employees Tony Black,

right, and ZephyrMcConnell hit

the dance floor during the station’s

“Near Year’s Eve Party.” Photo by Robert Schwarz/

Special to The Antarctic Sun

happyNEARYEAR!

exactly 90 degrees south, the geographic South Pole. A newmarker is placed each year because the bedrock at the SouthPole is covered by a glacial ice sheet nearly two miles thick thatis sliding downhill toward the Weddell Sea at the rate of rough-ly an inch a day. It moved 32 feet 8.4 inches during the pastyear.

"Happy New Year, South Pole," said B.K. Grant, area man-ager for the station, ending a ceremony that lasted only a fewminutes. The workers and skiers cheered, then began takingpictures of themselves and others at the new Pole and the mark-er attached to it.

The annual markers traditionally are designed and made bystaff who worked the previous winter at the station. The 2003design features a copper and aluminum Yin Yang pattern, witha depiction of a moonrise over the South Pole dome on one partand the new elevated station on the other. It was designed byEric Hansen and constructed by Michael Whitehead, bothemployees who worked the winter of 2002 at the Pole.

"This is a beautiful one," Grant said during the cer-emony. "They did an incredible job. This is some-thing that's going to stay with us forever."

The marker was attached to a supportpole by Angie Rutherford, a first-yeargeneral assistant from Whitefish,Mont. Station officials typicallyselect a person whose work theyconsider to be exceptional to per-form the task.

"I feel really honored to be apart of this," Rutherford said.

A sign identifying the markeras the geographical South Poleand featuring famous quotes byhistoric explorers RoaldAmundsen and Robert FalconScott was moved by surveyorsJack Giacalone and Kurt Skoog,who performed some of thepreparatory work, including diggingthe holes for the sign the day beforethe ceremony.

An ever-increasing line of poles fromprevious years stretches out several hundredyards on the plateau. If they are undisturbed andcontinue traveling at their present rate the polescould fall into the ocean, about 840 miles away, inroughly 140,000 years.

The markers left on the poles in past years are being col-lected and will be displayed in the new elevated station when itopens. Part of the reason is to provide a long-term locationwhere they can be easily viewed, but it will also protect againstpossible theft.

"There's been a couple stolen," said Larry Hothem, projectleader for geodetic science for the United States AntarcticProgram. "I know the 1994 marker is missing."

Hothem is also one of the U.S. Geological Survey officialswho spent about an hour just before Christmas taking preciseGlobal Positioning System (GPS) measurements to determine,relative to the continuous operating GPS observatory at theSouth Pole, where the current marker would be placed.

The measurements include corrections for ionosphericeffects and and can pinpoint the location within a few centime-ters. GPS receivers deployed at stations of an international net-


This year’s geographic South Pole marker was made byMichael Whitehead, a production engineer at Honeywell inMinnesota who spent the winter of 2002 at the Amundsen-ScottSouth Pole Station as a CARA/MAPO machinist engineer. Thefollowing is his account of how he created the marker:

The Pole marker is traditionally designed by a winter resi-dent the prior season, so we were responsible for the 2003 mark-er. Those interested submitted artwork and then voted to selectthe final Pole marker artwork. Eric Hansen’s artwork was cho-sen. I was the CARA/MAPO machinist/engineer and the personin that position is typically responsible for making the marker.

I made the Pole marker in the lab out at MAPO. They have anice macine shop, including Bridgeport mill and gear headengine lathe. The marker I made consists of 12 pieces made ofbrass, aluminum and copper. The “jewel mount” that holds it isaluminum. Pole markers are typically just a brass puck engravedwith the artwork. I have always been impressed with the pride

and workmanship of those at the Pole and decided touse my skills as an accomplished tool and die

maker and mechanical designer to capturethat spirit.

I ended up working a double shift thelast couple months of the season—

one shift for my job and anothershift working on the marker. Thetooling at MAPO was limited andthe marker was rather complex,so I ended up spending aboutthree hours making tooling andfixtures for every hour of workon the marker.

I really enjoyed workingwith Eric’s yin-yang theme andthe artwork in general. His art-work had challenges in itself due

to being submitted at about a 2.2Xscale. It was very detailed and

graphic and many of the lines defin-ing the old and new stations were less

than 0.01 inches apart when reduced tofit the 4-inch diameter material at hand. I

wanted to capture all of the detail of the art-work, so I needed to make a special fixture to

grind the engraving cutter to a 0.002 inch point.I inlayed aluminum and copper into the brass to

accentuate the yin-yang theme of the artwork andprovide some color. The copper should oxidize to a nice darkrust color and the aluminum should stay rather bright and shiny.

I wanted the characters to stand out and compliment the alu-minum part of the symbol, so I engraved the characters throughthe brass top ring and backed them up with an aluminum ring togive them the appearance of inlaid silver. The aluminum ringaround the yin-yang symbol helps isolate them and cases the let-ters in conjunction with the first aluminum ring around theperiphery of the outer edge of the marker. I also included a cop-per ring to tie in the copper of the symbol and an additional alu-minum ring below for balance.

To create sleek lines and a light impression, I machined a 6-inch radius on the top and bottom halves. I did not want fasten-ers to clutter the design, so I made the top and bottom halvesscrew together and capture the accent rings in between.

I would like to thank Jon Berry, Kathy Rawlins and VinceBollinger for their suggestions and help.

Marker From page 1 Marker a work of winter art

See Marker on page 10

Photo by Mark Sabbatini/The Antarctic Sun

The 2003 South Pole Marker


Marker From page 9

work, including locations in Antarcticasuch as McMurdo and Palmer stations,provide reference measurements thatallow accurate calculations.

Last-minute checks are later performedto make sure the measurements at the Poleare accurate and nobody has moved thetemporary marker indicating where thenew and official marker will be placed. Asit turns out the temporary marker wasmoved slightly this year, but officials wereable to correct it quickly.

The results from the GPS measure-ments are much more accurate than previ-ous methods, but since the ice is shiftingat the same rate and in the same directioneach year it is possible to use a simple pro-cedure for determining where the markeris placed, Hothem said.

"The motion of the ice is a constant, sowe could - if you wanted to - make it triv-ial," he said. "You could go off and mea-sure the distance along the line of motionrelative to the previous markers, which wesould know the position of within cen-timeters."

A person watching the Earth's rotationat high speed would see the South Polemarker wobble slightly, said MichaelHolstine, science technician for the CUSPresearch lab at the station.

"We're marking the geographic SouthPole, not the axis of the Earth," he said.

As for direction of the shift, anything

moving away from the South Pole isgoing north. In more navigational terms,the ice is moving along the 40-degreewest longitude line.

The South Pole dome is expected topass near - but not over - the geographicPole in 10 to 15 years. But nobody seemsworried the marker might have to beplaced under the dome where nobody canreach. Among other factors: the dome isscheduled to be replaced by 2007.

"I think by the time it (the marker) getsthat far the dome will be out of here any-way," Skoog said.

There are three "official" South Poles,plus one major ceremonial one. The geo-graphic Pole - the one at Amundsen-ScottSouth Pole Station that is relocated every

year - marks the bottom of the world at 90degrees south. A short walk away is theceremonial mirror-topped barbershopSouth Pole surrounded by flags ofAntarctic Treaty nations.

Second is the magnetic South Pole,where a compass needle able to move ver-tically as well as horizontally would pointstraight up. At the moment, the magneticSouth Pole is located off the Adelie Coastat about 65 degrees south, nearly 2,000miles from the geographic South Pole.This Pole moves northwesterly 10 to 15kilometers a year. It exists and movesbecause of Earth's iron-rich molten core.

The third is the geomagnetic SouthPole, the center of the auroral oval. Itowes its existence to the solar wind. It isin East Antarctica and is the most dynam-ic of the three, changing location withvariations in the solar wind.

For visitors and residents, a "hero shot"at the South Pole seems nearly mandatory.Most people end up with pictures of them-selves at both the real and the ceremonialgeographic poles.

"I think visitors pay more attention tothe ceremonial Pole because of the barberpole and all the flags," Skoog said. "Ithink people at the station who are in theknow pay more attention to the geograph-ic Pole."

A group of workers and scientists at theSouth Pole makes a New Year’s toast forpeace at the geographical pole marker.

Photo by Mark Sabbatini/The Antarctic Sun

Surveyors Jack Giacalone andKurt Skoog move the sign thatidentifies the geographic SouthPole to its new location for2003. Every year a new Pole,seen in the right of the picture,must be established to accountfor the movement of shifting icecovering the bedrock nearlytwo miles below.

“Visitors pay moreattention to the ceremonial Polebecause of the barber pole and allthe flags.... People at the sta-tion who are in theknow pay moreattention to thegeographic Pole.”

— Kurt Skoog, surveyor

Photo courtesy of Karen Feather



Penguins! With Uzis! The notedPrinciple Investigator raised his headfrom his knees and risked a glance atthe sentry standing next to the orangemesh fence. With an angry squawk,the penguin leveled his weapon intheir direction and opened fire. Bulletsdrilled a line of holes across theJamesway above the humans’ heads,showering them with wood chips. Thenoise was deafening, but when itended, the PI heard something evenworse: the nasty, high-pitched cackleof penguin laughter. The PI buried hishead in the huddle of red-coatedhumans. Someone sobbed in fear.Probably the camp cook, Kelly. Thesound brought another blast of gun-fire, another shower of splinters.

Don’t call attention to yourself!That had become his mantra. MacOpswould send someone to check onthem, eventually. Their radio checkwas hours overdue. Through his fin-gers, the PI watched their leader handhis Uzi to a subordinate and waddletoward him. A small foot landed aheavy blow on his shoulder, spinninghim onto his back. Their leader stareddown at him with glittering penguineyes—cold eyes. He had nevernoticed how cold their eyes were. Heclamped his hands tightly over hisown eyes to blot out those cold, darkeyes.

Suddenly, a blade of a beak thrustinto his mouth. He felt a raspedtongue slide over his own smoothtongue, then a lumpy mass of warmliquid filled his mouth. Vomit!Penguin vomit! The PI twisted to oneside and retched the pink liquid ontothe sea ice while their leader threw hishead back, brayed and pumped hiswings in the classic ecstatic display.

Screw the graduate students! Everyman for himself! The PI scrambled tohis feet and ran for the fence. Healmost made it.

I was born in Etrusca where my father was an urn-maker. My family was notwell off, but we always had enough millet to last the winter. Except, of course, forthe Insect Year, when all the villages starved. I especially remember one afternoonthat summer. We were playing down by the river when my friend Abda spotted afish caught in an eddy.

“Idyah!” he cried. “It is mine!” We all splashed into the water together, grab-bing at the fish and pulling each other down. The fish sparkled in the sunlightbefore disappearing into a hole. We dove after it and as we gave chase, it led us toan underwater tunnel. Swimming along, we soon came to a cavern where djinis inodd stockings were working at anvils. We ducked behind a rock, but they spottedus nevertheless.

“Come out, boys!” they shouted. “Do not be afraid! We will grant each of youone wish!”

Abda stood up first, his voice shaking. “Ndotis, if you please, I would like ourvillage urns to be filled with millet!”

“Granted!” cried the djinis.Urguk went next. “Ndotis, my family would be grateful for a herd of fat sheep!”“Granted!” cried the djinis.Then it was my turn. “Ndotis, I would beg to become a Dining Room Attendant

at McMurdo Station, Antarctica!”“Granted!” they cried again.And so, my friend, this is how I came to find myself here, scrubbing at the sides

of these pans with yourself. But now I must also ask from what place is your ori-gin? Ah, Denvercolorado! I do not know it, but to judge by your belly it must bea magnificent village, urns overflowing with millet! Oh, with Arbeez, you say?Well, I am sure it is most delicious!

RevoltFiction first place

by Rebecca Glover

The judge said, “I liked this story pri-marily for the humor, but also becausesomething actually happened in 300words! It was a fun twist on the “lookat the cute penguins” theme.”

Rebecca Glover is a second-year com-puter hardware technician at McMurdoStation. She was an English major atVanderbilt University and is currently work-ing on a master’s degree in writing popularfiction at Seton Hill University inGreensburg, Penn.

The Urn-maker’s SonFiction second place by Karen Joyce

The judge said “Again, the humor in this story was appealing. Iliked the use of the old-fashioned fable format. The author wasable to tell a complete story — beginning, middle and end — with300 words. The imaginary element made the story vibrant.”

Photo by Laura Hamilton,painter apprentice

Palmer Station

Tom and skua silhouette with Mt. WilliamsFirst place scenicThe judge said, "You have this human as big as the mountainand a large bird. It's a strange sense of proportion.... It makesan interesting photo."

Karen Joyce’sbio is on page 16.

12• The Antarctic Sun January 5, 2003


“Mac Ops on Mt. Aurora.” The cold subsided. Pressure

lifted from his chest. His handsand feet stopped hurting. Therewas only the lump of deadhand warmers in his gloves andboots.

Gail would get the car. Hesaw it in her eyes when he lefther in the airport, and he couldread between the lines in hermessages. She wasn’t askingfor the lawyer’s address to sendhim the papers, she was negoti-ating for the car.

D--n. That was Robert’s car. If only he could find the

radio. He would call Mac Opsand tell them to stop g-------Gail.

“... Mt. Aurora.” Before he left the hut they

told him walk west and he’d beokay, around the nose of theglacier.

Then the glacier disap-peared into a cloud. The land-scape was gone. The windstuck its fingers through gapsin his ECWs.

He thought about Gail whilehe walked, her green eyes.How many times had she saidshe loved him? Lots of years.Lots of time. Not anymore.

He pulled his zippers ashigh as they would go, tight-ened the hood until he couldonly see a circle of light, andkept going.

Until the wind got so strongit was hard to move. Then hehid behind the boulders.

He should drink or eat.Move. Anything to get warm.But he wasn’t cold anymore.

“J.T.” The radio kept going off. He

felt for it. His hand moved inhis mind, but when he lookeddown, it lay still like a part ofthe landscape. Gone.

Not that the radio wouldmake any difference. Nobodycould find him in this storm.

The cloud that ate themountain was upon him. Hefelt sharp particles of iceagainst his cheeks.

Then that was gone too.

Photo by Zee Evans, PM shop forewoman,

McMurdo Station

Swirling snowSecond place scenicThe judge said, "It looks like a science fiction set....It's strange,unearthly, Mars-like or something. It was taken under verystrange lighting circumstances."

Ice CloudFiction third place by Joe Mastroianni

Photo by Bill Servais, dentist, McMurdo Station

Moon over the Royal Society RangeThird place scenic

The judge said “The sorrowin this story really stuck withme after my first reading. Iliked the impressionisticstyle, and also the dramaticuse of the ice cloud mirroringthe emotional truth of thestory.”

Joe Mastroianni lives inCalifornia where he’s hoping hisabandoned career as a SiliconValley executive doesn’t inter-fere with his screenwriting andpublication of his novel aboutAntarctic adventure.

Fiction judge:Lucy Jane Bledsoe judged the fiction

entries. She was an NSF writer grantee in1999. She has published children’s novels, lit-erary essays and short stories, including onebased at McMurdo Station called “The Breathof Seals” which can be read on the Web athttp://www.blithe.com/bhq6.2/6.2.04.html

She wrote:“I want to congratulate all the Antarctican

writers who were brave enough to submit astory for the fiction contest. Writing a good300-word short story is considerably more dif-ficult than writing a 10-page one. I looked forstories that were complete, i.e. moved a char-acter from one state of being to another, andstories that elicited a genuine response in methe reader, like humor or sorrow.”



Photo by Cara Sucher, lab supervisor, Palmer Station

Hot Day on Torgy Adelie penguin chicks on Torgersen IslandFirst place wildlifeThe judge said, "They are just so cute. They are really hard to resist."

Photo by Joe Pettit, station manager,

Palmer Station

ReverieA blue-eyed shagSecond place wildlifeThe judge said, "This one is just really very elegant."

Diane died. I ran. South forthe winter, where it is actuallysummer – an Austral Summer, aPolar Summer - one long sum-mer day in Antarctica.

Stepping off the C-141 planeonto the ice runway, I waddle,overstuffed in the downy insula-tion, neck craning to take it allin. Everything is new, every-thing is different. That’s thepoint, isn’t it? I’ve left behind ahusband of 33 years, grownsons, my life in suburbia.

I think about Diane. Is this allshe would have needed to saveherself? Detective Boatrightchronicled the books in Diane’sbackpack the day she died:Scared Life, The ReluctantShaman, Life on the Path. Shewas striving, as I am. We livedremarkably parallel lives.

A passage in Worsley’sEndurance describes how earlyAntarctic sailors searched theclouds for iceblinks. Glaringwhite reflections on the under-side of clouds indicated packice. Darker lanes pointed toopen water and a way out.Diane desperately needed aniceblink, a way to chart a courseout of the pack ice of her past.

She possessed an innate abil-ity to see motives not readilyapparent to others. This sort ofability in mid-life can cripple.She sensed being overlooked,dismissed. Accomplishmentsshrouded in the cloak of middleage.

Two shots were fired in thehouse at chest level – as if shewere aiming at something orsomeone. The third shot wasfired in the yard. A shot-gunblast to her chest. Gun held anarm length away.

This place where the sunruns seamless circuits above thehorizon, where unseen forcestrick the eye with invertedimages and splash sun dogs onthe horizon…this place of mythand heroic acts …this place ofisolation and refuge…this placecould have saved you, Diane.It’s going to save me.

Ice BlinksNon-fiction first place

by Susan Monroe

The judge said, “In addi-tion to having all the ele-ments of a powerful pieceof nonfiction writing, theprose here is clear andcareful, strong, and fullof detail. A beautiful,sad, and moving piece ofwriting.”

Susan MacGregorMonroe, PhD, is senioranalytical chemist atMcMurdo Station in herfirst season on the Ice. Heronly previous writing expe-rience involved scientificjournal articles and/or tech-nical papers.

Non-fiction judge:Gretchen Legler, PhD,judged the non-fictionentries. She is an associateprofessor of creative writ-ing in the Department ofHumanities at theUniversity of Maine atFarmington. She was a NSFwriter grantee in 1997. Shehas published one book, AllThe Powerful InvisibleThings: A Sportswoman’sNotebook, and numerousessays, stories and articles.



The sun set March 20th. Wewatched out the windows of thenew station as the giant yolk, sittingon its vast white, sank lower andlower - a radioactive egg glowingsunny-side up. The clouds werepink around the edges as they nes-tled in the darkening blue, like aGeorgia O'Keeffe painting. Amonth later it’s as though we’venever seen the sun at all.

It’s much colder - minus 80 orbelow. Breathing is like sucking inbaby bee stings. Everything fogs upand I find it easiest to get aroundwithout glasses or goggles. I pull myhat low and my neck gaiter up to myeyes, leaving a slit to see. I fall downfrom time to time, but since I neverknow it’s coming I don’t tense upand seem to bounce. Wearing 50pounds of clothing helps.

Sometimes this life seems soincredibly difficult and I want toshake my fist at the Gods. And it allsnowballs into bigger questions oflife and pain and hunger in theworld, and children born into unlov-ing situations and mean people and,and, and…

And what could I possibly doabout it all from here? Then I sit onmy knees and weep, tears freezingto my lashes.

More often I walk to the storageberms or milvans and wonder howlucky I am to be here. We see auro-ras now almost daily - sometimes abroad sweep of God’s paintbrush orcurling up like the smoke off a giantcigar and shimmering high in theheavens. Other times they dripdown like animated chandelier crys-tals. They seem to dip low enoughto reach up and grab one. If I couldgrasp one would I touch the face ofthis southern God who challengesme so?

Photo by Laura Hamilton, Painter apprentice,

Palmer Station

Penguins porpoisingThird place wildlifeThe judge said, "This is really about penguin life. We forgetthat they spend all their time in the water."

The longest nightNon-fiction second place

by Judy Spanberger

The judge said “The strengths ofthis second-place winner include:beautifully descriptive figurativelanguage....Compelling and beauti-ful writing.”

Judy Spanberger’s 2002 winter atthe South Pole as the construction cargosenior was her second winter and her10th season since starting with the pro-gram in 1988. Last summer she servedas South Pole correspondent for TheAntarctic Sun.

Light flickers through the skylight, theairborne turbine whining, downdraftthumps against the walls of the hut. Inthe air, the scent of toasted muffins andmelted butter. A couple breakfast platesare piled beside the sink.

In the corner the radio barks, bustingthe temporary silence into shards of daylike ice. The glaciologists are off toCommonwealth, then the Canada.

There’s a creak in the heavy doorwhen it opens, reverse refrigerator. It’s asound that becomes part of you, so youdon’t hear it anymore. You just knowwhat it means. Someone walks in, tossesa hat onto the table, checks to see ifthere’s any hot water left and, findingnone, sets some on for tea.

In front of you, granola in a melmacbowl, the kind your grandmother had.Coffee mug of orange juice. Formicatable and folding chairs straight from thelast church bazaar.

Someone grumbles about the heloschedule. A joke about the rocket toilet.

Clear the sleep out of your throat tolaugh.

Have you been drinking enoughwater? How many days will you wearthese socks? Is the sun still rising over thehouse you lived in as a child?

Did you ever think you’d look up oneday to see the glacier face, the mass ofblue ice that groans and shatters like anupturned china cabinet?

You say, “In your life did you everthink…”

She answers, “What?” first word she’ssaid today.

Say it’s science. Say it’s work. Say it’sa pain.

Outside it’s not wintertime Chicago,or a blustery Boston afternoon, or Paris,or Stockholm, or even Ulan Bator.

When the door opens and the sun tearsin on a Paleolithic blast of air, lookaround. So little of the universe is inhab-itable.

And here you are.Antarctica.

Morning, Lake Hoare, Summer 2002Non-fiction third place

by Joe Mastroianni

The judge said: “The power of this short piece comes from the wonderful sensorydetail about smells and sounds, and also the turn in the middle, where the narratormakes the connection between his/her life in Antarctica and his/her childhood throughthe melmac bowl full of granola....A wonderful piece of writing.”



Photo by Zac Willette, general assistant,McMurdo Station

Halloween sunlightFirst place peopleThe judge said, "You see this sort of photo a lot, but this one isreally successful. Something real fortuitous happened here."

Photo by Graham Tilbury, Palmer Station

Launching XBT’s from the LM GouldSecond place people

The judge said, "It really gives you a sense of the volume andpower of water in the ocean and how vulnerable we are to it."

Photo by DougRuuska,

met tech Onset D camp

Retiring Old GloryHonorable mentionpeople

The white ofmorning

Poetry first place by Stefan Pashov

The white of the morningopens it’s empty hand,and everywhere I go,

I am just in the centerof the world.

The judge chose this poem“for its elegant expression ofa complex thought in decep-tively simply terms.”

Stefan Pashov is in his sec-ond McMurdo season, workingin supply. He left Bulgaria in1986, where he had degrees inworld literature, linguistics, his-tory, theory of culture and phi-losophy. He teaches poetry writ-ing and has put together a bookof about 700 short meditations.

Poetry judge: Bill Fox wasa NSF writer grantee in 2001.His coming book on “envi-sioning Antarctica: historyand nature of antarcticimages” will be his fifth non-fiction book on how peopletransform land into landscape.



Lucullan vistacrowns the height of that hill,severed by a sword of one word,secret of an only sky,commands the sun to fall,falter in flattened sheenagainst glacial waves,rigid ice-islandson a blue plate,

Snow mountains teethethrough cloudswhite as light,crystal rivers emptyslowing time,as if seabecame land,and formed one soul,one life,uttering it’s lone word,within an eternal howlof winter —Be.

Photo by Mark Furnish, waste operations manager,

McMurdo Station

Trash Truck 2002 or 1962?Third place peopleThe judge said, "This is just such a classic-style photograph."

Ob HillPoetry third place

by Ron Smith

The judge said, “It deals pre-cisely with what the landscapedemands as a human response.”

Ron Smith is the Air NationalGuard Liaison for the NSF Officeof Polar Programs and previouslycame to the Antarctic with the109th Airlift Wing. He is seekingto publish his first book of poetry,with previous publication inobscure magazines.

Photo by Geoff Gilbert, environmental remediation,

McMurdo Station

untitledHonorable mentionpeople

I refuse to go jogging with penguins.They insist upon changing directions.All that sprinting and stopping And preening and floppingWe’ll never get anywhere, hopping.

And then there’s the Antarctic Treaty.Yes I know that this isn’t Tahiti.Our species must neverDisturb or endeavorTo jog with the locals. A pity.

No, penguins make poor running mates.When choosing a partner, a penguin equatesTo picking a man with a soccerball bellyStubby little legs and a body like jelly.If I could find no one else, I suppose they would doBut where would I find them a good Nike shoe?

I refuse to go jogging with penguins

Poetry second place by Karen Joyce

The judge said:“It’s funny, which is difficult to do inan Antarctic poem without lapsing into bad imitationsof Robert Service, and compact in expression.”

Karen Joyce writes “In my 12 years onthe ice, I’ve weathered more regime changesthan an Albanian peasant. During the day, Icoordinate computer support for the CraryLab. But my best work is done at night:committing occupational suicide by writingcomedy novels about life in McMurdo.”



Photo by Robbie Liben, senior computer technician, McMurdo Station

Flags on the Castle Rock TrailSecond place otherThe judge said about her selections for the other category, "These are three totally different images....Thereason I picked them is that here, we can see ordinary things in a different way."

Photo by Cara Sucher, Lab supervisor, Palmer Station

Bar iceThird place other

I am Bunny Boots.You mock me because you loveHow I make you sweat.

Spring sun warms snowSlumbering stream awakensTwo wood ducks dance

Wind strums McMurdoVolcano island musicPhone wires are singing

Haiku judge: AndrewMcCarter, currently a cur-riculum and assessment spe-cialist, worked in the wastebarn of McMurdo last season.Last year he was a doublewinner in the writing contest.

Bunny Boot HaikuHaiku first place by Zac Willette

Spring sunHaiku second place by James Battaglia

Wind strums McMurdoHaiku third place by Karen JoyceJames Battaglia

is a first-season elec-trician’s apprenticeat McMurdo Station.He writes haiku,anecdotes about hisexperiences andsome short stories.

Zac Willette, afirst-season generalassistant at McMurdo,loves being from BlueEarth Minnesota. Hegrooves on language,digs visuals and miss-es teaching.

The judge said “the lines of this poem arethemselves like three taut, parallel wires of atiny musical instrument.”

The judge said “This poem, like spring itself,slowly comes to life.”

The judge said “1! 2! 3! Bunny counts out thecompetition with three confident declarations.”


“It could be quite significant,” saidWarren Sharp, another researcher at theBerkeley Geochronology Center.“Determining the ages of surfaces is ofinterest in many areas of geology, forinstance, glaciology and related paleocli-mate work.”

Bombarded by particlesCosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmos-

phere from all directions, setting offnuclear reactions that spray out ions andsubatomic particles such as neutrons.

“It’s basically this constant rain of par-ticles on the Earth,” Renne said.

As they strike the ground, the particlessometimes blast elements in the top fewcentimeters, splitting off pieces and trans-forming them into other isotopes. Manysuch reactions are known to produce heli-um-3, for example, and an atom of calci-um or potassium could be hit by a particleand turned into argon.

The particles hit people and animals,too, but normally we aren’t around longenough for the barrage to have any long-range effects, Renne said. Rocks, on theother hand, lie around like targets for thou-sands or even millions of years, longenough for the particles to leave theirmark. Often these marks fade, since thecosmogenic, or cosmically-caused, iso-topes produced are radioactive and decayaway.

The trick is to find isotopes that are sta-

ble or have a long half-life that can be eas-ily read. So far, stable helium-3 is the besttool geologists have for studying ancientrock surfaces. Geologists have establishedthat helium-3 is created in many mineralsat a rate of about 100 atoms per gram peryear when cosmic rays blast apart heavieratoms. With that knowledge they can mea-sure the number of atoms of helium-3 in aparticular rock and know how long thatrock has been exposed.

“Right now the major techniques thatget used for this are isotopes that requirevery, very expensive instrumentation,which really limits what you can do,” saidKen Farley, a geologist at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology.

Argon would be better than helium-3because it is not prone to leaking out ofminerals, as helium does, “which meanswe can use this isotope to study rock far,far back in geologic time,” Renne said.Argon and helium are both noble gases, arare group of gases exhibiting great stabil-ity and low reaction rates.

“Argon is really the lightest noble gasthat gets stuck,” Renne said.

Argon could also be tested for withsmaller rock samples than the tens ofgrams needed for two other commonlystudied cosmogenic isotopes – beryllium-10 and aluminum-26, Renne said. Theapplication of both beryllium-10 and alu-minum-26 is limited by their radioactivity.

Before geologists can use argon as a

measuring stick to date rock, Renne needsto calibrate it. To do that, he needed anumber of rock samples likely to containcosmogenic argon.

Several years ago, Farley used helium-3 to measure the rate of uplift in the DryValleys and gave Renne some of the min-eral samples. In them, Renne found argon-38, an isotope he’d previously measuredon moon rocks.

Argon-38 is more common in moonrocks, because the moon is exposed tohigher levels of cosmic radiation than canmake it through the Earth’s protectiveatmosphere. The moon’s surface is alsovery stable, like the Dry Valleys. Otherscientists have measured argon-38 in lunarrocks and meteorites for about 30 years,but Renne’s team was the first to detect iton Earth.

“Where you’re really going to see it isplaces with really, really low erosion rates,like the moon or Antarctica,” Renne said.“The Dry Valleys are without question theslowest eroding place on Earth.”

Indeed, a Swiss study five years agofound a boulder on Mt. Feather in the DryValleys that had been exposed to the sur-face for at least 10 million years, based ontheir measurements of helium-3. Much ofthe Transantarctic range has been exposedfrom 1 million to 5 million years. In otherareas of the world, it’s more typical to findrocks that have been exposed for 1,000 to

Rock From page 1

See Rock on page 19

Photo courtesy of Paul RenneKim Knight collects rock samples in the McMurdo Dry Valleys to test for cosmogenicargon-38, which could become a new way to gauge the age of stones.

“Hello, naturallaboratory....We’re using thebest possibleplace to get thebest possibledata on our productionrates.”

— Kim Knight, geology student


100,000 years.“More than a million years is very unusual,” Renne said.Antarctica also receives twice as much cosmic radiation as

lower latitudes because the Earth’s magnetic field is especiallysteep here, which means the deflection of incoming protons is min-imized. Renne knew the best samples would be found someplacewith nearly flat or gently rounded mesas and no glacial erosion.

The Dry Valleys were ideal.“Hello, natural laboratory,” said Kim Knight, a graduate stu-

dent at the University of California at Berkeley, who is workingwith Renne. “We’re using the best possible place to get the bestpossible data on our production rates.”

Lab workRenne and Knight collected 20 rock samples from Salmon

Hill, Schist Peak, Beacon Valley, Table Mountain and MountFleming. They’ve taken the samples back to the BerkeleyGeochronology Center in Berkeley, Calif, where Renne was thefounding director and currently is a geochronologist.

They will grind the rocks coarsely to separate out the mineralsthey are most interested in – those rich in calcium and potassium– which show up as shiny specks in the rock. They’ll test thesamples for the starting minerals by irradiating them in a nuclearreactor and measuring how much argon-37 and argon-39 are cre-ated from calcium and potassium respectively. Then the samplesare gradually heated to determine how much argon already exist-ed in the rock and how much came from cosmic radiation.

“The atoms don’t have cosmogenic and non-cosmogenic writ-ten on them,” Renne said.

About 20 milligrams of the crystal, like a pinch of salt, is putin a near vacuum and slowly heated with a laser. After the sam-ple reaches about 600C it begins to release argon. The first argonreleased comes from the atmosphere. About 0.8 percent of theEarth’s atmosphere is argon and of that, 0.06 percent is argon-38.

“It’s only when you start to really heat these crystals up andthe chemical bonds start breaking that you get the cosmogenicargon,” Renne said.

Young rocks won’t have any cosmogenic argon, but old rockslike those found in the Dry Valleys will.

At 900C, the powdered rock glows orange. At 1,100C it’s iri-descent, like a lava lake. Eventually it becomes white hot. After it

cools all that is left is a radioactive bead of black or green glass andhopefully a new understanding of the rate at which cosmogenicargon develops in rocks. That knowledge will have a number ofapplications, including studying the erosion history of land massesand the uplift of major mountains.

“We can look at the balance between processes that upliftmountains and processes that erode mountains,” Knight said.

Potentially argon-38 and helium-3 could be used together tolearn about the elevation of the Earth’s surface as a function oftime, Farley said. If that works, they might help determine whenthe Tibetan plateau became elevated, an “incredibly importantEarth science problem that nobody’s been able to solve,” Farleysaid. “The Tibetan plateau controls a tremendous amount of glob-al climate."

Rock From page 18

Photo courtesy of Paul Renne

Paul Renne uses helicopters to find likely sites for the kind of rocksamples he needed, usually flat or slightly rounded mesas withoutglacial erosion, where the stones would have been exposed for along time.

Everyone’s a winnerin the

Antarctic Photo and Writing ContestBecause anyone can print their own copy of

the 2003 calendar featuring the winning entries.When you have access to a color printer and legal-sized

paper, go to www.polar.org/antsun and print it out.

(Those who actually placed in one of the categories will receive a calendar print-ed out by The Antarctic Sun. Stop by the office in McMurdo, or wait patiently for itto arrive by mail.)

20• The Antarctic Sun January 5, 2003

By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Getting to Antarctica was Bob Farrell’sboyhood dream. Being there has becomehis career.

Farrell had wanted to go to Antarcticasince he read Admiral Byrd’s book Alonewhen he was 12. As soon as Farrell finishedcollege he began asking around about jobsthere. He was teaching English in Japanwhen he finally landed a job as a gener-al assistant at the South Pole, flying allthe way to Denver to interview.

Since then, Farrell has spent adecade in the Antarctic program. Heworked his way up to area director forPalmer Station. A neck injury kepthim from deploying to Palmer thisseason, where he was supposed to putin his fourth season as station manag-er. The winter station manager, JoePettit, who has been there sinceMarch, had to continue in that positionfor a full year.

“It’s his first time as a station man-ager and he’s done an exceptionaljob,” Farrell wrote from Denver.

In Palmer, Farrell is remembered asa movie buff with a sense of humor.

“He likes to laugh, tell jokes and isvery sociable,” said Tom Cohenour, whoworked with Farrell in past years.

A fan of the Austin Powers movies,Farrell dressed as Dr. Evil last Halloweenin Palmer and often quoted lines from theseries: “Why must I be surrounded byidiots!” or “I will not tolerate your inso-lence!” He sometimes even broadcastsoundclips from the movies over the all-call system, Cohenour said, “All done inhumor, of course.”

The humor is balanced with work.“He’s an approachable, concerned

leader, who can focus on the big issues,lay down the law when he has to, but stillmanage to have a lot of fun,” said BarbWatson, an instrument technician atPalmer Station who worked with Farrelllast year.

Stuck back in Denver this season,Farrell can see all the movies he wants,but misses Palmer.

Palmer is the smallest of the three U.S.research stations in Antarctica, with a sup-port staff of 24. That’s exactly whatFarrell likes about it.

“I like the community aspect,” Farrellsaid. “That’s the best thing about Palmer,that it’s a small and interdependent com-munity.”

The same types of tasks need to bedone as at a larger station. But with fewerpeople to share the responsibility, every-

one has to have a broad range of abilities,such as the mechanic who takes care of allthe vehicles and the power plant, or thestation doctor who also takes air samples.

“The downside of it being small is youhave very, very little private space,”Farrell said.

Fifteen people often share one bathroom.

There is no space to go for a run, sincePalmer is on a small patch of bare groundsurrounded by water and a glacier. To getaway from it, Farrell walks up on the glaci-er when the weather is good or goes out in azodiac, the small boats they use.

“Just to get out to the backyard or outin a boat clears your head, gives you a bet-ter perspective.”

One time he was out in a zodiac and sawsome whales. They cut the engines to watchand soon three humpback whales were sur-facing within a few feet of the boat.

Those good weather chances don’tcome very often, though.

“We have this reputation of being theClub Med or the Banana Belt,” Farrellsaid. “But a lot of times it’s rainy and gray.You can’t get out. You can’t see the beau-tiful mountains.”

Even when the weather is nice stationmanager Farrell is often stuck in hisoffice. He’s dealt with some difficult situ-ations from there.

“There are times I felt we just had aguardian angel watching over us,” Farrellsaid.

One of those was in the winter of 2000,when a man at Palmer had a heart attackand needed to be medevacced. The ques-tion was whether to send the station’s onlydoctor out with the patient.

Both ships, the Nathaniel B. Palmer

and the Laurence M. Gould, were at thedock meant for only one ship. In PalmerStation’s normally windy weather it wouldhave been disastrous, with the wind andwaves knocking the ships into each otherand the dock. But for a full day and nightthe wind and waves stayed calm, just longenough to stabilize the patient and send

him out without the doctor.“When it works out well it’s a

relief and you learn a lot of lessonsfrom it,” Farrell said.

On another occasion, PalmerStation was able to help out one of itsneighbors, Rothera Station. TheBritish ship James Clark Ross, carry-ing 16 passengers and cargo forRothera, couldn’t make it to theBritish station because of ice. Instead,it pulled up alongside the Gould,which was at dock that day. The cargowas transferred across the ships to thedock, then the community pitched into haul it up the hill to the glacier,where four British Twin Otters landedand shuttled the people and gear tothe station.

“It was one of these great Antarcticexperiences – international cooperation,community spirit, everyone just workingso hard,” Farrell said.

Farrell is also the official stationgreeter when tour boats come. ThoughPalmer is the smallest of the U.S.Antarctic stations, it gets the most visitorsbecause it is on the well-traveled cruiseroute along the Antarctic Peninsula. Onlya dozen tour boats are allowed to disem-bark passengers at Palmer each year.

“It’s a balance, because it’s a hugeimpact when they come ashore,” Farrellsaid. “But it’s also energizing because youget these people who are so thrilled bythings we take for granted.”

Last season a larger cruise ship came toPalmer for the first time, HollandAmerica’s 1,266-passenger Ryndam. Theship dwarfed the station and carried toomany passengers to let them come ashore,but Farrell and others went aboard to givea talk.

“That was surreal. We got onto the shipand it was like this four-star hotel,” Farrellsaid.

Posh as it was, Farrell was happy toreturn to his more modest accommoda-tions at Palmer Station.

“It’s a magical place at times, whereyou just stop and you’re awestruck bywhat’s around you,” Farrell said. “All ofAntarctica is.”

Profile Big duties come with leadingsmallest U.S. Antarctic station

Photo by Kristin van Konyneburg/Special to The Antarctic SunBob Farrell near Palmer Station last season.

non-human life form seen at pole

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