Aerial view of an ice tongue in the Taylor Valley area.
Aerial view of an ice tongue in the Taylor Valley area.
Ice falls in the Taylor Valley area.
Coalescing ice falls in the Taylor Valley area.
Taylor Valley. What a magnificent place.
The magnetometer torpedo deployed.
Ice tongue in the Taylor Valley area.
Aerial view of McMurdo and Ob Hill.
Final rack configuration. Whew!
Lenticular clouds around Mt. Erebus.
The U.T. team with Mt. Erebus in the background.
Me during a walk from the ice runway to McMurdo (3 miles).
View of McMurdo from the sea ice.
I lived in this building while we stayed in McMurdo.
Sea ice near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Sea ice near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Small iceberg near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
The edge of a larger iceberg.
Sea ice near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
The edge of a larger iceberg.
The ragged edge of B15-A.
Tabular icebergs locked in sea ice.
Huge crack on the ice shelf.
Huge crack on the ice shelf.
Huge crack on the ice shelf.
Huge crack on the ice shelf.
Other textures of Byrd glacier.
Towards the top of Byrd glacier. These crevasses were huge.
Towards the top of Byrd glacier. These crevasses were huge.
Confluence of a tributary and Byrd glacier.
Confluence of a tributary and Byrd glacier.
Aerial view of the sea ice.
Flight to Wilson-Piedmont.
Flight to Wilson-Piedmont.
Icebergs temporarily locked in sea ice.
Four ice tongues flowing in the dry valleys area.
Glacier in the dry valleys area.
Tabular iceberg locked in the sea ice.
Bubba truck, Antarctica style.
Sub-compact, Antarctica style.
Mud flap, Antarctica style.
First Class on the Thwaites Express. (A Herc.)
This is the Herc that took us to Thwaites.
Another view of the Herc at Thwaites Intergalactic Aerodrome.
Our Herc taking off to return to McMurdo.
My new address for the next two months.
This is the view from my tent looking back towards camp.
This is my tent with a view of its "front yard".
View of the camp area from my tent.
Typical view of the survey area.
View of the inside of my tent, looking towards the main door.
Close up view of the boot pit.
Close up view of the boot pit and storage cellar.
Me beside my tent in flat lighting conditions.
Another great example of the disconcerting flat light.
Gina about to launch a weather balloon.
Flying near the base of the Crary mountains.
Large crevasses and wavy ice as we fly towards the coast.
Close up of the crevasses.
Two crevasses in the middle of nowhere.
Different view of the ice sheet.
Kite + Banana sled = fun.
Kite + Banana sled = fun.
Kite + Banana sled = fun.
Fuel stop at Pine Island.
The "galley" at Pine Island.
Anatoly discussing our flight with BAS scientists.
A view of Pine Island camp.
SJB on the "tarmac" at Pine Island.
Endurance tents & solar panels at Pine Island.
Crevasses and pools near the coast.
This be Thwaites glacier in an area where the ice flow was evident.
This be Thwaites glacier in an area where the ice flow was evident.
This was probably one of the most beautiful flights we had.
This is the terminus of Taylor glacier. On its bottom right edge one can see Blood Falls, a scientifically interesting area where researchers are studying why bacteria rich in iron live there.
Tents, and even individual researchers can be seen.
The area where my feet are was at -10 degrees F.
This is the mother of all icebergs, at 30Km wide by 295 Km long. Keep in mind that only 10% of a free-floating iceberg is above the water.
For whatever reason this is one of my favourite pictures. I guess the contrast of the near-black water with the resplendent ice helps.
If this crack continues, it may produce an iceberg in the category of B15-A. This crack went on from the water "inland" for 20 - 30 miles and then disappeared. It was as wide as a city block. The ocean can be seen at the top of the picture.
If this crack continues, it may produce an iceberg in the category of B15-A. This crack went on from the water "inland" for 20 - 30 miles and then disappeared. It was as wide as a city block.
If this crack continues, it may produce an iceberg in the category of B15-A. This crack went on from the water "inland" for 20 - 30 miles and then disappeared. It was as wide as a city block. The crack disappears "inland" towards the top of the picture.
If this crack continues, it may produce an iceberg in the category of B15-A. This crack went on from the water "inland" for 20 - 30 miles and then disappeared. It was as wide as a city block.
This is a fairly wide river of ice, that like its liquid counterparts has calmer areas and turbulent ones. Overall it was a very treacherous and extremely beautiful area.
Once again in the area of the dry valleys. What a spectacle.
We were done surveying and were returning to McMurdo perhaps 50ft. off the deck. It was a fabulous ride. We flew among the icebergs.
We were done surveying and were returning to McMurdo perhaps 50ft. off the deck. It was a fabulous ride. We flew among the icebergs.
Possibly the finest piece of Antarctic-humor I saw. Unfortunately it was not chromed.
A bulldozer unloads our luggage and cargo.
In this photo you can see one of our two fuel bladders in the foreground.
It was a very strange feeling seeing the plane depart and actually realizing that it happened just dropped us in the middle of nowhere, and would be back to pick us up in two months.
The vestibule area, which is not quite inside the tent but under the outer roof was dug out as boot pit.
My tent, of course, is in the furthest away corner of the camp.
When seen from a distance, it was a spec at best on the white sheet.
This is what the majority of the survey area looked like. Sometimes we could fly for nine hours and not see anything different than this. Isolation chamber, anyone?
Sometimes, in the middle of the white plain, there would be some nunataks. It always made me wonder what lay below the ice.
The main door is open so the vestibule can be seen. The over roof could be zipped closed as well. That is the area where the boot pit was.
On the right side, the storage cellar that I dug out can be seen.
It was snowing lightly with fifteen knots of wind.
It is fascinating that these two things were completely isolated somewhere along our transect line. From the surface point of view there was absolutely no reason for them to be there. What could be lurking below? That is exactly what we came to find out.
Oh, if our survival bags only included a snowboard...
Sometimes it was textured with small sastrugi.
This sequence of 3 pictures show what fun can be had with a banana sled and a 1.5-meter kite in strong wind.
This sequence of 3 pictures show what fun can be had with a banana sled and a 1.5-meter kite in strong wind.
This sequence of 3 pictures show what fun can be had with a banana sled and a 1.5-meter kite in strong wind.
When surveying the northern reaches of our area (that it grid north, not regular north), we would often stop at Pine Island camp to refuel. This was the base for our British Antarctic Survey colleagues.
Anatoly with two BAS scientists, one of who is temporarily acting as cook. Dave V. on the right.
And a perfect example of the "soft focus" problem that my camera has. Pitiful!!
