(Not so) Short catch-up post (first field work, New Year's, Limno Team Lightening Round, Marr Ponds)

8:15pm Tuesday, 1/10/2012
35°F


I am waaaaaaaay behind in posting. A lot has happened in the last two weeks! 


I my first field work with my co-worker Kathy from December 27-28. We did a 2 day overnight trip to Talyor Valley and collected samples along Priscu Stream on the first day, stayed the night at Lake Hoare field camp, and then sampled Delta Stream the next day. On the way back to McMurdo from Delta Stream, took the long way around/across Taylor Glacier and made a short stop in Miers Valley to collect 2 samples. Priscu Stream starts at the La Croix Glacier and flows west and ends at East Lake Bonney. Delta Stream flows north from the Howard Glacier and ends in Lake Fryxell.

Kathy getting across Priscu Stream with the La Croix
Glacier behind her

My Scott tent and me in front of the Canada Glacier at
Lake Hoare field camp (you can see a bit of the lake
to the right of me in the photo)

Howard Glacier at the head of Delta Stream

Life in Delta Stream!

Me in the helicopter as we flew over
Taylor Glacier

The helicopter (a Bell 212) we took from Delta Stream,
over Taylor Glacier, to Miers Valley
(this is in Miers Valley)

New Year's Eve was a fun celebration with a chili cook off and an outside concert. It really amazes me how talented a lot of the people here are. I spent a good chunk of time before and during New Year's Eve cleaning/preparing sample bottles for use in the field once my PhD adviser got down here.


Oh! I did a "night" hike to Castle Rock, which is ~2 miles north of McMurdo, the night before New Year's Eve. A big group of us went out at about 8pm and hiked over to the rock and climbed up it. 

Castle Rock and me at 11pm on 12/30/2011

Poorly framed photo of me with
Mt. Erebus in the background taken
from the top of Castle Rock

Berry arrived on the 3rd. Right after he arrived I departed for a 4 day trip to Taylor Valley with the Limno Team (team in our research group that studies lakes, aka limnology) to help with their "Lightening Round" of sampling. The Limno Team focuses on the four lakes in the Taylor Valley: Fryxell, Hoare, East Bonney, and West Bonney. Their "Lightening Round" of sampling included depth profiles with several instruments that measure light intensity, chlorophyll, salinity, and other geochemical parameters, and collecting 11-16 samples through18-38 meters of the water column, depending on the lake. The water we collected at predetermined sampling depths was later partitioned for various uses, like bacteria samples, dissolved organic carbon, nutrients, anions, cations, and chlorophyll (collected on filters). I also collected my own samples directly from the water we took from depth (using a Niskin sampler- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Niskin-bottle.jpg). I will analyze the stable isotope composition of the lake water itself to determine whether/how much evaporation has affected the lake water. I didn't take photos during the "Lightening Round" because we were so busy! But, I did take a few  photos after we sampled at Lake Hoare field camp because we had a weather day and could not be helicoptered (I guess that is a verb) to Lake Bonney. East and West Lake Bonney are connected by a shallow river. That area is called The Narrows. The lakes are considered separate, however, because the chemistry of each lake is different. 

Lake Hoare Field Station

Looking west from Lake Hoare
camp down Taylor Valley

Looking south (ish) from Lake
Hoare camp across the lake and
at Canada Glacier

Looking east from Lake Hoare 
camp at Canada Glacier and
 the labs and solar panels

After getting back from "Lightening Round" we had lots of sample processing to do, well all I had to do was filter a lot of samples. But, I helped my fellow Limno Team with their samples. We had to filter samples and prepare samples after sampling each lake. This was quite a lot of work to be sampling all day and then all afternoon and evening processing samples. It was great fun!


A couple days after getting back, Berry, my PhD adviser, and I went for a day trip and sampled the Marr Ponds, which are just north of the toe of the Marr Glacier along the southern wall of Talyor Valley. We did this work today, in fact! Hooray, I am caught up!! We only had a couple hours of ground time. After scoping out the area we collected a few samples (one set from each pond) and then headed back. Today was only the second time that I've gotten to fly in an A Star. They are the sports cars of the helicopters down here, of which there are only two types with the other being a Bell 212. A Stars don't require a technician besides the pilot and one of the passengers gets to sit up front next to the pilot and enjoy great views!

From left to right, the A Star, me, and Berry in the Marr Ponds area