[meteorite-list] Ice Diary 2: Great Scott, A Ghost (Life In The Antarctic)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:31 2004
Message-ID: <200302271916.LAA19028_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

For JPL internal use only.

http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=384&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Ice Diary 2: Great Scott, A Ghost
Astrobiology Magazine
February 27, 2003

Summary: The "Ice Diary" series explores the adventures
of a dedicated group of meteor hunters. The National
Science Foundation, NASA and the Smithsonian collect and
curate extraterrestrial samples scoured from the South
Pole. In this chronicle, our explorers consider ghosts of
pioneer trekkers like Robert Scott.

Ice Diary 2
Great Scott, A Ghost

29 November, 2002

Hello, my name is Danny Glavin, and I feel
extremely lucky to be a part of the ANSMET
team. As part of my thesis research, I studied how
micrometeorites collected from the Antarctic ice
could have delivered extraterrestrial organic
material to the early Earth, potentially seeding the
planet with the building blocks of life. One
meteorite found in Antarctica by ANSMET that
has received an enormous amount of publicity is
the Martian meteorite ALH84001.

This rock was blasted off of the surface of Mars
millions of years ago by a large impact, sent flying
into space, and eventually landed in the Allan Hills
region of Antarctica about 13,000 years ago. In 1996, a
team of scientists from the NASA Johnson Space Center and
Stanford University claimed to have found evidence
for ancient Martian life in this meteorite. The debate
over whether this meteorite actually contains evidence
for life on Mars continues today. My personal opinion is
that a Martian sample return mission that would give us
several pristine "uncontaminated" samples will be necessary
to resolve this "life on Mars" debate.

Over the last week in McMurdo I have been trying to find the
words to describe Antarctica -- other than simply "cold and white."
Standing on the ice sheet at our "shakedown" camp about 12 miles
outside of McMurdo, I had this overwhelming feeling of insignificance,
with miles and miles of ice in every direction. Although it was a very
bright and clear day, distances and dimensions were very difficult to
judge. John Schutt, the reconnaissance team leader, asked me how tall
I thought the Trans-Antarctic Mountains were in the distance. I guessed
5,000 feet, but they were actually 14,000 feet!

One of the most important things to be concerned about in Antarctica
is drinking LOTS of water. Keeping your body hydrated is the first
defense against becoming sick. Because it is so dry here, your body
loses much more water than normal. Although I was told to drink between
five to seven liters of water per day, I didn't drink enough when I first
got to McMurdo. A couple of days ago, I started to get a sore throat,
cough, and stuffed-up nose. After visiting the local hospital, I was
told that I had picked up the "McMurdo Crud." The flight surgeon at the
hospital prescribed me some medication, so I am feeling much better today.
I really appreciate the extra help from the other team
members so that I could get some much-needed rest.


30 November, 2002

My body is sore. We have spent the last couple of days loading gear and
food for our six-week expedition to the ice. So when the opportunity to
go on a six-hour ride to a cold, windy point came up, my gut reaction
was to decline. But then Cady Coleman, an astronaut on our reconnaissance
team, started twisting my arm.

We left at 6:30 p.m. in a couple of
large transports called "Deltas."
They are designed to travel over the
sea ice, but they don't go faster than
25 MPH, and they don't have any
suspension or heat. We got to Cape
Evans in about 1 1/2 hours.

Cape Evans is where Capt. Robert
F. Scott launched his final run at the
pole in 1913. The hut he built there
has been perfectly frozen in time,
and we were allowed to walk around
inside. The table was still set, beds
made, and a stack of seal blubber in
the stables off to the side was still
smelly. All the shelves were
stocked with cans of cocoa and
oatmeal. I couldn't help but feel
there were ghosts present in the building.
Scott never made it back to Cape Evans,
but there is a memorial commemorating his
sacrifice and others in the quest to reach the pole.

Right outside the door was a Weddell Seal and her pup. They didn't
seem to mind all the visitors and alternated playing and nursing
while everyone snapped pictures. I was overwhelmed by their
cuteness, and only took about 30 to 40 pictures.

Fairly close to Cape Evans, a glacier coming off of Mt. Erebus is
in contact with the sea ice. It forms a sheer wall of blue ice
that stands over 500 feet tall. It was awesome in the true sense
of the word. Despite this grandeur, the wind was howling and we were
able to put our cold weather gear to the test.

We had just left Cape Evans and Cady was well into a story about
her launch on the Space Shuttle, when I saw a small black figure
moving quickly across the ice. I yelled, "Penguin!" - cutting Cady
off in mid-sentence. We piled out the back, and a small
Adélie penguin made his way right in front of us. He seemed to
be in a great hurry because he kept slipping on the ice, his flippers
and feet moving wildly. This penguin really made my day. When we get
back, we'll be asked if we saw penguins, and now most of us can say
we did. Plus, he reminded me of my clumsy pet cockatiel at home. He
was quite a character.


1 December, 2002

It's strange to see this bustling community stop, but that's exactly
what happened this weekend as McMurdo station observed Thanksgiving.
It wasn't observed on Thursday or even Friday, when it was Thursday
in the United States, but on Saturday. Everyone was given the day off
and most saw it as an occasion to dress up for the dinner.

Having a little time off has given us
the opportunity to see some of the
sights. On Friday afternoon, Jamie,
Scott, Carlton, Nancy, Linda, Danny,
and I went to Scott Base, the New
Zealand base here on Ross Island.
Scott Base is much smaller than
McMurdo, but serves the same
purpose. It's composed of
interconnected modular buildings, so
it's possible to travel between
buildings without going outside. It's
also built up on risers to keep the
snow from accumulating around it.

Today, Scott Messenger used his
free time to run in the McMurdo
Turkey Trot, a 5K race from the chapel
to the ice runway and back. Dante, Danny,
and I used the time to climb Ob Hill for
an unbelievable view of Ross Island.

Tonight is our last dinner together as a team, then the Beardmore
group will need to take their bags to be weighed at "Bag Drag"
for tomorrow morning's flight to Beardmore South Camp. We're
taking two flights to get there in order to unload the palettes
of gear and food and camp for the night. Then, on Tuesday, we'll
start our 100-kilometer traverse to the Goodwin Nunataks site
(A nunatak is a mountain sticking up above the ice of a glacier).


2 December, 2002

This is Diane DiMassa, pinch-hitting for Andy. Andy is somewhat
depressed today -- no not because the [Denver] Broncos lost, although
that certainly isn't helping. You see, the main field team was scheduled
to deploy to Beardmore Glacier today, but the weather has turned against
us for the first time this season. All flights in and out of
McMurdo Station have been grounded.

Up until now, the weather here has been pleasant - cold, but actually
pretty nice days considering what Antarctica can throw at you. Overnight
and into this morning, a small storm passed through and the station went
>from nice weather, or Condition 3, to not-so-nice weather, or Condition 2.
Below is a copy of the McMurdo Station Travel Policy. It explains the
weather condition categories; it's the visibility that is affecting us
the most today:

MCMURDO TRAVEL POLICY - SUMMER (October - February)

    CONDITION 3 is defined as having winds less that 48 knots, wind chills
    warmer than -75 F, and visibility greater than 1/4 mile. This is
    considered the normal weather condition in McMurdo.

    CONDITION 2 is defined by one or more of the following conditions: winds
    speeds 48 to 55 knots, wind chills of -75 to -100 F, or visibility of
    less than 1/4 mile.

    CONDITION 1 is defined by one or more of the following conditions: wind
    speeds greater than 55 knots, wind chills colder than -100 F, or
    visibility of less than 100 feet.

Andy is depressed because the sea ice runway has been swapping back and forth
between Condition 2 and Condition 1 all day. I have mixed feelings about
today's delay.


As much as I would like the team to
be able to get on with the meteorite
hunting, I will be sad to see them go.
I am on the reconnaissance (or
Rekke) team. So when the main
team leaves for Beardmore Glacier,
Dean, Cady, Carl, and I will be left
behind for a later deployment. It is
likely that the main field party will
be back in Christchurch, New
Zealand before the Rekke team gets
back to McMurdo, so I won't be
seeing those folks again until the
Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference in March. We've all
been getting along quite well,
forming friendships that will last a
very long time, so I will be sad when
they leave.

Another reason that I have mixed emotions about the delay is that
I am secretly happy that the winds have picked up. (Don't tell Andy!)
You see, I'm not a geologist like the rest of the crowd. I'm a professor
of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts in
Dartmouth, and I have set up equipment to get some data on wind
energy. Since the ANSMET team is a deep field party, we have to be
creative in ways to supply enough power for the needs of the team --
for example, powering Andy's computer so he can continue to post to
this web site. I'm investigating the potential for small wind turbines
to provide power in the deep field of Antarctica. My turbine system
is happily collecting data on the sea ice right now (I hope), measuring
the wind conditions and propensity for power generation.

I am tempted to run out onto the sea ice to check to see if everything is
OK, but I really don't have to. In the library at the Crary Lab is a
small telescope. So, I can stand here and look through the telescope to
see my set-up. Spin, little wind turbine! Spin!


In this multi-part Ice Diary series, all commentaries are
attributable to Andy Caldwell unless otherwise noted, and reprinted
by permission as part of his participation in the Teachers
Experiencing Antarctica (TEA) program.

So far, meteorite hunters have found about 26 rocks on Earth that
have been identified as having come from Mars (some of these
broke apart upon entering the atmosphere, so the 26 rocks were
found in about 40 separate pieces). For these rocks to have reached
Earth successfully, their origin --often beginning billions of years
ago-- likely blasted from at least a two-mile-wide impact crater on Mars.
Most remarkably, at any given moment, this interplanetary sample
transit delivers about one Martian meteorite landing on Earth each month.

Since 1976, the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET), funded
by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation,
has recovered more than 10,000 specimens from meteorite stranding
surfaces along the Transantarctic Mountains. ANSMET continues to be one
of the few Antarctic research projects that invites graduate students and
senior researchers from other institutions to participate in field work
on a volunteer basis--including the Teachers Experiencing Antarctica
(TEA) program. As a multi-agency collaboration, the NSF supports field
operations, NASA supports storage curation, distribution and notification
of recovered samples, and the Smithsonian provides long term curation
facilities for the collection and assist in sample characterization.
Received on Thu 27 Feb 2003 02:16:14 PM PST