Today was another exciting day. Bob, Stacy, Scott and I flew to Heald island at the usual 8:30. The weather was really nice there, no wind, mostly sunny and temperature near -5 degrees. We hooked up the SCINI system in record timing. Just when we put SCINI in the water, we had a couple of [...]

Friday was my day to work in town while the others went to Cape Evans to continue the work under the icebergs there.  During breakfast, though, Stacy was offered some helicopter time – there had been a cancellation and now there was room in the schedule for a trip to Heald.  Of course the team [...]

Today we decided to take a break from going to Heald Island. It is incredible at Heald Island but the days are very long and the work is especially hard. I keep reminding myself that in a few weeks I won’t be able to work in such an awesome place. It is hard to believe [...]

3 December 2008 Stacy writing Why was today atypical?  Because we got SO MUCH done! Once again our day started with a helicopter flight to our field site at Heald Island.  I have to say, a commute like this is very worthwhile.  First we turn in a flurry of buildings as we head away from [...]

Yesterday, Stacy, Scott, Cameo and I flew to Heald Island at the usual time, 8:45. In the morning, Stacy and Cameo set up a new tent, while Scott and I worked on getting the SCINI system hooked up. We also took a CTD cast just before deploying SCINI. A CTD is an instrument which measures [...]

We were wondering if our camp was even going to be there when we returned on Monday. Bad weather had prevented us from flying out there on Thursday and Friday, and more bad weather had pounded the area on Saturday. As the helicopter approached our camp, we were anxiously looking out the windows. It turns [...]

It is Sunday and we are all working to try and make up for the time we lost due to the bad weather. I actually enjoyed the snow and wind but that might be because I grew up in Tennessee and snow falling was a special occasion. However, it can look pretty scary at times. [...]

29 November 2008 Stacy Writing Everything revolves around work here, even the holidays.  So Thanksgiving is celebrated on Saturday, today, and it is one of the two – two day weekends that happens all season.  We planned it as a day of relaxation, with a nice scuba dive at a new site that a film [...]

Two days ago, I asked Bob if he thought it was likely that the helicopter flights would be canceled. His answer was: anything can happen, this is Antarctica. The weather had been so beautiful for the last couple of weeks, I just took it for granted and thought it was going to last forever. Well, [...]

Happy Thanksgiving! It feels good to be wearing cotton again, and I’m humming “Winter Wonderland”. What’s going on? Our helicopter flight for today was cancelled due to the bad visibility, so we decided to call it a day off and work on Sunday this weekend instead. The “normal” Thanksgiving around here is a two day [...]