Researcher Mike Willis secures a monument pin on Franklin Island as the base for a GPS antenna which willhelp measure the rate at which the land there is moving. An array of such measurements gives the researchersan indication of how much ice once weighed the area down during the last glacial maximum.

January 25, 2004

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

www.polar.org/antsun

Fungi found in bars,breads, Dry Valleys

Page 7

“We don’t generally move icebergs.”

Pond scum richsource of nutrients

Page 12

Quote of the Week

- Coast Guard official on the icebergpartially blocking the channel

Photo by Beth Bartel / Special to The Antarctic Sun

INSIDE

By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Lake Fryxell may clean itself offuel still lingering in its porous icecover.

A year ago on Jan. 17, a Bell 212helicopter crashed on the ice-coveredlake in the Taylor Valley. As soon asthe pilot and passenger were both safein a Christchurch hospital, attentionturned to the 730 liters of spilled fuel.

The spill was of particular concernbecause the mostly ice-free DryValley is an environmentally protect-ed area and the focus of a Long TermEcological Research study. Luckilythe crash site was about 300 metersfrom researcher John Priscu’s perma-nent lake sampling site, which waswell out of the zone of contamination.

About 45 percent of the fuel wasmopped up with absorbent padsbefore Feb. 5, 2003, when the cleanupefforts were halted for the winter.About 340 liters to 380 liters were leftat the site, according to a report byCrary Lab supervisor Steve Alexanderand consultant William Stockton.

“The thing about spills is your oneand only chance is as soon as you getthere. After that, you can’t get much,”said Mark Furnish, waste operationsmanager. “We got half of it last yearand that’s pretty good by normal stan-dards.”

This year the environmental andspill response teams went to the site

Learningfrom pastaccidents

See Fryxell on page 10

By Kris KuenningSun staff

Ten thousand years ago, McMurdo Soundwas overflowing with ice. It is still on therebound. During the last glacial maximum,the surface of the ice was 700 meters abovecurrent sea level. The landscape has changeddramatically since then, but the past can beused as an analogue for modern day tempera-ture change.

“With global warming, we want to knowhow much ice loss is normal and how much isanthropogenic – how much is caused by peo-ple,” said researcher Terry Wilson of OhioState University. “The only way to know is tolearn more about the natural variability.”

One way to do that is by looking at theEarth’s response to the last glacial cycle. The

Earth’s surface is like a balloon, explainedresearcher Mike Willis also from Ohio StateUniversity. When ice builds up on the surface,the Earth sinks under the weight. When the iceis removed, the surface bounces back.

“By knowing this rate of rebound, it is pos-sible to figure out the amount of ice that hasbeen removed,” Willis said. “This can then beused to examine if modern day rates of changeare unusual.”

The crust is still bouncing back from theice loss that started 10,000 years ago. Modelsbased on climate and geologic informationsuggest that the crust should be rebounding upto 10 mm a year in the region. The data beingcollected by the Transantarctic MountainsDeformation Network (TAMDEF) may be

See TAMDEF on page 9

Depressed Earth bounces back into shape

2 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2004

Matt Davidson

Lawrence H. GianellaType: Fuel tanker Champion Class, T5sBuilder: The American Ship BuildingCo., Tampa, Fla.Power Plant: 1 Sulzer 5RTA 76 diesel;18,400 hp sustained; 1 shaftLength: 188 metersBeam: 27 metersDisplacement: 40,257.98 metric tonswith a full loadCargo capacity: 237,766 barrels of oilfuel (37 million liters)Speed: 16 knots (30 kph)Crew: 24 civiliansOperator: U.S. Military SealiftCommand, U.S. flaggedOther: Double-hulled, ice strengthened,two years without a spill, originallynamed for Laurence H. Gianella whodied at his post aboard a torpedoedship during WWII, tanker’s name wasmisspelled and remains that way.

Sources: U.S. Navy Fact File andwww.newzeal.com

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the NationalScience Foundation as part of the UnitedStates Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its pri-

mary audience is U.S. AntarcticProgram participants, their fami-lies, and their friends. NSFreviews and approves materialbefore publication, but opinions

and conclusions expressed in the Sun are notnecessarily those of the Foundation.

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

Senior Editor: Kristan HutchisonEditors: Brien Barnett

Kris KuenningCopy Editors: Melanie Conner

Geoff Jolley, Wendy Kober, JD Menezes, Mark Williams

Publisher: Valerie Carroll,Communications manager, RPSC

Contributions are welcome. Contact theSun at AntSun@usap.gov. In McMurdo, visitour office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

I’m glad to be heading home aftersuch a long time out at sea. I wonderif the guys will notice we’re back.

Sweetie, this must be your firsttime away because obviously you’venever been around males who haven’tbeen around females for a while.

They have the manners ofbaboons and follow youcloser than your shadow.Sometimes you just wantto break their necks sothey will leave you alone.

Look, it’s hard to believe that malescan get so out of control. I’m sorry,but I have to see that for myself.

January 25, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3

Large collection from Antarctica means researchers now can probe into the rocksBy Brien BarnettSun staff

A s the Antarctic Search forMeteorites team returns thisweek with newfound treasuresfrom the ice, scientists in other

parts of the world are studying previouslycollected samples in new ways.

The United States meteorite collection hastripled in the past 10 years thanks to ANS-MET, said Timothy McCoy, a geologist andcurator of the Smithsonian Institution’s mete-orites.

“They’ve gotten more from Antarctica in25 years than the previous 500.” McCoysaid. “It’s an enormous boon to science to getthis material from the Ice. And it’s pristinematerial.”

Of the 15,000 meteorites in the U.S. col-lection, Antarctic meteorites number about10,000. As a comparison, the largestAntarctic collection in the world is at Japan’sNational Institute of Polar Research andnumbers about 16,700 meteorites, accordingto the institute’s Naoya Imae.

Until recently, techniques to conductanalysis other than visual and microscopicinspections of the surface were tightly con-trolled and rarely performed. The rocks wererare and the potential for different discoverieswas too valuable to risk a sample beingdestroyed.

However, today the science of studyingearly solar history is advancing because ofthe sheer number of specimens and newlydeveloped techniques that obtain and analyzeminute samples of the sub-surface parts ofmeteorite.

Before the ANSMET team returned to thefield late last year, Ralph Harvey, who headsthe team, said the U.S. collection had nowreached the point where “destructive analy-sis” is more acceptable as a way to learn thecharacteristics of a meteorite much morequickly.

McCoy said the Meteorite WorkingGroup, the organization that oversees theU.S. collection, receives about 100 requests ayear to do destructive analysis. He said about90 percent of those requests are approvedafter careful study.

Kevin Righter, the new AntarcticMeteorite Curator at Johnson Space Centerin Houston, said destructive analysis is actu-ally less destructive than the phrase implies.

One of the new techniques involves firinga laser at a sample to generate a circularcrater of about 50 microns in size. A micronis a scientific unit of measurement. There areabout 1 million microns in a meter.

Another method is to check the samplewith an ion microprobe, which generates

small pits in the surface of the sample ofabout 15 to 20 microns in size.

With each technique, scientists analyzesubsurface material and, using a mass spec-trometer, measure isotope ratios that yieldinformation about the age and origin of mete-orites.

Some people study meteorites becausethey are basaltic and represent volcanism onanother planet or asteroid, Righter said.Those scientists study elements that will tellthem about volcanic processes similar to peo-ple who study volcanoes on earth. Others tryto determine the age of the sample from itsradioactive isotopes.

Righter said the new techniques for study-ing the specimens aid that quest.

“They’re of great interest because theyallow the determination of new isotope ratiosand new elements that haven’t been able tobe analyzed in the past,” Righter said.

In addition, the ANSMET team hasrecovered 12 lunar and 10 Martian mete-orites. Those are particularly interesting toscientists because they are like getting a peekat those celestial bodies without having to gothere. And sometimes, the meteorites spurexploration such as the current rover mis-sions to Mars.

“We can link those missions directly tothe arguments about life in an Antarctic mete-orite,” McCoy said. “That resulted in a bil-lion-dollar mission to Mars.”

Righter oversees the initial characteriza-tion of meteorites received from the field inAntarctica and tracks scientists studying

them. The specimens themselves are firstclassified, then stored, some at a giantSmithsonian Institution warehouse inSuiteland, Md.

Each field season, the ANSMET teamrecovers several dozen to hundreds of sam-ples. One year, about 1,000 meteorites wererecovered. All of them are processed thesame, careful way. Righter said his group ofthree researchers has a backlog of about1,000 samples at any given time, each ofwhich takes about a half-hour to process. Histeam publishes a semi-annual newsletter,Antarctic Meteorite, to update the scientificcommunity as samples are processed.

The initial characterization and classifica-tion of a type of meteorite called an ordinarychondrite has relied on taking a small sampleof the specimen, crushing it up and analyzingits composition under a microscope. Forother specimens, thin sections are created andanalyzed using a petrographic microscopeand an electron microprobe.

“It’s been working well for over 25years,” Righter said.

The advanced techniques have also led tonew discoveries on previously analyzedrocks, McCoy said.

“Over the last 25 years we’ve gone fromnot knowing they were there to knowing tobeing able to isolate them,” McCoy said. “It’slike burning down the haystack to find theneedle.”

NSF funded research featured in this story:Ralph P. Harvey, Case Western Reserve University,

http://www.cwru.edu/affil/ansmet

Science goes deeper with Antarctic meteoritesAt left, members of theteam carefully wrap ameteorite in plastic, alongwith a tag identifying thefind. The meteorites arestored frozen until theyreturn to the lab back atJohnson Space Center inHouston, Texas, wherethey are processed.

Below, a meteorite sits onthe ice as it was foundthis season by theAntarctic Search forMeteorites (ANSMET)team.

Photo by Christopher Cokinos / Special to the Antarctic Sun

Old fire, blue ice: A cosmic harvestBy Christopher Cokinos

Mornings began with aclatter as my tentmate and I wouldpump our stoves

between wooden supply boxes,including one labeled “Bedlam.”The entire month I was in the fieldwith the Antarctic Search forMeteorites that sound signaledanother day of harvesting mete-orites for science. Instant coffee, oatmeal,check-in with Mac Ops, then “suiting up”in extreme cold weather gear rounded outthe morning.

As an Artist and Writer grantee, I alsoused coffee time to take notes for my bookon the human entanglements with mete-orites–our myths about them, our scientificunderstanding of them and the personalconnections people have to the only objectsfrom space that we can hold in our hands.The history of trying to understand mete-orites is rife with folklore connecting themto a kind of bodily sky. Meteors (the lightsthat flash in the sky when an object speedsthrough the air) and meteorites (the actualmaterial that survives to land on earth) havebeen considered, variously, sperm, blood,flatulence and excrement. Given suchmessy matter, it may be surprising to learnthat meteorites also have been worshiped asheavenly messengers long before they werescientifically accepted as rocks from space.The current ANSMET field season began in2003–the bicentennial of the L’Aigle,France, meteorite fall, one so spectacularthat the final doubters understood that rockscould fall from the sky. Today, meteoritesstill offer clues to such mysteries as the his-tory of the solar system’s formation and theorigins of life.

Sometimes the coffee wasn’t enough. Onmy Walkman, I’d put on the same music I’dplay at home before going to teach at UtahState: AC/DC, Jimmy Eat World. A littlemotivation, a little warmth (from toe-tap-ping in the bunny boots) and plenty ofirony: Headbanger mornings on a continentwhere men have had to sew the soles backto their feet, where they’ve stooped in kata-batic winds to eat frozen pony blood.

I spent my first two weeks with the mainparty, an eight-person camp led by principal

investigator Ralph Harvey at theLa Paz Icefields, an area of vastblue ice rising and falling in swellsthat reminded me of the SmokyHills of Kansas, not far fromwhere I had lived for the past fewyears. We’d drive up and down thefield in a flying-Y formation,heads turning this way and that,looking for rocks on the powder-blue ice. Finding meteorites at La

Paz was easy. There were no other rocks.The meteorites, having been caught in theice, are eventually surfaced and “stranded.”

A black crust, a chocolate color, a raggedappearance–the meteorites often looked likedried-out hamburger or meatloaf. Mostmeteorites are stony, and most of those areordinary chondrites. The types we yearnedfor were the carbonaceous chondrites (thesecarry organic materials), achondrites (oftenlighter-colored stones that have beenprocessed in different ways on their parentbodies) and, of course, meteorites fromMars and the Moon. We all hope that amongthe interesting stones we found is a lunarmeteorite. Ranging from fingernail-to-foot-ball size, the meteorites were carefully col-lected with procedures that became routine.

We would assign a field number to therock, measure it, photograph it, estimate theamount of fusion crust (the surface meltfrom passage through the atmosphere), thenplace the rock in a plastic bag, sealing itwith tape. A GPS reading was taken. Atday’s end, meteorites were removed fromthe backpack collection kits and stored in“isopods”–metal boxes once used for theApollo moon rocks. Eventually, the mete-orites will be curated at the Smithsonian andmade available for research.

If we were lucky, we’d drive throughpinnacles between working blue ice.Driving through them felt like skidooing onEuropa – sharp waves of ice while undertread was a surface crazed with crevassesevery-which-way, like cubist strands ofwhite kelp. Apart from calm, sunnyevenings warm enough to be outside in thesurrounding silence, I loved most drivingthrough pinnacles.

It wasn’t all work, as we’d play FrenchCricket and Five-Step Football to staywarm, exercise and blow off steam. Toboost morale on cold days, Ralph would tell

elaborate jokes with groaner punch lines. Two weeks into the season, I swapped

out from the main team to the four-person“recce” party led by Johnny Schutt. We vis-ited the Davis Nunataks, the Scott Icefallsand the Otway Massif, where we found aclassic “strewnfield,” an elliptical distribu-tion pattern associated with larger meteoritefalls. We also had to look carefully at therocks, for we were in areas where terrestrialrocks, such as dolerites, can look superfi-cially like meteorites. With the recce party, Iwas in landscapes with mountains, remind-ing me of my new home in Utah, where,from my backdoor, I can see the Bear RiverRange. Even in Antarctica, I had movedfrom a kind of prairie to mountains.

And I found what Ralph Harvey had toldme early on was true. Driving a skidoo onblue ice, you’re looking at the landscape,you’re looking for rocks. And, in his words,“You look into your heart.”

The box named Bedlam becameemblematic. In my research into the histori-cal characters who had become obsessedwith meteorites–from a backwoodsmannamed Ellis Hughes to more famed namessuch as Robert Peary and HarveyNininger–I had learned that outward explo-ration can be an interior one as well. At theend of Walden, Thoreau argues that the lat-ter is far more difficult than the former.

During the day, I was blessed to exploreplaces where no other person had ever been.I harvested old fire. Heck, I even drippedsnot on a couple (accidental “contaminationevents” were duly noted in the field log).During the night, my explorations weremore beset. What had been merely poorsleep–I thought I had gotten used to kata-batic winds at “night”–became severeinsomnia.

Collecting meteorites for research is ulti-mately an act of human curiosity about ourorigins, so maybe it is fitting that whiledoing so I also looked into my heart to learnabout other things, like the origins of mysadness, my happiness and how to traversethem both.

Christopher Cokinos is the author of“Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: APersonal Chronicle of Vanished Birds.” Heedits Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature& Science Writing.

4 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2004

Perspectives Perspectives

Chris Cokinos

the week in weather

Season winds downBy Tracy Sheeley,South Pole correspondent

Though the end of the summer is onlyweeks away, you would never guess itfrom the pace and level of activity atSouth Pole Station.

Exterior construction continues onwings of the new station. The panel crewclosed in the B-1 section Jan. 20. The B-1section will house more living quartersand the emergency power section. Interiorcrews are working on a list of items inpreparation for the design team, whichwas scheduled to arrive Jan. 24. Thedesign team is coming for inspections, andto provide the final sign-off for the dininghall and living quarters and determine theconditional acceptance of the sections wehave been working on all summer (andlast winter).

Guests have been arriving at SouthPole to help with this process, so we haveno shortage of new faces, and our popula-tion has been hovering around 230. Thecooks continue round-the-clock opera-tions to keep us working and warm, as thetemperatures creep down.

Our medical clinic will move to thenew station this month. Under the Dome,the old weight room and freshie shackhave been demolished and removed. Theheavy equipment operators have clearedan enormous amount of snow from aroundthe station, which changes the perspective.

LC-130 flights have been carrying inour fuel resupply, all of which comes in onaircraft to last the eight-month-long winterisolation. Flights have met the plannedschedule, with weather cooperating bothat South Pole and McMurdo.

January is a busy science month aswell, as groups rotate through to do theirannual maintenance and/or data gatheringwith their experiments.

NGA (non-government activity) hasbeen busy recently. At one point, we had22 visitors at Pole – some skied in and oth-ers flew in for a quicker peek. A few moreski expeditions are still making their way

toward Pole, and we anticipate theirarrival by the end of the month.

An open mike night was held lastSaturday in the new dining hall, enablingus to see another facet of the many talent-ed folks here. The vocal arts were favored,though a set of highland pipes made anappearance as well. The carpenters chophosted a barbecue the same night – treat-ing co-workers to grilled barbecued ribs.

Storm rattles Gianelladuring trip to McMurdoBy Joe StanfordGianella engineering assistant (QMED)

USNS Lawrence N. Gianella arrived atthe ice dock Wednesday after 14 days atsea, and seven days nestled snugly in thesea ice of McMurdo Sound.

The vessel’s relatively pleasant anduneventful voyage from Brisbane was

interrupted on Jan. 5 by a sudden andsevere storm, with wind gusts to nearly150 kmh and 7-meter waves. Fortunately,the crew reported the storm went as quick-ly as it came and damage to the vessel wasminimal.

After that it was smooth sailing, with arelatively easy passage through the seaice, which the vessel entered on Jan. 8.Robert Mills, who served as Ice Pilot forthis voyage—a sort of co-captain broughtalong especially for ice passages—reportsthis is the clearest he has seen the ice onhis four trips into McMurdo. For the ves-sel’s master, John Giacchino, this voyagewas his second.

After arrival in what came to be knownas the “parking spot” in McMurdo Sound,the monotony of being stuck in the ice wasbroken frequently by several groups ofvisiting penguins and killer whales.

The vessel will depart sometime thisweek. Having completed their dischargeof cargo—36 million liters of aviation fuel(JP-5 and AN-8), and nearly a millionliters of gasoline—the ship and its crewnow awaits orders before returning toBrisbane, Australia.

Polar Sea, Polar StarBy LCDR April BrownMac Ship Ops/Coast Guard Liaison

Polar Star has been double-parkedalongside the fuel tanker Gianella,despite the fact that there's only oneparking spot, (not as bad as in Bostonwhere triple parked is considered nor-mal) the answer is simple really.

Polar Star is offloading more than150,000 liters of oily waste, “slops” asit’s called to the tanker, and then takingon about 1.5 million liters of JP-5 fuel.Doing it concurrently with the fueloffload to McMurdo is more efficient inthe long run.

Unfortunately for Star’s crew, therewas too much ice between the two ships,and they couldn't tie up close enough toget a gangway across so the crew is acaptive audience.

January 25, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 5

around the continent

McMurdo StationHigh: 37 F / 3 C Low: 12 F / -11 CWind: 24 mph / 39 kphWindchill: -21 F / -31 C

Palmer StationHigh: 45 F / 7 C Low: 28 F / -2 CWind: 62 mph / 100 kphWindchill: 16 F / -9 C

South Pole StationHigh:-8 F / -22 C Low:-28 F / -33 CWind: 24 mph / ?? kphHighest physio-altitude: 3,267 m

See Continent on page 6

Photos by Joe Stanford / Special to the Antarctic Sun.

Above, the fuel tanker Gianella poundsthrough storm-whipped waves during abrief storm. Below, orcas surface next to theGianella during its trip to McMurdo.

SHIPS

SOUTH POLE

After Polar Star backs out, Polar Seawill be in line to do the same thing.

The fuel offload to the station wentextremely well, and it is good to see thatblack hulk of a fuel tanker at the pierafter last year's close call when we had tooffload fuel and pump it in from somethree miles away.

Once Polar Sea is done taking fuel,they will back out and probably put atow line over to Gianella to give her alittle assist backing out. Polar Sea willthen slide back in and pick up gear forthe Marble Point refueling operation. Weplan on delivering about 380,000 litersof JP-5 there towards the end of themonth. The break-in to Marble has beendifficult at best, fighting that hard, 3.6-meter thick multiyear ice, but Polar Seahas triumphed thus far, and is now only amile off the beach. We have not beenable to do that job for the last two sea-sons now, and this will take a lot of pres-sure off the winter crew having to other-wise traverse small amounts of fuelacross the ice.

The cargo vessel American Tern stillis scheduled to arrive here on Feb. 1 fora seven- or eight-day offload, so afterthat we all can button up the shop anddepart, leaving the winter support staff totheir “get the heck outta here” party.Keep your fingers crossed!

Laurence M. GouldCompiled from reports by Andy Nunn,Marine Projects Coordinator

The Laurence M. Gould is on itsannual Long Term Ecological Researchcruise. On Jan. 16 the Gould arrived atthe first site where instruments anchoredto the seafloor needed to be retrieved andredeployed. After some initial confusionover the correct frequencies the crewissued the release command. Althoughthey never got an acknowledgement

from the releases, the floats were spottedon the surface about an hour later. Deckoperations went very smoothly and theyfinished the recovery phase of the opera-tion before lunch.

The releases were covered in heavymud, possibly explaining the difficultyin getting responses out of them.

“Since the mooring had all floatsintact, and the rest of the line lookedclean, I am at a bit of a loss to explainwhy the releases ended up on the seafloor,” wrote Andy Nunn. “The releaseswere supposed to be located 22 metersabove the anchors. It’s possible the mudat the deployment location is so soupyand thick the anchors sank 22 meters intoit, or maybe there was a tangle in the linebelow the releases so that they were rightabove the anchor.”

They added two more 43 cm glassfloats to the mooring when they re-deployed it to improve the buoyancy.Deployment took about one hour, thenthe Gould then headed south to the nextmooring site. It was scheduled to arriveat Avian Island to land a field party onJan. 23.

Nathaniel B. PalmerCompiled from reports by AshleyLowe, Marine projects coordinator

The Nathaniel B Palmer docked at theMcMurdo ice pier for two days lastweek. McMurdo residents were able totour the ship on Sunday. The Palmerdeparted McMurdo Station with a newgroup of scientists at 12:30 on Jan. 19.

“We made a transit to the open waterbetween icebergs B-15A and B-15K,”Ashley Lowe reported.

The scientists are mapping the seafloor, looking for tectonic activity,assessing ice conditions between the twoicebergs and determining an appropriatelocation to begin a seismic survey.Seismic surveys use acoustic shockwaves to determine the detailed structureof the rocks under the sea floor.

Hidden treasures

By Kerry KellsPalmer Station correspondent

The last two weeks at Palmer Stationhave seen a whirlwind of activity in theway of cruise ship and yacht visitors, sci-ence, and the return of the Laurence M.Gould to within sight of the station. TheLong-Term Ecological Research cruisecontinues on the Gould, and we are givendaily photos and reports from one of theseabird researchers on board. Our twokrill researchers on station boarded theship for a full day of sampling. FenMontaigne and Peter Essick of theNational Geographic went out to theGould to collect material for their storyabout climate change.

Floating in front of our station nearGamage Point was an unusual bird visitor,a black-necked swan. Native to SouthAmerica, this swan has a long, black neck,a white body, and a red lobe on the base ofthe beak.

Arrivals included three Raytheon PolarServices Company environmental techni-cians. The group is cleaning up the lasttwo old dumpsites behind Palmer Station.Half buried under rock and ice, thesedumps were retired in the late 1980s.Environmental technicians TonyaEdwards and Mike Robinson are new tothe Antarctic program. Geoff Gilbert wasan environmental supervisor at McMurdoStation the last two summers. All are geol-ogists. Using the Bobcat, jackhammersand manual labor, the crew segregatesdebris by type and puts it in plastic cubic-yard transport bins.

Cleanups in 1996 and 1999 removedshipping containers and drums full ofdebris from dump site 2 behind the helopad. This year’s team works on dump site 1 behind the shipping containers alongthe road and dump site 3 near the oldfreshwater pond. So far, the team has filled110 bins. Both the expected and theunusual have been found—old and rustyhammers, shovels, crowbars, drill bits,plates, tracks, and a flash boiler. Edwards,dubbed “the trash historian,” mentionsliquor bottles, canned food, a doorknob,eyeglasses, and a dartboard ring. Robinsonhas brought in old beer cans, rusted cansof frozen concentrated milk and soda cansto decorate our windowsill.

The group has brought good humor andnew stories. An amusing list on our whiteboard suggests what to do with thecleaned-up space: volleyball court, skatepark, swimming pool, greenhouse, healthclub, even commemorative statues ofGilbert, Edwards and Robinson, for theirtireless efforts.

Continent

6 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2004

From page 5

PALMER

Photo by Alex Herbert / Special to the Antarctic SunThe cargo ship American Tern takes on more shipping containers at the port of Lyttelton,New Zealand, late last week. The ship is bringing supplies to Ross Island for McMurdoStation, Scott Base and South Pole.

January 25, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 7

By Kris KuenningSun staff

If it weren’t for yeast, we’d all be dead. The fungi are not only used tomake beer, wine, bread and cheese, they are also critical to the naturalecosystem.

“We’d be up to our eyeballs in leaf matter,” said researcher ReginaRedman from the University of Washington.

Yeast, and fungi in general, are decomposers. They break down deadmaterial, and process the nutrients to be transported back up the food chain.Fungi also detoxify heavy metals and absorb carbon.

Studying yeast species in the simple ecosystem of Antarctica allows sci-entists to learn more about the role yeast plays in the world as a whole.

Researchers are growing thousands of yeast colonies in the McMurdolaboratory from samples of soil collected in the Dry Valleys and aroundMcMurdo Sound.

Seemingly lifeless dirt sprouts streaks of pink yeast that line the Petridishes like punk graffiti. Other species grow in orange or tan florets.

“It’s exciting to go out there and bring back soil that looks like there’snothing growing in it and there’s stuff growing everywhere,” said projectleader Laurie Connell from the University of Maine. “(Yeast) are out thereapparently thriving, although we have to do more tests.”

Connell is working with Rusty Rodriguez and Regina Redman from theUniversity of Washington and Scott Craig from the University of Maine tolearn more about how yeast function in the extreme polar environment.

Connell first studied marine yeast off the Antarctic Peninsula in 1993, butthe large, dynamic ecosystem made it hard to focus on the role of yeast.

In the Dry Valleys, there is a very simple food web made up of just threegroups of soil organisms – bacteria, yeast and tiny worms called nematodes.

“Compared to a temperate ecosystem, there are between 100 to 10,000fewer organisms in a gram of soil,” Craig said.

Fungi and bacteria were found in the Dry Valleys more than 70 years ago,but some of the fundamental questions about how these organisms function

See Yeast on page 8

Researchers Regina Redman and Rusty Rodriguezprocess soil samples from the Dry Valleys. Yeastcolonies are grown in the lab at McMurdo.

Researchers collect soil samples from New Harbor. Yeast samples are cultured from the samples at the lab at McMurdo Station.

Yeastie Boyz find fungi everywhereYeastie Boyz find fungi everywhere

Photo by Scott Craig / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Photo by Scott Craig / Special to The Antarctic Sun

8 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2004

in the food web have not been fully answered.Researchers believe the yeast are a pivotal part of this miniature ecosystem

because they extract phosphorus from the soil. Phosphorus is required by all organ-isms but don’t effectively accumulate it, Rodriguez said. Yeast also make a lipid,known as ergosterol, that is required by nematodes.

In temperate ecosystems, plants provide these, but in Antarctica, researchersbelieve yeast is the only source for nematodes.

“Yeast are unicellular, multitalented organisms,” Craig said. This is the second and final field season for the three-year grant from the National

Science Foundation.Samples collected from the Taylor Valley will be analyzed to see how the yeast

survive multiple freeze-thaw cycles and how it uses and stores phosphorus.Extracting DNA from the samples will yield information about how the yeast

species have evolved in the Dry Valleys. The researchers will compare the DNA ofAntarctic yeast with similar species found worldwide.

Additional samples from Minna Bluffs below Mount Discovery, Black Island,Wright Valley and Mount Erebus provide comparative information about what soilsare most hospitable to yeast, how abundant they are and how they are distributed.

The team is analyzing the physical and chemical make-up of the soil and extract-ing DNA from it. They are studying the distribution of yeast by sampling along gridsat high, middle and low elevations.

So far, research shows that the yeast are widely distributed in the soils, even inareas of high alkalinity and salinity, and are capable of surviving repeated freeze-thaw cycles, as well as low moisture.

The researchers want to know if the number of yeast in an area is related to howmuch water is available and they want to know whether the yeast is dormant or activein the environment.

Work in the Taylor Valley involves collecting samples from sites at three differenttimes in the summer season. If yeast are active in the ecosystem, the team expects tosee changes in their numbers and populations as the summer season progresses.

By studying the role of yeast in the polar deserts, researchers hope to pave the wayfor incorporating the fungus into models of more temperate environments.

NSF funded research in this story: Laurie Connell, University of Maine, School of Marine Sciences

Teachers join Yeastie Boyz

Two teachers are helping the group ofresearchers who call themselves the YeastieBoyz.

Amy Stoyles is an eighth-grade scienceteacher from Florida. She is in Antarcticathrough the National Science Foundationfunded project, Teachers ExperiencingAntarctica. While she snowmobiles acrossMcMurdo Sound or collects soil samples inthe Dry Valleys, her students are followingher adventures online. The students are col-lecting their own soil samples around theschool and processing samples to growyeast colonies, just as the team ofresearchers is doing in the laboratory atMcMurdo.

“Hopefully, this can be that inspirationfor my own students. It’s definitely been anexperience I’ll remember for my entirelife,” Stoyles said.

Barbara Schulz also came to Antarcticaas part of Teachers ExperiencingAntarctica, in 1996. This time she is work-ing on an educational outreach aspect of thesoil yeast project, headed by Laurie Connellfrom the University of Maine.

Schulz, who works for the NationalAcademies in Washington, D.C., is creatinglesson plans for teachers around the worldto use.

Her goal is to help teachers and kidsunderstand the inquiry side of science. Theprocess of asking questions and chasingdown the answer, she said, is one that is notas easily taught or assessed as the fact-based learning that is more commonly usedin classrooms.

http://tea.rice.edu/tea_stoylesfront-page.html

Yeast From page 7

Above: Yeast colonies, visible as dots, arecounted to measure the number of yeast per100 grams of soil.

Right: Researchers Laurie Connell, left, andRegina Redman count yeast colonies in theCrary Lab.

Photos by Scott Craig / Special to The Antarctic Sun

January 25, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 9

able to test these models.Wilson’s team is determining the extent

of this rebound in order to calculate theamount of ice that was lost. Using GlobalPositioning System (GPS) technology,TAMDEF is measuring the vertical and hor-izontal motion of the Earth’s crust.

There are 35 TAMDEF GPS sites in theTransantarctic Mountains and on islands inthe Ross Sea. Measurements are taken in15-second intervals and six of the stationstake measurements all year round.

Such precise measurements, yielded bymodern GPS technology, have acceleratedthe project.

“In the past, it would have taken a longtime to discover any movement,” Willissaid. “Originally, we thought this would bea 10-20 year project.”

At the year-round sites, small, low-power GPS receivers using large banks ofbatteries and solar panels provide measure-ments that can be used to accurately charac-terize vertical motion and provide strongreference points for the rest of the network.One receiver collected data for 800 days ina row.

“We can get a more accurate picture ofhow the crust of the Earth responds to loadchanges if we take the measurement overand over,” Willis said.

The sensitive GPS measurements canrecord even the slightest sag in the crust –caused by the weight of a single snowfall. Inthe U.S., a large network of GPS stationscan track depressions in the land caused bylow-pressure systems moving across thecountry.

Wilson said most of the upward move-ment around the Ross Sea is probably attrib-uted to the crust bouncing back from theweight of ice removed since the last ice age.The whole Antarctic plate is moving east-southeast at about 14 mm a year in thisregion and the project has identified a rift inthe Ross Sea that is slowly breaking thecontinent apart by about 4 mm a year. Someof this horizontal movement can be attrib-uted to the rebound effect, but theresearchers are attempting to identify otherreasons for the rifting between Ross Islandand the mainland. Willis’s calculationsshow that stations on the westward flank ofthe mountains are moving slower in an east-erly direction than those on the islands ofthe Ross Sea.

The geology of the two areas is different.In the west, the crust is thicker and colder,while in the east, the crust is thinner and vol-canic activity on Ross Island is one sign thatthe mantle is warmer. Researchers predictthat the thinner crust would have a fasterelastic response to the loss of ice. In terms oftectonic plate movement, the geological dis-crepancy suggests a break in the continent.

“There is an obvious boundary under themountains,” Wilson said. “The one enigmais that if the rift area is active, and the faultsare moving, there should be earthquakes.”

The movement between the mountainsand the islands is about one-tenth of the hor-izontal movement seen between tectonicplates near the California coast, where thereis a lot of seismic activity. So far, not muchseismic data is available in Antarctica.

This year, Wilson is looking for evidence

of faults in the Ross Sea aboard the researchvessel Nathaniel B. Palmer. Detailed map-ping of the ocean floor will help her identi-fy young faults that cut through the sedi-ments.

Other team members have spent the sea-son flying to the various GPS sites, whereequipment is set up and left for up to twomonths. From the rocky peaks of FranklinIsland to the towering cliffs of the WarrenRange, the work involves a combination oflugging heavy batteries uphill and fiddlingwith small screws in the cold. Every site hasbeen drilled into bare rock.

“We needed more Sherpas and less deli-cate girls,” said researcher Jane Turner. Atthe continuously operating sites, the data isstored on memory cards, which must beretrieved when full. In the future, wirelessInternet connections will send the informa-tion to McMurdo instead.

“Some of these sites have a lot of pen-guins nearby so the less impact the better,”Turner said.

Eventually, TAMDEF hopes to expandits network even further. Wilson is workingwith the Scientific Committee on AntarcticResearch (SCAR) to develop internationalcollaboration for the network.

Willis said the GPS sites would be usefulto other researchers as well, giving them anopportunity to correlate and correct theirreadings.

NSF research featured in this story:Terry Wilson, Ohio State Universityhttp://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/TAMDEF

TAMDEF From page 1

Photo by Beth Bartel / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Photo by Michael Willis / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Above, the team discusses a problem theyencountered while setting up the GPS system,which included an antenna seen in the fore-ground and electronics box and solar panelsin the background. At left, Franklin Islandspikes up out of the Ross Sea.

10 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2004

twice to do additional cleanup and evaluations. They mopped upalmost 20 gallons more fuel and filled about four drums withdebris. Beyond that, they broke open the ice covering pools ofspilled fuel to help it evaporate.

“At this point, it’s up to nature,” said Furnish.

Fuel for studyScientists researching in the Dry Valleys decided to turn the

spill into another opportunity to learn about the unique environ-ment. They have four interrelated grants to do a comprehensivestudy of the effects of the spilled fuel on the ice.

“I’m hoping that we will learn a lesson about potential contami-nation, and what it could do,” said Priscu, an environmental scien-tist at Montana State University. “Our experiments will tell you ifthe fluid could reach the liquid water of the lake and if it couldchange the microbial community and if there is natural bioremedi-ation going on in the ice.”

Back in his lab in Bozeman, Mont., Priscu and postdoctoralresearcher Christine Foreman will add fuel to ice cores taken fromthe lake to see how the microbes living in them react. After incu-bating them for several weeks, he expects the microbial populationwill shift in favor of microorganisms that thrive on hydrocarbons.

“If the bugs eat it in our lab, then they’ll probably eat it in the icedown there as well,” Priscu said.

Potentially the fuel-eating bacteria native to Antarctica could beused to clean up future fuel spills naturally.

Researcher Peter Doran and his crew at the University of Illinoisat Chicago will examine the fuel even more closely to see whetherthe bacteria are eating only certain parts or types of the fuel.

“We’ll see if the bacteria are chomping down on select portionsof the fuel,” Priscu said.

As a baseline, last year Alexander collected 262 ice cores andwater samples from around the crash site to determine the extent ofthe spill.

“The crash site was at the edge of a heavily melted area with acomplex series of interconnecting pools, channels and sub-surfacechambers,” Alexander wrote in his report.

The spilled oils dispersed through the labyrinth of ice, reaching19 meters away from the crash itself. The entire area had a strongfuel odor, detectable up to 40 meters from the wreckage. Fragmentsof paint, aluminum, Plexiglas and plastic littered the area.

“We could collect cores that were just a few inches from eachother and when we pulled them up the ice characteristics would becompletely different,” said Kathy Welch, who went out last year andagain this year to collect the shallow ice cores. “I was kind ofamazed at how variable it was at such a close spatial distance, so it’s

really hard to predict where the fuel might go.”Welch found less fuel when she returned this year to collect sam-

ples of ice and water for the researchers.“You could see the sheen on the surface of the water, but it

wasn’t as if there were big puddles there,” Welch said. “They did areally good job of cleaning up all the debris from the helicopter.”

Even so, some splinters of the wreckage remained on the ice,potentially absorbing fuel and carrying it down into the water withthem as they melt in, Welch said. Being lighter than water, fuel nor-mally would float on top. But on ice, the caramel-colored fuelabsorbs sunlight and ice around it melts, said Priscu. He is workingwith Ed Adams, a civil engineering professor at Montana StateUniversity, to study how fuel moves through ice.

Adams is setting up experiments in a cold lab, placing fuel on topof 50 cm by 30 cm blocks of ice under solar radiation. In prelimi-nary tests, the fuel has melted into and through the ice, droppingdown. Being lighter than water, the fuel should stop and float whenit hits the layer of liquid water within the ice itself, Adams said. Butif the fuel attaches to sediment or some other solid item, like thedebris, it might sink even farther into the lake, Adams theorizes.

“Even though it’s more buoyant, the fuel still can go down,”Priscu said. “That concerns us because one of the first things wethought of when this helicopter crashed was did these fluids go intothe liquid water column of the lake, because once they’re in therethey’ll never get out.”

Fryxell From page 1

See Fryxell on page 11

From left to right, Heather Smith, RPSC environmental supervisor,Kathy Welch with Berry Lyons research group, and KaneenChristensen, RPSC environmental remediation tech drill in searchof sediment in the ice.

“If the bugs eat it in our lab, thenthey’ll probably eat itin the ice down thereas well.”

Researcher John Priscu

Photo by Jeff Miller / Special to The Antarctic Sun

January 25, 2004 The Antarctic Sun •11

When the helicopter crashed, the ice was close to its meltingtemperature and sodden with water. That helped keep the fuel fromsinking into the ice, Priscu said.

“I think most of the fuel stayed up near the surface, in the uppermeter to 2 meters and it’s going to eventually evaporate and biode-grade,” Priscu said. “Over a three-year period you won’t even see itanymore.”

Priscu watched that happen with previous spills. In 1984, fueldrums fell onto Lake Vanda, spilling more than 200 liters of fuel.Priscu recalls burning the spill and then chipping away the sootydebris.

“After a year it wasn’t noticeable anymore,” Priscu said.Following an initial clean-up, a 90-liter spill on Lake Bonney

was left to study, and it disappeared on its own in three years, Priscusaid.

“I’m hoping that the fuel will stay at the surface and our experi-ments should answer that question,” Priscu said.

The lake ice has about a 15-year cycle of turnover anyway,Priscu said. Each year about 30 cm of ice forms on the bottom ofthe lake while an equal amount evaporates from the top of the aver-age 5.3 meter thick ice cover.

“It’s like a conveyor belt. It’s always moving up,” Priscu said.“In 3 years you will have moved about one meter of ice up and sub-limed it away.”

While scientists study the spill, the Antarctic program is study-

ing ways to avoid future spills. A Raytheon Six Sigma study isunderway to better identify the causes and types of spills. This yeara major awareness and training effort is planned to reduce spillscaused by human error, as well as equipment. Early this season, anexpert from the American Petroleum Institute visited to make rec-ommendations on improving fuel handling equipment and proce-dures.

“RPSC and NSF are currently making efforts to modernize ourfuel handling systems (tanks, piping, dispensing) to prevent futurespills,” wrote Environmental Health & Safety Director, JohnFeldman.

Over the winter, 22 new fuel tanks for heating buildings will beinstalled. The new tanks are double-walled with over-fill spill pre-vention to replace antiquated ones now in use. Over the next sever-al years, all the heating fuel tanks will be replaced. Additional pro-tection will be added around tanks and fuel supply lines to preventdamage from vehicles. Next year, three new bulk 1 million literfuel tanks will be built to replace ones that are almost 40 years old.

Many field camps already have plastic spill guards around fueldrums and hand pumps fitted with caps on each end to preventdrips.

“Our goal is zero spills,” wrote Feldman.

NSF funded research featured: Fabien Kenig, Peter Doran, Berry Lyons, Anne Carey, Edward Adams and JohnPriscu, http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~lkbonney/

Fryxell From page 10

Flags mark the location where a helicopter crashed Jan. 17, 2003 on Lake Fryxell, spilling fuel onto the uneven and porous ice cover.Heather Smith, RPSC environmental supervisor, Kathy Welch of Berry Lyons research group and Kaneen Christensen, RPSC environmentalremediation tech were back on the lake to take samples.

Photo by Jeff Miller / Special to The Antarctic Sun

12 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2003

By Kris KuenningSun Staff

Researchers are looking at the possibil-ity that pond scum helps sustain life in anAntarctic polar desert.

Life in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys is min-imal, consisting of a few fungi, bacteriaand tiny, soil-dwelling worms, but thesimple ecosystem still needs a carbonsource.

Carbon is one of the chemicals neces-sary for life. But because it is in limitedsupply on earth, it must be continuallyrecycled. Scientists have been studyingthe cycle of carbon in the Dry Valleys forabout 10 years. This year, researcherMaria Uhle, from the University ofTennessee, is looking at what’s growing incoastal ponds to find another source ofcarbon to the Dry Valley’s system.

The ponds are rich with thick, spongymats of single-celled bacteria and algae. Inthe ponds, the living mat is usually sever-al inches thick and consists of brightorange, green, purple and black layers.Pinnacle mats grow up from the pond,while prostrate mat spreads itself flatacross the pond. Mats of single-celled bac-teria are believed to be one of the firstforms of life on Earth.

Later, when plants evolved, the mat hadto compete for sunlight and nutrients.Now, the mats are found mostly inextreme environments, where severe tem-peratures, dryness or saltiness make lifehard for other plants and animals.

The Dry Valleys are cold and ice free.The wind whips away the ice and snowfrom the rocky valleys, but glacial meltfeeds a system of lakes and rivers that runin summer. The lakes are home to bacteriaand algae, which are sources of carbon forthe simple ecosystem.

Nearer to the coast, ponds have formedin the rocky landscape. The soil sits on topof a bed of ice, which melts and shifts theponds around. As the ponds change posi-tion on the landscape, they leave a trail ofcarbon-rich mats.

In two separate areas near the Ross Sea,Uhle’s group sampled both living micro-bial mat from the ponds and dead mat thathad been left behind on the soils.

Over the winter, the ponds freeze soli-dand the frozen mat lies dormant, butdoesn’t die. When the ponds thaw, theyallow for a period of growth each year.

“There is a lot of activity going on in aplace like that – just waiting for water andradiant energy,” Uhle said.

Even after the mat dies, it is useful to

the ecosystem. Uhle suspects the driedmat is blown from the coastal areas intothe Dry Valleys, where it can be used toestablish more mats in other ponds or beused as a carbon source for other forms oflife in the soils

“The ponds have never been looked atbefore,” Uhle said. “We’re trying tounderstand if these ponds are a significantsource of carbon for the Dry Valleys.”

At Garwood Valley and Hjorth Hill,Uhle was surprised to find different typesof communities in the ponds. Algaebloomed in the ponds near Hjorth Hill,while bacterial mats were more commonin Garwood. “I didn’t expect the sites to beso different,” Uhle said. “The Garwoodmats were more complex and interesting.”

With the samples collected this season,Uhle’s team will analyze the chemistry ofthe mat to determine which of the speciesof bacteria live in the different layers ofthe mats and which ones appear to be mostactively producing or degrading organiccompounds.

She expects it will take until June toprocess all the samples they have collect-

Scum of the Earth

The layers of a coastal pond: ice floats onthe top while the living mat grows under-neath. The banks of the pond contain deadmat.

Researcher Melissa Hage collects informa-tion about the pond water that hosts micro-bial mats.

Photos by Maria Uhle / Special to the Antarctic Sun

See Ponds on page 13

Pond growth may be a source of nutrients for the Dry Valleys

ed.“My grad students spend a lot of time in the lab,” she said.The researchers want to know how the organisms are struc-

tured and layered in the ponds and what role each layer plays.The top layers bring energy into the system by converting sun-

light through photosynthesis. As the light changes deeper in themat, the chemical environment changes.

Water samples from the ponds will reveal the nutrient and saltlevel of the ponds. The water chemistry gives clues about wherethe water originated.

The second part of the research focuses on the mat that is leftbehind when the pond shifts. Collecting samples of the dried mat,Uhle may be able determine how long it has been dead.

“You can think of it as a big, juicy hamburger. If it’s just outof the oven, it’s more likely to be munched,” Uhle said.

This was the first field season of Uhle’s three-year grant fromthe National Science Foundation. Uhle described this field sea-son as a success. It started as an adventure. The group of four wasdelivered to its first camp at Hjorth Hill in early December.Before all the gear could be delivered, a storm grounded heli-copters at McMurdo. The team lived out of survival bags for sev-eral days. One tent pole snapped in the fierce winds and theywere running out of food. Just as Uhle was considering a 12-hourwalk to the seasonal camp at Marble Point, the weather clearedand supplies were delivered.

Two automated meteorological stations have been left behindto monitor weather around the ponds until the team returns nextyear. Next year’s research will focus more on the ponds than thedried mat. Uhle said the team will come later in the year nexttime to allow the ponds more time to melt and become active.Discoveries here will provide a greater understanding of the roleof microorganisms in polar environments.

The biology and chemistry of these cold-dwelling algae andbacteria can be compared to those living in opposite extremes,like the hot springs of Yosemite.

Uhle said those comparisons might discover similaritiesbetween the organisms. “Or we might find they have a uniqueway of surviving,” she said.

National Science Foundation funded research featured in this story: MariaUhle, University of Tennessee.

January 25, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 13

Ponds From page 12

What question should be on the winter-over psych exam?

Terry CollingPole operations man-agement from Griffin,Georgia, first season

Zoe VidaMcMurdo materials

person from Portland,OR, two summer sea-sons and one winter.

“If part of yourpsych exam wasto bring someone

to PalmerStation to makeamends with,

who would it beand why?”

Mike TerminelLMG Second mate

from Seabring,Florida, first season

“Why are youhere?”

“Have you liedon any of these

questions?”

Photo by Maria Uhle / Special to the Antarctic Sun

Ponds near the coast may be an undiscovered source of carbon forthe simple ecosystem of the nearby Dry Valleys. Researchers testedwater and microbial mats from these ponds for the first time thisseason to learn more.

By Kris KuenningSun Staff

Molly Hutsinpiller hasworked in emergencymedicine for six years.

Now the South Pole doctor spendsmost of her time helping peoplethrough the sniffles.

“I like emergency medicinebecause you’re confronted with aproblem, you do something about itand you move on,” she said.

It also gives her more flexibilitythan a regular practice would.

“It’s a field of medicine you canleave and come back to. Whichgives the illusion of not having afull-time job,” Hutsinpiller said.

There are no illusions about justhow full-time it is to be a doctor atthe South Pole. Hutsinpiller livesand works in the same building,tucked down a passage at the mouthof the old dome. Either she or thephysician’s assistant, Troy Wiles,are always on call.

To escape, Hutsinpiller runs,reads and volunteers around sta-tion.

“Among this incredible group ofpeople, she stands out,” said diningattendant Navah Levine. “She’s oneof the most helpful people on sta-tion.”

The energetic doctor plays downher contribution. “Everyone volun-teers. It’s not a big deal. It’s nice tointeract with other people,” shesaid. Dressed for jogging, Hutsinpillerjumps up every few minutes during ourhalf-hour conversation with an apology.

She is sending medical data to be ana-lyzed in Denver before her daily run. “Ihave to do it while the satellite’s up.”

In the first weeks of the summer sea-son, BioMed was busy with a steadystream of cold and flu patients. The viralsickness, commonly referred to as thecrud, travels quickly among the commu-nity.

Altitude sickness is another commonailment. Traveling from sea level atMcMurdo to the South Pole, which feelslike between 2,740 and 3,200 meters,depending on the barometric pressure, is atough transition for most people,Hutsinpiller said.

“But luckily, if people just take it slowfor a few days, their bodies acclimate. Wedo have oxygen, a Gamow bag and vari-ous medications to help those that are suf-fering from the altitude,” she said.

Like McMurdo, the South Pole hastelemedicine capabilities.

They send X-rays and ultrasounds to aconsulting radiologist in Denver for inter-pretation. The clinic also has live videoconferencing ability. It can transmitimages of skin lesions, and images ofwhat is being looked at through the oph-thalmoscope and the microscope.

Hutsinpiller has been to the Antarcticcontinent before. Answering an advertise-ment in a medical journal, she was hiredas the Palmer station doctor during thesummer of 2000-2001.

The small club of doctors who haveworked in Antarctica get together for reg-ular reunions. It was at one of these “IceDoc reunions” that Hutsinpiller found outthere was a summer position available atthe South Pole.

“I had to think about it for a while,”Hutsinpiller said. One of the big drawswas the chance to travel through NewZealand on the way home.

The mountainous landscape atPalmer was much more familiar toHutsinpiller than the flat expanseof the Pole. She spent most of hercareer in Washington state andAlaska.

“It certainly is wide open. Ithink most of us are used to moretopography,” Hutsinpiller said.“The station seems out of placewith all this nothingness. It seemsa little funny.”

Ironically, it was a seven-weekcanoe expedition in the Arctic thatfirst excited her traveling spirit.After graduating with aMechanical Engineering degreefrom the University ofWashington she went to Barrens inNorthern Canada.

“I loved it so much I returned tothe Barrens for two more sum-mers. Then I had the bug bad, so Iwent to work for the OutwardBound schools,” she said.

Hutsinpiller lived in Coloradoand New Mexico for 10 yearsbefore going to med school.

“My passion is still to be out-side a lot, be healthy and to live asimple life. When I was 17, mymom encouraged me to experi-ence the highs and lows, colds andhots, happy and sads. I’ll alwaysbe grateful,” she said.

Hutsinpiller said life at the polefeels good. “It took longer than Iexpected to settle in. It took a

month,” she said. The people haveimpressed her the most.

The medical department is scheduledto move into the new station at the end ofthis season, along with the store, postoffice, computer lab and greenhouse.

Whether or not Hutsinpiller comesback to use that new facility remains to beseen.

“I never say never … but I’d be sur-prised.”

Hutsinpiller is planning to give upmedicine in a couple of years.

“I think 10 years of anything is proba-bly enough,” she said. “There is just somuch to see, do and learn in the world.”

Being at any one of the U.S. AntarcticProgram stations is a great reminder ofthis, she said.

“So many of the folks used to do some-thing else or are looking forward to a tran-sition. I’m not sure what is next for me,maybe just some wandering around theU.S. taking in the miracles of nature.”

14 • The Antarctic Sun January 25, 2003

Prof i le

Photo by Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic Sun

South Pole doctor Molly Hutsinpiller helps out in thekitchen.

Doc on diverse journey