the antarctic sun construction cruises through polar night

By Emily StoneSun staff

Seal researchers at Fat City figured it wasa fluke when the first seal they put in the divehole there failed to return. But when the sec-ond seal took off, lead scientist MikeCastellini knew something was wrong.

“Once they were in the water, they weregone,” he said. “They didn’t even come upfor a breath.”

Fat City is deliberately situated as farfrom any cracks in the ice as possible. Thismeans that a Weddell seal located near thedive hole there has no choice but to returnwhen it needs to breathe. That way the scien-tists can continue to take measurements andconduct tests on the same seal over thecourse of several dives. The researchers areconducting tests to learn more about howseals metabolize fat so efficiently.

Castellini, a professor at the University ofAlaska in Fairbanks, believes that the unusu-ally old sea ice is to blame for the seals’escape. There must be cracks nearby that theseals were able to reach. He thinks thecracks are caused by the increased pressurein the ice, which hasn’t fully broken outsince 1998. The cracks aren’t visible to

November 21, 2004Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program

Childhood stories leadman to Antarctica

page 4

I N S I D E

Q U O T E O F T H E W E E K

A Polie’s quick decisionpage 12

Can’t keep a good seal down

By Brien BarnettSun staff

Standing in one of the nearly fin-ished wings of the elevated SouthPole Station, it’s easy to imaginefuture residents wandering the newlyconstructed corridors, rooms andstairwells. Inside and out, the polarstation is taking shape and is on targetfor dedication in 2007.

It happened overnight so to speak. The long, cold night called the aus-

tral winter saw crews pushing to getthe interior of three new sections upand running.

“It’s the fastest eight months I’veever spent,” said Carlton Walker,facilities, maintenance and construc-

See Seals on page 11

Pole stories on page 7

A Weddell seal and herpup rest on the sea ice.

Photo by Laura Hamilton /NSF Photo Library file photo

Construction cruisesthrough polar night

“McMurdo Station’s like aClub Med for scientists.Where else do I have somuch done for my pleasure?”

- scientist in McMurdo’s dining halltalking about science support

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunCarpenter Robert Kummelehne of Fall Brook, Calif.,cuts high-impact board inside the elevated station.The board lines the hallways inside the station.

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunIn the foreground are the new, nearly completed sections of the elevated station at the South Pole. Two berthing wings will be added this summer.

2 • The Antarctic Sun November 21, 2004

McMurdo Bowling Alley

Number of lanes: 2

Date opened: July 19, 1961First ball thrown by: CDR James J.Brosnahan, commanding officer ofNAF McMurdo Station

Ceremonial pins: toy stuffed penguinsused for dedication ceremonyCost today: $2 to bowl, $1 for shoesNumber of teams in league play now: 30Name of runoff for the losers: ToiletBowlWhy it’s special (besides being inAntarctica): has manual pinsettersPin weight: 2lbs / 1kgAverage ball weight: 13lbs / 6kgAverage weight a pinsetter lifts pergame: 1,040lbs / 472kgWhy they tell you this: they want to betipped

source: Pictures and signs at the bowlingalley.

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

Hey Bucko, what are youdoing in my fish hole?

Your fish hole?!This is mine.

Hey, what are you twodoing to my fish hole?

What? Thisis my fishhole!!!

Hey, can you all step awayfrom my hole? We’re tryingto sleep down here.

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

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 ofsource and author.

Senior Editor: Kristan HutchisonEditors: Brien Barnett, Emily StoneCopy Editors: Karl Horeis, Wendy Kober,

Amanda BarnettPublisher: Valerie Carroll,

Communications manager, RPSCContributions are welcome. Contact The

Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo,visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

Penguin at New Harbor camp Photo by Henry Kaiser

From the Antarctic Photo Library www.polar.org

Fresh photos weekly at the Antarctic Photo LibraryNeed a photo? Choose from hundreds. Taken a great one? Submissions accepted.Searchable and suitable for presentations, publicationsand sending to friends.

November 21, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3

By Brien BarnettSun staff

Harsh -50C temperatures set in as a National GeographicTelevision film crew filmed life at the bottom of the world duringa visit this month to the South Pole.

“It’s going pretty well,” said cameraman Michael Single, ofthe second summer of filming in the the three-year project. “Thething that has been a bit of a setback is the machinery and con-struction are not going yet.”

The crew’s early visit to the station, combined with the lowtemperatures, meant filming of construction and cargo move-ments will have to wait until next year. In the first year, the crewtaped inside buildings and talked with people. This year, Singleand his partner, soundman Adrian Kubala, did get some nice shotsof planes taking off from the ice runway next to the new elevatedstation.

“The contrails were just fantastic,” said Single, an Emmyaward-winning cameraman.

Besides the shots, the primary concern for the pair fromDunedin, New Zealand, was keeping the gear functioning in thecold. Single kept the camera battery inside his clothes next to hischest to keep it warm. Kubala used a dual system that used digi-tal audiotape or a minidisk to record sound. He had to stop usinga wireless transmitter to get his audio because it wouldn’t stay onfrequency. Neoprene covers also helped keep the gear insulated.

“At about -45C things start to go wobbly,” said Single, whohas visited the continent 20 times. This is Kubala’s third trip tothe Ice.

“Pole is different from most experiences,” he said. “It’s prettytaxing. Like diving, you have to keep changing into your gear allthe time.”

They used their time at Pole to shootscenes of essential services and utili-ties, take a tour, videotape the under-ground ice tunnels and pick up a num-ber of detail shots from their list. Thedocumentary will use computer graph-ics, which may lessen the need forsome shots, Single said.

Other effects of the winter surprisedthem.

“There’s been such a lot of snowbuildup at MAPO and the El Station,” Single said, referring to theastronomical sciences building and the new elevated station.

Tractors and other heavy equipment spent several days clear-ing away snow from buildings at Pole and building up snowberms that help block the wind.

Kubala and Single were at the South Pole last summer withadventure sports film director Michael Brown to record scenes ofthe transition from the old dome into the new station. Brown hasmoved on to work with a different project this season, an expedi-

tion set for January on the AntarcticPeninsula. Single and Kubala said theyplan to be back at the Pole again.

“We’ll be returning next year to chipaway at the changes.” Single said. “Thechangeover (to the new station) is a newaspect … and ideally they will have theblue panels on the outside of the stationby then, sort of have on its best dress.”

Single isn’t taking a break, justreversing cultures. Next, he will leave

the cold and chilled-out pace of the South Pole and travel to LasVegas for filming in Death Valley.

The National Geographic documentary, supported by theNational Science Foundation, probably will be ready to airaround the time the new station is dedicated in 2007, Single said.

“At about -45C, things start togo wobbly.”

— Michael Single, cameramanfor National Geographic,

on filming at the South Pole

Cold challenges South Pole filmmakers

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunNational Geographic cameraman Michael Single, dressed in hisextreme cold weather gear, descends through a tube leading to tun-nels beneath the Dome at the South Pole. The tunnels are very coldand have a lot of metal pipes and ducts. The cold weather clothingkeeps visitors warm and reduces risk of exposed flesh sticking to themetal.

The Antarctic Sun Photo and Writing ContestEntries due Dec. 12e-mail them to The Antarctic Sun [email protected]

Photo Categories:ScenicWildlifePeopleOther

film or digital(300 dpi or higher, please)

Writing Categories:Poetry: up to 30 linesHaiku: 5-7-5 syllables

Microfiction: up to 300 wordsNon-fiction: up to 300 words


Perspectives Perspectives

By Casey KochanowskiI first heard of Antarctica in first grade, in

a one-room country school. Our teacher waslecturing the upper grades aboutWisconsin’s geography. I pretended to readDick and Jane, as assigned, but I wasn’t. Iwas listening to the adventures the luckyolder kids were being told.

“Thousands of years ago much ofWisconsin was covered with snow and iceabout two miles in height, much as is inAntarctica today. Glaciers—large sheets ofice—altered the landscape on a massivescale. Wisconsin’s lush green pastures, tow-ering forests, its many streams and lakes,and even the Great Lakes, were formeddirectly and indirectly by a continental glac-ier, named Wisconsin. … Look in theNational Geographics. You’ll find articlesabout glaciers and Antarctica. …”

My child’s mind tripped with fantasticideas and dreams. I pictured a howling bliz-zard lasting a thousand years, piling snowhigher and higher, then drifting it up twomiles. In the blinding fury I climbed to thetop. I was king of the hill. I didn’t under-stand how packed snow that squeezes intoice could make pastures and trees. If therivers and lakes were formed directly andindirectly at the same time, that must bewhy they’re in all different directions on themap, I thought. The teacher showedAntarctica being on the bottom of the world,upside down from us. Was Antarctica somekind of magic place with special stickiness?

Every chance I had, I searched the yel-lowed magazines for articles aboutAntarctica. The journey took a long time,for Antarctica was far from centralWisconsin and the world was filled withenticing detours. Sometimes I didn’t go torecess because I was deep in a jungle sur-rounded by tigers or inside pyramids study-ing dead kings’ tombs. Eventually I foundphotos of men in heavy winter clothing sur-rounded by snow and they weren’t Eskimos.My heart skipped a beat, for these were themen of Antarctica. They wore huge,Eskimo-like jackets, white chubby boots,mittens big as gunny sacks and sunglasseslike movie stars. Most of them had messy,sticking-up hair. When they were outdoorstheir beards were frosty and hung with ici-cles, making them appear scary and mean. Iwasn’t afraid. These were not bogeymen.They were courageous glacier explorers. I’d

do anything to be with them, even let thembe king of the mountain. They were heroes.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004, as all-handsarrive to the McMurdo dining hall for atown meeting, I inquire of the kind-eyed,seemingly mature-beyond-his-years man onmy left. “I’ve seen you about. What kind ofwork do you do?”

“I’m with the South Pole Traverse. JohnWright, and you?”

“Sheet metal, Kochanowski, Casey,” Ireply, extending my hand.

I am deeply moved. The little boy whowould do anything to be in Antarctica is inthe presence of this high drama. In myresponsibility on the Ice as a sheet metalworker, I am supporting today’s glacialpathfinders in the advancement of greaterpolar understanding. Recently, we of thesheet metal shop fabricated special anglebrackets for the South Pole Traverse. Everygear of support, regardless of size, age andlocation, is required to keep driving theengine of scientific research on the Ice.

I, too, have a support team making pos-sible my sojourn in this crystal paradise.Brenda, my wife of 33 years, voice of kind-ness, intelligence and encouragement,mother of our three children, is home alone.This is the first time we are apart for so long.In our waltz together a natural rhythm ofroutine, spontaneity and responsibility hasevolved. In addition to her usual dailydomestic duties, she now is also tasked withactivities that I usually handle. Brenda mustnow take care of our vehicles, scrape smellyroad kill off the highway in front of thebuilding site and explain my sabbatical toour customers and neighbors. This will beher first winter in a long time of having tosnow plow our residence, farm and metalfabricating business. She’s doing all that soI can spend the summer on the beach of anisland in a far away southern sea.

Though our children are far from home,chasing and fulfilling their dreams, they areactive members of my support team.

Parents are supposed to make connec-tions on behalf of their children. In my situ-ation, the roles were reversed. Late August2003, Amnesty, 23, trail crew/hot shot inRocky Mountain National Park, calls home.

“Dad, you won’t believe this. Antarcticawants you. They need sheet metal workers.”

Immediately Brenda sends my resume,but it is too late for the 2003-04 season.

This year we are ready. Amnesty attendsthe Raytheon Polar Services job fair inDenver in April, for she, too, likes coolplaces. The marathoner snagged a slot as analternate, cargo, for the Pole. At the mainte-nance/construction table, Amnesty handsmy resume to the recruiter. He whistles,“Holy *@%&, this guy’s got experience.”

Forgiveness, 25, logistics officer, US AirForce, Elmensdorf Air Base, Alaska, wouldprobably rumble his Harley to Wisconsin tohogtie me on the airplane, had I secondthoughts about going to Antarctica.

“Dad, you’ve got to go. You love glacia-tion. You always taught us where the lobesinvaded, how the lakes were formed…You’ll never get another chance. Don’tworry, mom will be fine.”

Deliverance, 21, loadmaster, C-5, U.S.Air Force, Travis Air Force Base, Calif. ismy advance party. Two years ago he had amission to Christchurch, New Zealand.

“Dad, stay at the Sudima Hotel. That’swhere the Air Force puts us up. You’ll beright next to the Antarctic complex. Momwill be fine. I’m coming home for deerhunting. I’ll show her the tricks of snowplowing. Go to Antarctica and have fun.”

The seventh continent is topsy-turvy.Everything here is strange and different.They plow snow onto the roads because itrarely snows. People try to dispense withslumber because it doesn’t get dark all sum-mer. There are no designated driversbecause there are no automobiles. There areno babies here, only fun-loving kids of allages. There’s a mayor, but he looks just likeall of us penguins in red jackets.

I love Antarctica. I knew I would. I can-not hold her close enough. For nearly 50years I’ve been dreaming about LadyAntarctica, and finally now, I waken to herembrace. She flirts with me, winks. For achilling second, aurora australis illuminateseternity.

Antarctica is the Top of the World

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun

Casey Kochanowski is a sheet metal workerfrom Wisconsin, currently in his first seasonat McMurdo Station.

the week in weather

Record-setting weekBy Katie HessPole correspondent

This week marks the anniversary of thefirst flight over the geographic South Pole,a new record low temperature, and theend of the contrails that had been makingunloading cargo planes difficult.

This year marks the 75th anniversary ofAmerican Admiral Richard E. Byrd’sflight over the Pole. Byrd was the naviga-tor aboard the Floyd Bennett — a Ford tri-motor aircraft. The expedition signifiedthe first step in the mechanical era ofAntarctica exploration. More coverage ofthe historic flight, and a modern one com-memorating it, will come out next week inThe Antarctic Sun.

After setting a record low of -48.7C onNov. 10, temperatures finally rose abovethe -40C mark for the first time this sea-son. It feels relatively warm compared tothe frigid start of the season and cloudcover, ice crystals and blowing snow arenearly non-existent. The warmer tempera-tures have been welcome news to summeroperations.

The thick contrails that until now hadobscured the vision of crews attempting tounload planes have subsided. That hasallowed cargo to be removed from the rearof the plane and for other cargo, includingtons of winter waste, to be shipped backnorth. Fragile cargo that had to wait for thecontrails to disappear, including some ofthe larger IceCube hot water drillingequipment, is now moving toward Pole.Departments up and down the supplychain from the U.S. to South Pole are feel-ing the relief of the faster flow of cargo.

Warmer temperatures also mean thatmore vehicles can be operated around thestation. Crane operations are starting upthis week for the summer season, a pas-senger van will begin a scheduled routearound the station and getting from placeto place at the bottom of the Earth isbecoming easier.

This last week also has brought somerelief to the medical staff that hit the

ground running this summer with so manyvisits from patients suffering cold and flu-like symptoms. The record 119 patient vis-its at Pole in the span of a couple weeksexceeded even McMurdo’s weekly count.Much healthier faces are present every-where around the station.

South Pole Emergency Response teamsare gearing up for the station’s first everMass-Casuality Incident drill. ChristianOtto, South Pole Station’s medical doctor,gave tips from previous drills held atMcMurdo Station. The goal is to design aplan suitable for the remoteness of SouthPole Station.

The meteorology department recentlyinstalled a brand new upper air system formonitoring data transmitted back to thestation from our weather balloons. Thesystem uses much smaller, state-of-the-artradiosonde units to measure weatherthrough the polar troposphere.

In recreation, about a third of the sta-tion attended this summer’s first “FullContact BINGO.” This tradition is a verywell-attended event at the South Pole andproved to be another outstanding success.Also, several groups are fitting in last-minute practice sessions for performancesat the popular coffee house event. Eachyear, the coffee house features remarkableperformances by the station crew and sci-entists. For those on station, it’s an eventnot to be missed.

Krill researchers return

by Kerry KellsPalmer correspondent

Palmer Station has been busy preparingfor the next port call. The sea ice has againstrengthened. From atop the glacier the seaice is a blanket of white in all directions,packed tightly around each of the islands.The research vessel Laurence M. Goulddelivered National Marine Fisheriesresearchers and their gear to Cape Shirreffon Livingston Island, then continued on toPalmer Station. The ship arrived Thursdayand departed Friday.

Before the ship’s arrival, LangdonQuetin presented the Wednesday night sci-ence lecture on krill, complete with theunique snack of “krill crackers.” Quetin isprincipal investigator with the prey compo-nent of the Long Term Ecological Study,which studies krill.

Quetin and Robin Ross began krillresearch at Palmer Station in the early1980sand are currently researchers with thePalmer Long Term Ecological ResearchProgram (LTER) which began in 1990.Langdon’s lecture discussed the biology ofAntarctic krill, Eupahusia superba. His lec-ture began with a brief overview of the lifehistory of krill, discussed the importance ofsea ice to larval krill survival, summarizedtheir 10 years of catch data in the PalmerLTER grid and ended with predictions forthe krill population in the area. Langdon’sgroup dives to collect krill around stationand trolls for krill from zodiacs. He creditsvolunteer help from his team members. Thevolunteer divers on station now areKatharine Schwager and Joshua Sprague.

Krill are a shrimp-like crustaceanswhose size (up to 6cm), abundance and cir-cumpolar distribution make them a keyspecies in the ecosystem of the SouthernOcean. Krill form schools that can be kilo-meters in length. Concentrations in theseschools can be as high as 10,000 individualsper cubic meter. Krill feed primarily on phy-toplankton (small, single-celled plants),


around the continentPALMERSOUTH POLE

McMurdo StationHigh: 37F / 3C Low: 12F / -11CMax. sustained wind: 50 mph / 80 kphWindchill: -32F / -25C

South Pole StationHigh: -24F / -30C Low: -43F / -42CPeak wind: 31mph / 50kphMax. Physio-altitude: 3,191m

See Palmer on page 6

Palmer StationHigh: 44F / 7C Low: 22F / -6CMax. sustained wind: 52mph / 84kphPrecipitation: 24mm

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunJohn Gallagher takes a weather balloonoutside.

sweeping them from the water columnusing feeding appendages.

Growth and reproduction of krill varywith the availability of phytoplankton.Krill grow most rapidly during the spring-time, when the ice melts and the water col-umn blooms. During the periods or yearswhen food levels are high, krill have ahigh growth rate and may spawn morethan once during the summer spawningseason. When food levels are low, espe-cially in winter, krill may not grow butmay actually shrink and they may notspawn in the summer months.

The timing and extent of pack ice for-mation and the amount of light for icealgae production in sea ice is significantfor the success of krill. One key period forkrill population is the survival of larvaeduring the winter months when their abili-ty to starve is limited. They must feed onphytoplankton incorporated into the packice (ice algae) because the phytoplanktonin the water column is low.

As part of the Palmer LTER, Langdonand Robin study the patterns of krill at 46stations within the LTER grid south ofPalmer Station. Each year, with the help ofmany volunteers, they measure krill fromeach station. The combined measurementsprovide a picture of the size and structureand abundance of krill population.

The data show that krill recruitmentand abundance is cyclical with two suc-cessful years of recruitment followed bythree to four poor or failed years. Thesetwo successful year classes dominate thekrill population and are closely tied towinter ice dynamics. Since the warmingtrend in the western Antarctic Peninsula isnegatively affecting the annual sea icedynamics, a negative impact on the krillpopulation may also be likely.

Langdon and his team members dove

quickly in Hero Inlet before the next portcall. With the arrival of the Laurence M.Gould, new scientists arrived at station.Principal investigator Tad Day and co-principal investigator ChristopherRuhland will continue research of the“Response of Terrestrial Ecosystemsalong the Antarctic Peninsula to aChanging Climate.” The artist and writer,Jude Nutter, also arrived on station. Herbackground is both in painting and poetry.And, as of this Tuesday morning thanks tothe wind, Palmer Station welcomes theopen water.

Nathaniel B. PalmerCompiled from reports by Karl Newyear

The Nathaniel B. Palmer continuedsouth, crossing 60 degrees South Nov. 11 toreturn to the Antarctic. The 60-day sciencecruise has now passed its halfway mark andcontinues to draw water samples and deployinstruments measuring the water tempera-ture, salinity and other characteristics.

The seas lulled as the ship entered thenorthern Ross Sea ice pack.

“The winds and seas have finally calmedand we’re able to leave things on counter-tops without fear of them catastrophicallyending up on the floor,” wrote marine pro-jects coordinator Karl Newyear.

Winds were also down with a steadybarometer. Satellite imagery suggested theRoss polynya, a clear area in the sea ice, wasstarting to open up. Except for a lone Rossseal seen on the ice Nov. 13, wildlife sight-ings were scarce until a number of killerwhales appeared mid-afternoon Nov. 16.The researchers and crew celebrated thirdmate Rachelle’s birthday and enjoyed aseminar by researcher Raul Guerrero on hisrecent road trip to Machu Picchu from hishome in Argentina.

As the ship progressed toward Cape

Adare the researchers started to see a dis-tinct algal layer on the bottom of overturnedice floes, suggesting that the spring bloomcan’t be far off. The weather worsened,with east winds mostly closing the shorepolynya northwest of Cape Adare the shiphad been heading towards, putting theirplans into flux.

Laurence M. GouldCompiled from reports by Herb Baker

The Laurence M. Gould deliveredresearchers to their campsites along thePeninsula. The ship arrived first at CapeShirreff on Nov. 10 to find it shrouded infog. They waited for the sun to rise and liftthe fog, which it did within an hour. Thatallowed the crew to move cargo ashore byZodiac and set up camp for National MarineFisheries researchers.

The Gould continued south to PalmerStation to deliver cargo, then on to PetermanIsland to set up a camp there for researcherRon Naveen. Naveen gathers populationdata on penguins there to see how they maybe impacted by the frequent tourist visits.

From there, the Gould went toCopacabana field camp on King GeorgeIsland, where Wayne and Susan Trivelpiecehave studied Adelie, gentoo and chinstrappenguins for 25 seasons. Three people wentashore to repair the broken wind generatormast and do several other small repairs andprojects. While these three were working atCopa, the Gould went to the ArgentinianJubany Base to deliver an all-terrain vehiclethat will support a project on Vega Island,then to the Chilean Frei Base to pick upsome instrumentation for Teri Chereskin.Chereskin studies the currents in theSouthern Ocean with regular samples col-lected during the Gould’s passages backand forth across the Drake Passage. TheGould returned to Copa to pick up thethree workers and Susan Trivelpiece. Thenthe northbound ride to Punta Arenas wasreasonable, but wet and foggy.

Palmer6 • The Antarctic Sun November 21, 2004

From page 5

What’s your coldest Antarctic experience?

“Minus 108Fdegrees in 1993 at

South Pole.”

Bill McAfee, South Pole

IT manager fromDenver, Colo. many seasons

“Minnesota.”

Zee Evans,Palmer maintenance

specialist fromMinneapolis, nine seasons

“Doing ‘heroshots’ at the SouthPole in zero clothes

at 64 below.”

Kai Lindemulder,McMurdo general

assistant, SanFrancisco, first season

SHIPS

tion manager. Walker manages the con-struction crews at South Pole Station.

With a few exceptions, that crew hashanded the finishing touches to the menand women of summer and departed forwarmer climates, though many will returnfor another long night of work.

“We’re exactly where we want to be,”said Jerry Marty, theNational ScienceFoundation represen-tative in charge ofconstruction on thenew station.

Compared to thecozy but crampedsurroundings of thegeodesic Dome thathas been the symbolof the South Polesince 1975, the ele-vated station feelslike a modern officebuilding with bedrooms. The key word todescribe the new station is “room.” Roomto move, room to work, room to live.

The new station is elevated threemeters above the snow and ice by dozensof steel columns.

The columns, which are being adjustedagain to level the station this season, sup-port two, two-story main sections — A andB. The sections each resemble a blocky

letter “C” if seen from above. Both sections contain four segments, or

pods. Three of the four pods of each sec-tion have been erected and enclosed. Afoundation of steel columns and beamserected last summer mark the fourth podsof each section. Both remaining pods —A4 and B4 — will be framed in, enclosedand heated by the end of summer if allgoes as planned.

In the A-section, all three of theenclosed pods arefinished and occu-pied. Those podshouse the dininghall, kitchen, med-ical center, stationstore, post office,computer lab, green-house and the firstberthing area to beoccupied for thewinter, the A1 Pod.

Two of the B-sec-tion’s three pods arenearly finished. The

B2 Pod will be the home to many scienceprojects currently at Skylab as well as newscience and computer space.

“All that’s left is pulling cables andsome flooring,” Walker said.

Pod B1 is the berthing and emergencywing. Besides bedrooms, a game room,and television lounge, the wing is home to


By Brien BarnettSun Staff

The new, elevated station had to beraised several centimeters a couple yearsago. That was about 14 years ahead ofschedule. Now there may be an answer as towhy.

According to Jerry Marty, the NationalScience Foundation representative in chargeof construction, the north side of the SouthPole station appears to have sunk faster intosnow and ice than expected because of tworamps that were built to help move con-struction supplies in and out of the building.

“The snow ramp was point loaded atadjacent columns,” he noted.

He explained that engineers determinedthe weight of the ramps had compacted thesnow around nearby support columns, caus-ing the columns to sink faster than expected.

However, a year after the A Pod rampwas built, the settling seems to have slowed,he said.

He said he hoped the same would happen

for the B Pod supports.“It’s kinda like a domino on a bowl of

Jell-O,” Marty said about the annual task ofkeeping the station level.

This year, one or two columns will be setlevel and jacked up a bit. The process willtake a couple weeks and requires several136-metric ton, heavy-lifting jacks.

Once construction is finished and ramps

are removed, Marty predicted the settlingwould range about two to five centimeters ayear.

Online: To learn more about the jacking andleveling process, check out this archived storyin the Civil Engineering Magazine athttp://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/1200feat3.html

Ramps may be causing columns to settle faster

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunInside the construction area, workers have built a snow ramp up to the station to movematerial in and out of the building. The weight of the ramp at the top end seems to be com-pacting snow near the support columns.

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunCarpenter Todd Nemnich, of AnchorageAlaska, places high impact board on the cor-ridor walls on the second floor of the elevat-ed station at South Pole. Though he workswith concrete back in Alaska, this isNemnich’s fifth season as a carpenter at Pole.He said his job in Antarctica is“good season-al work,” which gives him some variety.

Pole From page 1

See Pole on page 10

The Elevated Station at South Pole

“We’re exactlywhere we want to be.”

- NSF construction representative Jerry

Marty, describing the pace of the progress on the elevated station

Photo courtesy ofSteve Alexander / NSF

A4 (steel only)

B4 (steel only)

DOME

ARCHES

SKYLAB


A1

B1

A2

A3

B2

B3

South Pole

Station’s past and

present


Staff keepclose eyeon powerBy Brien BarnettSun Staff

South Pole station is in manyrespects a very small city. It hasthe same basic needs as a city forpower, water and sewer.

According to Jerry Marty, NSFrepresentative overseeing con-struction, the station is meetingthe power demands, but is close toits maximum output of about 750KW.

A new 250 KW “peaking gen-erator” is scheduled to comeonline soon to give support toradio telescopes that draw largeamounts of power and “spike” thesystem.

The secondary generator andthe main operating generatorwould be able to produce amegawatt of power when needed.

“We’re closer to our maximumbecause we have more online thanoriginally planned,” Marty said.

More science, an additional 40beds and bad weather have con-tributed to the tight power supply.

Marty said conservation andplanning will get the station pastthe power crunch, which shouldbe resolved in the next couple sea-sons when the buildings inside theDome and elsewhere are removedfrom the grid.

Efforts to curtail power usealong with modifying powerrequirements for new science pro-jects may also help the situation,Marty said.

Management is reviewingoptions for energy efficiency andconservation.

Meantime, all power is gener-ated using fossil fuels, which areflown in and stockpiled in tanksfor the winter. There is a limit tohow much fuel can be moved andstored, Marty noted.

As for water and sewer, Martysaid the station’s summer popula-tion of 245, which includes con-struction work, has pushed thestation capacities for both to max-imum levels of sustainability.

19991999

2 0 0 12001

2 0 0 32003

2 0 0 42 0 0 4



Aerial photos courtesy NSF / Special to The Antarctic Sun


a small kitchen, a radio room, backupgenerators and fuel tank, water storage,bathrooms and laundry facilities. Thiswould be home to the station’s residentsshould other parts of the station becomeuninhabitable during the winter.

In Pod B3, carpenters and other crafts-men are finishing an area that will be theprimary home to communications andadministration. After many years holedup inside a room inside an orange build-ing inside the Dome, radio and commu-nications operators will have a com-manding view of the runway outside andwill be able to watch planes as they landand take off. The B3 Pod should be com-pleted by next summer. Meantime, com-munications staff will begin migratingequipment to the area. Utility areas and atemperature-controlled network opera-tions center are downstairs.

Altogether, the crews added about30,000 square feet of new space sincelast year at this time — much of it paint-ed in sea pearl, an off-white color Walkercalls the “color of everything.”

“We used 900 gallons this winteralone,” he said.

Full summer crewsAbout 90 people are working on con-

struction at the South Pole this season.Other projects besides the new stationinclude building a new pad for theplanned 10-m radio telescope, scheduledfor 2007, and the massive IceCube neu-trino detector. The detector requiresdozens of holes in the ice to be drilled upto 2,000m deep and the set up of a sup-port building. A building currently locat-ed near the Dome and previously usedfor housing will be renovated and towedover to the project area to house comput-

ers and equipment that will sort andcount neutrinos — high energy particlesfrom space — as they register within thedetector.

The progress of construction means asummer of transition for many, includingthe kitchen staff. The elevator in a towerconnecting the new station to an under-ground passageway to the dome is out ofservice. Packages of food are pulled fromstorage areas inside the dome andbrought to the foot of the stairs. A sign onthe stairwell asks passersby to pick up abox and bring to the kitchen. Two weeksago, a utility crew rigged a hoist so theboxes can instead be brought to the frontof the station by snow machine and sledand then lifted to the second floor.

“I couldn’t thank them enough,” leadchef “Cookie” Jon Emanuel said. “Idon’t think anybody realizes how muchwork that was.

10 days extraTwenty-eight construction workers

will get 10 extra days to make a finalpush on summer work on the elevatedstation.

The National Science Foundation andRaytheon Polar Services agreed toextend the South Pole summer construc-tion season to ensure the station is ontrack for a 2007 completion and possiblyget ahead a bit, according to Marty.

“An additional 10 days of construc-tion (allows for) work inside the wings,”Marty said.

As well, Marty said the extra days willallow the project to accrue time and tokeep pace for the 2007 station dedica-tion.

It also will allow work to progress ear-lier than planned on the interior of theIceCube “counting house.”


Pole From page 7

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunInside the new station store, Aaron Skinner, far right, a meteorologist from Denver, talks with Patrick McClure, a helpdesk staffer from Denver.

Top: Windows give a warm feel to a new roomin the B1 Pod. Middle: A sign in the B1 Pod warns of “WetPaint Everywhere.” Bottom: Emergency power generators will be atthe ready when the pod is up and running.

Photos by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun

November 21, 2004 The Antarctic Sun •11

the researchers, though, because they’recovered with snow. The enormous ice-bergs that broke into the Ross Sea in 2000are acting as a breakwater beforeMcMurdo Sound, reducing the likelihoodthat the ice will go out any time soon.

Castellini also suspects the seals can readthe underside of the sea ice like a map. Andsince they’ve had the same map for so longnow, they didn’t even need to pop back tothe surface to orient themselves beforeswimming away for good.

One seal a season usually makes a breakfor it instead of cooperating in the divingresearch, Castellini said. But it makes nosense to keep putting seals in the dive holesif they all keep leaving. So the team is goingto concentrate on other, above ground,aspects of their metabolism study this sea-son, which include doing tests on adultfemales and pups.

This switch in plans might lead to someexciting new research opportunities for thegroup. There are significant changes in theseal population this season beyond theirability to leave Fat City on their own.

Another Weddell seal project, led byRobert Garrott of Montana State University,counted about one-third to one-quarter asmany pups as there should be at coloniesthis time of year, and a corresponding dropin pregnant females. Garrott said he doesnot know where the missing females are.And Castellini’s team has found some sealsat cracks in the sea ice this year where theydon’t usually congregate. These “rogueseals” as he calls them, aren’t enough tomake up for Garrott’s missing seals, norwere they pregnant.

“Something has hit the system,”Castellini said.

The question is whether the changes insea ice are causing a physical barrier to theseals, making it difficult or impossible forthem to reach their usual breeding grounds,or if the sea ice changes are affecting theecosystem in such a way that it’s no longera good place for seals.

“Something has changed,” Castellinisaid. “And the question is if it’s food or ice.”

His team hopes to study the rogue sealsthis season. By taking samples of hair, bloodand whiskers, the scientists could learn whatthe seals are eating. The scientists wouldthen compare that information to data fromprevious years to learn if the seals havechanged their diet recently. This knowledgewill help with seal conservation efforts.

“Transitions are usually the hardestthings to catch,” said fellow seal researcherLorrie Rea, with the Alaska Department ofFish and Game.

This opportunity for scientists to track achange in population as it happens is exact-ly what scientists were unable to do after the

Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Castelliniexplained. Scientists had almost no datafrom before the spill on the affected animalsin order to analyze the changes that hap-pened after the spill.

“If this truly is the beginning of a change,we’re sitting here right on top of it rightnow,” he said. “It could be just fabulous.”

Changing prioritiesIn the meantime, the scientists have not

given up on their original plans for studyingseal metabolism. They’re just changingtheir priorities some.

Their goal is not so much to understandseal metabolism for its own sake, but to beable to use that information as a benchmarkagainst which to compare other large carni-vores.

“We know next to nothing about howwild carnivores digest food,” Castellini said.

The seals, which are huge but generallynot aggressive, make much better subjectsthan, say, a bear or wolf, Castellini said.Scientists would be hard pressed to find agrizzly willing to let researchers take hourlyblood samples, as the seals do.

The team worked on this project in2002. They brought six seals to the Fat Citydive hole. The scientists drew blood eachtime the seal surfaced after a dive. Theymonitored how quickly controlled levels offat, carbohydrates and nitrogen, which is acomponent of protein, lasted in the seal’s

blood. The quicker the substance disap-pears, the more important it is to the seals,Castellini said. Something that’s unimpor-tant just sits around, unused in the blood fora long time.

The 2002 study showed that fat, or lipids,disappear in about 40 minutes, carbohy-drates in a couple hours, and nitrogen getspartially used in 48 hours, but can linger forsix months, Castellini said.

The team planned to do the same thingthis year to gather more data and increasetheir sample size. They also wanted to con-duct the same tests on seals that were notdiving, but remained on the surfacethroughout the process. And they planned todo a series of tests on pups, to analyze theirlipid metabolism. The pups are basically ona lipid diet from their mother’s milk, whichis 40 to 50 percent lipid, Castellini said.

Since the diving seals aren’t cooperating,the team is going to concentrate instead onthe surface seals and the pups this season.The results could shed light on how otherwild carnivores digest food.

Castellini uses an analogy of a doctorwho can take a person’s temperature andknow, based on that, if the person is ill. Thedoctor knows that because humans have hadtheir temperatures taken so many times thatit has become clear what a normal tempera-ture should be.

The seal scientists are trying to figure outwhat normal metabolism rates are for pin-nipeds, the category of marine animals thatinclude seals, sea lions and walruses.

Rea’s specialty is the Steller sea lion,which are an endangered species in most oftheir habitat. Researchers can often only geta single blood sample from the sea lions. It’sdifficult to know whether the animal isnutritionally healthy if researchers havenothing to compare that sample to.

“This gives us a framework where wecan go out and understand one sample,” Reasaid of the seal tests.

The work also has implications forunderstanding human metabolism.

Seals eat and process an enormousamount of lipids, yet they show no sign ofarterial sclerosis, which plagues many peo-ple with high-fat diets. Castellini’s back-ground is in comparative physiology, so hisgoal is to compare different animal’s bio-logical mechanisms for handling a givenproblem. If you want to study lipids, he said,then you take an animal that processes thempoorly and compare it to an animal thatprocesses them well. Then you try to learnfrom the animal that is doing somethingright.

For any challenge in biology, Castellinisaid, “there is an animal that has solved thisproblem. Your job is to find the animal andask the right questions.”

NSF-funded research in this story: MikeCastellini, University of Alaska at Fairbanks

Seals From page 1

Photo by Emily Stone / The Antarctic SunMike Castellini looks at an empty dive holein the sea ice at his Fat City field camp.Castellini and his team of seal researchershad planned to study seals as they dove andresurfaced at the hole. But that work hasbeen put on hold after the first two seals thescientists put in the hole escaped throughunseen cracks in the sea ice nearby.

By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Glen Kinoshita has a habit ofgoing to the ends of the Earth onthe spur of the moment.

after poking his head into Walter Oechel’slab at San Diego State University. The labassistant began telling him about theirwork in Barrow, Alaska.

“At the end of the conversation he askedif I wanted to go work there for the sum-mer,” said Kinoshita, who was in Barrow amonth later working as a field technicianfor the Global Change Research Group.“Opportunities just kind of pop up and Ijust happen to be free enough to be able totake them.”

His decision to come to Antarctica wasequally sudden. He was finishing fieldresearch for his master’s thesis in Barrowand trying to decide where to go next. Afriend gave Kinoshita’s name to AndyClarke, with the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration observatoryat Barrow. Clarke was looking for someoneto send to the NOAA South Pole observa-tory for the winter.

“I called him and pretty much offeredhim a job pretty quick,” Clarke said. “Wewant someone with relevant experiencewith the instruments we have and he wasone of those.”

The catch was Kinoshita had to startwork in two months and stay at the SouthPole for a year.

He packed up his thesis and went.The thesis he meant to finish during his

year at the South Pole never got written.It’s no wonder, considering the topic is anecosystem 17,000km away. For a year, theonly plants Kinoshita saw were in thegreenhouse and the only animals wereother people.

But Kinoshita believes the experiencewas worth delaying his master’s degreeanother year.

“I was looking for some place moreextreme, just to see how I would do, just tochallenge myself,” Kinoshita said. “I’mtaking away that experience and I think it’sbeen good.”

Despite the differences in ecosystem, orlack of ecosystem, the South Pole attractssimilar people as Alaska’s most northernvillage, Kinoshita said. He found the peo-ple particularly friendly in the Antarctic,where there are no permanent residents.

“Here it just feels like it’s more tempo-rary,” Kinoshita said. “So you get off theplane and everybody’s your friend.”

He found he fit in well, organizing reg-ular movie nights in the library and parties

on the full moon. He also volunteered inthe greenhouse and once made sushi in thekitchen when the cooks had a day off.

“The key to having a good time up hereis to do stuff and to actually contribute tothe community, not just be passive and takethings in,” he said.

Kinoshita also kept in touch with peopleback in the U.S., posting daily photos anddescriptions of life at the South Pole at hisWeb site, as well as sending the occasionalirreverent or humorous e-mail to a list of95 friends and acquaintances.

“It was a great way to bring us into hisworld, and to try to capture a glimpse atsome of the research and work that is beingdone,” wrote Jenny Pedrotti from LosAngeles, a friend of Kinoshita’s for sevenyears.

“I don’t know many people that wouldpack it all up and move to the South Pole,but Glen is without a doubt a true ‘mad sci-entist’, at least to us,” Pedrotti wrote. “Heis an extremely intelligent person, and onethat will definitely make a difference in theworld.”

Kinoshita was outside in the winterweather daily, during his walk to and fromthe Atmospheric Research Observatory(ARO) in the Clean Air Sector, an upwindarea at the South Pole where planes andother vehicles are prohibited. At ARO, he

kept the instruments working, collected airand snow samples, and helped launchozone-monitoring balloons.

Though they were different disciplinesand at opposite ends of the Earth,Kinoshita’s research in Barrow and atSouth Pole are connected. Both look ataspects of climate change. In Barrow hemonitored the effects of climate change onthe ecosystem. At the South Pole,Kinoshita measured gasses in the air andsnow that may be triggering some of theglobal climate change. The air is consid-ered by many scientists to be the purest onEarth, and is therefore a good baseline tocompare to air in other parts of the world.

“This is basically the background,”Kinoshita said. “You remove ecosystems,you remove human influence. … This iswhat everyone compares to.”

Once a week he or his coworker, JasonSeifert, walked 30m across the snow andspent 15 minutes waiting in -35C to -80Cweather to collect the sample. NOAA sta-tions in Mauna Loa, Samoa, and Barrowtake the same kind of samples. In Barrowthe carbon dioxide levels fluctuate greatlyas the ice breaks up and allows algae andplants to grow and respire. At South Polethe only real change is the slow increase incarbon dioxide, from 315 parts per millionin 1957 to 372ppm last year.

“It’s a pretty constant increase. It’s justrising in this nice straight line over theyears,” he said. That increase has lead toincreased studies of climate change.

By the end of the winter, when the sunfinally returned, Kinoshita was feeling theeffects of the long winter.

“I’m experiencing things like loss ofsleep, problems with memory,” Kinoshitasaid. “I guess just feeling kind of out oftouch socially a little bit, or just in generalstrange energy levels that weren’t with mein the middle of winter.”

The symptoms went away after he leftthe Ice in November to bike around NewZealand. He plans to return to San Diegofor the holidays, and to repack. He’s return-ing to the South Pole for another winter,and another attempt to write the thesis.

“I joke around with him,” Clarke said.“He didn’t get it done his first winter, sowe’re making him stay a second season.”

After that, Kinoshita doesn’t knowwhat’s next, but he figures some interestingopportunity will show up, and he’ll take it,no matter how far away.

“I’ve developed a lot of contacts andpotential people to work with in thefuture,” he said. “No matter where I go, Ithink I could find a little niche to exist.”


Prof i le Spur of the moment Polie

Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic SunGlen Kinoshita holds a flask containing aircollected at South Pole earlier this year.Kinoshita recently left the Ice after spendingthe winter, but will return next winter.

He chose his graduate school

the antarctic sun construction cruises through polar night

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