6 December, 2001

Temp: -3 C, +27 F With wind chill -19 C, 0 F

Today was a very different day for me. We went for a ride on a helocopter to a remote site to do some terrestrial sampling. We went to Cape Bird which was a 30 minute ride. Most of the sea ice we saw from the helocopter was still frozen. Much of it will thaw out before the summer is over. The helocopter dropped us off as 11:00AM, and we proceeded to find the sites. After sampling, we had lunch on the "beach." We then walked over to the penguin rookery which is where thousands of penquins were nesting. Some Kiwi (New Zealand) reseachers were there and spoke to us about their work. They were there to observe penguins and how they respond to humans.

Question of the day:

We will be doing several helo trips to remote sites to take samples. If our project is to test the environment in and around McMurdo, why do we need samples from these remote sites?

the helicopter leaving us at Cape Bird

Penquins are not afraid of humans and just walk right up to you.

3 penguins at the ice edge