1 December, 2001
Dec 1st- Cape Byrd
This morning I had my first Real Audio session with my students. It was so
much fun! I was a little bit sleepy because it was 7:00am my time. We are a
day ahead here, so it is Saturday in Antarctica while it is Friday in the
U.S. I really enjoyed all of the wonderful questions from my students at
Shoultes and the students from Cedarcrest. I was so happy to hear everyone's
voices! Also, I was thrilled to know that my family and friends were
listening. That meant so much to me!
After the Real Audio session, I prepared for a helicopter flight to Cape
Byrd. Our landing spot was atop a cinder cone. A cinder cone is a
cone-shaped hill that is formed when lava piles up around a volcanic vent.
As lava comes out of a volcano, the gases within it expand. The lava cools
and rocks are formed. Some of these rocks have holes in them! The rocks on
this cone were incredible.
After we finished installing our seismic station, I spent a lot of time
walking around picking up and looking at the rocks. The various shapes,
colors and textures fascinated me. I saw all sorts of igneous rocks-
granite, basalt, quartz, pumice etc. There has always been a budding
geologist inside me!
Cape Byrd is known for its Adelie penguin rookeries. Rookeries are the
nesting grounds for penguins. We landed too high up to be able to see any of
these. However, the rocks were the highlight for me. I couldn't stop
looking down at the ground!
The minute we stepped off of the plane, we were greeted by 40 - 50 mph winds!
There were gusts that were even higher. Our entire time on the ground (five
hours) we battled these fierce winds. It was difficult to walk without being
blown around. Working on the station was even more difficult.
At one point, Doug and I had to mix Plaster of Paris with water to create
cement. Plaster of Paris is powdery. This was not an easy task. I tried to
block the wind as best I could while Doug poured in the powder. I had to
keep my eyes closed while trying not to breathe, because the dust from the
powder was flying up into my face. Somehow we managed it.
Everything took longer today because of the wind. The one good thing was
that the temperature was 25 degrees F. The strong winds made the wind chill
-15 degrees F, but this wasn't too bad. Had the temperature been a lot
lower, we would have frozen!
Doug before boarding the helo
Views from the helo
Our pilot, Greg
The Transantarctic Mountains are in the background
Views from our site
Mt. Erebus with two plumes of steam coming out
The Transantarctics again
Our seismic station
Ice closer up
Here I am, all bundled up!
A view of ice
Doug and Rigo walking
Wonderful rocks!
Doug in the wind
Walking on the moon
Juliette, Rigo and Doug waiting for the helo
At last, the helo!
Goodbye Cape Byrd!
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