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3 December, 1999Lower Wright Valley, Antarctica Friday After an hour delay, Julie, Maite, Mark, and I headed toward the Dry Valleys. Today we wanted to collect soil and rock samples from the Lower Taylor Valley and Lower Wright Valley (the part of the valley nearest the edge of the continent). Traveling was a little different than in previous trips. We didn't have all of the bulky equipment that we usually carry. For this reason, we were scheduled on a helicopter called an A-Star. It is much smaller than the Kiwi Iroquois or the PHI Huey. The A-Star was piloted by Barry, an employee of PHI. First, Barry sat the helo down at Commonwealth Glacier in Lower Taylor Valley. The glacier was enormous! Look at the pictures that I have included! I could not believe the height of the front edge of the glacier! The rocks around the glacier were just as incredible. I have never seen such variety in any one place! The wind carved rocks, called ventifacts, created a landscape found nowhere else on Earth and I was there to see it! We talked about the 'lifelessness' of Antarctica. There are no trees. No songbirds. No crickets chirping in the night. There are no scents in Antarctica. The air contains no hint of pine trees or rotting organic matter or cool, damp earth. It's actually a little eerie! The largest predator in the Dry Valley lakes is a nematode! No other worms burrow through the eroded sandy material that blankets the valley floor. What a strange place! We spent an hour at the glacier. Barry returned and flew us to Lake Brownsworth in the Lower Wright Valley. This lake was at the edge of a moraine created by the Lower Wright Glacier. This glacier extends from the larger Wilson-Piedmont Glacier, another wonder of Antarctica! Here we were, traipsing across ice and sand pushed by this massive glacier. The wind carves shapes that are really beautiful! The wind also carves the ice. When you combine the forces of the glacier pushing the ice and the wind carving the ice, wonderful sculptures result! Naturally, my photos do not begin to capture the feeling that you get when you first see such sights! We collected many rock samples and soil samples and departed for McMurdo only to be forced to land at Marble Point, a refueling station at the edge of the continent. Can you guess why? Yes, the weather had turned on us again and we were now faced with staying the night at Marble Point! Fortunately, the wind died down and we were able to take off and return to McMurdo about 30 minutes later! A little excitement nonetheless! We processed samples, wrote journals, played on the gas chromatograph and ended up at Gallighers for socializing in the evening. Many folks who were scheduled to leave Antarctica today were saying their final good-byes in hopes that they will be able to leave tomorrow. I'll miss the companionship of my welding buddies! They had some great stories! TODAY'S QUESTION: What is the difference between an ice shelf and an ice cap? Sharon JUST FOR KIDS!!!!! Lower Wright Valley, Antarctica Friday Today, Julie, Maite, Mark and I went to the Dry Valleys in a new kind of helicopter! We rode in an A-Star, a very small, fast helicopter. First we went to Taylor Valley and then we went to Wright Valley. In Taylor Valley, we worked, collecting rocks and soil, at the base of Commonwealth Glacier. In Wright Valley, we were at Lake Brownsworth at the base of the Lower Wright Glacier. The Lower Wright Glacier extends from the larger Wilson-Piedmont Glacier. The kinds of rocks that you find in these areas are incredible! The wind carves shapes that are really beautiful! The wind also carves the ice. When you combine the forces of the glacier pushing the ice and the wind carving the ice, wonderful sculptures result! We talked about what Antarctica doesn't have. We realized that you never hear a bird singing or a cricket chirping. You never see trees. You never smell pine forests or the cool, damp earth. You never see even a worm crawling on the ground! Can you imagine such a place? We felt like we were on a different planet! We processed samples, wrote journals, played on the gas chromatograph and met with our friends in the evening. Many folks who were scheduled to leave Antarctica today were saying their final good-byes hoping that the plane lands and they can leave tomorrow. I'll miss the companionship of my welding buddies! TODAY'S QUESTION: What is the difference between an ice shelf and an ice cap? Sharon
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