16 December, 2000

FYI answer for 12/15/00

Facts of Matter in Antarctica:

Solid - 830,000 sheets of paper were distributed last summer

Liquid - 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of water are used per day, on average, during the winter; 60,000 to 70,000 gallons of water are used per day, on average, during the summer

Gas - 25 liters of liquid oxygen are kept on board an LC-130 aircraft

It was another day in the lab for Cory and me. We both had video to work with and emailing, journals and other contacts to take care of. The rest of the group finished with packing and storage. It just seems unreal to me that this could be over. I know that the 18th is just around the corner.

We all drove our snowmobiles out onto the sea ice for the last time today. Actually it was just this evening. We drove over to the ice shelf where they have set up another penguin study. The researchers on this project have about a dozen Emperor penguin chicks that have been abandoned, and they will be used to try and do some work with training behaviors. The chicks are really going through molting right now. They have also dug pools of water for them to start getting into when it is time. We visited the study area for about an hour. Arriving back at McMurdo, we cleaned out our snowmobiles and covered them for the last time. I do think I will miss that way of traveling.

I spent a very busy night in the lab working on the final copies of the video. It will encompass the underwater segments that we captured of the seals and the informative taping of the area that we lived and worked in. Cory did most of that taping with a camera these past few days.

FYI

More males are seen on the __________ around the ice cracks now because they are through ________________ their territory. The mothers will move away from their pups as part of the natural _________________ process. This will force the pups to make their own way. Most of the surviving pups will not be seen in this area for the next four to five ____________ .