4 December, 2000

FYI answer for 12/03/00

There are guidelines for personal conduct when out in the field in Antarctica:

Do not disturb wildlife

Do not litter

Do not introduce plants or animals into the Antarctic

Do not collect eggs, fossils, or plants without a permit

Do not enter any Specially Protected Area

Avoid interference with scientific work

Do not disturb Antarctic historic monuments

Be environmentally responsible

There was a change in the air as I walked across McMurdo this morning. I drove the snowmobile in last night to pick up supplies from our lab, exchange snowmobiles and do some work on the computers here. It was considerably colder than it has been in a week. The clouds were back too. I didn't have to get back out to seal camp until this afternoon. I was able to have a leisurely breakfast and complete computer work.

Back at Big Razorback, we headed over to Turks Head for a third search for two females that we instrumented three days ago but had been unable to locate. Our search was semi-successful. We found the first female and I bagged my first seal. I volunteered to use the black detach bag and didn't have any trouble. I found the other female but, unfortunately, two of three instruments were missing. The third instrument was half torn off too. There can be a number of reasons that they were gone. The bad news is that it is a big cost loss as well as important data lost. We will try to search the surface as we continue to go back and the snow may start to melt.

Our day was short. The cold winds would not allow us to attach any instruments. We headed back to Big Razorback and the winds were the same way. The census crew was off tagging seals at another location so it was just Katsu, Gifford and I left here. I used the qute afternoon to actually read a book that I brought with me. I aso did some dinner planning and when evryone was together I made my first evening meal. Today was Yoko's birhtday so we made a cake for her even though she's back in Japan now.

FYI

Radio communications are easily affected by magnetic disturbances and sun spot activity, which will sometimes make _________________ broken and difficult to understand. There is a phonetic ______________ that can be used to ensure that when you say "F" it is not misunderstood as "S". The following is the first half of the phonetic alphabet.

A______ B Bravo C Charlie

D Delta E_______ F Foxtrot

G______ H Hotel I India

J Julia K Kilo L ______

M Mike