More notes from the field in this follow-up to: “From Earth to Mars: Studying Climate Change in Antarctica“

Post-doctoral fellow Maria Banks standing in front of C-17 after landing on the sea ice at McMurdo Station.

To get to Antarctica, I first flew on commercial flights from Washington, D.C. to Christchurch, New Zealand. While in Christchurch, I picked up special gear for the cold and harsh conditions in Antarctica from the US Antarctic Program Clothing Distribution Center. Several days later, I boarded a C-17 plane bound for McMurdo Station, Antarctica. In November, the temperatures are still cold enough that the sea ice surrounding McMurdo is used as a runway for aircraft. As I first stepped off the plane in Antarctica onto that expansive sheet of snow-covered ice, I was greeted by a blast of icy air, biting wind, and an amazing view of Mt. Erebus, the southernmost historically active volcano. It was so beautiful, it almost took my breath away!

View from Observation Hill of McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica.

Over the following week at McMurdo Station, I completed several safety and survival training courses to prepare for my departure into the deep field. The most memorable of these courses was snowmobile training, in which we had to drive “ski doos” through an obstacle course on the sea ice, and Snow Craft I, also known as “Happy Camper School.” At happy camper school, we were taught techniques for keeping warming, dealing with emergencies such as frost bite and hypothermia, how to set up various types of tents in the snow, find a lost person in a white out (with white buckets on our heads!), build a snow wall out of snow bricks, and spend the night in a survival trench.

Completed and furnished (with a sleeping bag rated for minus 40 degrees!) survival trench. A sled and some extra snow bricks are used as a roof. The sled has been pulled to the side to allow a view into the trench. Photo by Maria Banks.

There are also many opportunities for interesting hikes surrounding McMurdo and field trips to explore some of the wonders of Antarctica. I was lucky enough that on a field trip to an ice cave, I was visited by several Adelie penguins. While people are not allowed to approach and disturb wildlife in Antarctica, the penguins can do whatever they like! These Adelie penguins were very curious and came within roughly five feet to check us out before tobogganing (sliding on their bellies) off across the sea ice.

A group of Adelie penguins “hanging out” about 10 feet from the camera on the sea ice just outside of McMurdo Station. Photo by Maria Banks.

Soon I will depart for our remote field site to begin work on the drilling project and start a different type of adventure. We will arrive at this site via a four to five hour flight on a C-130 plane with skis!

Maria Banks is a post-doctoral fellow with the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum.

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Post-doctoral fellow Maria Banks standing in front of C-17 after landing on the sea ice at McMurdo Station.

I first became fascinated with glaciers during two summer seasons in Alaska while working on a cruise ship as a harpist. I would perform in a lounge at the top of the ship surrounded by windows and would watch in awe as we sailed past glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park as I performed. This was followed by three world cruises and many months sailing through Scandinavia where I was mesmerized by glaciers and icebergs in areas such as Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard, and Norway, and even sailed precariously through icebergs to reach the southern extend of the seasonal sea ice. One of my absolute favorite experiences was sailing through the gorgeous scenery of the narrow Norwegian Fjords. During my time off, I would escort tours to the glaciers and learn about the characteristic glacial terrain and how to climb and hike on top of the ice itself.

Maria Banks

Now, as a scientist and a post-doctoral fellow with the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum, I look at glaciers and ice sheets a little differently and have the opportunity to study them in detail. To understand more about ice sheets and climate change on Earth, I will be working for three months as part of an ice core drilling project (WAIS Divide Project) that will ultimately collect ice that was deposited as snow on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet over the last approximately 100,000 years. Layers in this ice contain clues to past climatic conditions on Earth and changes that have occurred over the last 100,000 years.  For example, air bubbles trapped in the ice contain greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane) which tell us the levels of these gases in the past and the chemical makeup of the water can be used as a thermometer to measure the temperature when the snow fell.

As a planetary geologist, I have also studied ice on Mars. Mars has both north and south polar caps, similar to the ice caps on Earth, that also contain layers with information about past climates and environmental conditions. Learning more about the clues hidden in the Earth’s ice layers will provide further insight into understanding what is recorded in the ice layers on Mars. Personally, I am also very excited about spending time in Antarctica as its low humidity and very cold temperatures make it the closest Earth analog for conditions on the surface of Mars. This is the closest I can get to experiencing what it would be like to live on Mars!

South polar cap of Mars in summer. Image taken by Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on April 17, 2000. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

My job in this project is to live at the field site on the ice sheet and work as a science technician handling, logging, and preparing ice cores as they are acquired, using an ice core drill called the DISC drill, to later be shipped back to the United States for analysis. I will do this for three months and will live in an unheated tent during the Antarctic summer!

To see a detailed report on my daily work and adventures in Antarctica, please visit my blog at: http://www.adventures-in-climate-change.com/adventures-in-climate-change/Antarctica/Antarctica.html

Maria Banks is a post-doctoral fellow with the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum.