terra tidbits

Random Fact of the Day: The communication system here is quite intricate. Because McMurdo is in the shadow of Mt. Erebus and pretty far south, first, our communication signals go to a satellite dish on Black Island. This dish is set at roughly a 3 degree angle, skimming across sea ice and ocean and up to a satellite on the equator. From there, it bounces back down to Brewster, Washington, and then to the Raytheon Headquarters in Colorado before it is transmitted further. There is roughly a 2.5 second delay on phone calls, but after talking to mom this afternoon, it didn’t seem too bad!

It was a busy day today. I attached a few pictures to set my stage for you. I learned how to drive the big shuttle vehicles!

But, first things first: Sunrise. There are only a few of them left now, so I took advantage of the available light this morning on the horizon!

I took a Delta transport vehicle out this morning. We dropped off a group of 20 off at “Happy Camper” School (aka. Snow School). Eventually I will participate in this, but not for a couple months. I felt bad dumping these folks off for a night in the blowing snow on a nearly endless snowfield. However, I drove the 42,500 pound Delta down a mostly un-maintained road that consists of 300 vertical feet of snowpack which covers roughly 1300 feet of water. The Delta has a passenger trailer behind the cab where I’m seated.

On the way back we stopped to take pictures by the Scott Base (the New Zealand station). Last week, one of the Deltas lost power and rolled backwards into a fuel line. We are getting extra driving time in the big vehicles now so we know as much about the safety features in them as possible!

The largest land vehicle in Antarctica is the Terra Bus. There are only 7 of these buses in the world. “Ivan” the Terra Bus is the only such beast in Antarctica. The others are in Canada along the Arctic. On The Ice, all vehicles yield to larger ones, which means that when I’m driving Ivan, I’m Queen of the road! This super-school-bus is a bit intimidating at first, but wasn’t as complicated as I imagined once I got the turns down. And, now I can say I’ve driven a 67,000 pound bus with 6 wheel drive! Last year Ivan took a dip in the land-ice transition when it got too soft. Thankfully, the driver and passengers were able to get out and wade to safety. When going through the safety checks and training process on Ivan, Bill, and old shuttles guy, said, “Don’t worry, there’s only one Terra Bus like Ivan in the world. If you wreck it, there won’t be any.”