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Barne Glacier

Before our stint on Erebus, I got to see the toe of the Barne glacier from its base. Very, very impressive. Today, I got to see the toe of the Barne glacier from the top of the ice. Less impressive, but fun.

The mission was to survey three survey points put in last year to get a rough idea of how fast the glacier is moving. Because the motion of the glacier should be large--on the order of several meters a year--the survey is much cruder than the surveys of the points on the volcano (which move only several mm per year). Instead of securing the big antenna to a level surface and orienting the antenna to north, we simply screwed a smaller antenna onto a PVC pipe hat which we slipped over a bamboo pole. The poles are the permanent markers, and sport flags (here covered by the PVC pipe) which make them more visible from the air.

[GPS setup.]

Also, rather than leaving the equipment for three or more days, we survey for only 30 minutes. Again, this is because we are expecting motions from one survey to the next to be large, and thus don't need a larger amount of data.

On board were Ken, the pilot, who had flown to the sites last year (this proved quite handy),

Erik, a mountaineer, who came with us to make sure we wouldn't step into any crevasses,

and Robbie, a computer networker, who was along to help out, and to enjoy the view. Well, when it comes down to it, that's what we're all out there for.

The three sites were far enough apart that Ken flew us from one to the next.
When we landed, Erik would clip a rope from himself to the helo and step out with a probe (ski pole with no basket, essentially) and check out the area for cracks.

There were some small cracks at the second site, more threatening to ankles than to lives.

At the third site, Erik breaks into a more substantial crack. It was about 3-ft wide, and at least 15-ft deep.

And Ken peers in to check it out.

Erik sits back while Robbie takes a closer look.

And then, I take a closer look. And this is what I see.

Crystals. Several cm across.

The surveying was pretty tough. It took us about 5 minutes to set up the equipment, and then we had to wait for 30 minutes. Lounging. On a relatively warm, calm, peaceful day. Cloudy, white, with flat light, but very nice just the same.

If field work goes well tomorrow, I should have the results of our survey. Base station, at Cape Royds, is still operating.

Posted by beth at January 13, 2003 04:52 PM | TrackBack