iceblog

We spent a good part of that night exploring.

Neither Anne nor I had been to that area before, so we went for a walk.

[A view into the next valley. Yes, those are *sand dunes*.]

The next day, Anne and Karl and I installed a survey marker in some nearby bedrock.

[Me hauling. Photo: Anne]

[Anne and Beth drilling. Photo: Karl]

Then, I measured the network.

[Photo pending]

Shortly before the survey was finished, we learned that helicopters for the rest of the day had been cancelled and Anne and I would be "stuck" out there another night. Neither of us minded, especially since, while the weather had gone bad in McMurdo, the weather on Clark glacier was still quite nice. Plus, it gave me time to learn about ice core drilling. This was great, as I’ve read a decent amount about ice cores and one of my housemates this summer drills (and studies) ice cores, but I didn’t know anything about the actual drilling process.

[Terry at the drill controls, with mascots Lobster and Moose looking on. Lobster and Moose were sent with Karl by his wife's 4th grade class.]

[Mike drills down.]

[Terry pulls the drill horizontal to extract the core.]

[Core extraction.]

[Mike, Terry, and Karl examine the core.]

As drilling wound down, we enjoyed the sunshine.

Bear Bear made a couple friends.

Lobster took a ride on Terry's kite.

And, eventually, we settled down to a nice dinner (Mike and Terry are both fantastic cooks) with some beverage treats I brought in on their request.

We did make it out the next day, in the morning, and left the four Clark glacier dudes behind. I wasn't *too* sad, though, since I knew I'd get to meet up with them out in the field again, next time at Commonwealth glacier. Stories to follow.