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ANTARCTICA

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Photos © 2002 Seth White

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Chuck Kurnik at Differential GPS Station on Crater Hill. Use of a differential GPS system allows real time sub-centimeter accuracy in position, compared to several feet with the usual GPS receivers. Scientists are using this technique for various applications around McMurdo as well as in the Dry Valleys. Other GPS stations are even measuring dynamic motions of Mount Erebus after small eruptions! Chuck works for UNAVCO in Boulder, a consortium which supports many GPS applications worldwide.

Installations on Crater Hill.
SW at DGPS station on Crater Hill. This is a relay station for the DGPS system, which transmits as far as the Dry Valleys for use by the science groups out there.
A bit of moss, living on a rock. The largest plants living on the Antarctic continent are not a hell of a lot bigger than this....grasses about an inch or two high. This particular one was found on Dunlop Island, just north of Marble Point near the Dry Valleys.
Cyanobacteria - a very primitive form of life, thought to be one of the earliest life forms on earth. This is very similar to the cryptobiotic soil which lives in the deserts of the Southwest, only adapted for life in the cold.
Pond Scum. Oooooh! No big deal anywhere else in the world, but here, it is actually somewhat interesting. I was thrilled that I found this layer of scum all by my little self....
A little piece of soil with moss and lichen growing on it, found by Dana Porrat on Observation Hill.
Another pic of the native plant life.
Courtesy of Jim Raymond's group, the bit of soil was photographed under the microscope.
I never realized that moss has leaves and looks exactly like an array of little plants.
More of the moss structure under the microscope.
Yet another pic of the intrepid moss.
This is the lichen under the microscope.
Neat stuff.
A portable hybrid power station, using wind and solar power. This station was used this year to power a seal research camp.
Wind generator.
Antarctic Sun: November 17 2002 (.pdf file). A pic of yours truly is on page 9. I'm 'working' on the UV collector on the top of the Arrival Heights hut.
USA Today: November 24 2002 (.htm file). My buddy Steve stumbled upon the same picture...it made it all the way to the USA Today. I've been pretty tough to work with ever since my mug was proudly displayed in this fine publication.....
A crappy picture of me....really tired this day. BUT....I'm holding a 4.5 billion year old meteorite. This one was found near McMurdo a few years ago, and is as old as the earth. Antarctica has yielded more meteorites than the rest of the world put together. Why? Because they stand out on the ice sheets and are easier to find. No kidding. Several meteorites were taken out of their display case at Crary Lab one day to be photographed. I happened to be around, and got to pick them up...with latex gloves so as not to contaminate them. They were held by hand by numerous people a couple years ago, but now we have to wear gloves. Still, how cool is this? 4.5 billion years?
This one is almost solid iron, and is remarkably heavy. I am told that this one came from the core of a planet, which is evidently the only place where solid iron is found. Some cataclysimc cosmic event must have hurled bits of this planet out into space, where one particular chunk found earth, landed in Antarctica, and found its way into my hands. Unbelievable.
A GPS monument on Hut Point. As part of her GPS work, Beth Bartel had an antenna and receiver set up here for a few days during the season. I came out to lend a hand disassembling the station. Mount Discovery and Vince's Cross are in the background.
An action shot of the thrilling, high energy GPS operations! Actually, it's a pretty good way to make a living.
Near the GPS monument on Hut Point, I noticed this little pond with a neon green algae bloom.
Here is my friend Steve Brownell, ace comms tech. I had to go up to Crater Hill to shut down the DGPS relay station, and as it turns out, he had to go up and install a new antenna to allow better communications access to the ships during the cargo ship offload. So we headed up one day. Here's Steve wrangling an antenna on a mast near a comms hut.
Here is a little map of Ross Island, showing most of important places around here...McMurdo and Scott Base, Mount Erebus, Castle Rock, Cape Evans, Cape Royds, Windless Bight, and even the Taylor Valley (home of peak 1882). I thought I would put up a map or two to just give a perspective of the various places I talk about on this website.
Here is a larger, more detailed map of Ross Island. It is a scan of the USGS map, a copy of which I have hanging in my room.
Almost every day for nearly a year, I drove by this little spot on the way to Arrival Heights. There is an array of these little antennas on a hill overlooking town, and I always wondered what the heck they were. I happened to be driving along there one day with my friend Steve and asked him about them...and as it turns out he knew. These antennas comprise an HF receiving station which was used years ago. The current HF receive station is at Black Island, so this one, although it is still operable, isn't used much. However this technology was pretty advanced when it was built, and I understand the Navy was interested in keeping it confidential in those days.
The center of the array.
One element of the array, with some blowing snow in the background.