Four of us took the opportunity this evening (Wed Dec 17) to go on a tour of the pressure ridges near Scott Base, the Kiwi base located just a couple of miles down the road from McMurdo Station. It was a bit snowy out so visibility wasn’t great, but it wasn’t cold, just the right temperature for a jaunt on the sea ice.
Me with some pressure ridges and then Scott Base behind, and snow flurries over the hills in the background.
As their name suggests, the pressure ridges form where ice is pushed up against the shore, and deforms into these wonderful ridges. They have beautiful blue ice, some neat stratigraphy where snow has accumulated in layers, and cool natural sculptures created by deformation and melting of the ice. Also interspersed among the ridges were these lovely melt ponds of different colors (greener where there is more algae perhaps, browner with more dirt. . . ??).
Walking through a gap in a pressure ridge, with melt pools ahead of us and to the left. Christine (with black knapsack) and Vinciane are the last two red coats.
Also interspersed among the ridges were some seals! There were perhaps 4 or 5, just hanging out. They were adults with one youngster, maybe a couple of months old or less (based on former sightings by our guide), who vocalized for us as we stopped to take his photo on the way back. As Shannon said, he sounded like a lion.
One of the seals, enjoying life on the ice, with a pressure ridge in the background. (See Ralph’s post ‘On the patience of seals’ for more seal info)
-posted by Devon, McMurdo, Dec 17