Not a whole lot of stuff going on today for the ANSMET team. We have all of our gear in the cargo system as of lunch time Wednesday. Now it is just a matter of waiting… This is the Antarctic version of the military’s “Hurry up and wait” process. The ANSMET plan is to fly both four-person teams out to the Shackleton glacier camp on Saturday aboard LC-130 Hercules aircraft, and then disperse from there to our search sites via Twin Otter. The ANSMET power team (Ralph, John, Jim and Brian) met with fixed-wing operations today and firmed up the flight schedule. That was the easy part. We also need the cooperation of Mother Nature. The weather is good today, and LC-130s are launching from McMurdo’s Williams Field to sites all over the continent…with the exception of to the Shackleton glacier camp. The weather in the Shackleton glacier area is “sucky.” The weather forecasts for that region remain grim for the weekend. With luck, the plans of mere mortals and Mother Nature will converge on a unique solution early next week and allow ANSMET to get out to the field.

To add a little color to this post, I am attaching a few images I took on our Twin Otter flight out to Elephant Moraine on 28 Nov. After launching from Williams Field, we turned north and flew over the tip of the Hut Point Peninsula of Ross Island. This was my first ever aerial view of McMurdo Station. All the other times I have been here we have flown south, away from McMurdo to get to ANSMET field sites. I also got a good view of Mount Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano. There is often a cloud of volcanic gases emanating from the summit, but not on that day.

Before I forget, I would like to say Happy Birthday to my NASA/Johnson Space Center officemate’s older son, Phineas Carnell Simon, who turned 6 yesterday, 7 Dec. Sorry this is a day late, but I was busy getting ready for the field! I am hoping Ms. Olga’s kindergarten class at Awty International School is following our Antarctic adventures.

LYAN

Posted by duck (a.k.a. Dave Mittlefehldt)

Image 1: Aerial view of the tip of the Hut Point Peninsula.

Image 2: Skua’s eye view of McMurdo Station.

Image 3: Mount Erebus volcano.