11-15-14

 Just a reminder, I have more photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/114463775@N04/sets/72157646697801283/

The internet at my dorm is spotty which is a big part of the reason I haven't been updating the blog.



Here you can the gondola assembly over a few days.

We have since added on the bottom ring of antennas which is not in the photo, but I'll add one later.

I thought I spotted a seal pup on the way back from work one day so a few of us walked back after dinner to see if it was one, and sure enough there was a seal pup out on the ice.

In this photo you can see the seals on the ice on the left of the photo, they look like dark blobs. LDB where I work is a blur on the horizon in the middle of the photo. Scott Base, the New Zealand base, is partially visible on the right. One of their vehicles is coming up the road.

Here's LDB from that same spot.

This is a shot from LDB of Mount Erebus (the volcano on the left) and Mount Terror (on the right)

I also went on a hike around Ob Hill with some people because I heard that there was another seal pup over there. Here you can see that seal pup with its mother. I'm hoping the other seal in the photo is pregnant and will go back to see if there is another seal pup. More on seals, they are one of the few 1,000 pound predators that you can approach with their young without risking seriously injury. I didn't approach them, but it makes it a lot easier for the biologists. The next few photos are from that hike.

Here are some people walking down Ob Hill.

Here you can see ANITA hanging outside of our hangar. Again, the bottom ring of antennas has been added on, but I don't have a good photo of it yet.

I think I took this picture to show you what it looks like here on a cloudy day. This is looking out towards Mt Erebus from LDB.

I also went on a tour of the pressure ridges which are near Scott Base. The Kiwis have visitor parking and a parking meter.

Here is a photo of part of Scott Base with Ob Hill in the background. McMurdo is on the other side of that pass.

A number of Kiwis were out flying their kites.

Here are the seals from the pressure ridge tour. These are the same seals that are in the first set of photos. The next photos are also from the pressure ridges. The ridges form as the Ross Ice Shelf pushes the sea ice into Ross Island. The sea ice has no where to go so it forms these waves that eventually compress enough to cause the ice to buckle. All the sea ice melted last year, so the ice isn't as thick as multi-year ice. Thicker ice makes for taller features. The features are much more impressive in person than in the photos.

One of the ridges in the middle right of the photo looks like a dog.

Here you can see footprints left behind. In certain situations such as this one, the snow around the footprint gets blown away and the compressed snow of the footprint becomes elevated.