Category Archives: McMurdo 2011 field season

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been battling worsening sea ice conditions in McMurdo Sound.  Cracks between the different pans of land fast ice keep growing wider, and though they freeze quickly it can take weeks for the ice … Continue reading →

I had a great conversation this morning with a group of oceanography students from Soap Lake High School in Washington (thanks to teacher Matt Brewer for facilitating). They’d done their homework and asked some really good questions. Among other things … Continue reading →

Thanks to the Advanced Biology and Physical Science students of Omak High School for a great Skype discussion this morning, and thanks to teacher Nancy Ridenour for facilitating! The dust hasn’t settled from yesterday’s flights yet.  The McMurdo Station staff … Continue reading →

On Saturday night we got some new satellite images showing that much of the new pack ice that’s been forming off of Cape Royds had sheared away from the landfast ice in McMurdo Sound, leaving a very large lead open … Continue reading →

Thanks to the students of Nespelem Middle School for an excellent Skype conversation this morning. I was really impressed by the depth of some of the questions asked! Thanks also to teacher Sheri Edwards for facilitating and writing a nice … Continue reading →

Last week’s successful sampling efforts have left us with a lot to do this week.  On Monday Dan and I went back out to the ice edge to sample mature first year ice, the final sample in our four part … Continue reading →

  It’s been good frost flower growing weather in McMurdo Sound over the last few days and we benefitted with an excellent collection on Friday.  Heading out with Dan and Jen we got as close to our old sampling site … Continue reading →

I know there are several teachers with classes reading this blog.  We would like to visit a select number of classrooms via Skype (or an alternate media, possibly Vyew) over the next 2-3 weeks to share some of our experiences and to let … Continue reading →

It’s a cold one today at McMurdo, we just past the magic temperature of -40… the point where the Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales converge (briefly).  This is the temp without windchill, with the windchill it’s a brisk -59 C … Continue reading →