Hi All!
1. The NAVCHAPs
are here...
2. Telemedicine in Antarctica...
3. Sights and Sounds of McMurdo...
4. Tour of the US Coast Guard Ship Polar Sea...
1. The NAVCHAPs are here...
In the last flight
the NAVCHAPs or Navy Cargo Handling and Port group...I think that is right.
In any case, these are the folks who do the resupply vessel off load and
load up. So, living in Building 155, we have Kiwi Cargo on one side of
us (they are the folks who do the cargo for the aircraft here), and the
NAVCHAPs on the other....very interesting dorm mates!
2. Telemedicine in Antarctica...
The Sunday night talk was on the critical topic of telemedicine in Antarctica.
It is very impressives to see how the US Antarctic Program has very good
abilities to help out folks right on station at South Pole, McMurdo and
Palmer Stations. Doctors on site and back in the US (University of Texas
and Mass. General are a few that help out here), do a lot critical work
all over the internet. The doctor here on station has lots of experience
with this, and discussed his prior work in rural areas of Canadan (Baffin
Island), running tests up on Mt. McKinley, in Alaska, and even with the
Johnson Space Center and the International Space Station. Now he's going
to winter over here at McMurdo and do much the same work here in town.
Sounds like the kind of fellow you'd want around - used to doing medicine
a long ways from home.
3. Sights and Sounds of McMurdo...
Today, the sights
and sounds of McMurdo are full of a diverse set of folks. The USCGC Polar
Sea is at the ice dock, refueling for it to finish up icebreaking the
channel. There is going to be more and more cargo movements around station
as there are several ships due to visit. This Friday, the Nathanial B.
Palmer (NPB) will visit McMurdo for a port of call. The NPB is one of
two US research vessels that do science around the Antarctic. After the
NPB is here, over the weekend, the Cargo resupply ship is supposed to
arrive. There will be much activity then off-loading the ship, and re-loading
it.
Picture
courtesy of Raytheon Polar Services
Company's Antarctic Photo Library
4. Tour of the US Coast Guard Ship Polar Sea...
Today I was invited
to assist an oceanographer with the loading of her cargo on to the USCG
Icebreaker Polar Sea, that is tied up to the ice pier here at Winter Quarter's
Bay at McMurdo. She is studying the plankton blooms that occur here in
the waters near the Antarctic (specifically the Ross Sea). It was fun
to see the various labs that have on the ship to do science, including
meteorology, oceanography, geology and a dry lab to (where we would fix
our weather stations...like an electronics shop). Living quarters on the
ship are tight, but I figured it would be even less space than it was.
It was interesting to see the enlisted and officer's mess halls/areas,
the bridge, the helo hanger and pad (yes, the ships have helos on them)
and more. Too bad, I didn't have a camera with me, so I missed out taking
pictures!! It would be an interesting place to spend a week or so on the
trip down from Australia to Antarctica (fixing our weather stations along
the way on the Adelie Coast).
.................
Picture courtesy of Raytheon Polar Services
Company's Antarctic Photo Library
That's the news from here at McMurdo. My co-workers, Jonathan and George have just returned from South Pole, so there is much to do and plan.
Best Regards,
Matthew