[meteorite-list] Ice Diary 7: Summer Christmas

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:02 2004
Message-ID: <200304032016.MAA28937_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=417&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Ice Diary 7: Summer Christmas
Astrobiology Magazine
April 3, 2003

Summary: The Ice Diary series explores the adventures
of a dedicated group of meteor hunters. The National
Science Foundation, NASA and the Smithsonian collect
and curate extraterrestrial samples scoured from the
South Pole. The diary entries provide a personal tour of a
recent expedition, with all the immediacy of being there.

Ice Diary 7

Summer Christmas

"The end cannot be far".

Captain Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in his
diary, March 29, 1912.

23 December, 2002

Some days it feels like we are slaves to technology, constantly
working on generating electrical power through solar panels and a
wind turbine, or troubleshooting a computer problem. But it also
makes our lives easier and connects us to the outside world. When
we returned from our meteorite searching this afternoon, there was a
mad rush to use the satellite telephone.

When we do our searching, we employ GPS (Global
Positioning System) technology. Nancy uploads the
coordinates of each meteorite to a satellite, and
hopefully we'll see patterns develop. We also use
satellite photographs of the area to determine the
extent of the blue ice fields and the moraines.

We spent our morning inventorying our meteorites
and searching the blue ice right next to camp, then
after lunch we headed back to Quiche Moraine.
Dante's metal detector wasn't as productive as
yesterday and seemed to have a hard time detecting
the meteorites. We finished the afternoon searching a
small wedge of ice near That Moraine. We found two
beautiful specimens, and Nancy found a glove Dante
lost there last week. We came home with 39
meteorites, bringing our total to 253.

We finished the day with the "ANSMET Company
Christmas Party," which consisted of our group
enjoying the nice weather this afternoon and listening
to Christmas music on Linda's I-Pod and Dante's computer and external
speakers. Ahhh...technology again. We also signed up for times to
use the satellite phone to call our loved ones because the satellite
phone will be a precious commodity on Christmas and the day after
(Christmas back home).


24 December, 2002

This morning we were greeted by light northerly winds, with mild temperatures
(+15F) but also overcast skies and light snow. When the skies are gray, it's
impossible to tell where the horizon ends and the sky begins. The flat light
also makes it hard to see any definition in the snow. When we drive our
ski-doos over the snow in these conditions, we can't see the sastrugi.
Suddenly, the ski-doo is lurching this way and that and we never saw it
coming.

However, this light makes it easier to spot rocks on the ice. When the sun is
out, it's easy to lose meteorites in the shadows of the ripples of ice or
snowdrifts. Unfortunately, this light also makes the meteorites look like
all the other little black rocks out on the ice.

We headed over to Jacob's Nunatak today - we
thought we would just explore to get a feel for where
meteorites exist and where to do our systematic
searching. Jamie led us to a spot on the west side of
a yet unnamed moraine, and it turned out he parked
us in a field of large meteorites. We found six just
sitting near our ski-doos.

After a little more random foot searching, we hiked
to the top of Jacob's Nunatak. It sits about 700 feet
above the ice, and much of it is bare rock sculpted by
the wind. It felt weird to walk on a surface that is not
snow or ice - it's been a while! The view from the top was
breathtaking. Despite the clouds, we could see for miles in
every direction and got a good idea of where we would be
searching the next few weeks. In the distance, we could make
out the ice of the polar ice cap that comes into contact with the mountains.


We hiked down and ended the day early. We
joked that we needed time to go to the malls
and do our last minute Christmas shopping
and wrap presents. Many of us took
advantage of the break to change our
clothes, clean our tents, and take care of
basic chores.

McMurdo is basically shut down today and
tomorrow. They have only the essential
departments open; Mac-Ops (to whom we
call-in every morning), the hospital, fire
department, galley, etc. The chaplains from
the McMurdo Chapel plan to sing Christmas carols
over the HF radio to all the field camps in Antarctica.


25 December, 2002

It was cold and windy this morning and I think most of us were
thankful we weren't searching today. Instead, today was dedicated
to enjoying each other's company and taking the opportunity to
call our loved ones back home.

Jamie and I made breakfast burritos and coffee for everyone, and
we packed the whole group in our tent. It was cozy, but still not
as tight as the Quantas flight on the way down. After breakfast,
we began our gift exchange. We'd brought small gifts ahead of
time for the other team members, and the gifts were very creative -
signed artwork, comic books, stocking caps, and ANSMET patches.
Then came the items we'll really use in the field, like candy and
foot warmers.

This afternoon was spent reading, napping, playing video games, and
watching DVDs. It felt good to relax after several consecutive days
of hard work and successful meteorite hunting. Carlton Allen finished
his "Christmas Tree" that he made from snow and ornaments. He started
it last night and we each got to place an ornament on the tree." It
reminded me of the tree in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" that grew more
and more beautiful because it was so well loved.


27 December, 2002

Today was the kind of day I expected in Antarctica. It started out
cold, windy, and overcast, and remained that way well into the
afternoon. I really am making good use of the hand and foot warmers
Carl gave everyone for Christmas.


We went to Jacob's Nunatak and did systematic searching all morning.
The searching turned up a few meteorites, but less than we had
hoped. So, after finishing the blue ice on the western side of Schuttaine Moraine
(named after John Schutt) at Jacob's Nunatak, we did our first walking systematic
search. Overall, we're getting pretty good on the snowmobiles at doing systematic
searches, but we drive better than we walk. We were crossing each other's paths and
walking nearly random paths looking at rocks. We chose to do this because the rocks
were clustered too tightly to see all of them from a snowmobile. This search yielded
two more meteorites. We actually found enough meteorites today to break the
300-meteorite mark for the season.

We collect the meteorites very carefully. We have three meteorite collecting
kits with us, so there is usually someone nearby packing a kit. The meteorite
is first given a number with an aluminum tag and photographed with that number
on a manual counter. The dimensions and fusion crust percentage are recorded.
Only then can the meteorite be moved with a pair of sterile tongs. We do our
best not to touch the meteorite or let it touch anything but the tongs, but
accidents do occur, and if so we make a note of it in the record book. After
the meteorite is collected, it is dropped into a sterile plastic bag and
sealed with freezer tape. The meteorites are brought back to camp and put in a
storage unit called an isopod. Then they are shipped to the Johnson
Space Center for further analysis.

We take this care so that if anything anomalous is found, they can be sure that
it wasn't caused by us. In 1996, nanofossils of bacteria and other chemical
signatures of life were reported to be in a Martian meteorite found by the
1984 ANSMET team. One of the biggest questions asked by skeptics was whether
contamination happened after the meteorite landed in Antarctica. In the field,
we have witnessed meteorites in liquid water at temperatures well below
freezing. The rocks beneath the ice re-radiate heat and a thin layer of ice
can create a mini greenhouse effect.

After we finished searching the Jacob's Nunatak area, Jamie took us to a spot that
overlooked our camping area and had an amazing view of the mountains and glaciers.
We spotted a black object about a quarter of a mile away on a precarious icy cliff.
We thought it might be a large meteorite. Jamie volunteered to check it out and
strapped on a pair of crampons and headed up to the object. We watched intently
through binoculars and telephoto lenses as Jamie approached the object. With a
grand motion, Jamie picked up the object and revealed that it was just a large
plastic trash bag. He brought it back for inspection and none of us could figure
where it came from. But this had to be the most effort ever given to recovering a
trash bag.

----------------------------------------------------------

Since 1976, the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program
(ANSMET), funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the
National Science Foundation, has recovered more than 10,000
specimens from meteorite stranding surfaces along the
Transantarctic Mountains. Dr. Ralph Harvey and John Schutt are
members of each field party, serving as ANSMET continues to be
one of the few Antarctic research projects that invites graduate
students and senior researchers from other institutions to participate
in our field work on a volunteer basis--including the Teacher
Experiencing Antarctica (TEA) program. As a multi-agency collaboration,
the NSF supports field operations, NASA supports storage curation,
distribution and notification of recovered samples, and the
Smithsonian provides long term curation facilities for the
collection and assist in sample characterization.

In this multi-part Ice Diary series, all commentary is attributed to
Andy Caldwell unless otherwise noted, and reprinted by permission as
part of his participation in the TEA program.
Received on Thu 03 Apr 2003 03:16:38 PM PST