The Antarctic Sun - 11/5/2006 - United States Antarctic Program

12 Pages·2006·0.91 MB·English

November 5, 2006
Destination: 90 degrees south
Shinn recalls South Pole landing
By Steve Martaindale
Sun staff
Related story inside:
International attention at the
end of October 1956 was focused Pilot reviews Pole history
on Hungary, where a student-initi- Page 9
ated uprising against occupying
forces of the Soviet Union quickly
bloomed into a full-fledged rebel- While they became only the third
lion that left Soviet troops tempo- exploratory party to walk on the
rarily reeling. A world caught up South Pole and the first airplane
in the Cold War watched closely to land there, the success of their
for a rip in the Iron Curtain, mostly mission threw open doors to a
unaware of a different kind of cold permanent station that was under
war playing out in Antarctica. construction in less than a month.
On the morning of Oct. 31, It had been more than 44 years
1956, as the world received reports since anyone stood at the South
of Soviet troops pulling out of Pole, not since the two five-man
Ben Twingley / Pensacola News Journal
Hungary, a seven-man Navy team parties of Amundsen and Scott
Conrad “Gus” Shinn receives a plaque from Dave Bresnahan,
left McMurdo Station for the arrived within five weeks of each
representing the National Science Foundation Office of Polar
Programs, commemorating Shinn’s feat to land the first plane South Pole with Lt. Cmdr. Conrad other. Flags of Norway and Great
at the South Pole on Oct. 31, 1956. The ceremonies were at “Gus” Shinn piloting an R4D skied Britain flew there but neither the
the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla. airplane named “Que Sera Sera.” See 1956 on page 8
Mayo Clinic takes study to great heights
By Peter Rejcek tor for a research team from the Mayo
Sun staff Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The group
Scientists and support personnel arrived in early October at McMurdo
have been traveling to the South Pole Station to begin a three-year study
for nearly 50 years now, taking that on altitude illness called Altitude
giant leap from sea level to nearly Symptoms at South Pole (ASAP).
3,000 meters on the polar plateau to “This go-around we’re just quan-
further our understanding of the conti- tifying the frequency, intensity and
nent, the world and the universe. duration of symptoms, and trying to
Dr. Bruce D. Johnson wants to bet- come up with the key predictors that
ter understand, in part, why that jump will increase your susceptibility to alti-
in altitude affects some people more tude illness,” Johnson explained dur- Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun
Mayo Clinic graduate student Maile Ceridon, left,
severely than others. ing an interview at the Crary Science
outfits Steven Slay with a LifeShirt that he will
Johnson is the principal investiga- See ALTITUDE on page 10 wear to bed at McMurdo and later at South Pole.
INSIDE Quote of the Week
Polies make good guests Just why is Arrival “A professional wouldn’t have a
during layover Heights off-limits? good score here.”
Page 3 Page 7
— McMurdo bowler on challenging lane conditions.
AntarcticSun.usap.gov
2 • The Antarctic Sun November 5, 2006
Camped out
on the Ice
Cold, hard facts
Eric Williams, left,
grabs a few winks Oct.
28 after spending the
night camping out- Hitting the Trail
doors on the Ross Ice
Shelf not far from New
Zealand’s Scott Base. Number of various recreation trails
Williams and the other around McMurdo Station area: 11
Happy Campers, below,
learned polar survival Longest trail: Castle Rock Loop
skills during the two-
at 9.3 miles. Takes five to eight
day course. Participants
hours to complete, depending on
set up Scott tents,
built snow caves, and fitness level.
learned general outdoor
skills like how to use Highest point on the trail system:
a gas camp stove. The Observation Hill at 750 feet,
Field Safety Training
which takes between one and
Program conducts the
two hours to complete, depend-
class for scientists and
others who may possi- ing on your level of effort.
bly head into the field.
Newest trail: Hut Point Ridge was
added to the trail system in
December 2004.
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Elaine HoAntarctic
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Level 1 Comix Matt Davidson
The Antarctic Sun is funded by the National
Science Foundation as part of the United
States Antarctic Program (OPP-000373).
Its primary audience is U.S. Antarctic
Program participants, their
families, and their friends.
NSF reviews and approves
material before publication,
but opinions and conclusions
expressed in The Sun are
not necessarily those of the Foundation.
Use: Reproduction is encouraged with
acknowledgment of source and author.
Senior Editor: Peter Rejcek
Editors: Steven Profaizer, Steve Martaindale
Copy Editors: Jesse Hastings, Rob Jones,
Traci Macnamara, Cori Manka, Melanie
Miller, Erin Popelka, Bethany Profaizer,
Travis Senor, Emily Stone
Publisher: Valerie Carroll,
Communications manager, RPSC
Contributions are welcome. Contact The Sun
at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our
office in Building 155 or dial 2407.
Web address: AntarcticSun.usap.gov
Subscribe: Click on the link on the right side
Editor’s note: We know there are no dogs allowed in Antarctica any more, but one must allow for
of the homepage and follow the directions.
some artistic latitude. Permits were still issued for sled dogs until the 1986-1987 austral summer,
almost 10 years after the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 went into effect.
November 5, 2006 The Antarctic Sun • 3
Helpful Polies keep busy during delay
By Steven Profaizer
Staff writer
Lengthy delays on connecting flights
are hardly uncommon.
But have you ever seen a stranded pas-
senger lend a hand to the airport janitors by
mopping the floors or help the restaurant
workers by scrubbing pots?
U.S. Antarctic Program participants en
route to the South Pole did just that during
their 10-day weather delay in McMurdo
Station. Many Polies helped out by show-
ing up to work regular hours and complete
training alongside their McMurdo coun-
terparts. But South Pole workers whose
jobs were not translatable just chipped in
wherever they saw a need.
“I kind of feel like we’re guests stay-
ing longer than invited, so it’s my way
of saying ‘thanks,’” said Leah Webster,
a South Pole dining assistant who volun-
teered in the dish room during her time in
McMurdo. “Since I can’t get on a plane Steven Profaizer / The Antarctic Sun
and go to the South Pole, it’s the next best
thing I can do.”
Polies could be found helping in a wide
variety of ways, such as building pallets of
cargo, repairing tents, shoveling snow and
helping out in one of the departments most
taxed by having a backlog of extra people
on station — the dining hall.
“They’ve been in the bakery, in the dish
room, in the pot room and in the kitchen,”
said Sally Ayotte, McMurdo executive
chef. “In addition [to the South Pole food
services staff], I’ve seen all kind of South
Steven Profaizer / The Antarctic Sun
Pole community members in here. I’ve
Top: Cathy Morrell, South Pole fuels operator,
seen IceCube folks, weather folks, cargo
searches through McMurdo’s Skua Central for
folks. They’ve all been helping.”
clothes to wear. Polies’ luggage remained on pal-
The first four flights of the summer
lets through most of the 10-day delay.
carried 109 passengers and arrived at
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Above: Flight notices alert Polies of the most
Oct. 31. Serendipitously, this date coin- recent weather cancellations on Oct. 27.
cided with the 50th anniversary of the first
Left: Jake Cerese, South Pole baker, lends a hand
flight to land at Pole, and the first flight of in the McMurdo kitchen.
the season was dedicated as a commemo- Michelle Belacic / Special to The Antarctic Sun
rative flight to mark the occasion. (See Passenger flights to McMurdo from first flight of that year was scheduled for
related story on page 1.) Christchurch, New Zealand, had to be sus- Oct. 27 and arrived Nov. 8.
This provided much-needed relief to pended until the first flights to Pole left and This season, extreme cold temperatures
McMurdo’s bursting seams. With no place made space available, said Bill Turnbull, at Pole were to blame for the delay of
for the Polies to go and more flights com- Antarctic Terminal Operations manager. flights to the South Pole station. The New
ing in as scheduled, the station had swollen Fortunately, only one plane was affected York Air National Guard will not fly the
to within 15 people of its 1,100-person before the South Pole flights left and the Hercules LC-130 aircraft in temperatures
population cap. hold was lifted on the 104 in-bound pas- colder than negative 50 degrees Celsius
Polies had to be stuffed into whatever sengers. because of the havoc it wreaks on the
available space could be found around The 10-day delay marks the second planes and the resulting safety concerns.
McMurdo. Some of the more unfortu- longest postponement of the South Pole’s “We have very strict guidelines for
nate males were crammed into a 28-per- opening in more than a decade, according landing at temperatures below negative 50
son, claustrophobia-inducing bunk room to research extending back to 1992 by Ray degrees Celsius,” said Maj. Joe DeConno,
in Hotel California, one of the station’s Gabriel, USAP transportation planner. supervisor of LC-130 flights last week.
dorms. The room was dubbed “Man Camp” The longest delay belongs to the sum- “It’s mainly because of the temperature’s
by its inhabitants, many of whom lived mer season of 1997-1998, when weather effect on the hydraulic fluids performance,
there for three weeks during their time in conditions kept the new crew from reach- limitations on the fuel, and other mainte-
McMurdo. ing the South Pole station for 12 days. The See WEATHER on page 6
4 • The Antarctic Sun November 5, 2006
Perspectives sevitcepsreP
Antarctic night shines bright with experiences
By Rebecca Crane term memory loss. It took me 20 minutes
Special to the Sun one morning to remember that “the thing
“Remember, don’t touch any of them!” ... ya know ... where they keep all the
“I’m not even getting near them. No way switches?” was called a fuse box. And
am I catching the Crud!” while the kitchen crew worked culinary
The six of us, all first-time winterovers, miracles given their limited resources, there
were crowded around the dining hall win- came a point when I craved just the smell of
dow. For the first time in many months, a fresh orange.
a plane had just landed on our continent, People have been wintering for more
bringing fresh food, new faces and for- than 100 years. A few I met this season
eign germs. We had been quietly eating had done five or 10 winters themselves.
breakfast, trying to appear blasé about the Humans are ingenious and adaptive, so
first flight. After all, we were veteran win- in all that time, they’d figured out a few
terovers now — tough, respectably surly tricks.
types inured to the surreal novelties of life When it got dark, the community built
on the Seventh Continent. At least we were a “sun room” with full-spectrum lighting,
until the first moment newcomers trundled bright colors, running water, “Sounds of
into view, swaddled in their Big Red par- Birdsong” on the stereo, even a few pre-
kas. Suddenly, we were fascinated, jostling cious growing greenhouse plants. It was
and pointing excitedly through the glass. my favorite place to curl up and read on
“Hey! Is that so-and-so?” those blustery negative-30-degree days.
“I can’t make anyone out under all those As for the cold, my extreme cold weath-
hats!” er gear kept me pretty snug, but I was
“Wow, I didn’t know he was coming surprised how well my body adapted on its
back. Look, he shaved!” own. I remembered feeling, when I first
“Don’t these people know it’s warm out stepped off the plane, as if my eyeballs
today?” were going to freeze, but by Midwinter,
I hadn’t intended to winter. I had come any temperature felt pleasant as long as it
to McMurdo Station the previous summer wasn’t windy.
as a janitor. Having recently graduated There was nothing to be done about the
college, I’d wanted to “do something dif- lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, but we
ferent.” Scrubbing stairwells in Antarctica did have a phenomenal baker and fresh
Dan McCloskey / Special to The Antarctic Sun
definitely fit the bill (not to mention giving Rebecca Crane at the Scott Base “Space bread every day. The mechanics all sent a
me a clever answer to, “So, what do you do Heroes and Alien Invaders” party. Crane letter to Christina the baker’s mom thanking
with a degree in philosophy?”). I was only decided to winter after spending her first her for the handed-down cookie recipes that
meant to be on the Ice for a few months, summer at McMurdo Station as a janitor. kept them going in the cold (and warmly
but I’d known early on that I was hooked. insulated with extra blubber). And for every
I set out to find a winter job, pass the psy- general assistant, and discovered that the feeling of isolation and being far from
chological screening, convince my bank rumors were true. It was dark, and it was home, there were memorable moments of
that, yes, I was really in Antarctica, and cold. My skin turned so pale, even my warmth and intimacy shared by our 203-
break the news to my family that I loved freckles disappeared. As the pace of life person town.
and missed them but wouldn’t be home for became slower, quieter, more methodi- Meanwhile, the station kept running.
another six months — and would they mind cal, my thoughts and actions followed People did their jobs, science got supported,
sending some extra wool socks? suit. I began to consider “a whole hoard friendships were forged, and above it all,
Since the days of sled dogs and frozen of people” to be any gathering larger than Antarctic stars continued to shine brighter
seal meat, wintering over in the Antarctic four. I gave up shaving my legs (although I and clearer than any I’d ever seen. And
has had a certain ominous mystique. The did shave my head) — but this was nothing after 170 days cut off from the outside
long, icy darkness is rumored to have compared to the massive, grizzly beards world, my anticipation of the first flight
strange effects on the mind and body. With grown by some of the razor-shunning men. rivaled childhood nights before Christmas.
so little experience on Ice — only one There were sleepless nights, vivid My resolve to avoid the crud-carrying
short, sunny summer — I wondered if I’d dreams, bouts of depression, grumpiness, newcomers lasted about two minutes. Then
be able to handle it. But I’d come here to loneliness, giddiness, exhaustion, epiphany, I saw a returning friend from last summer
see Antarctica, and I knew that Antarctica and at times, folks — myself included among the red coat crowd. I jumped up and
still had more to show me. — just got weird. We also got “toasty,” gave him a hug. He laughed and gave me
So I wintered, as the Heavy Shop’s staring off into space and suffering short- an orange.
November 5, 2006 The Antarctic Sun • 5
a r o u n d t h e c o n t i n e n t
SOUTH POLE
Summer arrives at South Pole
By Tom Lohr
South Pole correspondent
Temperatures warmed above the line
of demarcation for safe flying Tuesday
(negative 50 degrees Celsius). And to the
glee of a marooned winter crew the New
York Air National Guard delivered nearly
100 eager new Polies.
And yes, they brought bananas. For a
good hour after the first arrival of crew
and cargo, the most dangerous place to be
on Earth was between a winterover and
the boxes of fresh fruit. No injuries were
reported.
Arriving 10 days later than planned for
the summer season, the new crew has been
hustling to fill the shoes of the rapidly
disappearing winterovers. Many turnovers
have been compacted from a three- or
four-day transition for some into one or Ethan Dicks / Special to The Antarctic Sun
two days. Emergency response teams sur- Liesl Schernthanner directs the first flight of summer as it moves along the South Pole skiway
veyed their gear on Wednesday and started Oct. 31. The aircraft was the first of four that day bringing the season’s first supplies and per-
training Thursday. sonnel to the station after a 10-day weather delay in McMurdo. (See related story on page 3.)
The bristling new station is chock-a-
block with Polies settling into their new South Pole’s high altitude, hammers are week. And sea water sampling continued
digs, and the historic summer camp is fill- swinging, cargo is moving, data are being when the sea ice opened and the winds
ing up quickly. Even some with years of collected and cutting-edge science is about lessened.
ice time are insisting on a bunk in a tent- to move into high gear. The South Pole Andy Young, the Power/Water supervi-
like building, unable to shake the rustic summer season has begun. sor and a mechanic at Palmer Station, gave
lure of roughing it at the Pole. Others are a presentation about the research occur-
plugging into the Internet portal in their ring in other parts of the continent where
private room in the new Elevated Station. PALMER he has worked. Andy showed photos of
Pushing mountains of drifted snow is McMurdo, field camps in the ice-free Dry
part of the early operations, one of the Valleys and the Mount Erebus Volcano
A week of mixed weather
more mundane but important yearly tasks Observatory. He also showed photos from
that clears the tons of accumulated ice By Kerry Kells when he assisted in the Long Duration
crystals around many buildings. And the Palmer correspondent Balloon instrument payload retrieval from
endless stream of cargo has already begun The past week included fluctuations in Dome Fuji, approximately 700 miles from
to hit the skiway, with flights arriving until winds, snow and open water. the South Pole, considered one of the
late in the evening. High winds led to calm conditions, most remote places on the continent.
Through the flurry of meetings and ori- followed by snow, which led to drifting Updates from the Palmer field include
entations that are required to kick start the ice enclosing Palmer Station. Then the reports from the seabird research group
season, Polies are getting grounded and sunshine returned only to be followed by (the birders) on Adélie penguin censuses
enthusiastic about this summer’s exciting high winds and sleet. The Ocean Search for the islands of Torgersen, Humble,
new projects. Despite losing time, includ- and Rescue (OSAR) and Glacier Search Litchfield, Cormorant and Christine.
ing a Sunday devoted to acclimatizing to and Rescue teams also started training this See CONTINENT on page 6
the week in weather
McMurdo Station Palmer Station South Pole Station
High: 16F / -9C High temperature: 38F / 3C High: -41F / -40C
Low: -8F / -22C Low temperature: 27F / -3C Low: -75F / -59C
Max. sustained wind: 29 mph / 46 kph Max. sustained wind: 53 mph / 86 kph Peak wind: 21 mph / 34 kph
Min. wind chill: -33F / -36C Melted precipitation: 25mm Max. Physio-altitude: 3,408 m
6 • The Antarctic Sun November 5, 2006
Weather allows first flights to Pole after 10 days
From page 3 flags lining the skiway. They then use that data to line up their
nance considerations that could prevent us from being able to landing in less than ideal weather conditions.
get off the ground again.” It took 10 extra days, but the weather did eventually allow
Other weather conditions at both the South Pole and the summer season to begin at the South Pole. In the meantime,
McMurdo are also major concerns. This is especially true on the Polies grounded in McMurdo tried to make the best of the
the first flight of each season when the Guard requires three situation by helping out and enjoying the perks of McMurdo.
miles of visibility around the South Pole station as compared “People tried to take advantage of the fact that it’s much
to the one mile it typically demands. warmer here — you can go skiing and there are places like the
“Before we attempt an approach in marginal weather condi- Coffee House,” said BK Grant, South Pole station manager.
tions, we need to make sure there are no changes to the skiway “There’s a lot of stuff that they appreciated having the time to
as compared to last year,” said DeConno. do, but we also knew that there’s a ton of work that we have
One of the things the crew looks for is confirmation that to do at Pole.”
the radar signals received from the ground correlate with what
it sees visually. Navigators use the radar signals to detect the Michelle Belacic, Pole dining assistant, contributed to this story.
Continent
From page 5
The birders visit all of these islands “V for Vendetta,” and the rock group calmed enough by the following day to
for research during the austral summer KISS reunited for Palmer Station. allow the crew to put the camp in. The ves-
months when they are easily accessible The following day was spectacularly sel is now en route to Palmer Station.
by Zodiac boat. warm with bright sunshine, just in time for
NBP
The Adélies have started breeding and a day of boating to Old Palmer and walks
will start to lay eggs about the second up the glacier. Soon, we will welcome Compiled from reports
week in November. Cormorant popula- the arrival of the Laurence M. Gould and by Harold “Skip” Owen
tions are counted on Cormorant Island returning Principal Investigator Langdon Marine Projects coordinator
every five days and with less frequency Quetin with team member Kelly Moore. The Nathaniel B. Palmer left port from
at Elephant Rocks (a group of rocks just Lyttleton, New Zealand, Nov. 1 for its next
north of Palmer and popular with elephant science cruise. The cruise includes a num-
seals). A few gentoo and chinstrap pen- SHIPS ber of scientists involved in CORSACS
guins have also been spotted on some – Controls on Ross Sea Algal Community
islands, while a fur seal has made an early Structure. CORSACS will investigate the
LMG
appearance on Torgersen Island. Sampling interactive effects of iron, carbon dioxide
continued at Station B and Station E last Compiled from reports by Eric Hutt and light levels in the Ross Sea on phy-
week by the phytoplankton and biogeo- Marine Projects coordinator toplankton community structure and bio-
chemical groups. The Laurence M. Gould left Punta geochemical cycling of various elements,
Palmer celebrated Halloween on Arenas, Chile, on Oct. 28 southbound especially carbon, sulfur, iron and cobalt.
Saturday night with a selection of cre- for the Drake Passage and the Antarctic The NBP is bound for the Ross Sea
ative costumes. The pageantry included Peninsula. Its first stop was to put a camp polynya, an area of open water in the sea
a walking TerraLab, Wesley and Princess in at Cape Shirreff. Halloween found the ice. The plan is to conduct a test of all ship
Buttercup from “The Princess Bride,” a LMG waiting for rough seas to abate so it systems before reaching the ice edge. The
Guy Fawkes-masked V from the movie could safely establish the camp. The seas vessel should reach the ice edge by Nov. 6.
What is the best contribution of the work in Antarctica?
“It keeps people “The creation of “When we come
like us out of Antarctica as a here to work,
society, and that continent devot- people back home
ain’t bad.” ed to peaceful, don’t have to
non-exploiting deal with us for
uses and with no a while. I think
sovereign that is a great
government by gift we give our
the Antarctic families.”
Matt Marchal, Hugh Ducklow, Treaty.” Nicolas Michel-Hart,
McMurdo carpenter principal investigator for South Pole
from Missoula, Mont., the Palmer LTER site cryogenic technician
first season from Williamsburg, Va., from Bow, Wash.,
ninth season first season
November 5, 2006 The Antarctic Sun • 7
I F Z
NTO THE ORBIDDEN ONE
Arrival Heights home to sensitive experiments
By Steve Martaindale
Sun Staff
By the time even the newest McMurdo
Station residents are dragging luggage to
their dorm rooms, they have heard about Research associ-
Arrival Heights. They may not know what ate Steve Dobbs
works in the
it is, but they do know it is off-limits.
Arrival Heights
Why? Is it like the forbidden fruit in the
office last month.
Garden of Eden? Will trespassing there set
Dobbs makes
off an international incident? Will it kill daily trips to the
me? area, which is
“We’re not trying to be nasty or any- generally off-
thing,” assures research associate Steve limits to casual
visits because of
Dobbs, whose job entails daily trips into
the sensitive sci-
the forbidden zone. Like so many rules in
ence experiments
Antarctica, the area is designated off-limits conducted there.
in the interest of science.
Arrival Heights sits at a higher eleva-
tion than McMurdo. It is barely a kilometer
from station, yet the terrain shelters it from
both McMurdo and Scott Base. That is part Steve Martaindale / The Antarctic Sun
of what makes the location special. Northern Hemisphere. sary reasons. Dobbs, for example, makes
Indeed, it was awarded special protec- “That’s a very low intensity source,” he the short uphill drive to check on the equip-
tion in 1975 after a proposal by the United says, “and you don’t want to have some- ment, look for problems, record data and
States on the grounds that it was “an elec- body who’s operating a radio transmitter back up files. Research assistants from
tromagnetic and natural ‘quiet site’ offer- because that would mess up the signal that Scott Base also monitor experiments.
ing ideal conditions for the installation of you want.” The key, though, is that everyone who
sensitive instruments for recording minute Allan T. Weatherwax of Siena College is has a need to enter the site is trained on
signals associated with upper atmosphere one of the researchers taking advantage of what to do and what not to do. Logs are
programs.” the site’s quietness. maintained to keep researchers apprised of
The site is now designated Antarctic “The projects that operate from instru- what is going on. If Dobbs must venture
Specially Protected Area No. 122 by mentation at the Arrival Heights labora- into the field among some of the anten-
the Scientific Committee on Antarctic tory at McMurdo Station examine natu- nas and sensors, his presence could give a
Research, an inter-disciplinary committee ral phenomena occurring in the Earth’s researcher false readings. A check against
of the International Council for Science. atmosphere and magnetosphere,” he says. the log would indicate the probable source
At the committee’s spring 2004 meeting, it His instruments are easily disturbed by of such data.
recognized that the site would benefit from mechanical and electrical noise and rely on Guidelines dictate that researchers stay
continued protection. the solitude there. in designated areas and that they do not
Quietness, Dobbs explains, covers more As special as Arrival Heights is, the cur- leave vehicles idling. A radio is to be oper-
than noise abatement. The experiments rent management plan for the area states ated only in the event of an emergency.
there “either require electromagnetic quiet- that base operation and radio communica- Lights are not allowed, which means the
ness, clean air or lack of light pollution.” tion activities have degraded the “quiet” associate must turn off the vehicle lights
An experiment that depends on air conditions to some degree, but it says short of the site in the winter and drive the
sampling, for example, would only run conditions are good enough to deserve con- remaining distance in the dark.
when the wind was from a prescribed tinued protection. Once Dobbs parks his pickup and plugs
direction, thus eliminating airborne mate- And that is where cooperation from in the engine heater, he enters the American
rials from the two bases. Dobbs says McMurdo and Scott Base residents is hut, the brain center for about half a dozen
another experiment in the low frequency important. experiments he monitors. The main area is
ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum People are allowed on Arrival Heights, roomy enough and holds various tables and
is trying to detect lightning strikes in the obviously, but only for specific and neces- work spaces. However, one’s eye is drawn
to an L-shaped rack of monitors, displays
and switches, steadily performing their
The experiments automated tasks.
at Arrival Heights A small, adjacent room is equipped with
generally require a bed, a supply of food and a cooking uten-
electromagnetic qui-
sil, just in case bad weather pins someone
etness, clean air or
down.
lack of light pollu-
tion. The site is des- Of course, it is the view from outside the
ignated an Antarctic hut that attracts the attention of most people,
Specially Protected with distant mountain ranges and smoking
Area. Mount Erebus visible on the horizon.
“If you want to see [the view] take the
Castle Rock Loop,” Dobbs says.
Elaine Hood / Special to The Antarctic Sun
8 • The Antarctic Sun November 5, 2006
1956 flight ended race to South Pole
From Page 1
banner of the United States nor the Soviet
Union, two superpowers struggling for
dominance everywhere from deep seas to
outer space.
Looking back 50 years after winning
the race south, Shinn says today that he
was told getting to the South Pole was a
priority for the very reason that the United
States wanted to set up camp before its
rival did so.
“Admiral [George S.] Dufek made a
talk sometime after we got to McMurdo
and said that we had to get up there [to the
South Pole] quickly because he thought
the Russians would pre-empt us,” Shinn
said from his home in Pensacola, Fla. “He
never discussed it with us other than that.
There was no pre-planning. As far as that
goes, he wanted to go to the Pole, so we
went.”
He said the men who worked to build
the stations in Antarctica never got the
recognition they deserved.
“Everybody was watching the Hungarian
Image provided by National Science Foundation / Special to The Antarctic Sun
uprising and nobody paid much attention This painting of the first landing at the South Pole will be displayed at the new South Pole
to what was going on in the Antarctic,” station. It is autographed by Lt. Cmdr. Conrad “Gus” Shinn, the pilot who made the landing
Shinn said. 50 years ago.
Fifty years after the first airplane landed
at the Pole, Shinn still retells his story, Freeze,” says that Hawkes, in light of his the plane would leak fluids.
though it seems he would just as soon experience and qualifications, was Dufek’s After circling the area to pinpoint the
have his questioner learn about it from a original choice to pilot the flight but that location of the Pole, Shinn landed the plane
book. On numerous occasions, he insists Hawkes yielded to the younger Shinn and atop moderately rough sastrugi (wavelike
he was merely doing his job, along with opted to fill the co-pilot’s seat. ridges of hard snow) without incident
other men, and he gives much of the credit The flight to the Pole itself was not and kept the engines running. He said the
to good luck. He quickly sheds mention of much different from other flights, Shinn seven men climbed out into temperatures
honors, such as the naming of Antarctica’s said. What set it apart was the landing itself of minus 51 Celsius (-60 F) to plant an
third-highest mountain, Mount Shinn. and the fact nobody really knew what the American flag and take photos. In less than
“I never paid any attention to any of conditions were. 50 minutes, they were boarding the “Que
that stuff. In retrospect, I realize that I was
strictly focused on the job at hand and I did
my best to do it safely and on time. And “We didn’t really know what the surface was
I was lucky. I didn’t have any significant
and how much we’d sink in, if any. We didn’t
incidents or any engine failures, which
were quite numerous down there. I was know the nature of the surface and didn’t know
lucky and everybody was happy.”
how easy it would be to take off.”
‘Your crew is going’
— Gus Shinn
In the wee hours of Oct. 31, 1956, word First pilot to land at South Pole
was sent down that the Pole flight would
take off at 8 a.m. Other pilots wanted the
mission, but Shinn said he did not really
“We had a lot of unknown unknowns,” Sera Sera” to return to McMurdo.
think about the admiral’s decision.
Shinn said. “We didn’t really know what Hopes for an easy takeoff were quickly
“He just said, ‘Your crew is going,’ and
the surface was and how much we’d sink dashed as they found the plane’s skis fro-
I said, ‘OK, fine; it’s not a problem.’”
in, if any. We didn’t know the nature of the zen to the ice and the craft unable to taxi.
Shinn said his crew normally consisted
of co-pilot Capt. Douglas Cordinor, navi- surface and didn’t know how easy it would It was equipped with 15 JATO (jet-assisted
gator Lt. John R. Swadener, crew chief be to take off.” takeoff) bottles, essentially rockets fas-
tened to the plane to provide additional
John P. Strider and radioman William A. All they knew about conditions was that
thrust in 30-second burns to assist a plane
Cumbie Jr. However, Dufek put Capt. they were CAVU — ceiling and visibility
during takeoff. He fired them off four at
William “Trigger” Hawkes into the copi- unlimited. Among the things they did not
a time until the plane broke free. He used
lot’s seat while the admiral and Cordinor know was if the airplane would continue to
the final three bottles to help the craft clear
flew as observers. operate after sitting in South Pole tempera-
Dian Olson Belanger’s new book, “Deep tures, if the hydraulics would work and if See SHINN on page 11
November 5, 2006 The Antarctic Sun • 9
Pilots today benefit from work of pioneers
By Steve Martaindale
Sun staff
Thousands of kilometers and 18 time
zones apart, Amundsen-Scott South Pole
Station in Antarctica and the National
Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola,
Fla., came together on Oct. 31.
Both sites hosted ceremonies commemo-
rating the 50th anniversary of the first
airplane landing at the South Pole. Special
guest at the Pensacola celebration was Navy
Lt. Cmdr. Conrad “Gus” Shinn, pilot of the
airplane whose safe landing and takeoff at
the Pole paved the way for a permanent
presence there by the United States.
Providing additional fanfare to the South
Pole ceremony was the fact that it also
marked the first flight of this season, an
event delayed 10 days by extreme weather.
Joining the first wave of summer work-
ers on that flight were National Science Courtesy of Mark Doll / Special to The Antarctic Sun
Foundation representative Brian Stone and Fifty years, to the minute, after the first airplane landed at the South Pole, this crew set down
on Oct. 31. From left to right are 1st Lt. Brian Shad, Lt. Col. Marc LeCours, Sgt. Justin Taylor,
Air Force Col. Ronald Smith, commander
Sgt. Tim Putman, Master Sgt. Joe Thorpe, 1st Lt. Dan Urband and Lt. Col. Mark Doll.
of the Joint Task Force, Support Services
Antarctica. Piloting the first flight of the
the topic, not only because of a longtime the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air
season was Maj. Norman Carlyle. It landed
interest in the history of polar aviation National Guard. “It’s a prepared skiway, so
at 11 a.m. and a short time later was en
but also due to the scores of landings he it’s not really the adventure it used to be.”
route back to McMurdo Station, the first of
has made at the South Pole. This is his There is also a better safety net today, he
four airplanes to make the flight that day.
10th Antarctic tour in the past 11 seasons, said, with a support structure that can usu-
The final mission of the day was also
making up to six flights per week for the ally respond to trouble in a matter of hours.
significant to the anniversary. It was sched-
uled to land about the same time of the day 10-week duration of his stay. A support system existed in 1956, too,
as the 1956 flight. Its pilot, New York Air Indeed, it would be easy to assume but Shinn said the extreme conditions
National Guard Lt. Col. Mark Doll, carried landing at the Pole has become routine exacted a price.
letters addressed to the two surviving crew with 372 flights scheduled this season, but “If you read the record of the accidents
members of that flight and other honorees. Doll says the extreme conditions are still a we had down there,” Shinn said in an earlier
They were to be postmarked from the South challenge to both man and machine. interview, “I think we had more accidents
Pole on the anniversary date. Just like Shinn did in 1956, pilots today than any other Navy squadron for a couple
keep the engines running while on the of years. … [We were] losing aircraft all
Flight to the past ground at the South Pole. That means over and we were real lucky we didn’t lose
As Doll prepared for his first flight of workers must deal with propeller blast in a lot of people. We lost some, but not a lot,
the season to the South Pole, one of dozens addition to normal winds and temperatures considering what we were doing.”
he is likely to make during the next few well below zero.
Right on time
weeks, he tried to put himself into the seat For Doll’s LC-130, a cargo plane capa-
of the “Que Sera Sera,” a U.S. Navy R4D ble of landing on skis, the challenges of Doll’s own flight through history left
skied aircraft, which made the first landing cold weather can include fuel that may gel McMurdo much later in the day than
at 90 degrees south exactly 50 years prior. a bit, sluggish hydraulics on the skis and Shinn’s. The original flight took about
“I think there had to be a strong sense “cold controls.” He said the engines have seven and a half hours while today’s takes
of the challenge of getting this accom- trouble maintaining temperature and their only about three.
plished,” Doll said of Gus Shinn while seals can start leaking fluids. “On the approach,” Doll said of his anni-
sipping coffee in the McMurdo Station Advances in technology during the versary run, “it was busy because the weath-
dining facility. past 50 years have made many aspects er wasn’t the best and I had a new co-pilot
“I don’t think the pilot’s attitude would of the journey safer, but they have done in the right seat who had never been there
have been one of adventure, not one of little to make airplanes better capable of before. It was busy, but I did stop and reflect
delight, but one of a deep challenge and a operating at such low temperatures. The on what I saw out there — a very well-devel-
sense of commitment to make sure that this threshold for flying to the Pole is minus oped station. … When they first went out
goes off well. … That was probably his 50 degrees Celsius, roughly the same tem- there, there was absolutely nothing. It was
overriding thought during the course of the perature Shinn and his crew found when flat white to the horizon everywhere.”
whole mission, to see that this thing went they landed. On the final stretch of the trip, Doll
off without a hitch.” Doll said pilots today benefit from the said that he saw they would be close to the
History shows that the first landing at experiences of Shinn and other pilots since target time of 8:34 Greenwich Mean Time
the South Pole, on Oct. 31, 1956, had a him. (9:34 p.m. local), “so I started playing
hitch or two but nothing the pilot and crew “We have the knowledge that it’s a with the speed a little bit just to make sure
were not able to overcome. routine flight, done many times over,” he we got as close as we could and ended up
Doll is particularly qualified to address said. All the LC-130 flights are handled by landing five seconds early.”
10 • The Antarctic Sun November 5, 2006
Altitude study finds Pole to be perfect laboratory
From page 1
and Engineering Center, where the team
is screening patients in a small lab room
adjacent to the aquarium.
The group is hoping to recruit 150
people for this year’s field season, with the
goal of capturing statistics and data on 300
individuals during the team’s two deploy-
ing seasons.
Johnson said the South Pole serves as
an ideal laboratory for this kind of study
for several reasons. At approximately
2,800 meters, the Pole represents a mod-
erately high altitude where many people
may reasonably travel or live as opposed
to extreme Mount Everest-type heights.
People traveling to Pole represent a broad
but very healthy cross-section of people
in terms of demographics and physiology
rather than a sub-group of elite climbers.
In addition, people en route to the bot-
tom of the world start at the same baseline,
as they travel through Christchurch, New
Zealand, and on to McMurdo Station,
which are both at sea level.
“What’s unique about the South Pole,
about the Antarctic, is that it’s a very struc-
tured population,” Johnson said. “It’s kind
of a unique laboratory setting here.”
Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun
And what is unique about going to Research physiologist Andy Miller administers a pulmonary function test using a spirometer
altitude at Pole is the climb itself. Most to Red Mathieson late last month in a lab adjacent to the aquarium in the Crary Science and
people arrive at 90 degrees south on a U.S. Engineering Center.
Air National Guard LC-130 ski-equipped
“We do know how quickly you go to Last summer, he said, was a mild year for
plane, rocketing to elevation in the course
altitude does play a role in the symptoms altitude illness, with the clinic recording
of about three hours.
[of altitude illness],” Johnson said. “We’re only a dozen visits and one case of HAPE.
While the physical altitude of the South
trying to quantify does cold play a role, Normally, the clinic averages 20-plus cases
Pole is 2,800 meters, a couple of factors does activity play a major role.” of altitude sickness during the summer.
can change the equation dramatically. At The team has already recruited about “I suspect a growing awareness on
the South Pole, the barometric air pres- 120 volunteers. Amnesty Kochanowski, a the part of veteran managers of the need
sure averages about 20 percent lower than South Pole air cargo handler on her second to go easy on people for the first couple
expected for that elevation. Atmospheric season, said that as an outdoor person who days, plus our opening on Saturdays sev-
pressure is the weight of the overlying regularly hikes at altitude she was eager to eral seasons running (so people get a rest
air column. As altitude increases, pres- participate in the study. day), plays a role here,” Silva wrote in an
sure decreases. Under less pressure, oxy- “Living high in Colorado and climbing e-mail, explaining last year’s decline in
gen molecules are more widely dispersed high in the mountains, I’ve seen how [alti- clinic visits.
throughout the atmosphere, making the air tude] affects people,” said Kochanowski, Serious cases of HAPE or HACE
feel thinner. Cold only exacerbates the pro- from Grand Lake near Rocky Mountain do periodically occur at the South Pole,
cess, meaning greater variability in what’s National Park. “I wanted to be sure I was according to Silva, and require immedi-
called physiological altitude as pressure involved.” ate evacuation back down to sea level.
drops, particularly during the cold winter In 2002, he sent three patients back to
months. Some South Pole stats McMurdo, one of whom was deteriorat-
The physiological altitude at Pole can Mild symptoms of altitude illness ing with cerebral edema. Silva stressed
typically hit 3,500 meters and has gone as include headache, fatigue, shortness of that low-level activity is key to successful
high as about 3,783 meters. (For a more breath, nausea, lack of appetite and light- acclimatization.
detailed explanation of physiological alti- headedness. More severe cases can result “Once again, the most important thing
tude, see the Feb. 2, 2003, issue of The in High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), is to do as much nothing as possible the
Antarctic Sun at antarcticsun.usap.gov.) which causes swelling of the brain due to first two days,” he noted. “Vigorous exer-
Aside from having to adapt to the fluid leakage, and High Altitude Pulmonary cise before acclimatization is a major risk
physiological shifts in altitude, many Edema (HAPE), which involves fluid leak- factor for HAPE, which can be rapidly
Polies hit the ground running to squeeze ing into the lungs and impairing the trans- fatal if untreated.”
every working minute possible out of the fer of oxygen to the blood stream. To quantify that factor and others, the
relatively short austral summer season, Dr. Will Silva served as the South Pole ASAP team performs a series of tests
which generally lasts from late October to physician for the last year and has done
early February. a total of three full years at the station. See RESEARCHERS on page 11