Adventures in Antarctica

[Warehouse23]

In response to the requests in CarlZog's RI gameday thread, here is, at long last, a thread dedicated to my research in Antarctica (for which I'll be heading south again to continue from October 20 through January).

A little background about me-- I am a third year PhD student at Brown University in the department of geological science, planetary group. I'm a little scatter-brained at the moment (quals on Tuesday!), so feel free to ask lots of questions if my explanations aren't clear.

I study an area called the Antarctic Dry Valleys, which are part of the 0.3% of the continent which is not covered in ice sheets (basically, the mountains keep the ice back). Rather, the valleys are floored with small, debris-covered glaciers, and landslide detritus. Antarctica is a cold desert (in fact, as continents go, it is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest continent on Earth), which means that many of the landforms present there can be studied as analogs to features observed on Mars. In particular, I study thermal contraction crack polygons (the snow-filled troughs that make the valley floors look like bathroom tiles in some of the air photos), which are also observed on Mars.

LINKS: (Here are some links to photos, maps, and papers about my field site)

http://www.soils.wisc.edu/antarcticConf/images/Beacon Valley2.jpg
Nice panoramic view of Beacon Valley.

http://archive.digitalglobe.com/archive/showBrowse.php?catID=10100100029E0E03
Satelite map of Beacon Valley and environs (Beacon is the large valley all the little ones are feeding into).

http://www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/atrs/web_photos/dryvals/beacon_polygons.jpg
http://wmthemes.jessanderson.org/sht/beacon_valley_tn.jpg
Thermal contraction crack polygons in Beacon Valley.

http://www.mcmlter.org/images/pictures/meteorology/beacon_met.jpg
A meteorological station in Beacon Valley used to monitor global climate change.

http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...921&jid=ANS&volumeId=18&issueId=03&aid=466920
A pdf of a paper I wrote for the journal Antarctic Science summarizing observations from the 2004-5 field season.

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/07/19/2003.07.19.M1900047.jpg
http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/11_15_99_polygons/moc2_msss_southpoly100.gif
Patterned ground on Mars

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Very cool stuff! (Gives me some ideas for games too.) Thanks for the explanation and the photos.

 

[sydbar]

Some interesting stuff there, but i'm interested in geology, so that kind of stuff is interesting to me.

 

[guedo79]

Will you be going through the Stratton Air base? My parents live by there and we hear of flights to Antarctica all the time. I wasn't sure how many flights like that are made in the northeast that don't go through the air base.

 

[werk]

I had a friend that spent a couple seasons at McMurdo (sp?) Station doing general support stuff. She also studied at the bio sphere and likes to get away every now and then. She said it was a great experience, but she drank too much/too often and now has a deathly fear of static electricity.

I have a lot of pictures with her surrounded by penguins.

 

[Warehouse23]

McMurdo is the main US base on the continent and is a funny cross between mining town (all the heavy support equipment moves through it) and college town (most of the science staff on the continent has lab space there, and field parties move through Mac-town. Add on to that dorm living and communal dining in the galley, and it's back to college sometimes!).

Little known fact about McMurdo: there are three bars at McMurdo--a smoking bar (think biker bar on the ice), a trendy bar, and a wine/liquer/coffee bar (the former officer's club).

The only penguins in the Dry Valleys where I work are mumified penguin remains of a little Adelie penguins who treked close to 100 km inland, over glaciers and crevasses, in a vain attempt to start a new colony.

 

[GlassJaw]

If you found some dormant Elder Gods in the ice, I bet that would make a good topic for a paper.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

If not, I at least hope you'll run a Call of Cthulhu "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" campaign while you're there.

 

[Piratecat]

What should the temperature be like during the months that you're camping out there?

 

[werk]

The only penguins in the Dry Valleys where I work are mumified penguin remains of a little Adelie penguins who treked close to 100 km inland, over glaciers and crevasses, in a vain attempt to start a new colony.

I don't want pictures of that...