It would be funny to see a frozen fish in the ice tube. I suppose in the ocean, it's possible, although you would have to have your dive tube in the right spot! Actually, though, most organisms sink when they die, so they typically would not go up under the ice - although it's possible.

It is NOT possible however, in the lakes - there are no fish in the lakes! Only microscopic organisms live here. The algal mats DO float up to the surface, and you can see some algae stuck in the ice tube areas!

 

There are no plants in this part of Antarctica. The only plants currently on the continent grow on the edge of the Antarctic peninsula. That is the "arm" of Antarctica that sticks up towards South America. It is warm enough there to have some sea grasses growing on shore.

 

It's not really possible for the glacier to fall on the camp. They are far enough away (even camp at Lake Hoare - although right beside the glacier, is just out of reach of it) to not be covered if a big chunk of ice fell. If by some way (which isn't possible) the entire glacier broke free of the mountain - it is large enough to cover Rye, NH and then some! These glaciers are HUGE, but they are pretty stuck to the mountain! So there are no worries of glaciers falling on us. The only time we have to really watch out for falling ice is when we are picking glacier berries. Then we are right beside the glacier in an area where ice has fallen. So we go in quickly and grab the ice!

Lake Hoare is deeper, and bigger, than Lake Fryxell.

The ocean water is 2-4°F colder than the lake water. The ocean water is about 28°F and the lake water ranges from 30-32°F. It's odd to think about, but compared to the ocean, the lake feels quite a bit warmer!

Yes - I have walked on glaciers. Sometimes - they are so big and covered in snow that they don't feel like glaciers. I have even been downhill skiing on glaciers. The ones that are obviously glaciers - like the ones here that just spill out over the mountain side, I have been hiking across. They can be quite tricky to keep solid footing on! Have you ever walked on a glacier? If not - you might want to try it sometime! It's fun!

The lakes are chosen based on their depth and bottom topography. If there is a chance of getting a variety of photosynthetic organisms, they set up to study them. For example, Lake Bonney is just up the valley from here. Peter doesn't dive in that particular lake (although there is a lot of OTHER research going on there) because the edge of the lake is too steep. There is only enough light for a narrow band of photosynthetic organisms to grow. Although it would be interesting to look at them, they have a better variety in Lake Hoare and Lake Fryxell. Perhaps someday, they'll look in Bonney as well, but for now... we have all we can handle with these two lakes! The closeness to each other makes it convenient, but that wasn't a major deciding factor (a small one - yes).

No one really knows for sure why the lake ice in Fryxell is thicker than in Hoare. It could be because Fryxell is closer to the ocean (and colder winds blow off the ocean) that the ice is able to build up more. Lake Hoare sits a bit more protected in a valley; the surface of the lake is able to get a little warmer, thus the ice isn't quite as thick. So - it's a bit of a mystery!

Glacier berries are not hard to find - at least not here. All along the front of the glacier is a leading wall of ice. From time to time, slabs of ice fall off this wall. When they fall, they smash up pretty well! We walk (or drive the ATV) over and collect them! How often we go depends on how many people are in camp, and how much water is needed. I think it's reasonable to say that every 3 days we go "berry picking"! It gives a whole new meaning to the expression doesn't it?! I'm actually going to post more berry picking shots tonight in the journal, so keep an eye out for them!

I guess the short answer to your question is no, I haven't noticed many visible changes to the glacier, but there is talk of moving this established camp to another site because the lake level is rising - now that's a sign of global warming!

The second year I was here, the moat melted out earlier than what is typical, but you can't really claim that is global warming. It might be, but it also might just be fluctuations!

Sunlight energy can penetrate through any surface that has some permeability. Ice fits the bill! If the ice had no snow and/or sand on it, LOTS of sunlight would go through. Light does, however, lightly change it's direction as it passes through each medium - for example from air to ice, the light rays get bent, then from ice to water, the light rays get bent again.

 

The lake doesn't freeze all the way through because it is just barely at freezing temperatures underwater. Below the ice surface, it is JUST above freezing, so it doesn't freeze solid. About 1 more degree colder, and it might just freeze right up. Some of the lakes also have some salt in them at lower depths which keeps them from freezing solid.

 

This is why Lake Hoare is so rough:
Let's start with a perfectly smooth ice surface. Then put it in a "Dry Valley" - which is full of pebbles, dirt, gravel, sand, big rocks, etc. Then, have the wind blow through (it can get up to over 80 mph during storms!) - even just a light wind blows the sand and gravel around - including onto the nice smooth lake. Then, the sun shines. As the sun shines on the sand, gravel, rocks, etc, those things (sand, etc) heat up. As they heat up, they sink into the ice surface starting to make it rougher. Over time, it gets REALLY rough! It is quite difficult to walk across - often, you end up on "ledges" that aren't visible from the direction you approach. You step onto the ledge and it collapses - dropping you a foot or more down onto lower ice. It's quite startling even though you know you won't fall into the water (unless you are on the moat - then you might!) because the ice is over 15 feet thick!

There are several lakes, but the surfaces are not good for skating. They are REALLY rough, I mean 1-4 foot bumps all throughout, with sand in between! There are a couple lakes that have REALLY smooth ice that would be great for skating, but they have large cracks in them that would catch a skate blade - that's rarely good! You may get lucky and find a big enough patch that you could skate around in circles, but that gets boring! I believe folks in McMurdo try to maintain a small area for ice skating, but it is only possible for short periods of time. So ice skating is not really an option.

 

Actually there are lots of volcanoes in Antarctica- it does seem completely wrong doesn't it?! Most of them are extinct, but some are active. Actually volcanoes can form anywhere the tectonic plates are moving into each other and one slides underneath the other. This is called a convergent boundary between continental crust and oceanic crust. Mt. St. Helens is a classic example of this in the US. They can also form over hot spots, like the volcanoes of Hawaii. The temperature of the atmosphere really has nothing to do with volcanic activity. The volcanoes are in Antarctica because the plates are bumping together. The lava happens to be inside this particular one (Mt. Erebus) right near the surface so it forms a lava lake. If the lava were to overflow onto the ice it would cool off MUCH faster than volcanoes in other areas, so the lava would not travel as far.

Recently I watched a quick segment on the Today Show about a melting iceberg off the coast of Antarctica, and how it's affecting New
Zealand. Do you know any other information on this? I'm not sure about all the
details!