McMurdo Tidbits

"To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life." ~~Paul Coelho

Current Weather:
-1°C|30°FTemperature
-4°C|24°FWind Chil
Skies: Clear
Visibility (miles): Unrestricted
Winds (knots): E @ 7

As per request from one of my faithful readers, I finally forced myself to sit down and gather some interesting facts in regards to life at McMurdo and Antarctica. I’ll do my best to have it all make sense.

McMurdo Specific Lingo and Jargon:

• Big Red—Our beefy Canadian Goose Red Parkas that we wear when the wind gets brisk—they’re virtually invincible
• Freshies—What we call fresh vegetables and fruit that come in on the C-17’s
• Skiers—In reference to the LC-130’s—planes that have skies on the bottom of them for landing at the South Pole and field camps
• Con I,II,III—Weather Conditions that determine whether we can work outside or not
• Sci-Co—Stands for the Science Cargo building
• Eyebrow, 004—Stands for the Science Support Center
• The Chalet—The NSF (National Science Foundation) Headquarters
• The BFC—Also called Building Full of Chicks, Big Frickin’ Building…but it really stands for the Byrd Field Center. It’s the building where field camps get outfitted for their expeditions in the field
• MacTown—McMurdo
• Polies—People who work down at the South Pole
• American Night—Thursday nights where it’s an open invitation from our International neighbors to catch a shuttle and go over to the New Zealand Scott Base to buy a beer and shop in their store.
• Beakers—Scientists/Grantees
• On Ice—living in Antarctica
• Deployment—Leaving the states for Antarctica
• Re-Deployment—Leaving Antarctica for the states
• To Skua—Basically Antarctica’s very own GoodWill or Salvation Army. When people leave they will donate things that they don’t want to take back with them to Skua bins so it can be re-used into the community. You can find amazing things such as costume materials, Christmas Decorations, blankets, etc etc. It’s also named after the one bird that can be found here in Antarctica—the Skuas which are major scavengers.
• DA’s—Dining Attendants
• GA’s—General Assistants, also called Generally Awesome
• Nightingale—A term used in reference to a Med-Evac
• Freezing Man—McMurdo’s very own Burning Man
• Bell Hop—When a flight of new arrivals come in we shuttlers drive them to their dorms with all their luggage so they don’t have to drag their gear down to their dorms
• Bag Drag—When a flight is headed out of McMurdo we shuttlers will pick up the passengers from their dorms with all their gear and bring them up to the ATO (Antarctic Terminal Operations) Building so they can check in for their flight
• Happy Camper School—Antarctic Survival School where everyone that will be working outside gets to have the opportunity to go spend two days out in the Antarctic elements and learn how to winter camp and how to survive in a white out if they were to get stuck in a storm
• Boondoggle—A “moral” trip where you could get the chance to tag along for a day or two out to a field camp and assist people with menial tasks. Basically any opportunity to get off Base and see some of the remote areas surrounding McMurdo. Happy Camper School is considered a boondoggle for first season employees.
• Skidoos—Snowmobiles or what some people also call snow machines depending on what part of the country you’re from
• Piston Bullies—These boxy little vehicles that are run on tracks and take people out over the ice to dive camps and other remote field camps
• DJ (Derelict Junction)—The bus stop on the side of Building 155. Kind of the main bus stop in all of McMurdo
• Fingies—What they call newbies to Antarctica
• “It’s a Harsh Continent”—The sarcastic response whenever anyone complains about something… “Oh, well you know, it’s a harsh continent.”
• SPOT—South Pole Traverse—A mission to drive fuel and supplies over land to the South Pole Station

Weather Definitions:

Condition I (Severe Weather Classification):

• Winds greater than 55 knots sustained for one minute, or
• Visibility less than 100 feet sustained for one minute, or
• Wind chill greater than -100°F sustained for one minute.

Restrictions During Con I: Severe weather is in progress. All personnel must remain in buildings or the nearest shelter. If you’re on the road, you must stop immediately, remain where you are, call into the Firehouse and await further instructions for evacuation.

I finally got to experience a Con I two day storm right after Halloween!

The morning before everything turned to Con I

Condition II (Severe Weather Classification):

• Winds 48 to 55 knots sustained for one minute, or
• Visibility less than ¼ mile, but greater than or equal to 100 feet sustained for one minute, or
• Wind chill -75°F to -100°F sustained for one minute.

Restrictions During Con II: Restricted pedestrian traffic only between buildings is allowed. Vehicular travel is only allowed in radio equipped, enclosed vehicles, and check out with the Firehouse, ext. 2555, is required.
I had the opportunity to experience two Con II storms since being here. Pretty amazing weather!

Driving in Con II Conditions

 An example of Driving in Con II and having to check in with the Firehouse

Condition III (Weather Classification):

• Winds less than 48 knots, and
• Visibility greater than or equal to ¼ mile, and
• Wind chill temperature warmer than -75°F.

Restrictions During Con III: Unrestricted travel and activity are allowed. AKA—It’s a beautiful day outside!

Current McMurdo Population Stats:

As of 11/4:

• Men: 787
• Women: 284—this is what it feels like to be a minority
• Total: 1,071

Station Capacity is around 1,100 people. Almost to Station Capacity. We also just received 48 Italian men that will be heading out to the Terra Nova Italian Base.

New Zealand Scott Base Population Stats:

• Summer Population: 85
• Winter Population: 14