Coming out of the field

It has been a roller-coaster of a day starting at 5:45 when we started getting ready for a flight transportation we knew would never happen. We are still flying LC-130s out of McMurdo because of the condition of the ice-runway, and only 40 at a time are going north. With a whole station to move as well as other bases that rely on our flights, it is a mess getting north.

We had bag drag last night but were told we would likely not fly because the Italians from Tera Nova Bay were going north. The only way we would fly is if they had weather bad enough to cancel their flight to McMurdo. Beautiful weather this morning. The blessing was that when I got back to the dorm the sun was shining on the Royal Society Range across the bay, and the icebreaker was working the sound. It was a beautiful sight and photos don't do it justice.

When I got to my room and set up shop (I gave up my office) I had another surprise. The NSF press release on WAIS Divide came out and there is a photo of me (taken by my good friend Giff Wong) with the release, and it made the banner on the NSF front page. The link is here;
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=126761&org=NSF&from=news
but it can also be found on the NSF.gov home page. A great honor. Second only to the honor of cutting the drilling cable this season at the end of a great, and highly successful project.

Lots to talk about from the season. It was one of my best seasons (17 now; I need to figure out how to edit my own blog page). First, I am looking forward to getting home. Too long in the field...