Dec 4 – Friday On our third full day at WAIS, Mark and I flew for the second day in a row, this time to Thurston Island AWS. Our plan was to go to both Evans Knoll AWS and Thurston … Continue reading →

Dec 3 – Thursday Mark and I had our first station visit out of WAIS today, Thursday 3 December, going to Byrd AWS to raise the station. We hadn’t planned on going to Byrd. In our first scheduling meeting with … Continue reading →

Dec 1 – Tuesday We arrived at WAIS today! Just in the nick of time, as we had set this day as our cut-off date to get out to WAIS. If we didn’t make it today, we figured it wouldn’t … Continue reading →

In my haste to update you all on our WAIS status, I neglected to include that we were able to fly Twin Otter to Elaine AWS, on the southern end of the Ross Ice Shelf, on Friday 27 November. We … Continue reading →

Mark and I remain in McMurdo for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. On Thursday, our flight to WAIS boomeranged! We left McMurdo around 10 am, but when we reached WAIS, the weather was too poor to land. Our plane circled the … Continue reading →

Earlier this week, on Monday 23 November, Mark and I took a helo “night flight” to Linda AWS to finish up the work we couldn’t get done during our first visit there 9 days prior. The helo schedule has been … Continue reading →

This past week has been a quiet one for Mark and I. But when it’s quiet for us, that usually means it’s hectic elsewhere. There has been a storm parked over West Antarctica for the past several days now. A … Continue reading →

Mark and I escaped a close one a couple days ago. On Saturday, 14 November, we flew helo to Linda AWS, a site about 40 miles southeast of McMurdo. We planned to install a new power system, raise the station, … Continue reading →

Mark and I have hit a pretty good string of flying since I last updated you all. Since White Island AWS, we have flown to 5 other AWS: Cape Hallet (for the second time), Emilia, Vito, Ferrell and Margaret. Some … Continue reading →

Fourth times a charm. Mark and I visited White Island AWS yesterday, 4 November, to do a station inspection. It was our fourth day of being on the helicopter (helo) schedule to visit the site. (For the record, helo flights … Continue reading →