Hello Everyone!

Greetings from Antarctica! I am happy to report I have successfully made to “the ice” (as we affectionately call Antarctica)! You can see me here in front of an LC-130 Hercules aircraft, flown by the 109th New York Air National Guard. We landed a William Field – a skiway here where you can land skied aircraft like the LC-130.

Matt departing the LC-130 at Williams Field

From what I can tell, I am lucky to have arrived. The flight before ours tried to get to Antarctica, but turned back due to mechanical issues. Coming back to Christchurch after trying to get to Antarctica is called a “boomerang”. They were supposed to be flying right behind our flight yesterday, but didn’t get to go again – I’m not sure 100% sure why. Today all flights in or out of McMurdo Station have been canceled due to fog in the area. So those folks have now been in Christchurch for over a week!! You can see some of the fog in the attached image I took as we flew over North Victoria Land. The sea ice over this section of the Ross Sea is also breaking out – after all it is summer time here. Temperatures have been a near constant 18°F or 19°F today with winds up to 30 mph.

Fog over Victoria Land

Sea ice viewed from the LC-130

For the next several days I will be doing training activities to be able to do the work I will be doing here, and to do so safely, etc. More on all of that in the near future!!

Cheers,

Matthew