Lee and I returned from the ice in mid-February! As with any field season, it takes a bit of time to get back into the swing of things. The first couple weeks back are always tricky to get the body … Continue reading →

This past week, we successfully installed Skomik PCWS, collocated at Schwerdtfeger AWS and one of NIWC’s Wind Alert AWS. Skomik is named after my dad, Ed Mikolajczyk, and his late best friend, Mark Skogseth (it’s a combination of their last … Continue reading →

On 20 January, Lee and I took snow machines to return to Willie Field AWS and reinstall the enclosure, and then go to Windless Bight AWS to raise the station. Since the snow road was moved, Willie Field AWS was … Continue reading →

The Otters are back in town! This past Thursday, the Twin Otters came back to McMurdo from WAIS, much earlier than we expected. And the past two days, we flew on them! On Friday, we flew to Elaine on the … Continue reading →

Happy New Year everyone! Time for another field season update. About a week and a half ago, Lee and I visited our first AWS of the season! But it wasn’t the AWS we were looking for… And on New Year’s … Continue reading →

It’s been a couple weeks since I sent an update about our field season. I’ll try to give a quick overview and rundown now, but I will say now that it looks like we will be visiting our first sites … Continue reading →

Lee and I saw the partial solar eclipse in McMurdo last night! The whole town was buzzing yesterday in anticipation. While our eclipse was partial, others in Antarctica experienced a total solar eclipse. The path of totality passed over WAIS … Continue reading →

Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2021-22 Automatic Weather Station (AWS) Program field season! Lee Welhouse and I (Dave Mikolajczyk) will be your field team this year. We just arrived in McMurdo yesterday, 30 Nov, but our travels began a … Continue reading →

When Elina and I returned to McMurdo on 22 January, it marked the final stretch of the team’s field season. One big objective that we still needed to accomplish was swapping out the remaining 4 AWS in the McMurdo area … Continue reading →

In our last 5 working days at WAIS, from 17 through 21 January, Elina and I visited the remaining 5 AWS on our list. It was a whirlwind of work, and timing was perfect for us to catch our Herc … Continue reading →