Tuesday October 4, 2001

Getting Ready! 

Here is our group, B-308 (Bravo 308). From left to right: Marissa (our lab manager and research assistant), Dr. Brad Buckley (our PI, boss and fearless leader), Isaac (PhD student and research assistant), and myself (master's student and research assistant).

Here is me getting ready at the CDC (clothing distribution center) dressed in my ECW (extreme cold 

weather gear). You have to try everything on to make sure it fits and since it is meant to keep you alive 

in the coldest temperatures that have ever been recorded...it was a little warm to wear inside :)

Here is me next to all the bags that we brought down.

Here is our crew getting ready to board the C-17 Air Force Cargo Plane down to "The Ice."

Marissa and I as the C-17 was taking off.

Isaac and I during the 6 hour flight to Antarctica.

My first view of the frozen sea ice out of a small window in the plane. It was really spectacular and emotional. Marissa and I were jumping up and down, laughing and so excited!

We got a chance to go up and visit with the pilots and there was a viewing window from behind their seats from which you could see the entire plane. This is what we looked like.

Marissa, myself and Isaac just moments before the plane landed on the sea ice. They actually build a runway on the frozen ocean for this massive plane to land on because that way, it can be as close to
McMurdo station on Ross Island as possible. 

Isaac was in Antarctica last season so he was kind enough to take my camera and take pictures of the newbies (Marissa and myself) as we walked off the plane. Brad calls them the "Hero Shots." The next several pictures are of us getting off of the plane as a landscape picture with other people wearing their "Big Red" coat to give you some perspective about the size of the plane and the size of the sea ice that we are on.

Next, we loaded up onto "Ivan the Terra Bus" and it drove us and our stuff to town. We then had a long meeting, got the rest of our gear and relaxed for the rest of the evening. At the end of the night, I was able to see a "sunset." At this time of the year, the sun does not actually set, but rather it just dips behind the Royal Society Mountain Range. It is never completely dark here and we are gaining about 40 minutes of daylight each day. Soon we will not even have a twilight to speak of and the sun will just do laps in the sky.