Ross Island and the future of the McMurdo Sound Region

Ross Island and the McMurdo Sound Region and the science being conducted there embody what is left of our critical and fragile ecosystems and our attempts to understand them.

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Scientist Hubert Staudigel samples the inside of Kachina Cave in an effort to find extreme life forms in Earth’s most remote and inhospitable places. This cave’s thin ceiling allows blue light to penetrate, absorbing all other wavelengths, creating an amazing blue tone within the cave.
Rarely seen nacreous clouds over McMurdo Station are only visible when the atmosphere is exceptionally cold and the sun is just below the horizon. A once common sight, the increased temperatures and storms are making them a rare phenomenon even in Antarctica.
The beach below Captain Scott's Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans covered with frozen sea stars washed up by an unusual late season storm. This phenomenon had never been seen prior to this visit, and the images shot of this event were forwarded on to many interested scientists. “I’ve never seen or heard about anything like this,” said Stacy Kim, a benthic ecologist who works each season in Antarctica. She noted that early explorers like Scott and Shackleton, who had spent months and years living and exploring along Ross Island’s rocky shores, never reported such an event in their journals. “Nothing in the Shackleton journals, and they were there a lot,” Kim said.
A crack in the sea ice of McMurdo Sound that slowly refreezes as it spreads apart. The sea ice is used for transport of fuel and equipment, and even as a backup runway for large aircraft. Each season the ice becomes less stable and cracks become wider and more dynamic, limiting the amount of science that can be conducted safely around the island.
A Weddell seal takes a breath through a hole in the two-meter-thick sea ice of McMurdo Sound. These seals keep the holes open by constantly chewing the ice with their teeth throughout the season. They spend the winters beneath the ice. Their lifespan is dependent on the longevity of their teeth, as they eventually loose the ability to keep their holes open and thus the ability to breathe.
A conservator of from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust catalogs and restores items removed from the Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans. Items are removed over the summer, and conservators spend the Antarctic winters meticulously working on each item so it can be returned to the huts the following spring. This image was shot shortly after boxes of hops and barley were found, proving that the men were brewing beer during their three years on the continent.
A group of USAP support staff shelter from the rotor wash of a Bell 212 used to ferry equipment and personnel across the McMurdo Sound Region. USAP has five helicopters that run almost constantly around the clock during the summer season keeping field camps supplied. Fuel for helicopter operations makes up a large percentage of fuel use in the program, which requires approximately 7.5 million gallons of fuel per year.
A group of scientists and support personnel set up a Scott tent on the McMurdo Ice Shelf in high winds and cold temperatures. The Scott tent used today in the program is the same design as those that were used by Captain Robert Falcon Scott on his expeditions to the continent over one hundred years ago.
Scientists practice whiteout navigation on the McMurdo Ice Shelf during the survival training that is required for all personnel who will be deployed to the field. This past season saw unprecedented poor weather with high winds and unusually high temperatures. Weather conditions during 60 percent of pre-field days in the 2014 season made work outside impossible. These long-term extreme weather events have never been seen before in this area, which usually sees only 20 percent poor-weather days. Warmer oceans and stronger low-pressure systems north of the continent over the last few seasons are likely responsible for the much higher winds and regular storms being experienced around Ross Island.
Scientists and support staff are transported on a US Air Force C-17 aircraft to McMurdo Station. After an uncomfortable six-hour flight the aircraft lands on a runway carved into the McMurdo Ice Shelf and the season begins. Large sections of the shelf have broken off over the last several seasons and the runway has become unusable due to melting in the summers. Further collapse of the McMurdo ice shelf as has happened to so many other ice shelves across the planet would isolate this huge station as there are very few other options for getting personnel and equipment in and out throughout the science season.

Alasdair Turner

Mountains, vertical terrain, and cold places have long been the study of photographer Alasdair Turner, who is also an AMGA-certified…

Topics
Environment
Sub Topics
Antarctic Ice Melt Research
Regions
Antarctica
Antarctic

About Ross Island and the future of the McMurdo Sound Region

We have entered a time when places the least near us beckon us to understand them, to feel them so that while we tred on our part of the Earth they are constantly with us and with our choices. Ross Island and the McMurdo Sound Region and the science being conducted there embody what is left of our critical and fragile ecosystems and our attempts to understand them. They are not land for a nation but a place for the world. This project is intended to emotionally and scientifically engage citizens of every nation about why this place and the incredible science that is being conducted there matters. It will give life to and investigate the science of the region from the earliest expeditions to today’s ongoing research.
Mountains, vertical terrain, and cold places have long been the study of photographer Alasdair Turner, who is also an AMGA-certified rock guide and a mountaineer. Originally hailing from Scotland, Alasdair was born into a family heritage of farming and engineering. For himself, he initially chose chemistry (University of Oregon); however, leaving Scotland did not dull his internal conquest. An explorer born to seek the polar regions, Alasdair has most recently devoted his career to and found his home in Antarctica. Although very competent in the field, he is engaging science ambassador to the natural world.www.alasdairturner.com