Images of

ANTARCTICA

Sea Ice Runway

Photos © 2002 Seth White

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A C-130 with skis for landing gear...designated the LC-130. They also have wheels for normal takeoff. C130's are in use all over the world, but the US is the only country which flies LC 130's, as specified in the US government's contract with Lockheed (imagine that). Wheeled aircraft such as the C-141 can fly into the sea ice runway, but not to Williams Field. Also, only ski-equipped planes land at South Pole.

Same plane, with McMurdo in the background.
Mount Discovery is in the background with two layers of lenticular clouds. These clouds form over high peaks under certain conditions when the winds are strong, and are so named because they are often lens-shaped.
The runway dome with the same clouds over Mount Discovery.
A strange and unique fire vehicle. Where else would you find something like this?
Another bizarre fire vehicle.
Main street on the sea ice runway complex. Every bit of this entire complex will be removed when it gets warmer and the sea ice weakens.
The sea ice runway complex as seen from the air. A plane has just landed.
Another shot from the helicopter. A Russian plane was in town on this particular day. It's the white one in the center of the picture. Probably on the way to Vostok Station? There have been groups of Russians periodically at McMurdo...mostly drinking vodka....
This is one gnarly snowblower. A plume of snow and ice is shot over a hundred feet as it works on the runway and the road to the runway.
Around mid September, work began on the sea ice runway for the 2003-2004 summer season. This runway had to be ready for the first flights of summer, scheduled for 9/30/03. So they selected a site and began work on the runway and road from McMurdo. They dragged out various ski-equipped buildings...the passenger terminal, power station, tower, radome, tacan and others. Amidst several storms, the ice runway slowly began to take shape. Here is a picture looking out over the land/ice transition and the road to the runway as it was being built.
One day my buddy Steve had to go out and troubleshoot a malfunctioning Optaphone system. Surprise - the optaphones were screwed up. This system is outdate, archaic, and very troublesome. So Steve spends a good deal of time working on the silly things. There is a base station on Crater Hill which transmits to various remote sites, including the runways, Windless Bight, and the Dry Valleys. Anyhow, I drove out with him a few days before the first flight of mainbody just for the heck of it. I thought it would be cool to see how the runway this year compared to last year. So I tagged along with camera in hand. Here is the main sea ice runway complex. It's more or less the same as last year, except closer to town. People have remarked to me that it's closer this year then they can remember. Probably because the ice near McMurdo is so thick and stable - it hasn't flowed out for years due to the iceberg B15. But the buildings are pretty much the same, and oriented in the same directions.
Here is the portable radome, with Mount Discovery again. It's a different one this year than last year....but the same shot still caught my eye.
So here's Steve up on the tower working with the optaphone antenna.
Inside the tower I found this - a nice, vintage radar system. Dave Havner tells me this type of unit was used back in the Vietnam era. Great to know we have modern technology in this, the harshest environment on earth. Yes, folks, Antarctica is often one of the final bastions of various types of antiquities. We have a lot of old stuff down here that we just keep running year after year. And many unique pieces of equipment end up here that you really don't find anywhere else. In many cases, it becomes a matter of pride - the technicians and mechanics are proud that they are able to keep this old stuff running for years after it was decomissioned elsewhere. And rightly so. But still, the USAP runs on a relative shoestring budget when you think about the scope of what we do here. The people in the trenches make this place work...period. And this unassailable fact does not often get recognized as it should. I will avoid the temptation to embark on a diatribe here...but let me reiterate my opinion: the crew at McMurdo and South Pole (and Palmer, no doubt) do one hell of a job with what they have.
A view from the tower: looking out over the runway to White Island.
One of our TACAN shelters, with Mt. Discovery in the background, as seen from the top of the tower. I climbed up on the top of the tower to assist in some cable work and got a few pics from this nice vantage point overlooking the sea ice runway.
Here is the runway complex again - this time looking the other way, and a little higher up from the top of the tower.
This is kind of a nice picture. The day itself wasn't that great - windy and overcast. But on the way back to town we stopped and I took some pics of McMurdoland and stitched them together to get this panorama: McMerda Station (merda is Italian for, um, poop). And it is kind of an ugly place. But very interesting, nonetheless. Extremely so, actually. This place, McMurdo Station, has been my home for the past year. An entire year of my life. To many of the locals here, it doesn't really mean that much to spend a year here. Big deal...many of them have spent years and years here. The PC technician over the winter has spent 162 months on the ice as of last count - almost 14 years (holy crap!). I don't know him well - and I don't know if it still affects him at all to be here or not. But for me, this still means something. Living in a place like this for a year is a big deal. And I don't plan to keep coming down here so much that I become jaded to the whole experience. This is something that has made a profound effect on me. And in the future, I will be sure to make the most of the chances I have to come back here. I don't intend to make it a regular job, and I don't intend to waste my time here. It's something special to me.