C-17 and Mt. Discovery

Our Antarctic field season came to an end a week ago on Friday October 3rd. Unlike the long delay flying down to Antarctica our flight north, to New Zealand, left on time on the day we were originally scheduled to leave. The end of any Antarctic trip is always bittersweet for me. Mostly I am… Read More


Kara and I are at the end of our Antarctic trip and I am writing this post on the C-17 flight north to New Zealand. In this blog post I will share what our day-to-day life looked like in McMurdo. As I described in my last blog post despite not having our drones we managed… Read More


Mt. Discovery at sunrise

Kara and I have been in Antarctica for 2.5 weeks now and have another 1.5 weeks left until we are scheduled to fly north. As I mentioned in my last blog post the drones we were planning to use for our fieldwork never made it down to McMurdo so we have been improvising to do… Read More


Clouds at sunset over McMurdo Station

Kara and I arrived in Antarctica a little more than a week ago. As of today, I have now spent more than an entire year of my life, spread over 15 trips starting with my first one in 1994, in Antarctica. For this blog post I am going to share some memories and photos from… Read More


Antarctic sunset and C17

After a 2 week delay Kara and I finally made it to Antarctica on Friday September 5th. On Thursday we received an e-mail from the US Antarctic Program telling us that we were scheduled to fly south the following day and that we needed to get to the Christchurch airport by 6:45AM Friday morning. Once… Read More


Lake Tekapo

I left Colorado 2 weeks ago and I am still in Christchurch, New Zealand waiting for my flight to Antarctica. As I said in my last post, the plan was that Kara, the post-doc that I am working with on this trip, and I would spend three nights in Christchurch before flying to Antarctica on… Read More


Southern Alps High Country

I am currently in Christchurch, New Zealand the main gateway for US Antarctic Program participants heading to Antarctica. The reason for Christchurch being the primary gateway to Antarctic is that it is directly north of McMurdo Station, the largest US base in Antarctica, and thus offers the shortest travel distance from a major city to… Read More


Colorado sunrise

I left for my 15th trip to Antarctica today (August 17th) and I have pretty mixed emotions about it. On one hand I am very excited to be going to Antarctica again and getting to see and experience an environment that is so different from my everyday life. I feel so fortunate that my career… Read More


As I mentioned in my last blog post, plans were being made for a flight that would allow several people on the Polarstern to return home. That flight took place last Wednesday (22 April) and I was one of the seven people on that flight. Prior to my flight home, and since my last blog… Read More


12 April 2020 I always experience a rollercoaster of emotions when I am doing fieldwork. Frustration when things aren’t going well. Boredom waiting for good weather, or just getting to the field site. Loneliness from being away from family and friends. Contentment when you experience the beauty and unique nature of a remote field camp.… Read More