McMurdo Dry Valleys and Taylor Glacier

Here of some photos taken from our field camp which is located at Blood Falls and the west lobe of Lake Bonney in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

The view down valley from our camp. This is the west lobe of Lake Bonney, a perennially ice covered lake at at the terminus of the Taylor Glacier.

Blood Falls is formed by the outflow of water from the terminus of the Taylor. To the left is the west lobe of Bonney.
Taylor Glacier margin near our tunnel site.


The Rhone glacier is located just north of the Taylor Glacier and is in the "backyard" of our camp

Vertical Shaft and sample collection

On the 17th of November we began collecting ice samples. We intend to collect ice from the profile that we exposed after digging the vertical tunnel. The tunnel is approximately 2 m x 2 m and 5 m deep. Here are some pictures of the shaft and the different types of ice that we will collect. Pierre Amato (LSU) near the bottom of the shaft excavating ice


The different layers of clean and dirty ice in the profile that we will sample. The sample profile is 4 m thick and consists of the following different layers, or facies. We are calling the three main faces in the profile clean glacier ice, stratified, and massive. The different facies, except the clean glacier ice are shown below. Each of these facies is ~ 1.5 m in our profile and they are oriented in the following order clean ice, stratified, massive (descending down the vertical shaft).


This section is an example of the stratified facies. The clean ice in this section is ~ 20 cm thick. The stratified facies contains numerous layers of clean and dirty ice and is approximately 1.5 m thick.


This section is an example of the massive facies. Ice in this section contains ~20-40% sediment (w/v). This section is ~ 1.4 m and lies below the stratified facies shown above.

Tunnel into glacier ice

2007 Taylor Glacier tunnel crew. Top row (l-r) Timothy Brox (MSU), Scott Montross (MSU), Shawn Doyle (LSU). Bottom row (l-r) Pierre Amato (LSU), Brent Christner (LSU).

The tunnel into the glacier is nearly complete. On Friday 9 November the tunnel was 12 m into the glacier ice.

Tim Brox from MSU excavates ice from the tunnel. This picture was taken five days before the complete tunnel was dug. At this time we were ~ 7 m into the ice.

Our goal was to tunnel along the debris-rich layer of ice (layers of ice with a substantial amount of rocks and sediments, some of this ice is nearly 50% sediment/ice by w/v) then work downward to sample the basal (ice at the glacier bed) layers. Our tunnel into the glacier ice does slope downward towards the bed of the glacier but we were concerned since we had not encountered the dirty ice layers that we are interested in. In order to determine how far down these layers are we began to drill small holes with an auger to find where the dirty ice begins. After drilling ~ 3 meters we hit rock, and we were all very jubilant. We have begun to construct a vertical shaft from the end of the tunnel down to the debris-rich ice at the glacier bed in order to collect samples from these layers.

Tim Brox and Brent Christner at work in the vertical shaft. This picture was taken during the second day of digging down. Rather than chainsaw through the dirty ice we used an 85 lb. jackhammer to help us make our way to the glacier bed.

We are interested in the ice which contains rock and sediments because this is where all the action is. The numbers of bacteria in clean, debris-poor glacier ice vs. dirty glacier ice are substantially different. Previous work (e.g., Sharp et al., 1999, Skimore et al., 2000 and 2005) has shown that cell numbers and cell activity is higher in debris rich ice. There are a few reasons for this; 1) sediments provide a site for cell attachment which may enhance the rate of colonization, 2) chemical constituents of rock (i.e., Fe, S, N) are energy sources for the microbes, and 3) a thin film of water exists around the sediment surface and where there is water there is life!

Below is a plan (map) view of our tunnel and sampling shaft

Thanks to everyone who has commented or emailed me about the blog. I have received many emails of support and motivation which I always pass on to the rest of the team. I would also like to thank Cadbury, the Pringle man, and Oreo for giving us the energy we need to make it through the cold windy days at the glacier. There is still quite a lot of snow of the peaks around camp, but all indications are that summer (austral) has begun. Unlike the northern hemisphere November comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. We have had some really impressive winds over the last week (catabatics with gusts up to 50 mph are very common). I will be back in MCM for the rest of this week preparing and analyzing samples I collected from the glacier. I have numerous posts to download so please check the blog again this week

Taylor Glacier

I am sending this blog from Lake Bonney, a permanent camp in the Dry Valleys and about an hour and a half walk from our field camp. Here is a review of the last few days.

The field site: The tunneling site is located about 1.3 km up glacier from our camp at Blood Falls. This site was selected after rigorous reconnaissance at the base and surface of the glacier. The site was inspected by a member of FSTP, which is the safety group here in Antarctica.

On Thursday Nov. 1 our crew began to tunnel into the margin of the Taylor Glacier. Day one was devoted to establishing a safe route up the ice apron. The apron is formed at the base of the glacier from ice blocks that calve off the glacier and meltwater that flows from the surface of the glacier. The ice apron is approximately 25 feet high.

On day two our generator, fuel, and remaining gear was slung by helicopter up to the field site. This was a precarious situation since the pilot had to contend with steep slopes on one side and 150 vertical feet of glacier ice on the other. Lucky for us there was minimal wind and good visibility. As the load was slung in Brent and I remained on the ground to direct the pilot and ensure a safe delivery of the equipment and a safe exit for the helicopter. During the drop we were huddled together directly beneath the helo in radio contact with the pilot as the sling load was released. The remainder of the day was spent preparing a work space at the base of the ice. At approximately 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 1 we penetrated the glacier and began constructing the tunnel into the vertical wall of ice. On this day the team made it about 2 m into the ice before returning back to camp.

Scott tunneling through the glacier on day two.

Day three: Since we penetrated the ice we have shifted to using electric chainsaws, and for reasons I cannot explain they seem to work better at cutting ice than the gas powered chainsaws we used to build the stairs up to ice apron. We are currently working in teams of three for 6 hour shifts. The usual configuration is one member chainsaws, one member clears the ice with a mechanical hammer drill, or by hand using a large ice chipper, and one person remains on the hillslope as a spotter. We switch jobs quite often (about every 20 minutes) since the person who is spotting usually gets cold real quick since they are not moving. In order to stay warm and energized it is necessary that we have a high calorie diet. I think we consume nearly 5000 calories a day, much of this is chocolate! Many people gain weight while on the ice, I think Brent’s record is 11 lbs., but I do not think this will be the case with our group. We calculated that we will remove nearly 80 metric tons of ice when we are finished, although chainsaws make the cuts we still must remove the ice by hand. For this reason I doubt any of us will gain any weight, but we could really use some fat reserves to stay warm.

We are all very excited about our progress thus far, at this rate we will hopefully be into the glacier and tunneled down to the bedrock and basal ice layers by the end of November. My personal goal is to be tunneled in by Sean and I’s birthday’s which are November 28th and 29th, respectively.

Hope all is well in the northern hemisphere. We still have a good amount of snow on the ground here and it has been fairly cold (temps seem to range from -20oC to 0oC daily). We are all working hard and miss those at home.