Last Day – 07 December 2008 – Discovery Hut
After completing our mission on Mt Erebus, we finally flew back to McMurdo and began to prepare for departure from Antarctica. The weather is warming and we have a bit more available time. It was a beautiful day for a walk, even though the sea ice edge is still miles away and it feels almost "spring-like", for the Antarctic anyway. There are several historic huts still remaining in the area, but the only one within walking distance of McMurdo station is the Discovery Hut. Read more  |  See pictures

Day 38 – 03 December 2008 – Exploring Ice Caves
The last and a most exciting task of our field season was to explore some ice caves for our exposure experiments. Ice caves form when steam or other hydrothermal gases rise from within Erebus volcano and melt the ice or snow that lies on top. As they these warm gases "drill" through the ice cover they take up moisture that immediately freezes out when it reaches the cold surface temperatures of the ice which makes them form spectacular chimney structures that often prominently vent steam. When getting close to them, it is important to watch for collapse structures, where the melting of the snow or ice has caused some of the ice- or snow roofs to collapse. Read more  |  See pictures

Day 37 – 02 December 2008 – Tramway Ridge Warm Soil ASPA
One set of our exposure experiments was to be deployed in the Tramway Ridge hydrothermal area. This region is an "Antarctic Specially Protected Area" (ASPA # 150), specially protected for the mosses and lichens that grow there. The regulations require entry only in special aseptic coveralls, sterile gloves and hats. Such protective clothing may help prevent contamination of the ASPA site through the introduction of strange microbes, but they are not designed for Antarctic temperatures. This was a pretty chilling event. Read more  |  See pictures

Day 35 – 30 November 2008 – Warming Up LEH
We finally made it to Lower Erebus Hut (LEH). We were the first group to use LEH this season. That means we have about a day’s worth of shoveling/sweeping snow outside and inside the hut, chiseling ice away from doors, floors etc.. Once we were sure that there was no more snow on the shelving or any other place in the hut we started heating it and began melting a huge amount of snow for drinking water. This allowed us to cook our first real meal since a week before when we left for Fang Glacier Camp and we really enjoyed it. Read more  |  See pictures

Day 30 to 37 – 25 November until 02 December 2008 – An Extended High Altitude Acclimatization
We are finally ready to begin our work around the summit of Mount Erebus at elevations between 3200-3800 m. Field work at such elevations always starts, with a mandatory high altitude acclimatization stay of two night at the small camp on Fang Glacier. Everything started out according to plan, with a perfect flight on a sunny day, weather conditions that we have begun to take for granted over the last few weeks. Little did we know that the Antarctic weather was just about going to teach us a lesson about its unpredictability and harshness! Read more  |  See pictures

Day 27 – 22 November 2008 – Snowcraft II Training
We are now ready to prepare for our work on Mt. Erebus. This includes some additional training for crevasse climbing so we can get into and out of the ice caves in which we plan to deploy our microbe traps. Our FSTP mountaineer Nick Giguere has taken our small group under his wing for our training. He will be our guide when we work on Erebus so it is good to train with him as well. The group is Hubert and Laurie (Golf 439), Daria Zandmeneghi (Golf 081), and a photographer from the writers and artists program, Lisa Blatt (Whisky 437). Read more  |  See pictures

Our aim is to improve our understanding of the Rock Bottom of the food chain. How can microbes make organic carbon by using inorganic components? And which microbes are the main players in utilizing chemical energy and nutrients from rocks and soils that are very poor in organic matter?

Our experiments will focus on the Extreme Environments of the McMurdo area around Ross Island, Antarctica. These will include some (ancient) lava flows and lakes in the Dry Valleys, the Royal Society Range, and on Mount Erebus.

This year much of GOLF-439 will be focused on exploration of ideal study sites and the deployment of our first experiments. Future returns in 2010 and 2012 will allow us to study the progress of our experiments after two and four years, respectively.