Antarctica

This post may be most interesting to my medical colleagues.  But feel free to read if you'd like.  The McMurdo General Hospital was built by the US Navy in the early 1970's.  It has since switched management to the NSF (National Science Foundation).  The building still has much of it's original structure and doors though thankfully most of the equipment has been updated.  It 's in a central location in town and though people don't necessarily drop by socially, they all know where we are and access is free for anyone on station.  We are open 6 days a week, no appointment needed though can be helpful in the busier summer months. As the Lead Physician here at McMurdo, my primary task is to manage the health of the workers.  That includes employees of the ships that periodically come through and Scott Base (New Zealand's nearby base) when they need more than first aid.  In order to deploy here, everyone has to go through an extensive medical and denta...

So what does my day look like here on the ice? McMurdo station is like a little town.  It's main objective is to provide a space for scientists to study topics like climate, wildlife and space.  In order to accomplish this,  there has to be infrastructure in place, things like telecommunications, meteorology and transportation.  As the programs have grown, more and more people have been employed to support these scientific endeavors wh ich leads to a whole staff of people.  We have several significant building projects in place which also employs not only construction workers but more cargo and fuel workers.  Most of the science that happens here is done in the summer (Sept-Feb) and the station can have as many of 1500 people here during the summer season.  In the winter, the scientists head home but staff is still here to keep the station going until the next summer season.  There ends up being around 150 people to run this place in winter, inclu...

I made it, I'm here! McMurdo Station My flight to the ice went off without a hitch.  Which is surprising as it seems everyone else experienced multiple delays or other hiccups.  Lucky us!  The usual plane is a C-17 but it was broken (!) so we flew down on an LC-130.  It's a propeller plane so a bit slower than a jet but look, it's equipped with skis!  Not really needed to go to McMurdo station (where I am) though if you fly to the South Pole, skis are needed. LC-130 propeller plane equipped with skis, on the tarmac in Christchurch There were 6 passengers along with 2 pilots and 2 other Air Force guys (I don't know their official titles).  There was no airplane briefing, no instructions about keeping our seatbelts tightened or what to do in case of an emergency.  We were handed a brown paper bag with some food on the way into the plane and settled in.  As you can see the inside isn't nicely finished like a commercial airline and our seats were made...