Dreaming of a place where water is not solid

I admit upfront that I am primarily (theoretically and hypothetically) here for work. Although my essays have literally nothing to do with work, the job I was hired to do has taken a somewhat unexpected delay. When I was first asked if I’d like to study the biogeochemistry of nutrient cycling in coastal Antarctic lakes, my first response was – There are lakes in Antarctica? Well, as it turns out I wasn’t too far off. We have been unable to obtain any water samples yet because, like all other signs of water on this continent, it is totally frozen from top to bottom.

Our field site is called Pony Lake, a small coastal pond, which is north of McMurdo about a 1hr ride by snow mobile or a quick 15min by helicopter. Pony Lake was named by Ernest Shackleton during his 1907 expedition aboard the Nimrod, as it was the nearest fresh water for his horses. Of course, no signs of thawing has not stopped us from making a couple trips out there. From McMurdo we head north past Cape Evans, home of the Robert Falcon Scott shelter built during his Terra Nova expedition of 1910-1913, past the huge Barnes Glacier, and into Cape Royds. On a good day, my commute may take about 1hr by snowmobile, assuming the weather is good and cracks in the sea ice are few and far between. The trip is gorgeous with great views of Mt Erebus, the TransAntarctics across the sea ice, and frequently running across Weddell Seals and their pups.

My research crew was well aware even before I arrived to the ice that there was no liquid water in Pony Lake and didn’t look good anytime soon. That all changed last Monday when a field biologist studying the Adeli Penguin rookery at Cape Royds called our lab with the exciting news that Pony Lake had begun to thaw, specifically that he saw a 3ft. moat around the circumference of the lake. Excitedly, we scheduled the first helicopter available and gathered our gear. We left first thing Thursday morning and arrived at Pony Lake to find the same damn ice-cube of a pond that we witnessed previously. Chalk it up to faulty intelligence and crackpot reconnaissance and I suppose this is what you get. On the bright side of things, I had my first helo trip and the views were spectacular. Also, we had the chance to tour both Scott’s shelter in Cape Evans and Shackleton’s hut during our two trips out to Pony Lake. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually see some liquid water on my next trip out there…I doubt it.