Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

The holidays have come and gone here at McMurdo, all together without much ado. My observation is for a majority of McMurdo residents the holiday season is, in some ways, the most tedious stretch of time of the research season. Traditionally, this is the time when we would be with our friends and families, or at least trapped in O’Hare with no luggage. Here on the ice, it was mostly just work as usual for most. In our lab, this is the couple of weeks that the Principle Investigators have been around (sacrificing their hard-earned christmas vacation), so our group has been putting in plenty of overtime lately. Although this may cast a grinch-like spotlight on our PI’s, the reality is that by cranking out research through the holidays, the time has really gone by quickly. By far the most exciting development on the research front is the expansion of our project beyond the confines of lil’ Pony Lake (aka poo pond). Through the diligent and tireless efforts of our PI’s we’ve taken on an extremely exciting side project looking at the biogeochemistry of glacial-fed streams and ponds, with a specific focus on the Cotton Glacier system (across the Ross Sea from McMurdo, to the immediate north of the Dry Valleys). In contrast to Pony Lake, the nutrient content of these waters is almost exclusively through eolian deposition (wind-borne), although we have still noticed an abundance of algal and bacterial populations within these waters. This should prove to be an exciting new system to contrast our findings at Pony Lake. Furthermore, if our Cotton Glacier work proves to be a success, this could also mean additional years of funding (i.e. more boondoggling excursions in B-212 helo’s around ice-bergs & glaciers!).

So, the upshot is that I’ve really accumulated a cacophony of photographs for this weeks dose of images. Everything from the Christmas party, our latest trip to Cape Royds and a few images from a trip out to the Cotton Glacier – enjoy! I hope that everyone is recovering from a superb holiday feast and that your travels have proven to be hassle-free…

Un abrazo a todos, Dr. Rock