We did not just sit around the station (or work around the station...) but we also had the opportunity
to get away from it all out in the "country". The wonderful world of field trips.
These are accomplished in various vehicles - Caterpillar tractors (D4s in my time) and the wonderful
bus on tracks called a Nodwell in which some of us slept, cooked and ate.
We also towed caravans for additional living space and a power generator.
A map of the Law Dome and some of the filed trips I made during 1972. The Dome is about 180 kilometres
(105 miles) across at its widest. It represents a miniature version of the main Antarctic ice sheet
and thus is of considerable interest to scientists. It is one of the reasons Casey exists there today.
The first thing to do is make sure all the equipment is in good condition. Here a caravan is placed on the
ski equipment suitable for towing over the rouigh ice fields. (Yes that is a Hotchkiss in the background. It
was not used for field trips as it is too fragile!)
At the top of climb up from Casey a final check is made of all the equipment -
and that we actually have everything we need!
This is one of the measuring stations for ice movement. It is called "Strain Grid One" (and is near the area
labelled Aircraft landing area on the map). As you can see there is something about this building
which is used to remind us of where we come from...
Some of the skills I learned in Antarctica included driving a Nodwell (as here) with its twelve forward
speed gearbox (no synchromesh) and a top speed of about 35 kilometres an hour (20 MPH). However it
does have a ground (or snow) pressue less than that of a man on a pair of skis. (Useful when going
over snow bridges on top of crevasses which may be hundreds of metres deep.)
I also learned to drive a D4 tractor. Sometimes however one just has to stop when the weather is like this.
The purpose of this particular trip was to establish a fuel dump near Strain Grid P so that further
exploration could take place. The fuel (in drums) is streched out in a line so that radar can
pick it up from several kilometres away.
The workers taking a bit of a break.
Other trips were taken to service the automatic observing station (buried).
After a storm at the Auto Station site things are a little buried.
Closer to Casey we set up an ice drilling program.
On a later trip things had become a little less pristine. But we all still had to take photographs!
What was the purpose of the Ice Drill? To drill a hole in the ice (as shown here). In drilling a core
was formed which was extracted after about 5 metres (15 feet) and store in the Ice Pit.
The Ice Pit was used as temporary storage for the ice cores until they could be packed in freezer containers
and shipped back to Australia. There they were examined to determine such things as the age of the ice
at various depths and what the climate was like when the snow which formed that ice fell. (Yes, even back
in 1972 there were a few people who were wondering about Global Warming (and Cooling).)
