(this is why the strait is sometimes called a bay). The eastern border is Ross Island, the starting point of many early Antarctic expeditions. On the island there is active volcano Erebus, which has a height of 3794 meters, and on the southern side there are scientific bases: McMurdo Base (USA, the largest on the continent) and Scott Base (New Zealand). Less than 10% coastline McMurdo Sound is ice-free. The strait is located approximately 1,300 km from the South Pole.
| McMurdo | |
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| English McMurdo | |
| Location | |
| 77°30′ S w. 165°00′ E. d. HGIOL | |
| Higher water area | Ross Sea |
| Continent | |
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| Media files on Wikimedia Commons | |
Cold circumpolar currents reduce the flow of warm waters from the Southern and Pacific Oceans reaching McMurdo Sound and other Antarctic coastal waters. Strong katabatic winds winds blowing down from the Polar Plateau make Antarctica the windiest continent in the world. In winter, McMurdo Sound is covered with ice, the thickness of which varies between 3 meters. In the summer, pack ice breaks off, and then wind and strong currents can move it further north, creating cold deep currents that penetrate the world's ocean basins. During the polar night, temperatures at McMurdo Station can drop to −51°C. December and January are the warmest months, the average temperature maximum is around −1 °C.
Meaning
The role of McMurdo Sound as a strategically important waterway dates back to the early 20th century. British explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott built bases along the shores of the strait, which served as their starting points on expeditions to the South Pole.
McMurdo Sound continues to be important today. Freight and passenger aircraft landing on an icy airfield runway Williams Field located on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. In addition, every year cargo ships and tankers enter the strait to carry out necessary supplies for the needs of the continent's largest scientific base, McMurdo Station. Both the American base and New Zealand's Scott Base are on the southern tip of Ross Island.
Ross Island is the extreme southern point Antarctica, located in the zone of navigable accessibility, and Winter mooring bay in McMurdo Sound - the southernmost sea port in the world . However, its availability depends on favorable ice conditions in the strait.
During the winter months, McMurdo is almost completely covered in ice. Even in summer, ships entering it are sometimes blocked by one-year-old ( solder) and multi-year ice, which necessitates the use of icebreakers. However, ocean currents and strong Antarctic winds can carry pack ice north into the Ross Sea, temporarily freeing the waters of the strait from ice.
Two employees of the American McMurdo research station died in Antarctica under unclear circumstances.
The cause of death has not been established
Information about the deaths was confirmed by the press service of the National Science Foundation, which oversees the US Antarctic Program.
According to the NSF, on December 12, in the building in which the generator powering the radio transmitter is located. Their responsibilities included monitoring fire safety equipment. The equipment arrived at the site by helicopter, the pilot of which was waiting for the work to be completed. Specialists had to carry out preventive maintenance of fire extinguishing systems.
After some time, the pilot, who did not wait for the technicians to return, entered the building himself. The specialists were found unconscious on the floor. Doctors who arrived at the scene of the emergency confirmed the death of one of the employees. The second was taken to the medical unit, where he later also died.As reported by Reuters with reference to US National Science Foundation spokesman Peter West, evidence violent death No. At the moment, the cause of the tragedy has not been established and the investigation is ongoing.
McMurdo is the largest base in Antarctica
West said he was not authorized to disclose any details of the investigation or the identities of the victims.
McMurdo Antarctic Station is the largest settlement, port, transportation hub and research center in Antarctica. At the station during summer season employs about 1,300 people. The station was founded in 1956. Currently, it has 3 airfields, several helicopter landing sites and more than 100 buildings, including greenhouses where fresh vegetables are grown.
Despite all the conveniences and modern technology, Antarctica remains a high-risk zone, where any mistake can lead to the most severe consequences.
Ivan Khmara. Photo: wikipedia.org
The account of Soviet losses in Antarctica was opened on January 21, 1956. 19 year old soldier Ivan Khmara, who served in Dikson, managed to pass the competitive selection of volunteers for the First Complex Antarctic Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences. On the fateful day, Ivan, who was a tractor driver, took part in unloading the ships “Ob” and “Lena”. His tractor fell through the ice. The door to the cabin was closed, and he did not have time to jump out. The body of the deceased could not be found: the depth in this place exceeded 70 meters. On the morning of the day of his death, Ivan received a telegram from home saying that his son had been born.
A year after the death, a two-meter granite obelisk stone was installed on the shore, topped with a gold five-pointed star and with a bronze plaque on which was engraved a modest inscription: “To Ivan Khmara. 1936-1956". Later the monument was moved to the cemetery on Buromsky Island.
Monument to Ivan Khmara. Photo: wikipedia.org/Tsy1980
Antarctic necropolis
Captain-Lieutenant Nikolai Buromsky died on February 3, 1957 along with Evgeny Zykov during the second Soviet Antarctic expedition three kilometers west of the Mirny station, when the edge of the ice barrier collapsed and the ice fell onto the deck of the icebreaker Ob.
In total, several dozen people died during domestic expeditions to Antarctica. Some, at the insistence of relatives, were sent home for burial, but most found their final refuge in Antarctica. Some have symbolic graves: the bodies simply could not be found.
There are several Russian cemeteries in Antarctica, but the necropolis near Mirny is the largest. More than 40 polar explorers are buried here. The inscription carved on the stone reads: “Bow your heads, those who come here, they gave their lives in the fight against the harsh nature of Antarctica.”Death of Mr. Penguin
A foreigner was also buried among the Russians: the famous Swiss photojournalist Bruno Zender, nicknamed "Mr. Penguin".
Having first arrived in Antarctica in 1975, Zender literally fell in love with the continent, and especially with its main inhabitants. Zender's Antarctic photographs are exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art, and they have been published many times in the most popular magazines in the world.
The Swiss made more than 20 trips to Antarctica, was friends with Russian scientists, and participated in wintering camps. In 1997, during the winter at Mirny station, he filmed penguins. In violation of safety regulations, the photographer went to the shoot alone, explaining that it was difficult for him to work in the presence of someone else. Zender was released on the condition that if there was a warning about a change in weather, he would immediately return to the station. However, on July 7, he responded to the message too late and an hour later he radioed that he was lost. Soon the connection with him disappeared. The photographer was found dead two days later. He was buried in Antarctica, which he loved more than life itself.
Flight to Antarctica at the cost of 257 lives
One of the most massive deaths has nothing to do with Russia or polar research.
In 1977 airline Air New Zealand began operating non-stop sightseeing flights over Antarctica. The duration of the flight was from 12 to 14 hours, of which 4 hours were the flight over Antarctica. The plane with tourists and a guide took off from Auckland Airport and, having reached the coast of Antarctica, descended near McMurdo Sound. The guide led the tour, and passengers could admire the Antarctic landscapes.
The next flight on the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 airliner was carried out from Auckland on November 28, 1979. After five and a half hours of flight, communication with the aircraft was lost. As it was established, the plane crashed into the slope of the Antarctic Mount Erebus at an altitude of 447 meters. The impact was so strong that the plane was completely destroyed.The disaster killed 237 passengers and 20 crew members, including citizens of New Zealand, Japan, the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Switzerland. The causes of the disaster, according to the conclusions of the investigation, were an incorrect flight plan and zero experience of the crew in flights to Antarctica.
On Victoria Land, in Antarctica, west of McMurdo Sound, there is one curious place - three Dry Valleys - Victoria, Wright and Taylor, huge depressions with steep slopes, dug by long-vanished glaciers. About 8,000 km² of Antarctic land is not covered by either ice or snow.
View along Taylor Valley towards McMurdo Sound. The cone on the horizon to the right is Erebus volcano on Ross Island.
The Taylor Valley ends, going under the ice fast ice on the shore of the strait. In the Antarctic summer (from November to March), the coast is washed by sea waves.
Very little snow falls on most of Antarctica; most of its snow and ice cover was formed due to the freezing of condensate from the atmosphere - as in mountain peaks or in the freezers of old refrigerators. In the Dry Valleys, the annual precipitation rate is only 25 mm, but even these pitiful crumbs evaporate without turning into the liquid phase, as on Mars - the air humidity here is very low due to the katabatic winds that periodically blow here - cold and dry air currents from the ice sheet, sometimes reaching speeds of up to 320 km/h (this is the highest speed of constantly blowing winds on Earth). Thanks to this, the valleys have been practically ice-free for about 8 million years.
Peaks Electra, Circe and Dido. A “paralyzed landscape” that has remained unchanged for millions of years.
For scale, a team of geologists (red ones) crosses the valley. They are drawn to the glacier in the background, which contains in its layers the history of climate of many centuries.
Here and there in the valleys there are mummified corpses of seals. Decomposition is slow in the cold, dry air, and some of these animals may have arrived here and died hundreds or even thousands of years ago. What the hell they wanted here is completely unclear; The only assumption is that the seals crawled into the valleys due to some kind of damage to the central nervous system and loss of orientation, and they remained there, exhausted.
Frozen dunes in the Victoria Valley.
The sand, as far as one can judge from the photographs, is frozen like concrete and forms a network pattern characteristic of permafrost - there is a certain amount of frozen moisture between the soil particles. Where there is more of it, photosynthetic unicellular algae endoliths live - right inside the stones, in microcracks under the surface of the cobblestones, at a depth of microns to several millimeters - depending on the transparency of the mineral. They live slowly, and they don’t need much - a little sunlight, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, condensing water vapor and microelements: that’s it, some kind of organic matter is ready. And where there is organic matter, there are fungi and bacteria. At the top of this food pyramid are three species of microscopic, no more than 1 mm, nematode worms. In principle, there is still moss, but it has not been working for a long time - it is sublimated and preserved by cold. Waiting, frozen into the ground, for the next global warming. That's all.
Although no, not everything. Each valley has frozen lakes, with lenses of brine beneath the ice. The largest of them - Vanda, more than 60 m deep - is bound by an ice shell four meters thick. Ice acts like greenhouse glass, and the temperature at the bottom of the lake on a polar day, according to calculations, can reach +25°C. In these little worlds, closed for thousands of years, perhaps some microorganisms, still waiting to be discovered, also live, developing according to their own laws.
If life is ever found on Mars, it will also be in one of these two types - endoliths or inhabitants of subglacial lakes at the poles. Moreover, about two hundred and eighty subglacial lakes have been discovered in Antarctica to date - and most of them are hidden under the ice sheet at a depth of several kilometers. However, this is a separate story.
UPD: Regarding seals, it turns out that this is not such a mystery. Here's Dima skyruk , who worked as an ichthyologist in Chukotka, writes in the comments: “As for seals, in the same Chukotka there was a case when the sea froze, and walruses walked on land - 60 kilometers, to rivers or warm lakes, or in general - to find at least some thawed area. Seals, of course, are not walruses, but personally I was not surprised when I saw this photo. You never know what could force a seal to travel 30 km on land. The animal was most likely already old and toothless (Antarctic). seals wear down their teeth when they chew and maintain ventilation holes in the ice.)
McMurdo Antarctic Station
(from the series "On the outskirts of the planet")McMurdo is the largest settlement, port, transport hub and research center in Antarctica. It belongs to the US Antarctic Program, but also serves stations and research programs of other countries. Located next to the Ross Glacier, in the New Zealand territorial claims area. The distance to New Zealand is 3500 km to the north, to the New Zealand Scott Research Station - 5 km. The population can reach 1,258 people in summer (1996), and about 150 people in winter (1999). However, now the population has stabilized - about 1,200 people live there permanently.
Location of McMurdo Station on the Antarctic map
Near the station, Robert Scott’s hut has been preserved, from the construction of which in 1902 the “capital of Antarctica” began its history. Now the station is functional and modern scientific center and the largest community in Antarctica, has 3 airfields (2 of them seasonal), a helicopter landing site and more than 100 buildings. The station operates greenhouses that supply personnel with fresh products. Here is also the Church of the Snows, the southernmost religious building in the world.
Icebreaker approaching the station
In 1960-72. The first and only nuclear power plant on the continent operated at the station. Due to the ban on the use of atomic energy in Antarctica, as well as due to problems noted during the operation of the reactor (a total of 438 problems were noted, including water leaks and cracks in the reactor), the station was shut down and sent entirely to San Diego. It is reported that a number of sailors who participated in the evacuation of the reactor subsequently suffered and died from cancer. Currently, only a bronze memorial plaque remains at the station site.
Cargo ship unloads at McMurdo
Airbus A319 "Skytraders" at McMurdo
Currently, four TV channels are received here, which are transmitted to the station through a satellite receiving center located 25 miles from the station. For some time, the only television station in Antarctica, AFAN-TV, operated by the military, operated in McMurdo. Director Werner Herzog spoke about Everyday life station in his film “Encounters at the End of the World.”
View of the station from space
Among the large-scale projects, it should also be noted the construction of the Transantarctic Highway, which should connect the station with South Pole and Amundsen-Scott station.
There is a place on earth that is so different from other places on our planet that it is used to test equipment intended for use on Mars.
Antarctica is one of the most extreme deserts in the world, but this is only part of its features.
The Dry Valleys have some of the most extreme desert climates anywhere on the planet. A cold desert where the average annual temperature ranges from -14C to -30C depending on the location.
The valleys cover an area of approximately 4,800 km² and, located approximately 97 kilometers from McMurdo Station, have been the source of a ton of research over the years due to a range of phenomena.
When were the Dry Valleys discovered?
There are three large valleys, Taylor Valley, Wright Valley and Victoria Valley. Taylor Valley was first discovered during the Discovery expedition (named after the ship) in 1901-1904, after which it was examined in more detail by Griffith Taylor during the Terra Nova expedition in 1910-1913, after which it was named its name. Later, no study of the surrounding area was carried out. It was not until the 1950s that other valleys and their extent were discovered from aerial photographs taken.
In the Taylor Valley there is one of the attractions of Antarctica - which owes its appearance to the activity of anaerobic bacteria, whose metabolism is based on the processing of iron and sulfur.
Mummified seals
One of the oddities of the Dry Valleys is that they mummified seals several miles from the sea. They are usually Crabeater and Weddell seals, which have been found 40 miles from the sea and at altitudes of up to 1500 meters. The age of these corpses is from 100 to 2600 years.
Often the remains appear much younger than they actually are, as if they died relatively recently. Cold, dry winds quickly dry out the body and lead to mummification. the lack of scavengers means that only sandy winds can destroy the mummy, as well as the effects of freezing and thawing from the summer sun. The newer ones (about a hundred years old or so) are very well preserved, but as they age they begin to disintegrate until only scattered and slowly decaying bones remain. Sometimes they end up in lakes that undergo seasonal melting, which accelerates their destruction.
There are places where several of these carcasses are found in the same position, giving the impression that they arrived together, although closer investigation revealed that they were simply moved by the landscape into the same position and actually differ in date of arrival and death by decades.
No one knows exactly how or why these seals ended up in the middle of the Dry Valleys in such horribly inhospitable conditions, or what a terrible journey it must have been to bring them there, but there are some clues.
Most of the seals surveyed are juveniles, less than one year old, and are thought to simply be heading in the wrong direction on the annual seasonal migration north as winter arrives and begins to move inland. Some of them head towards the glaciers, and it may happen that when they get lost, they see ice in the distance and start moving in that direction.
In similar circumstances, far fewer penguin carcasses were found, which may be due to the fact that penguins are less likely to get lost because they can walk rather than crawl through the terrain, making it easier for them to return to the sea. Or, since they are much smaller than seals, perhaps their carcasses disintegrate faster.
Luckily it's pretty a rare event. Research shows that one seal enters the valley and dies every 4-8 years.
