CU student visits polar region where NASA tested out Mars probes

The surface of the Canada Glacier (foreground) in Antarctica's Dry Valleys region looks like water but is solid glacial ice. The area has had no rainfall in 2 million years. Jaidev Menezes

Jaidev "J.D." Menezes, a senior at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration from Toronto, is at McMurdo Station in Antarctica from October 2003 to March 2004. He is one of five North American students selected for the first Polar Internship Program, which is conducted by the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), coordinated by the National Science Foundation and Raytheon Polar Services Co. He and his fellow interns perform a range of tasks to support scientific research at McMurdo, which was built by the United States in 1955-56 and is part of an international effort to understand Antarctica and its role in the global environmental process. Written in December and January, this is the second of two reports for the Chronicle on his experiences. The first, which ran in the Jan. 15 issue, is accessible at: http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/.

By Jaidev "J.D." Menezes

One month left before I leave Antarctica, and I'm trying desperately to squeeze in as much as I possibly can.

On Jan. 4 and 5, I was part of a five-person team to go out to Lake Fryxell in the Dry Valleys. The region is a series of arid valleys created by the advances and retreats of glaciers through the trans-Antarctic Mountains. With no rain for 2 million years, they are covered with partially frozen saltwater basins, forming one of the most extreme deserts in the world. The area looks so similar to the surface of Mars -- rocky hills with multicolored stones -- that NASA tested out its interplanetary probes here.

The lake, one of three large ones in the region, was formed about 1,200 years ago by meltwater from the Canada Glacier nearby. Like the glacier, the lake's surface is solid ice, although the reflection of the sun's rays makes it look like water.

Our mission was to complete a cleanup from a helicopter crash there last year. We spent about five hours chipping through the lake ice to the freezing, slushy water below so that whatever spilled fuel that remained could evaporate. We were trudging around in full body waders, because the ice is extremely uneven, with huge mounds that look like ice ant hills, and you can't tell whether you're stepping on solid ice or a thin layer of ice crystals with melted lake water below. Mark, my boss, fell in up to his chest and, in all the scrambling to get out, cut up his arms and hands on the sharp ice. I fell in a couple of times up to the knee but stayed dry, which is key.

Cornell Hotel School senior Jaidev Menezes stands outside of the Jamesway, a cabin for food and water in the Dry Valleys at Lake Fryxell in Antarctica. The camp's other cabins house laboratories for geology testing and specimen storage, an electrical generator and food. Erik Paulsrud

Afterward we decided to hike to the Canada Glacier, which looked about a mile away but was actually five miles out and took six hours to get to. It's extremely hard to gauge distances here in Antarctica, because the white reflective surfaces with no reference points can be very deceptive. It makes one feel small. We camped out in tents, and I sat up alone till 2 a.m. with the sun shining on my face, just taking it all in -- how quiet everything was.

An earlier "out of town" trip I took was to Cape Evans, via a Hagglund (a boxy looking red vehicle with treads). When we drilled holes there with power drills in the sea ice, which is approximately 6 feet thick, the Ross Sea came spurting out. It's quite amazing (and scary!) to be standing on ice, knowing that underneath there is more than 1,000 feet of ocean.

On another trip, to Cape Royds, I came in contact with both Adelie and Emperor penguins and seals and took lots of photographs.

The weather here can be unpredictable. Every day, I layer up in multiple layers of cold-weather garments because while early on it can be balmy -- minus 17 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) -- by midafternoon, if the wind picks up, it can easily plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit). The wind, which can approach 90 miles an hour, has a brutalizing effect, freezing exposed flesh in seconds. This is what, effectively, constitutes frostbite, which can be fatal if left untreated. Even when I take photographs in hard-blowing wind without my glove liners, I temporarily lose sensation in two or three fingers.

In addition to my research projects with Cornell professors, my 60-hour workweek includes moving boxes and operating heavy machinery in Environmental Planning and Management, which can be extremely tiring when it's especially cold. Still, after work I find it's important to keep busy here to avoid feeling depressed and down. The station's facilities include a bowling alley, gym with small weight room, ceramics and sewing rooms and library. I play volleyball and soccer, bowl, attend science lectures at Crary lab and go out with friends to Gallaghers (nonsmoking, with a "burger bar"), Southern Exposure (smoking, with shuffleboard, pool table and video screen) and The Coffee House (live music, poetry readings and movies).

This seal pup, photographed at Antarctica's Cape Evans, is emblematic of the variety of wildlife on the frozen continent. Jaidev Menezes

I've met some interesting people who work here, among them my roommate, Brandon "Burmy" Burmeister, who earned a degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota a couple of years ago and now works to insulate and cover with metal jacketing the station's heating, utility, water and sewage lines. Another non-intern friend, Sean Barry, from Alaska, spent the last 10 years working indirectly with British Petroleum on the northern slope of Alaska drilling for oil.

During the few moments when I have time for reflection, I sometimes feel cut off from the world and really miss green trees, grass and being around family, my dog and all my friends back at Cornell.

Then I start to think about what the early explorers went through here, how they determinedly pushed south month after month with far fewer resources than we have. As I see them with fresh eyes, I begin to remember that my stay here is an opportunity of a lifetime, possibly the greatest thrill of my life and a priceless gift to be enjoyed and shared.

Some Antarctica facts

(supplied by J.D. Menezes)