Byrd Surface Camp (Part 2)

Continuing our tour around Byrd, we pick up with getting water for drinking, washing, and use in the Galley.

Obviously, with the large abundance of snow, water is available, but in the wrong state and must be melted.  As seen in Part 1, stock pots on Kuma stoves can be used to melt snow, but that method is time consuming and requires constant attention.  While it works for the small, mobile camps, the water demand at the larger, fixed camps has led to a dedicated melting system like the one shown above.  Operation is as expected:  snow is collected and added to the snow melter on the right with the resulting water is stored in the tank on the left.  Not shown to the left of the storage tank is a filtration system and water heater.

Directly behind the Galley tent is the snow mine, where the snow for the melter is collected.  Even though the water is filtered, snow is only collected from the mine and it is flagged to prevent people from walking through it and contaminating it with dirt and debris.  As the mine diminishes, the heavy equipment operators dump more snow which is gathered from another designated place away from camp.

Collecting snow is almost a full time job, though nobody at the camp is dedicated to it.  Therefore, every person in camp is asked to fill at least two buckets a day to support their water use.  If a person plans on taking a shower, a third bucket should be filled, essentially letting people can shower as often as they like.  The buckets pictured are standard plastic trash cans and it only takes 5-10 minutes to fill two.  While the water created from the snow is filtered, it isn't the same level of filtration done at McMurdo or in the US, so the buckets and the shovel at the snow mine, are flagged for gathering snow only.  Despite a lower level of filtration, the water at Byrd tasted much better.

The Galley is the largest building in camp and according to one of the members of the camp staff, the largest Rac-Tent in the world by a couple sections.  It's open 24 hours a day for people to warm up, grab a snack/drink, or gather.  One of my tasks at Byrd was setting up two desktop computers and and a printer for people to use.  

The three main deep field camps (Byrd, WAIS, and PIG) all have limited connectivity to the outside world via Iridium data modems multiplexed together and a local e-mail/FTP server.  While a generally unstable connection (modems lose their connection frequently as the satellites come in and out of range), the Iridium system provides slightly slower than dial up speeds to the camps.  With the exception of the camp manager, each person is limited to messages no larger than 50KB and the local server sends and receives mail and FTP files as there is connectivity.  Web browsing is not permitted due to the lack of bandwidth.  People at Byrd can use their personal computers on the local wireless cloud to access the webmail interface of the sever or they can use the computers we set up in the Galley.

Behind the Galley and to the right of the snow mine is the freeze cave where food stores are kept.  It may not see like an issue, but as the summer progresses, the rising temperatures along with the constant sunlight can cause issues.  While nothing more than a large hole in the ground with a plywood and snow ceiling, it is incredibly effective.  In the picture of the entrance (top), the interesting thing to note is the level of the snow.  Three years ago when Byrd was moved to it's current location, the base of the door was at ground level.

Taken from the winter berm (aka Byrd Hill), the high point in the area, the video above gives a good perspective of the surrounding terrain features, or lack there of.  The blowing snow stopped by the buildings and cargo lines (Byrd was at one time located where the berm is), along with intentional build up for winter storage of the camp are responsible for the abnormal elevation change.  The video starts facing east and turns counterclockwise.

A picture of Byrd from the winter berm.

Despite the impression given by the pictures and videos, the weather was not constant sunshine.  Taken from the area in front of the Galley on the day before I left, the video above shows what could be considered an "overcast" day for Byrd.  I stated in Part 1 that the motto for Byrd is "If a plane lands, get on it!" and the weather is the primary reason.  A day with winds of 5-15 miles per hour is considered "calm" and more often than not, the wind is a lot stronger and moving some snow around.  Originally, I was supposed to go out to Byrd about 2 weeks prior to Thanksgiving, but due to weather delays of my flight and the flights before mine, I didn't leave until the week after Thanksgiving.

And yes, that is somebody waving from the peegloo at the end of the video.

A plane!  This was actually the second plane than was able to land in the 5 days I was there, though the first arrived around 2am the day after I arrived and since I didn't have my work done, I couldn't get on it.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at Byrd.  While the work that took me there was almost exclusively indoors, I had a lot of free time and was able to get outside and shovel snow and help with a couple other small projects.  I don't think I would want to spend the entire season there, but I would go back for a few days to a week if necessary.

If you are interested in more information and some interviews with previous camp staff (some of which are back again this year), an independent site exists at http://www.byrdcamp.com.