Can confirm...

Tours of McMurdo on Monday, including an ice core between 100,000 & 400,000 years old in Crary Lab.

Then Armistice Day service yesterday with military personnel from Scott Base and McMurdo.

Two blessing ceremonies yesterday - one to send the traverse team safely out on their 2 week journey across the Ross Ice Shelf, and a second to bless the site of the Scott Base Redevelopment. Both very well received and attended.

Stunning day to train to drive a Hägglunds.

For those that know... that's open water viewed from Castle Rock, looking across to the Royal Society Range of the TransAntarctic Mountains. I've been doing Oceanography in this area (McMurdo Sound/Ross Sea) for 23 years and I've never seen it like this.

Not to mention the ocean... for those at home, the ocean has absorbed ~93% of the additional heat from human activities. That will take up to 1,000 years to work it's way through the system, all the time releasing that heat to the atmosphere until the ocean & atmosphere find equilibrium.

Not this time! Can't wait to get back to it when I get home, though.

Open water is so close this year (highly unusual) that seeing groups of Emperor Penguins out front of Scott Base is becoming a regular occurrence. Fun experience for people on base, but a stark and sobering reminder that change is here and is affecting more than humans.

Viewed thru SB telescope

Completed Antarctic Field Training, which means we're ready for all the adventures. Lots of deep reflections on what comprises a Sense of Place and how to connect with a place that doesn't support human habitation.

Today we were fortunate to tour the laboratory at Arrival Heights with Gordon [NIWA] - where globally-significant atmospheric measurements are made. Yes, that is *open water* in the mid-ground. An extremely unusual sight at the location at this time of year.

We have arrived to a spectacular day in Antarctica!

P. S. The silver ducting allows us to pump the (slightly) warm air from the top of the container down onto the water's surface, helping to keep the home on the sea ice open for as long as we need it.

... and from our perspective inside the container. This seal was clearly comfortable in our presence as it returned several times every day to check out what we were up to.

A curious Weddel Seal uses the hole in the floor of our hydrolab shipping container to take a break and breathe some *warm* air (only ~4° C, but considerably warmer than they're used to). Video from below captured on GoPro by Doug Walker.