Arrival Heights

There are a whole bunch of places on and around Ross Island that I've long heard of but haven't gotten to visit yet. But thanks to a Research Assistant here, I (along with one of the stewards from the galley) got to take a ride on our day off a couple of Mondays ago to Arrival Heights.


I didn't even know exactly what was AT Arrival Heights, and it turns out it's where a lot of the science experiments going on here are based. In the summertime it's apparently hopping up there. In the winter, various members of the research team make near-daily trips a couple of miles up into the volcanic hills above station to check on the equipment, troubleshoot, etc. The RA who kindly took us up there, G, also very kindly spent well over an hour telling us about all of the experiments he's in charge of tracking, from geomagnetic signals to nuclear explosion detection to auroras to UV measurements.

As much as I loved getting a better sense of the science those of us who are support staff are supporting, I LOVED the views from Arrival Heights--which, as its name implies, is at a higher elevation than McMurdo itself, and has a view out to the sea (it's apparently where the intrepid explorers who used this area as a base would go to watch for ships arriving). There's also a view of Mt. Erebus, the southernmost active volcano in the world, which is 20 miles from McMurdo and which I've only otherwise seen from the airfield on the sea ice. Soooooo beautiful.