*WEATHER

For most days in the field, the weather was generally good. Field movements by helicopter were not constrained by the weather. Fieldwork was not restricted due to weather conditions at any time. However, temperatures at Victoria Valley ranged from −7°C at night to +2°C during warmer days. This seemed unseasonably warm and made it difficult to store ice samples. In addition, because of some severe winter winds there was a lack of snowdrifts near camp and around the valley in which samples could be buried and kept below –10 C until they could be sent to Scott Base. Because of this was a major problem, Blake McDavitt was flown out from Scott Base to chainsaw a storage cave in the Lower Victoria Glacier. This provided a reasonable solution to the problem, although there was minor melt water running over the entrance to the cave and the internal temperature of the cave was only –7 C. Winds were diurnal with some days of up to 25 knots.

Temperatures in Beacon Valley were about 7 degrees cooler than Victoria Valley ranging mostly from −8°C to −4°C with a few nights of −10°C. Winds were diurnal with some gusts of up to 25 knots. Warmer temperatures in the last few days of our stay required the burial of the samples in a large snowdrift where temperatures of –12 C were maintained.