*AIMS

The ongoing aim of this project is to understand the origin and paleoenvironmental significance of relict ice from glaciers and lakes, which now lies buried by surficial sediments in many parts of the Dry Valleys. This phase of the project focuses on relict ice, buried in Lower Victoria Valley, which will be used as an analogue for relict ice in Beacon Valley. Of particular value will be the independent dating of sediments covering the ice using a new method of atmospherically derived beryllium-10.

Since the proposal was written, studies have shown that the use of atmospheric Be-10 to date Antarctic soil profiles gives equivocal results, and an independent test is needed. This requires sampling of a soil profile in a deposit of a known age. Unfortunately, such deposits are not available Lower Victoria Valley, but may possibly exist in Beacon Valley. Although we will have to wait until next season to sample such a deposit (Lower Wright Valley), Be-10 dating will be carried out on soils sampled in Beacon Valley and may give confirming dates.

In this field season, we sampled the modern environments and stratigraphically recent ice deposits in Lower Victoria Valley as well as the modern and buried ice deposits in Beacon Valley. The main aim will be to analyse the ice for percentages of O₂, N₂ and Ar in the occluded gas bubbles. Ratios of these gases can be used to distinguish glacial and lake ice. The gas analyses will be used in conjunction with standard chemical (6 cations and 3 anions) and stable isotopic analyses to help characterize the ice. Results from this study will not only help with interpreting the origin of the buried ice but also test Hall's (2002) lake model for Victoria Valley.

A further aim is to investigate the use of resistivity measurements for detecting massive ice and ice cemented sediment. Compared to other geophysical methods, this is a relatively simple and inexpensive method. Seismic methods will be attempted in Beacon Valley by the Marchant group (NSF program), while GPR has had limited success. Gravity measurements have been made (Sletten) but have not been processed. Thus, if resistivity methods prove to be useful, they would go a long way towards understanding the extent of buried ice in the Dry Valleys.

*PERSONNEL

*PLANNING

• Application process

  page 2

  The process by which event leaders are informed of support needs modification. The review committee ranked my proposal 22 out of 35 proposals reviewed. The letter went on to say that the proposals would be supported in order of their rankings until the science resources were fully allocated. Although I was given a verbal indication my event would be supported, I was never given a formal letter confirming support. From my standpoint I was in limbo and it was not 100% clear that I would receive support until I received a movements spreadsheet in early May 2004. This is not acceptable, and a formal letter of support needs to be issued to the event leader no later than mid-February for the coming season.

• Communications with Antarctica New Zealand staff

  Communication for event operations and planning needs improvement. Event planning cannot take place through 2 people as communication is never perfect. For example, both Keith Springer and Pete Cleary worked on my event, and several items fell through the cracks. Although the number of events may be too large for one person to handle, it would be better to split the events between two people rather than spread two people over all the events. That is each event is assigned to one ANZ staff member.

• Provision of maps and aerial photographs

  Maps and photos are not provided by Antarctica NZ so it remains the responsibility of the event leader to obtain these. However, much of the Dry Valleys lacks low-level, high resolution photographs. A system currently under development by the USGS will provide digital photographs and laser altimetry. This system needs to be supported by Antarctica NZ so that detailed photographs and elevations are available to NZ scientists working in the Dry Valleys.

• Pre-season information

  Handbooks and info arrived in time!

• Medicals, documentation and flights to Antarctica

  All OK

• Environmental Advice

  I did not receive my environmental permit until after I had returned from the field! In addition, it needs to be made clear to scientists that it is now not possible to deviate from an event after the PEE has been processed by the ministry.

• Other comments

  For years now, event leaders have faithfully sent scientific and logistics reports to NZAP and now Antarctica NZ. These reports contain valuable information not only for a de-brief of the past season but also to future event leaders. Although event leaders make numerous copies of these reports, to my knowledge they are only available for perusal in two places: 1) the Scott Base library which is not accessible for 8 months out of the year and 2) the Antarctica NZ library in Christchurch. Most detrimentally they are not indexed. In other words, if I were going to a particular location in the Dry Valleys, it would be extremely useful (both scientifically and environmentally) for me to know who has been there and what they have done there in the past. At present, it is difficult and time consuming (but not impossible) to find this information for NZ events. However, as far as I know, it is impossible to get this information for US events. This situation is not acceptable, and in fact, it makes it impossible to answer fully certain questions on the PEE report.

  page 3

  Scientific reports should be indexed and made available on the web. This would not only provide valuable information for scientists but would also allow the public a further view into what happens in Antarctica. On the other hand, the logistics reports may be sensitive and probably should not be put on the web. However, they should still be index and available to event personnel. In addition, Antarctica NZ should pressure the US events to follow suit.

*PREPARATIONS FOR THE FIELD

• Reception and planning for your event

  Access to an indexed set of past Scientific and Logistics reports would make this much easier. Because these reports are difficult (impossible for past US events) to access, we are re-inventing the wheel in many places.

• Availability and condition of equipment received

  All equipment must be checked by people intending to take it into the field. This should be made clear to event personnel and extra time should be allotted for this.

• Field training

  Although fun, AFT is a joke and essentially a waste of time for those who have spent time in the Antarctic field. It is however, useful for those who have not been in the Antarctic field with NZ equipment. The policy should revert to the 3 yr guideline- that is, no AFT if you have been to Antarctica in the past 3 years.

• Safety and Risk Management processes

  It is getting a bit over the top. Keep the lawyers out of it. They make the money and cause us the work, yet we are no safer than before.

• General comments about Scott Base

  Good place but getting a bit crowded in the past few years. Chefs' cooking is an order of magnitude better than anyone else who has ever cooked there!

• Other comments

*Event Diary

Date	Main Activities and Location	Other Comments
7 NOV	Arrive in ChCh, kit-up
8 Mon	Depart for SB at 12:00pm C-17, ariv McM 5:15 dinner at SB; Base/AFT
9 Tue	WD, DZ, LH - AFT 8am; night in snow cave and tents
10 Wed	AFT continued	windy conditions
11 Thu	SB, WD, DZ, & LH pack field equipment	beautiful walk on the sea ice
12 Fri	SB, testing and final packing of field equipment, repacking of food boxes
13 Sat	SB to Victoria Valley Dunes 11am, WD, DZ & LH: set up camp; Packard	WD leaves back pack at SB!
14 Sun	VV, recon walk around the area	wind towards sea;
15 Mon	VV, Profiling relict channels below Packard Glacier	late finish; plot up data in
16 Tue	VV, Profiling relict channels below Packard Glacier; visit by Gary Steel in	Packard Stm flows
17 Wed	VV, Profiling relict channels below Packard Glacier	Temp near 0 C
18 Thu	VV, Profiling relict channels below Packard Glacier	plot up profile data in eve
19 Fri	VV, DZ, LH set up resisivity (RV-1) 500m south of Dunes; WD maps Pkard	Radio sched w/ AM; Temp 0
20 Sat	VV, WD & LH sample ice near RV-1; AM arrives 3p; helo photos of Vly	Helo move of core box to
21 Sun	VV, WD,LH,AM examine Pkard Gl/Stnm seds; DZ takes resisivity	Helo w/ Blake; cuts storge
22 Mon	VV, WD,LH,DZ,AM recon 'morains' sth side vly; examine 'deltas' near Lk	Back to camp against stng wind
23 Tue	VV, WD,LH,AM spl chaotica section DZ measures resisivity (RV-2) near	Early dinner 8pmpage 4
24 Wed	VV, WD,LH,AM,DZ working near chaotica section; DV visit @2pm	ANZ board and FoRST
25 Thu	VV, Cont splng ice up LV strm; DZ resisivity at RV-3	Ed Hillary fly-by
26 Fri	VV, WD,LH sipre core buried ice; AM,DZ taking resisivity measuremnts	McGowan event arivs at
27 Sat	VV, WD,LH sipre core buried ice & glacial ice; AM,DZ recon of Packard	AM fixes dinner
28 Sun	VV,WD,LH sipre core LV apron; AM,DZ splng and resisvity at Lk Vida	Late dinner
29 Mon	VV, WD,LH sipre core; AM,DZ splng and resisvity at Lk Vida
30 Tue	VV, rationalize spl cashes to storage cave	Packing for helo move
1 DEC	VV to BV, 3pm WD,LH helo-1 DZ,AM helo-2 @ BV by 7p; set up camp;	Light winds in BV
2 Thu	BV, WD,LH,DZ,AM recon central BV and up into Univ Vly; 15-20 kt	Found hndhld VHF lleft 3yr
3 Fri	BV, Excavated trench in Granash polygon: spled blocks of relict ice	Windy/dusty diging
4 Sat	BV, WD,LH,AM cont spling Granash polygon; DZ resisivity sounding at	Lite wind −6 C
5 Sun	BV, WD,LH,AM,DZ recon of Arena Vly; pic at Brawhm Pass	Beaut day (no wind)
6 Mon	BV, WD,LH,AM finish spling Granash polygon; DZ resisivity sounding	Temps –2 C getting warm in BV
7 Tue	BV, WD,LH,AM recon of non-granite till loc ice spl sites; DZ cont	TwinOtter flying radar at
8 Wed	BV, WD,LH,AM spl ice below non-granite till; DZ resisvity above camp on	Winds gusting 25 kts
9 Thu	BV, WD,LH sample buried ice Mullins Gl: DZ,AM resisivity work	Contact w/ Marchant event
10 Fri	BV to SB LH, AM 1st helo & WD,DZ on 2nd;10a start	Showers and chef
11 Sat	SB, cleaning, sorting & packing of field equipment; AM to Chch	Pizza & Beaker Babble talk
12 Sun	SB, WD,LH getting set up to subsample ice at Crary lab	Ob Hill
13 Mon	SB, WD,LH subsample ice at Crary lab; DZ packs equipmnt for home	Bag drag WD, DZ
14 Tue	SB. WD,DZ on Herc for Chch 11p; LH sampling at Crary, Tristian helps	In Welly by 9:30p
15 Wed	SB, LH sampling at Crary, Tristian helps
16 Thur	SB-Chch, LH leaves sampling complete

EVENT MAP

Map 1. Lower Victoria Valley showing sample sites

Map 2. Beacon Valley showing sample sites.

*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.

*ACCIDENTS, INCIDENTS OR HAZARDS

There were no accidents or incidents during this field season.

FIELD EQUIPMENT

• Other comments

  The new sleeping bags are great. The wood food boxes need to go and should be replaced with plastic (light weight) boxes. The food this year was greatly improved from the past several seasons, keep it up! Food variety is greatly appreciated. Some medium sized tents are needed. These would be for parties of 4-5 to cook and socialize in the field. Four people cooking in a polar tent is pretty cramped. For this purpose, next season I will be looking a buying an Arctic Oven from Alaska Tent and Tarp.

RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

VHF radio communications in the Lower Victoria Valley are excellent. However, VHF radio communications in Beacon Valley are extremely limited even with the high-gain aerial. HF communication with the Qmac was good but these radios lack portability. A satellite phone for emergency calls away from camp in Beacon Valley is probably necessary.

COMPUTER FACILITIES

• Bandwidth at Scott Base is a joke. For example, I needed to download a 30 Mb powepoint file for a beaker babble talk and it would have taken 3-4hrs at night had the fibre optic cable from Arrival Heights been working. As such I was never able to get this presentation. I suggest that either bandwidth is increased or visiters travelling to Scott Base should be made aware that internet traffic with the outside world is severly limited.

*ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

*Sites Visited

Site name	Victoria Valley Dunes, at Packard Stream
Site location (coordinates/description)	E 162.2020, S-773699
Dates occupied	13 Nov – 1 Dec 2004
Total days (or hours) at site	17
Maximum number of people at site (your event)	4
Total person-days (or person-hours) at site	61
Main activity undertaken	Measuring ground resistivity, sampling ice, surveying
Cumulative impacts observed	Little because most of area is on mobile sand

Site name	Central Beacon Valley (previously occupied camp)
Site location (coordinates/description)	E 162.2020, S-773699
Dates occupied	1 Dec – 10 Dec 2004
Total days (or hours) at site	9
Maximum number of people at site (your event)	4page 7
Total person-days (or person-hours) at site	36
Main activity undertaken	Measuring ground resistivity, sampling ice, surveying
Cumulative impacts observed	Campsite had been occupied numerous times in the past

Chemicals:Not used Explosives:Not used Importation:None Interference:None Geological Material:See attached sample list below Equipment installed/left in field:None Disturbance to ice-free areas:General foot prints from walking on desert pavement Waste management:All waste was removed back to Scott Base Spills and incidents:None Other samples:None

Samples Taken During the Event

Ident	Lat	Long	Location	Ice/sediment type	Type & Wt. (Kg)
VI1-1	−77.3721	162.227	valley floor - geophys site	clear ice pod in gravel lag	ice (10)
VI1a			valley floor - geophys site	clear ice pod in gravel lag	ice (0.2)
VI1b			valley floor - geophys site	clear ice pod in gravel lag	ice (0.2)
VI1c			valley floor - geophys site	clear ice pod in gravel lag	ice (0.2)
VI1d			valley floor - geophys site	clear ice pod in gravel lag	ice (0.2)
VI2a	−77.3720	162.345	Kaotica - Victoria Stream	massive clear ice	ice (0.2)
VI2b			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	massive clear ice	ice (0.2)
VI2c			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	massive clear ice	ice (0.2)
VI2d			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	massive clear ice (~ 1m away from a,b,c)	ice (0.2)
VI2e			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	massive clear ice (~ 1m away from a,b,c)	ice (0.2)
VI2f			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	undeformed sediment-rich ice sample	sed-rich ice (0.2)
VI2g			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	homogeneous sand bleb (OSL sample taken)	ice-cement sed (0.2)
VI2h			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	homogeneous sand bleb (OSL sample taken)	ice-cement sed (0.2)
VI2i			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	massive clear ice (above main outcrop)	ice (0.5)
VI2j			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	homogeneous sand boudin (OSL sample taken)	ice-cement sed (0.2)
VI2k			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	homogeneous sand boudin (OSL sample taken)	ice-cement sed (0.2)
VI2l			Kaotica - Victoria Stream	homogeneous sand boudin (OSL sample taken)	ice-cement sed (0.2)
VI3a	−77.3726	162.335	Victoria Stream downstream from (VI2)	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI3b			Victoria Stream downstream from (VI2)	massive, clear ice in bank (few cm from a,c,d)	ice (0.2)page 8
VI3c			Victoria Stream downstream from (VI2)	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI3d			Victoria Stream downstream from (VI2)	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI4a	−77.3721	162.319	Victoria Stream downstream from (VI3)	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI4b			Victoria Stream downstream from (VI3)	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI4c			Victoria Stream downstream from (VI3)	massive, clear ice in bank (~1m from a,b)	ice (0.2)
VI5a	−77.3712	162.362	Victoria Stream upstream from VI2	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI5b			Victoria Stream upstream from VI2	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (sed at base) (0.2)
VI5c			Victoria Stream upstream from VI2	massive, clear ice in bank (~5m away from a,b)	ice (sed at base) (0.2)
VI5d			Victoria Stream upstream from VI2	massive, clear ice in bank (~10 away from c)	ice (0.2)
VI6a	−77.3710	162.381	Victoria Stream upstream from VI5	massive, clear ice in bank (~4m from c)	ice (0.2)
VI6b			Victoria Stream upstream from VI5	massive, clear ice in bank (~4m from c)	ice (0.2)
VI6c			Victoria Stream upstream from VI5	ice overlain by sed. then ice (OSL + algae taken)	ice (0.2)
VI6d			Victoria Stream upstream from VI5	ice overlain by sed. then ice (OSL + algae taken)	ice (0.2)
VI6-1			Victoria Stream upstream from VI5	ice overlain by sed. then ice (OSL + algae taken)	ice (5)
VI7a	−77.3704	162.401	Victoria Stream upstream from VI6	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI7b			Victoria Stream upstream from VI6	massive, clear ice in bank	ice (0.2)
VI8a	−77.3669	162.402	Victoria Lower Glacier front (south)	clear ice within pod of lake sed in glacier (OSL)	ice (0.2)
VI8-1			Victoria Lower Glacier front (south)	glacier ice	ice (5)
VI8-2			Victoria Lower Glacier front (south)	glacier ice	ice (5)
VI9-1	−77.3669	162.409	VLG apron/front (south)	ice-cored mound in apron	ice (5)
VI9-2			VLG apron/front (south)	ice-cored mound in front ~ 4m upslope from VI91	ice (5)
VI9-3			VLG apron (south)	wedged-up pro-glacial lake	ice (5)
VI10	−77.3626	162.355	VLG (north) geophys site	wedged-up pro-glacial lake (sed in core at 108cm)	ice (5)
VI11a	−77.3672	162.415	VLG (south)	ice-cored mound ~ 50m in front of glacier	ice (0.2)
VI11b			VLG (south)	ice-cored mound ~ 50m in front of glacier	ice (0.2)
VI11c			VLG (south)	ice-cored mound ~ 50m in front of glacier	ice (0.2)
VI12	−77.3679	162.421	VLG (south)	linear lines of ice outcropping ~ 70m in front of glacier	ice (8)
VI13a	−77.3677	162.384	VLG (south) stream bank	clear, massive ice (with assicated contortions)	ice (0.2)
VI13b			VLG (south) stream bank	clear, massive ice (with assicated contortions)	ice (0.2)
VI14-1	−77.3664	162.377	VLG apron (middle)	glacier apron ice	ice (5)
VI15-1	−77.3597	162.358	VLG (north) by ice cave	ice-cored moraine ~ 20m from glacier cliff	ice (5)
VI16-1	−77.3594	162.357	VLG (north) by ice cave	lake over glacier ice in ice-cored moraine	ice (5)
VI17-1			VLG (north) by ice cave	glacier ice from ice cliff (ice cave blocks)	ice (3)
VI18a	−77.3775	162.152	Victoria Stream (north) west of camp	clear, massive ice in stream bank (OSL taken)	ice (0.2)
VI18b			Victoria Stream (north) west of camp	clear, massive ice in stream bank (OSL taken)	ice (0.2)
VI18c			Victoria Stream (north) west of camp	clear, massive ice in stream bank (OSL taken)	ice (0.2)
VI19	−77.3603	162.190	Packard glacier cliff (west)	glacier ice from ice cliff by sed bleb	ice (3)
VI20	−77.3587	162.198	Packard glacier cliff (east)	glacier ice from cave behind icicles	ice (3)
VI21			Lake Vida ice sample		ice (3)
VI22	−77.3600	162.350	Victoria Stream (north) west of camp	clear, massive ice (with assicated contortions)	ice (0.2)
BI1a	−77.8484	160.603	Polygon by weather station	profile in shoulder	dirty ice (5)page 9
BI1b			Polygon by weather station	profile in shoulder - taken from below sample BI1a	dirty ice (0.2)
BI1c			Polygon by weather station	profile in shoulder - taken from below sample BI1a	dirty ice (0.2)
BI1d			Polygon by weather station	profile in shoulder - taken from below sample BI1a	dirty ice (0.2)
BI1e			Polygon by weather station	profile in shoulder - taken from below sample BI1a	dirty ice (0.2)
BI2a	−77.8484	160.603	Polygon by weather station	profile in top	ice-cemented (0.2)
BI2b			Polygon by weather station	profile in top (melted and refrozen)	ice-cemented (0.2)
BI2c			Polygon by weather station	profile in top	ice-cemented (0.2)
BI2d			Polygon by weather station	profile in top	ice-cemented (0.2)
BI2e			Polygon by weather station	profile in top	ice-cemented (0.2)
BI3a	−77.8484	160.603	Polygon by weather station	profile in side (clockwise from BI1 looking upvalley)	dirty ice (10)
BI4a	−77.8484	160.603	Polygon by weather station	profile in side (clockwise from BI3 looking upvalley)	dirty ice (10)
BI4b			Polygon by weather station	profile in side (clockwise from BI3 looking upvalley)	ice-cemented (5)
BI5	−77.8595	160.570	600m across valley from camp	profile in side	dirty ice (10)
BI6	−77.8560	160.556	1100m across valley from camp	profile in side	dirty ice (10)
BI7	−77.8532	160.547	1500m across valley from camp	profile in side	dirty ice (10)
BI8	−77.8844	160.560	slope up to Mullen's Valley	shoulder, by triple junction	dirty ice (10)