Type: INT 97-42 **NSF/Tokyo Report: Victoria Land Coast Expedition**

Org: INT

Date: 12/02/97

Replaces: None

The National Science Foundation\'s offices in Tokyo and in Paris
periodically report on developments abroad that are related to the
Foundation\'s mission. These documents present facts for the use of NSF
program managers and policy makers; they are not statements of NSF
policy.

Special Scientific Report #97-38 (November 19, 1997)

**VICTORIA LAND COAST EXPEDITION**

The following report was submitted by ***Dr. Paul Arthur Berkman*** of
the Byrd Polar Research Center of The Ohio State University, 108 Scott
Hall, 1090 Carmack Road Columbus, Ohio 43210. ***Dr. Berkman*** prepared
this report as part of a collaborative research project supported by the
NSF Office of Polar Programs. This report first appeared (in Japanese)
in Kyokuchi (the Polar News) No. 63. ***Dr. Berkman's*** studies in
Antarctica continue. He is currently in the first year of a three year
collaborative study with Professor Kazuomi Hirakawa of Hokkaido
University in Sapporo, Japan. The title of their joint research is
"Cenozoic Environmental Variability in Antarctic Coastal Areas." ***Dr.
Berkman's*** participation in the project is supported by the NSF Japan
and Korea Program; Professor Hirakawa\'s support is provided by the
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). This project is one
of the joint projects supported under the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science
Program. ***Dr. Berkman*** can be reached via email at:Paul+@osu.edu

It was a sunny day during the winter of 1993 when the e-mail message
arrived at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) that my
expedition along the Victoria Land Coast was going to be funded by the
National Science Foundation. I had been in Japan with my family since
January as part of a yearlong fellowship from the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (JSPS). The year was going well - I was studying
Japanese, learning about the culture of Japan and making many good
friends - and it gave me great pleasure to tell Professor Yoshio
Yoshida, who was my host, about this opportunity to continue our
collaboration into the future.

The Victoria Land Coast Expedition was my first opportunity to lead a
team of scientists in Antarctica. I had spent four seasons including a
winter down south, but the challenge of leading an expedition was
something entirely new. This expedition, from October 1994 through
February 1995, extended along the Victoria Land Coast from McMurdo Sound
(78 deg S) to Terra Nova Bay (74 deg S). The first phase of the
expedition focused on the raised beaches and Holocene fossils in McMurdo
Sound while the second phase concentrated on the emerged marine features
in the Terra Nova Bay region. The overall objective of this research was
to evaluate the coastal environmental variability associated with the
southward retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet along the Victoria
Land Coast after the Last Glacial Maximum.

Throughout the expedition, I was accompanied by Professor Mike Prentice
(Co-Principal Investigator and glacial geologist from the University of
New Hampshire), Mr. Skip Van Bloem (my graduate student in Environmental
Science) and Mr. Oriol Solé Costa (mountaineer and expedition safety
specialist). In addition, Professor Olafur Ingolfsson (glacial
geomorphologist from the University of Lund in Sweden) participated in
the first phase while Professor Kazuomi Hirakawa (glacial
geomorphologist from the University of Hokkaido in Japan) participated
in the second phase of the expedition. The expedition also involved
several Global Positioning System (GPS) specialists, including Mr. Brett
Baker (University NAVSTAR Consortium in Colorado) who participated
throughout the second phase. Logistics for this expedition were anything
but straightforward.

In West McMurdo Sound, or more precisely Explorers Cove at the base of
the Taylor Dry Valley, we had a 4-section pre-fabricated Jamesway that
included a pre-way stove, work areas and living areas for 4 persons. We
also had three Scott Tents for visitors and members of the field team.
We had six skidoos (which required constant maintenance); 3
dual-frequency GPS receivers with antennas and batteries which required
constant recharging; and two lap-top computers which were run off an
inverter attached to a 12-volt deep-cycle battery that was charged from
an array of solar panels. Food, water and fuel were brought out to us
regularly from McMurdo Station by Coast Guard helicopters. During this
first phase of the expedition we also had a reconnaissance mission with
Twin Otter fixed-wing aircraft that we used for surveying the raised
marine features along the Victoria Land Coast up to Terra Nova Bay.

We used the skidoos to move between coastal areas ranging from the
Ferrar Valley to Spike Cape which is just south of Granite Harbor. There
were abundant marine fossils in the raised beaches, primarily the
scallops (*Adamussium colbecki*) and clams (*Laternula elliptica*),
which we collected for subsequent geochemical analyses to interpret
their radiocarbon-ages and ambient environmental (temperature and
meltwater) characteristics. The location and elevation of the fossil
sites, along with the adjacent sequences of raised-beach strandlines,
were measured by kinematic GPS surveys. Each of these kinematic surveys
was interpreted in relation to a permanent static GPS site which was
embedded in bedrock and measured with centimeter precision. After
completing our research in the McMurdo Sound region we began
preparations for our camp move to Terra Nova Bay.

At the end of December 1994 we closed-up our camp at Explorers Cove;
packed all of the tents and camping equipment; divided the food into
weekly breakfasts, lunches and dinners which we packed into rock boxes;
and then loaded all of our gear onto 2 helicopters for the 1½-2 hour
flight to Terra Nova Bay. This second phase of the expedition was
coordinated with the Italian Antarctic Program (ENEA) in collaboration
with Professor Marco Nigro from the University of Pisa.

Our first camp in the Terra Nova Bay region was in Evans Cove with the
Hells Gate Ice Shelf to our right and the monstrous Drygalski Ice Tongue
in view to the south. Across the water was Inexpressible Island where
Scott\'s Northern Party wintered-over at the beginning of this century.
It\'s a constant wonder to be living, working and surviving in
Antarctica - in a remote and hostile land where human history only began
in the 18th century.

In between the strong katabatic-wind storms (which bring air-masses
accelerating down from the polar plateau sometimes in excess of 160 km
per hour) we surveyed the raised marine features and dug into beaches
which were composed of large stones and few fossils in marked contrast
to the fossiliferous sandy sediments in West McMurdo Sound. With
helicopter support from ENEA we then moved our camp to Adelie Cove where
we found marine-fossil fragments in the moraines adjacent to the Boulder
Clay glacier. With the generous support of ENEA, we also used SCUBA to
survey and collect modern marine faunal assemblages; the Italian
research vessel, Malippo, to conduct benthic grabs in Evans Cove; and
helicopters to transport us across the crevasses onto the Hells Gate Ice
Shelf so that we could collect exposed Holocene marine fossils.

In late January, after several unsuccessful attempts to be picked up by
the United States Coast Guard ice-breakers, we were transported back to
McMurdo Station by helicopters from ENEA. The expedition was very
successful in the variety and extent of the fossil collections; detailed
stratigraphic and glacial geomorphology surveys; and ancillary data that
was obtained to interpret Holocene environmental variability associated
with the retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Ross Sea. Most
of all, I feel fortunate to have worked with a group of talented
scientists, from different countries and backgrounds, who collaborated
in the field and are continuing to work together to enhance our
understanding of Antarctic environmental variability.

On a personal note, and with a view to my friends in Japan, I would like
to share a poem that was written in Antarctica about the expedition.

**Victoria Land Coast Expedition**

By:

Paul Arthur Berkman

Across the Sound we went

in our Twin Otter orange and white

Flying over the sea ice

to a Jamesway we will call home.

Around the Dry Valleys briefly we circled

and then

> onward up the Victoria Land Coast.

First past Marble Point

a site with beaches long and stranded

Past Spike cape

with marine terraces extending

To Dunlop Island

small and low

surrounded by historical margins of the sea.

Granite Harbor

up the coast yet further

to our final destination by traverse

with previous marine features throughout

waiting to be studied.

Northward bound

along the coast

Cape Ross and Depot Island below

new features perhaps

stretching ice snow-covered coastlines

of the Oates Piedmont Glacier

into the Nordenskjold Ice Tongue

flowing from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

pointing into the Ross Sea.

Capes and coves continue

new ice tongues

until

the Drygalski

with its own weather

and

crevasses

large enough

to fly planes through

huge and beautiful

frightening and monstrous.

Soaring

as we approach Terra Nova Bay

through Backstairs Passage

to Evans Cove

our final sites of the expedition

where the icebreaker will

rendezvous to bring us home.

Turning around we must

low pressure regions storming toward McMurdo

straight across the open water

the retreating ice edge

with flows of huge pancake ice

dashed ice flows frozen

and floating free

into furious head winds

flying 50 meters above the raging sea

Mt. Erebus in the distance

towering over Ross Island.

Nestled in the valley

below Observation Hill

with Scott\'s cross prominent

McMurdo Station rests.

Landing

our Twin Otter solid

on the thick sea ice

the journey a success

all souls on board safe and sound.