The Dry Valleys are exhilarating to visit. The air is crystal clear and cold. When there's no wind, it's completely silent. You're surrounded by peaks that rise up to 6,000 feet and higher. Glaciers carve paths between mountains and descend to the valley floor.
Occasional streams run from the glaciers to lakes permanently covered with ice.
Our site sits on the south shore of Lake Hoare, one of three lakes in Taylor Valley. Our field team for the day is six strong. We sample soil from three long-term experiments, each one investigating a different part of the simple soil ecosystem. In one, cotton strips Scottnema lindsayae , a species of nematode found only in Antarctica, is the most common nematode in the Dry Valleys. It's about 1 millimeter long.