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Taylor Valley

86 images Created 5 Nov 2016

Taylor Valley, one of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica

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  • Lake Bonney Jamesway
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  • Lake Bonney Jamesway
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  • Lake Bonney Jamesway
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  • Scientist working on the LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) project on Lake Bonney preparing a robot that samples the lake water column throughout the year.
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  • The LTER project is a study of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. The Dry Valleys represent a region where life approaches its environmental limits, and unlike most other ecosystems, are dominated by microorganisms, mosses, lichens, and relatively few groups of invertebrates; higher forms of life are virtually non-existent.
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  • The original objectives of the McMurdo LTER were to understand the influence of physical and biological constraints on the structure and function of dry valley ecosystems and to understand the modifying effects of material transport on these ecosystems. Now in the third funding cycle, they are poised to answer more complex questions about biodiversity, the impact of climatic legacies, and ecosystem structure and function.
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  • Scientists working at Lake Bonney
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  • Lake Bonney Camp
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  • Looking west up Lake Bonney at the Bonney Riegel and The Narrows that separates the east and west lobes of the lake. Rhone Glacier in distance.
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  • Lake Bonney Landscape. The mountain on far side of the lake is 5740 ft tall, and the lake itself is at 190 ft.
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  • Unique rock formations are found all over the landscape here, wind shaped ventifacts are everywhere, and these layered sedimentary rocks. Because there is no rain, and few people to interfere, geologic time and action rules the landscape.
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  • Ice on Lake Bonney
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  • Lake Bonney Camp
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  • A tent with a view.
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  • Renee trekking along the slope of Bonney Riegel at the Narrows that seperates the east and west lobes of Lake Bonney
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  • Trekking on Lake Bonney toward the Taylor Glacier. This is the glacier which Scott descended to discover this ice free Dry Valley in 1903.
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  • Taylor Glacier Blood Falls.
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  • Rust colored Blood Falls
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  • Taylor Glacier
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  • Lake Bonney and Taylor Glacier. This is the glacier which Scott descended to discover this Dry Valley in 1903, later named Taylor Valley after geologist Griffith Taylor. Rhone Glacier on right.
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  • Bonney Riegel seperating the east and west lobes of Lake Bonney,  Taylor Valley, Antarctica
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  • Split ventifact. Ventifacts are rocks shaped by wind blown sand. Because there is no erosion from rain and little from melting snow, the landscape takes on an unusual appearance we are not used to seeing, something closer to a Mars or Lunar landscape.
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  • Ventifacts
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  • Ventifact
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  • Taylor Glacier and Rhone Glacier on right
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  • Back at Lake Bonney Jamesway
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  • Work and food prep at Lake Bonney Jamesway
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  • Lake Bonney kitchen
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  • After dinner hike toward the Hughes Glacier
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  • Lake Bonney, dots are the Polar Haven tents and equipment used by LTER scientists. Below these along the shore you can see the Lake Bonney camp. This was my 3rd day at Lake Bonney when I trekked over the Nussbaum Riegel to Lake Hoare for a three night say.
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  • Ventifact
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  • Yours truely (Shaun O'Boyle) in front of a very large ventifact
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  • Hughes Glacier
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  • Black patch which I believe is the remains of a basalt cinder cone, which has eroded and flowed down the slope forming a delta of round black rocks. Fascinating and unique formation to see and walk over. Sollas Glacier in distance.
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  • Eroded basalt cinder cone
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  • Wind eroded landscape
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  • Sollas Glacier
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  • Sollas Glacier
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  • Sollas Glacier
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  • Ventifact
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  • Yours truely in front of the Sollas Glacier. Taylor Glacier in distance.
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  • I'm interested in knowing what this geological feature is. Looks to be a volcanic dike.
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  • Climbing Nussbaum Riegel
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  • Kukri Hills, Lake Bonney and Taylor glacier from Nussbaum Riegel
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  • View up the Taylor Glacier
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  • Taylor Dry Valley. the 5,200 ft. Matterhorn on right
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  • Lake Bonney and upper Taylor Dry Valley from Nussbaum Riegel
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  • Seuss Glacier during the decent from the Nussbaum Riegel
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  • Seuss Glacier from the decent of the Nussbaum Riegel
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  • Seuss Glacier from the decent of the Nussbaum Riegel
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  • The Defile, which is this narrow passage between the terminus of the Suess Glacier on left and the slopes of the Nussbaum Riegel on right, with Lake Hoare and the Canada Glacier ahead. A nice arrival after trekking all day.
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  • Terminus of the Suess Glacier and Lake Hoare
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  • Lake Hoare Station
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  • Lake Hoare Station
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  • Lake Hoare Station
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  • Home sweet home for three nights at Lake Hoare, Canada Glacier in background
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  • Canada Glacier terminus on hike to Lake Fryxell.
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  • East side of Canada Glacier at Lake Fryxell
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  • We hiked from Lake Hoare around the terminus of the Canada Glacier to Lake Fryxell to visit the science camp. The camp was unoccupied at the time but soon would be with LTER scientists and researchers. The smaller buildings are individual labs used by researchers. The NSF seems to have gone this way on several of the stations I visited, a modular approach to field camp labs.
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  • Lake Fryxell Jamesway Hut
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  • Lake Fryxell Jamesway Hut
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  • Canada Glacier from Lake Fryxell
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  • Looking east from Lake Fryxell camp toward the Commonwealth Glacier. New Harbor and McMurdo Sound is beyond Coral Ridge in the distance.
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  • Leopard Seal carcass near Lake Fryxell station
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  • Canada Glacier from Lake Fryxell
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  • Melt water at base of Canada Glacier
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  • Back at Lake Hoare, Renee Noffke and Rae Spain firing up Thomas Nylen's 50th birthday cake. Renee was my guide through all my trekking in the Taylor Valley, a huge Thank You to Renee for taking time from her other duties at Lake Hoare to show me around the valley.
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  • Thomas, wearing the birthday wig, and having a moment with his cake.
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  • After cake we hit the beach for some frisbee throwing and..
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  • ...bocce on Lake Hoare
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  • Canada Glacier
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  • Lateral moraine of the Canada Glacier
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  • Renee leading up the lateral moraine toward the top of the glacier.
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  • Overlooking the Canada Glacier
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  • Trekking across the surface of the Canada Glacier. Lake Fryxell, Kukri Hills and the tip of the Commonwealth Glacier in the distance.
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  • Upper section of the Canada Glacier
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  • Renee trekking along side the Canada Glacier
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  • Lake Hoare camp from Lake Hoare.
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  • A harvest of "glacier berries", pieces of the Canada Glacier that have calved off, used in camp for drinking water.
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  • Science lab buildings at Lake Hoare
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  • Looking west across Lake Hoare toward the Seuss Glacier
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  • Lake Hoare and Canada Glacier
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  • After five nights in the Taylor Dry Valley it time for the flight back to McMurdo via Marble Point.
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  • Canada Glacier from the air
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Portraits of Place - Photographs by Shaun O'Boyle

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