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" Geologist Trevor Williams, of Columbia University&amp;#039;s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, will be spending six weeks at Antarctica&amp;#039;s McMurdo Station, taking part in a study of the sea-floor sediments beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. The results could aid our understanding of climate change. Williams will be filing reports here throughout the project.  ROSS ISLAND, Antarctica \u2013 The idea that I&amp;#039;d soon be in Antarctica only really sunk in while I was trying on the Extreme Cold Weather gear at the clothing distribution center in Christchurch, New Zealand. Until that point, the trip had been an exciting yet abstract concept, but clumping around in layers and layers of fleece pants, windproof dungarees, insulated &amp;quot;bunny boots&amp;quot; and a bright red goose-down parka really brought the reality home. While technology, communications and transport have improved since the heroic age of Antarctic exploration in the early 20th century, the weather has not. Antarctica is extremely cold, dry and windy, and you have to be prepared.  Thanks to bad weather, our flight south was delayed by a day, which turned out to be fortunate, because we made the journey in five hours by C-17 jet, rather than the eight hours it would have taken in the LC-130 Hercules the day before. The C-17 is operated by the 13th U.S. Air Force; a no-frills airline, but its staff inspires confidence. I&amp;#039;d definitely fly with them again. Landing on the sea-ice runway here at McMurdo Station felt like arriving in an alien landscape\u2014a vast, flat white expanse, flanked on one side by the spectacular Royal Society Mountains, and on the other by the volcanoes of Ross Island. The strange-looking big-wheeled and tracked vehicles at the airfield added to the effect. In some ways, though, it was disarmingly familiar: The shuttle bus driver&amp;#039;s cheery welcome and Dakota accent seemed to signal that we had arrived in a far-flung corner of the U.S. An important part of orientation is &amp;quot;snow school&amp;quot;\u2014a camping trip away from the comforts of McMurdo, and a chance to try out the cold-weather gear for real. It&amp;#039;s summer in the southern hemisphere, and daytime temperatures had climbed to a balmy 25\u00B0 F (-4\u00B0 C). Actually, it&amp;#039;s daytime all the time, because the sun never sets. This takes some getting used to. Our instructor, Susan, advised us on some things to bring along: sunglasses, camera, pee bottle, sense of humor; and some things not to bring: cotton clothes, pets, worldly troubles and self-pity. Yes, you read that right\u2014you really don&amp;#039;t want to be getting out of your tent in the middle of a snowstorm. We learned how to make a &amp;quot;quinzee&amp;quot; (a kind of igloo), snow walls, put up old-style Scott tents, how to make a radio call to South Pole Station (-20\u00B0 F, -29\u00B0 C), as well as lots of other survival tips. Me, I loved the camp, but I&amp;#039;ll have the easy life of staying in a dorm at McMurdo and commuting 10 miles to the ANDRILL site. Some of the other &amp;quot;happy campers&amp;quot; will be doing their research in more challenging settings like the Dry Valleys or at the top of the Mount Erebus volcano, where the snow-school skills will definitely come into play. In a way, I&amp;#039;m quite jealous. Meanwhile, at the ANDRILL site, drilling has reached 500 meters below the sea floor, and everyone is pleased with the sediment cores coming out of the hole. I am part of the downhole logging team, with my colleagues Roger, Travis and Stuart. What&amp;#039;s that? Downhole logging is the process of sending instruments down into the drill hole, one by one, to measure the density, porosity, electrical, acoustic and other properties of the rock layers. We&amp;#039;ve been busy checking all the instruments and gear in preparation. After the hole is deep enough\u2014perhaps 700 meters\u2014the logging operation will take a couple days of continuous work. The results will compliment the studies of the sediments from the hole, and will help decode the history of the Antarctic ice. Speaking of which, filmmaker Werner Herzog (director of &amp;quot;Grizzly Man&amp;quot;) is at McMurdo, and will visit us tomorrow to see the sediment cores and watch the daily briefing on the news from 2 million years ago, from deep under the McMurdo Ice Shelf. No penguins yet, but stay tuned! \u2013Trevor Williams MORE FROM ANTARCTICA: Journey to the Bottom of the Earth (Log #1), The Science of Ice (Log #3) Extreme cold weather gear for Antarctica. PHOTO BY STEVE PEKAR (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Welcome to Antarctica! The C-17 disgorges its passengers. PHOTO BY TREVOR WILLIAMS (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Thanksgiving dinner at &amp;quot;snow school.&amp;quot; Williams and Co. had a more traditional dinner on Saturday in the cafeteria with McMurdos 1000 other inhabitants, for which the catering staff received a long and well-deserved standing ovation). PHOTO BY TREVOR WILLIAMS (CLICK TO ENLARGE) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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