Amber on Ice

Our field audits were at Lake Fryxell Camp and F6 Camp located in the Taylor Valley of the Antarctic Dry Valley's. These maps help show the location of Taylor Valley, one of the Antarctic Dry Valley's. Taylor Valley is about a 45-minute chopper ride from MacTown. There is a scientific group in the Dry Valley's called: Long Term Ecological Research or LTER. One of my former Dartmouth Professor's, Ross Virginia, has been down here supporting this project. He returns in January with a couple of students to continue more work. You can check out the LTER Project at: www.mcmlter.org A blurb from their homepage: The McMurdo Dry Valleys are located on the western coast of McMurdo Sound (77°00'S 162°52'E) and form the largest relatively ice-free area (approximately 4800 square kilometers) on the Antarctic continent. These ice-free areas of Antarctica display a sharp contrast to most other ecosystems in the world, which exist under far more moderate environmental conditions. The perennially ice-covered lakes, ephemeral streams and extensive areas of exposed soil within the McMurdo Dry Valleys are subject to low temperatures, limited precipitation and salt accumulation. Thus, the dry valleys represent a region where life approaches its environmental limits, and is an "end-member" in the spectrum of environments included in the LTER Network.