Burton Island (AGB 1) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 32 text:

Y. gn-we-J: E ..., 1 1 L l I I g. l E l l The eerie quality of the Antarctic, the basic loneliness, is ap- parent in spite of the exuberance of the men. History iS 11616, but it is short, meager, and generally grim. Admiral Bakutis is fond of paraphrasing an old polar motto: alt is not especially difficult, but it is mercilessly unforgiving of human error. One may dT0P through the ice at any moment. Although the Ross Ice Shelf, today, is hospitable to half a dozen glaciologists from Grand Valley State College in Michigan, recently their radio Went out and they lost contact with MclVlurdo for a Week. Another little party in the Taylor Dry Valley hopes the helicopter that set them down there will pick them up. Yet, in five minutes, a White-out may de- velop, or a blizzard that could delay the helo for days. 30

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Emperors are nomads - hard to track, said a biologist who was investigating their movements. So he put tele- metric transmitters on them and, even a mile away, received the information he wanted. They mate in the middle of winter, in darkness. The scientist, privately, thought they were stupid to pick such a bad time. They are able to go three months without tood, although the incubation period is only sixty days. The chicks gain weight rapidly, and one we called Peter was twice as big as he had been the day before. ln contrast to the Adelie penguins, an Emperor lays a single egg on sheer ice and hatches it by cradling it on its feet. Unlike Ade- lies, the Emperor will not attack a man, and unlike them, he has eyes that seem to be square.

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a.:s1ag.f m:- 5551 - Se -liek: M.. To walk over this weird terrain in the Dailey Islands, near McMurdo, involves many defours. If can take five hours lo cover four miles. 'fu-K gf-. za 1